The Gendering of the Young

[Nat]

Saw this today and thought it was cute to see a depiction of a dad playing princess with his daughter. One of my coworkers admitted to doing much the same a few years back - wearing a tiara with his daughter and having tea with her.

[dykeumentary]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/fa...anted=all&_r=0

This is a link to a NYTimes article this week about parents of gay children. I know they were trying to be helpful, but here's the part that continues to be problematic:

"Parents aren’t blind, and the clues are often there. Some research suggests that sexual orientation can show itself even at 3 years old. In our family, by the time our youngest son came out at 13, my wife and I had long progressed from inkling to conviction. A toddler who wore a feather boa around the house and pleaded for pink light-up sneakers with rhinestones is probably telling you something, even if he doesn’t yet know what it is."

I look forward to the day when colors and accessories "equate" neither gender nor sexuality.

[Dance-with-me]

I thought I'd posted here before but apparently not. I've been raising my 6yo granddaughter since she was 20m, and she is "gender variant" and every year further affirms that she will be a boy named Michael when she grows up.

While I completely agree with Dykeumentary about wishing that colors and accessories weren't gendered, I have also seen that for a lot of these kids, having those gendered markers is crucial to their gender expression. For some kids it really is just about liking sequins or spiderman, pink or red, dolls or trucks. But for some of these kids the really important thing is to have something that allows people to recognize and validate that their gender does not match their bodies.

Want to write more but too difficult on my iPhone!

[dykeumentary]

Originally Posted by Dance-with-me

I thought I'd posted here before but apparently not. I've been raising my 6yo granddaughter since she was 20m, and she is "gender variant" and every year further affirms that she will be a boy named Michael when she grows up.

While I completely agree with Dykeumentary about wishing that colors and accessories weren't gendered, I have also seen that for a lot of these kids, having those gendered markers is crucial to their gender expression. For some kids it really is just about liking sequins or spiderman, pink or red, dolls or trucks. But for some of these kids the really important thing is to have something that allows people to recognize and validate that their gender does not match their bodies.

Want to write more but too difficult on my iPhone!

Agreed, Dance-With-Me, but the reason I posted this is because they are using sequins as a marker for homosexuality. As usual, it comes back to consent. If a child chooses to use "gendered markers" to indicate their gender, that is great. My question is: To which markers can a child give informed consent that have anything to do with the kind of sex they'd like to have as an adult?

I guess the thing that makes me most sad about this is its just another article reinforcing tired old sexist assumptions. Not surprising that they reference the HRC several times.