Fighting Nature
Ministerial Meandering
Fighting Nature
There is a lady who sports a PhD from North Carolina in (probably) Psychology - and is a professor at Northern Illinois University. I have not named her because there may be others (women) at the same ‘mecca’ of learning with similar credentials, so I can preserve her anonymity.
In November of 2023, she wrote an article in Psychology Today, in which she presented a suggestion of how to be a ‘gender-creative’ parent. I confess to being not only amazed, but also vaguely terrified.
Within this publication is the notion that we should keep our new-born baby’s identity hidden from extended family, friends, and others. This practice is designed to keep other people from placing gender-based stereotypes and expectations on the child. This is called ‘gender conceal’.
I suppose one can hope that the hospital staff (obstetrician, midwife, etc.,) might be allowed to know - so that they can register the birth as male or female. Beyond that, it is to be kept a dark secret - even from the child, so he or she - or ‘it’ - has no knowledge of what ‘it’ is. But I guess you’re not allowed to call it ‘it’, because that would be pejorative, so we come back to the comforting and cuddly ‘they’. Which means nothing to anyone, and you spend your time looking for the rest of ‘them’.
This poor, lost, and undefined creature is supposed to be happy not to have an identity - so it can find one that suits it. Today it wants to play with dolls, tomorrow it wants to play with rocks and frogs; today it will have to look into its confusing wardrobe and choose between a dress or a pair of shorts, tomorrow it will have to decide between soccer boots or ballet pumps.
Presumably it will have an indeterminate name - such as ‘Alex’ or ‘Kim’ or ‘Jules’ or Sam - but how will its friends be chosen, how will the (abused) parents be able to decide on where to send it for a pee or poo? Will it change in the girls or boys locker room? Does the world wait with baited breath to see if the ‘gender-concealed’ monster’s voice breaks, or whether it has wet dreams or menstruates?
The world has to understand that if this unfortunate person is not ‘affirmed’ in its confusion, we are not doing it any favours, we are not being ‘inclusive’. But into what sort of society are we trying to ‘include’ such a person? Do we not attempt to identify with others of our own kind in order to find some sort of kinship, some similar characteristics, to bond? How lonely can this child get?
The idea, it seems, stems from another ‘illuminatus’ with two X chromosomes, who, in 2011, developed the concept of ‘gender creativity’, used to describe children and adults who live outside of traditional gender binaries. The book in which this theory is expounded is called ‘Gender Born, Gender Made.’ It is 304 pages long and you can buy it on Amazon - should you wish to. (Search under ‘Doorstops’.)
I am aware that some people have difficulty with their assigned sex, feel more comfortable if they are cross-dressing, and are happier with a name that will fit the bill whichever way they are identifying today. But for God’s sake give them a clear starting point! I had a step-sister who decided she would never discipline her daughter or deny her wishes. Said daughter grew up confused and vile - until, at the age of 11 years, she grabbed her mother by her shoulders and shook her, screaming in her face, “Why have you never said ‘No!’”
Will we not have an equivalent in any child who is born to be raised ‘gender concealed’? How have we, as a society, in any way helped such a child as one cited in the above book; ‘…seven-year-old Maggie, who sports a boys’ basketball uniform and a long blond braid, identifies as “a boy in the front, and a girl in the back.” Last week I ended with a question that I think needs repeating; Whatever happened to competence, compassion, and common sense?
Philip+