Everyone meet Storm,
66 % of 18 to 34 year olds said they'd like to know the sex of their child before it is born, according to a 2007 Gallup poll. Although, What does knowing the sex actually accomplish?
The colour you paint their nursery, the colour of their baby blankets, whether they get toy cars or a doll.
The colour you paint their nursery, the colour of their baby blankets, whether they get toy cars or a doll.
As many parents do establish the child's gender for them, Kathy Witterwick and David Stocker allow their children to form their own identity. Although, this unique situation could have more than it's share of challenges ahead, it allows for the parents to create a safer environment for their children.
Without advertising the gender of their children, the children are able to explore the stereotypical characteristics of both genders to establish their own preferances. For example, Jazz, Storm's 5 year old brother is able to wear his hair long and styled in braids. As they mature the older boys and Storm will be able to establish their own views of the world.
The media sends out constant messages of gender stereotypes although, now we are seeing more and more advertisment for individuality. Individuality includes your morals, beliefs and identity. Children deserve the opportunity to grow up without judgement and labels and this is the Stocker family's way of doing so.
Although, they will have to pay close attention to the forms of media their children have access to because of the different biases. Television is used the most to represent gender stereotypes however, the radio may also be a huge aid in how people form stereotypes. Listening to the radio, hearing the voices that use detailed descriptions to help the audience form images in their minds can be a large contributor to stereotypes. The Stalker family will have to establish ways to discuss stereotypes with their children and be open to any questions they may have in the future to ensure healthy development.
That's actually a pretty cool story, i've never heard anything like it. It makes alot of sense though, because it really allows Storm to be whatever and whoever they wanna be when they grow up, which is a positive that many people should learn from and apply to their own children. Now, alot of people may also want to be able to know if their child is a boy or girl, which is understandable, but they shouldn't really have to mold them into a person that they want to see when they are older. Storm is guided to be Storm, and that is how parents of today, and parents of the future should guide their children.
ReplyDeleteSam's Reality Check said...
ReplyDeleteI think these parents are honestly ridiculous. Whether they raise their baby without a gender has nothing to do with what their child will turn out like. Gender is not only physical and psychological its chemical as well and by not raising their baby with a gender I think they're going to end up confusing their child. I'm not saying that if you have a boy you should only surround him with the colour blue and toy trucks or for a girl the colour pink and Barbie dolls, but I think this is a little extreme. They're going to have issues with they're choices as storm grows up and is around other children.
This is soo cool, this child can actually make a big impact on the world. parents should take a lesson from the parents taking care of storm. great blog choice i found it really interesting to read, great job!
ReplyDeleteCrystal Shanda Leer said,
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that the parents are letting the child chose their own identity and letting them be who they are but how will the child react when they are older? Not going to lie, I think it would be awesome to be a guy for a day. See what it's like to be thought of as manly instead of feminen. If I had a choice on what gender I wanted to be, I think I would still choose to be a girl."