Storm Witterick is going to be one screwed up kid...

[Gob]

Storm Witterick is four months old - blue-eyed, blond-haired, chubby-cheeked, and generally adorable.

But whether Storm is a girl or a boy is a secret that his (or her) parents are refusing to share.

Kathy Witterick, 38, and husband David Stocker, 39, are keeping Storm's gender hidden from the world - a world they claim is ruled by stereotypes - in an effort to protect the child's right to choose.

There's nothing ambiguous about the baby's sex. The parents know - as do brothers Jazz, five, and Kio, two, who somehow are apparently keeping their mouths shut.

One close family friend also knows, as do the two midwives who helped deliver the baby in a birthing pool in the couple's Toronto home on New Year's Day.



That, however, is it. When Storm was born, the couple sent an email to the rest of their friends and family that stated: 'We've decided not to share Storm's sex for now — a tribute to freedom and choice in place of limitation, a stand up to what the world could become in Storm's lifetime (a more progressive place? ...).'

Their announcement, they told the Toronto Star, was at first met with silence. Then came the deluge.

Storm's grandparents were supportive - but resented having to explain a gender-free baby to friends and co-workers.

Friends cleverly accused the couple of taking away the newborn's right to choice by imposing their own ideology on the tiny baby.

And pretty much everyone they told (or, rather, refused to tell) was united in believing they were setting their children up for a lifetime of bullying.

Children can be especially cruel. Picture how Storm's first day at school could go.

But Mrs Witterick was defiant. 'When the baby comes out, even the people who love you the most and know you so intimately, the first question they ask is, ‘Is it a girl or a boy?’' she told the Star.

Her husband chimed in: 'If you really want to get to know someone, you don’t ask what’s between their legs.'

The couple believe they are releasing Storm from the constraints society imposes on males and females. They claim children can make meaningful decisions for themselves from a very young age.

'When faced with inevitable judgment by others, which child stands tall (and sticks up for others) — the one facing teasing despite desperately trying to fit in, or the one with a strong sense of self and at least two 'go-to' adults who love them unconditionally?'

They called parents who make choices for their children 'obnoxious', instead telling their children to challenge how they're expected to look and act based on their sex.

Their older children, Jazz and Kio, already decide when to cut their hair and pick out their own clothes - from the boy and girl sections of stores. Five-year-old Jazz, for example, just picked out a pink dress which he loves because it 'really poofs out at the bottom' and 'feels so nice'.

Jazz also wears his hair long, in three braids - two at the front and one at the back - though both his parents have close-cropped hair. Pink is his favourite colour, even though neither of his parents owns a piece of pink clothing.

Kio, the two-year-old, loves purple and keeps his curly blond hair just below his chin.

The result is that most people believe the boy are girls. Their parents don't correct the assumption - they leave that up to the discretion of the five-year-old and the two-year-old.

The effects are already apparent.

Jazz, fortunately, was out of earshot on a recent trip to a park when a family friend overheard two little girls saying they did not want to play with a 'girl-boy'.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1NJtYhCAL

[@meric@nwom@n]

[The Hen]

Maybe Storm was born with two sets of genetals and Storm's parents wanted Storm to work out for him/herself which gender he/she identified with.

Which would be nice instead of having them choice for him/her.

[Scooter]

No, all their kids were born anatomically one or the other. They just have decided that they aren't going to give them any sort of push towards gender roles based on their anatomy.

[The Hen]

Ahh I missed that opening statement.

What wankers then.

[Gob]

[loCAtek]

Whoops, way too teeny pic.

[The Hen]

Allow me to assist:

Kid 1 (K1) "He shoots .... He scores! It's a goal!!"
Kid 2 "Goal!"
Mum "Oh Tarquin! You know you don't believe in competitive sports. We discussed it as our last Household Forum on Ethical Play, remember?"
Dad "Football is a symbolic enactment of male victims"
K1 "No it isn't. It's fun."

[Gob]

"Violence" not "Victims" lover...

[The Hen]

I need glasses.

[BoSoxGal]

No doubt those kids will be the subject of teasing by other kids in school.

The same exact thing could just as well happen if the boys wore all blue with buzz cuts, and the newly born girl (that's my guess) wore all pink with long hair.

Sounds like they have interesting, involved, loving parents. They will probably turn out just fine, and be far more open-minded and compassionate individuals than most of the hyper-gender-identified drones in our society.

Just my .02

[Joe Guy]

Those parents appear to think that one's sexual identity is a choice they will make at some point rather than a natural result of their birth.

They may have good intentions, but they aren't helping their kids much.

[Scooter]

I don't think it is their children's gender identity that the parents are trying to suppress, but rather they are trying to avoid in both their children and in those who interact with them the stereotypical behaviours that are associated with one gender or the other. For example, they are trying to avoid having their child believe that she should enjoy playing with dolls and Easy Bake ovens just because she has a vagina, or other people telling him that big boys don't cry just because he has a penis. What their gender identity is will inevitably express itself irrespective of whether they engage in and are confronted with stereotypical behaviour associated with their respective genitalia; what their parents are attempting to avoid, in the meantime, is having their children feel discomfort because their behaviour does not conform to what others believe is appropriate based solely on his/her anatomy.

This family followed the same strategy and their children appear to have turned out just fine.

[BoSoxGal]

My BF's 4 year old daughter already spends most of her playtime putting on makeup and dressing up - she has painted fingernails and toenails, and pierced ears. She wears pink 95% of the time, and demands everything 'Princess' that is available for sale - thanks, Disney.

This is not because it comes inherently from who she is, but because her shallow silly mother has been imposing all of that on her since she was born (she got the kid's ears pierced when she was only an infant, and the poor kid was sick for weeks with resulting infection - wtf? who needs to wear earrings when still in diapers?!?).

I think the kind of parenting the Wittericks are pursuing may be a bit to the extreme end of 'out of the norm', but the 'norm' in this society largely sickens me, so I'm happier to see genderless Storm than I am to see my BF's lovely, bright, sweet daughter pigeonholed already AT 4 YEARS OF AGE into obsessing over her appearance and wanting a boyfriend (yes, she's even talking about that - but then, her mother has several, so that's the example being set for her).

Yes, I tend to be a bit obsessive over my BF's loser ex-wife - BUT, I see the same stuff all around me, and I find it all offensive. Kids should be focused on learning, playing - sports, whether team or individual - and not on defining themselves in terms of the opposite sex. I also support non-coeducational public schools, because all the studies show kids do better in terms of learning when the bullshit of interacting with the opposite sex is removed from the equation. Let them mix and mingle, outside of the classroom setting.

This thead is related to the thread on Jon Benet-Ramsey and the hyper-sexualization of children that is largely accepted by our society. Sick. But we question these folks?

[Joe Guy]

"what their parents are attempting to avoid, in the meantime, is having their children feel discomfort because their behaviour does not conform to what others believe is appropriate based solely on his/her anatomy."

But most other kids and most of society will still believe these children should conform to typical male or female behavior, so while they are growing up they are likely to be in many 'discomforting' situations.

[Scooter]

And so long as they don't know the kid's anatomical gender, they will make assumptions based solely on how he/she is behaving and will believe he/she is conforming to the assumed gender, and so not give the kid any grief over it.

[Joe Guy]

And so long as they don't know the kid's anatomical gender, they will make assumptions based solely on how he/she is behaving and will believe he/she is conforming to the assumed gender, and so not give the kid any grief over it.

I don't think it would be very easy for a boy to act like a girl and other children not figure it out - and the same with girls acting like boys.

btw - wouldn't they have problems choosing which gender's bathroom to use?

[The Hen]

Young boys and girls often ask each other whether the other is a boy or a girl. That is despite the parents dressing them like a princess or Thomas the Tank Engine.

When Storm reaches preschool s/he will be asked that question. If s/he doesn't know the answer that will lead automatically to a game of "Showies", and s/he will soon learn whether s/he is a boy or a girl.

Suck on that weirdy parents of Storm. You have ensured that you child will be exposing themselves soon after starting school.

[loCAtek]

Kindof, but no. The tomboys like me (not my family's choice) were taunted for not conforming to gender roles, but we were never forced to expose our genitalia to anyone.

More often, it was peer pressure we were punished with: to act in accord, or be ostracized. Be assimilated, or be exiled.

So be it; we be true to ourselves. Bring on the slings and arrows!

[oldr_n_wsr]

More often, it was peer pressure we were punished with: to act in accord, or be ostracized. Be assimilated, or be exiled.

So the kid with no sexual identity will be teased by both sexes. Sounds like a plan.