Originaly, I was going to make this a single post but when I thought about it more I really needed to split this topic into at least three sections.
In case you haven’t guessed I am going to be discussing my thoughts on the discussion about our youth not being able to understand their gender at certain ages.
Gender is taught and forced upon us
From the beginning of our lives, and in some cases before we are born, we are taught about what gender is. Don’t believe me? Ask yourself how expecting parents behave after first learning the assigned gender of their unborn child.
In more than most cases they start referring to their unborn child by the gender determined by the doctor analyzing the ultrasound. What happens when the child is born and the original gender determination is proven wrong? The parents switch to calling their child by the gender that they have determined by the visible genitalia.
Clothes, toys, decorations, etc. are all chosen by the parents, their friends, and family based on what we have all been taught is correct for their gender. The child does not have a voice we understand so they are forced to endure everything that is thrust upon them.
Companies spend massive amounts of money to ensure their goods are marketed at specific genders and we buy into it every single day. We do so because that is what our parents taught us to do, and what their parents taught them to do, and so on. We do this because it is what is considered “normal”. We do it so we can be accepted.
The importance of recognition
The majority of children grow up and they are completely fine with their gender, but a few of us start questioning things at a very early age. This can be as simple as responding to colors differently or preferring certain playmates over others.
What happens far too often is that these signals are completely misinterpreted by the family. They either think it’s cute that their baby is wooing up to another of the opposite gender or they redirect the child because what they are doing is not what they were taught was acceptable for that gender.
So, now we have a child that is being raised with confusing instructions as their bodies are telling them one thing but their parents are forcing the opposite. This can come of as a child being problematic or even considered to have a disorder because they become obstinate to other things they are being told to do. Wouldn’t you be rebellious if you were told something that did not fit with your own feelings about yourself? Even more so if you were being forced to do something in direct opposition to what you know is right for yourself?
The parents are not entirely to blame though. When you look at most advertising, television programming, and other media there is a definite gender division and in most cases it is not allowed to be crossed, ever. All you need to do for confirmation is go into a clothing store, there are defined Men’s and Women’s sections and the difference in the clothes is very minimal. The excuses that are used to justify this division are about as ridiculous as the invisible barrier itself.
Changing starts with us, now
The described behavior here does not need to be perpetuated. We can make the decision to change our own behaviors so our children can grow up much wiser than us.
