Paloma Faith says she is determined to raise her child, and any subsequent children she may give birth to, gender neutral, but how does that work? At some time the child is bound to discover that there are boys and there are girls – and that they are not the same - so when a child asks the question “What am I?”, what does the enlightened parent answer? Does she lie and say ‘You’re neither’, and if so is that, in effect, denying the child its true identity?
I’m inclined to think that in their determination to allow their children to ‘be who they are’, progressive parents are in danger of raising a generation of very confused people.
Paloma has made statements about this in the past.
Contrary to the suppositions that she is determined to bring up a child who doesn't know if it's Arthur or Martha, she is simply saying that her child will not be expected to conform to any 'stereotypes', exactly as ummmm says.
If a girl wants boxing gloves, she'll have them; if a boy wants a pram, he'll have it.
"""Determined to protect her baby’s privacy, she refers to it resolutely as “they”, refusing to reveal its name or gender. This has nothing to do with her much-publicised decision to bring it up “gender-neutral”, which some have understood as Faith aligning herself with the burgeoning “theyby” movement, where parents don’t tell their child if they’re a boy or girl."""
There seems to be an awful lot of predjudice and unfounded insinuation about Paloma and the situation on this thread from people who should know better. C’mon peeps, your falling into the ‘angry from Tunbridge Wells’ category.
Prudie, its my understanding that they don't want other people to know so that they can't put gender expectations on the child...I come from a generation where many girl children (my friends from ordinary working class families) were expected to wear dresses and skirts and not allowed trousers and were only allowed the "right" toys and so on. It was by no means everybody but it wasn't unusual. At schools boys did woodwork and girls did sewing....many many men of my age were brought up without any idea of how to food shop or cook or sew on a button..and the idea of a girl knowing how to wire a plug or use power tools again was thought by some people the be shocking and "unladylike" I think its good that society as a whole is revisiting the concept of gender and what it actually does mean....I suspect that eventually, the flux and more extreme concepts of child rearing (and society in general) placing much less importance on what gender a child is biologically.
personally I don't see anything wrong in boys in blue and girls in pink...it's only a colour...and they'll play with what they want to..probably the empty boxes !
Okay, Zacs. Here’s another example which includes a new word (for me at least) … this child is, apparently a "theyby’.
//Long before Kyl Myers ever gave birth, she knew she wanted her child to be a "theyby," or a baby raised without the construct of gender…..when Myers did give birth, two years ago, to 'theyby' Zoomer, she and her partner were adamant that Zoomer grows up in an environment free of gender stereotypes - where their child could come to an understanding of their own gender in their own time…... she decided to keep their anatomy a secret from Zoomer’s grandparents so they would realise Myers was serious about her decision and her dedication to raising her child this way - and so they would become comfortable using the correct pronouns.//
ummmm so was I...I had the toys that I wanted; however even though my parents were very relaxed about the toys I played with and the books I read, it was expected that girl children would wear skirts or dresses to school and on smart occasions.
Paloma Faith hasn't made a fuss about it......that's been done by people failing to understand, possibly deiberately, exactly what it is that she has said.
NoM, then you'd know she hasn't made a big fuss or given the situation a fancy name. She's just refusing to state the name and gender of her child to protect its privacy.
To be fare to her she is in the spotlight and needs to protect her child. Unless she is papped (and as long as she doesn’t end up posting pictures on twitface and that we would not know the child’s gender and that in itself makes the child safer.
There are some pretty nasty people out there who could try anything.