About Sweetmama Editor
Nadine Silverthorne’s love of journaling began in Grade One with the entry, “I am the greatest dancer!” Two babies (and countless diaper changes) later, she has found her home away from home as editor of SweetMama. Don’t miss her humorous bi-weekly accounts of the joys and pains of working while raising them fabulous.
This past weekend, the Toronto Star featured a story on a family of five, who have decided to raise their youngest child, Storm, gender neutral or gender-free. As in, only a few select people know whether Storm is a male or a female. At four months old, Storm hasn't yet developed ideas around gender (biologically-speaking that kicks in around age two or three), but Storm's parents don't want what's between their baby's legs to define who he or she is.
That hasn't stopped everybody and their mother from having an opinion on the parents' child-rearing methods though. The Star reports mostly outrage from their readers (though some offered support as well). Here's a sampling of the online discussion.
Emma Waverman at Embrace the Chaos offers, "This is different than allowing the baby to choose their gender; the parents say this act is freeing their the child from the strict interpretations of gender that society places on babies as soon as their sex is revealed."
Karen Green asks over at Bad Moms Club, "Is it that we are afraid that they are damaging their children, or are we simply afraid that they are damaging our ideas of normal?"
On The Grid, Kate Carraway writes, "Maybe only one thing is certain in a story about kids and gender and what makes good parenting: it’s hard to agree."
So what do you think? Are Storm's parents taking a gamble, yet doing society some good by questioning the status quo? Or is this a dangerous decision to make for a child who has no say in the matter?
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