- Parents refuse to reveal sex of their baby
- Believe it should choose free of social norms
- Claim gender isn't how you know a person
A CANADIAN couple has decided to raise its four-month-old baby to be "genderless" to protect its right to choose its own sex.
While there is no biological ambiguity about Storm Witterick's genitalia, parents Kathy Witterick, 38, and David Stocker, 39, refuse to say whether the child is male or female, The Toronto Star reports.
The couple believes in giving the youngster the right to choose his or her own gender, free from the pressures of social norms. The only people who know the child's sex are older brothers, Jazz, five, and Kio, two, a close family friend, and the two midwives who helped deliver Storm at the family's Toronto home on New Year's Day.
"When the baby comes out, even the people who love you the most and know you intimately, the first question they ask is, 'is it a boy or a girl?'" Ms Witterick told a Canadian parenting website.
The couple told friends their refusal to answer such questions was "a tribute to freedom in place of limitation."
"If you really want to get to know someone, you don't ask what's between their legs," Mr Stocker said.
Actress Angelina Jolie has been an outspoken critic of social norms for children after her daughter Shiloh, 4, raised eyebrows for dressing like a boy.
She said her daughter Shiloh's decision to chop off her locks and dress like a boy was "beautiful" and that she had no problem with the way she expressed herself.
"It's not my choice," Jolie told Stylist magazine. "I have a very strong willed four-year-old girl who tells me what she wants to wear and I let her be who she is.
"I think children should wear what they want and express themselves, so we give them different options of things."
She said her daughter Shiloh's decision to chop off her locks and dress like a boy was "beautiful" and that she had no problem with the way she expressed herself.
"It's not my choice," Jolie told Stylist magazine. "I have a very strong willed four-year-old girl who tells me what she wants to wear and I let her be who she is.
"I think children should wear what they want and express themselves, so we give them different options of things."
And androgynous Melbourne male model Andrej Pejic has said he would consider having a sex change to get a Victoria's Secret modelling contract. The 19-year-old is a favourite of French designer Jean Paul Gaultier. Pejic said he was comfortable showcasing female clothes and considered it part of the job.
Do you think the baby was born as both? I think he/she may have been.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Andrej Pejic should have the change - he is one of THE most sexiest people I've seen. And his opportunities are endless just the way he is.
That's a good question, who knows ultimately yet it cud be the case. Fascinating to know that's where parents are going with what their children :-) Andre I agree is a beautiful one on all levels, so innocent :-)
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