Couple Finally Reveal Child's Gender, After 5 Years. Wait... What?

It's a boy! And he's five. Beck Laxton, 46, and partner Kieran Cooper, 44, have spent half the decade concealing the gender of their son, Sasha.

"I wanted to avoid all that stereotyping," Laxton said in an interview with the Cambridge News. "Stereotypes seem fundamentally stupid. Why would you want to slot people into boxes?"

Sasha dresses in clothes he likes -- be it a hand-me-downs from his sister or his brother. The big no-no's are hyper-masculine outfits like skull-print shirts and cargo pants. In one photo, sent to friends and family, Sasha's dressed in a shiny pink girl's swimsuit. "Children like sparkly things," says Beck. "And if someone thought Sasha was a girl because he was wearing a pink swimming costume, then what effect would that have? "

[color=dodgerblue]I am sure you have an opinion on this, ATS. I am quite confused by the article and the motives of the parents here.

They want Sasha to be gender-neutral. They refuse to let him wear cargo pants because they see them as 'hyper-masculine', but they let him wear a pink sparkly swimsuit? Wouldn't that be considered 'hyper-feminine'?

I don't understand what the end goal is here. What is wrong with being a boy or girl? I don't think it is a 'label' or a 'stereotype' since we are biologically one or the other from birth.

What say you, ATS?

Last year another couple, Kathy Witterick, 38, and David Stocker, 39, of Toronto made a similar decision when they had their baby, Storm. At the time, certain psychiatric experts voiced concern over their decision. "To have a sense of self and personal identity is a critical part of normal healthy development," Dr. Eugene Beresin, director of training in child and adolescent psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, told ABC News. "This blocks that and sets the child up for bullying, scapegoating and marginalization."

Source

reply to post by daryllyn


Child abuse.

It's not their right to deny the child the right to make those decisions for himself. Sure he wants to be gender neutral, he can make that decision when he's old enough.

Nit picking this child's activities and deciding for him what he can and cannot do, is just harming this poor child's developping brain.

What a crock of nonsense.

reply to post by daryllyn


I think they are controlling a sentient being in order to reflect their views on the gender roles.

Unfortunately, "controlling a sentient being in order to reflect their views" is the problem. We are getting too many people like this nowadays...they believe that the child is a medium by which to impress their friends, express an opinion, or just make themselves feel good.

When will parents learn that children have wills of their own, and that every single bloody thing that happens in their childhood leaves its mark? And we wonder why children are so scarred as teenagers...

Sounds to me like they were hoping for a girl, and thought if he wore enough sparkly pink stuff his nob would fall off. The hypocrisy is sickening, if 'boy' clothes are out of the question then so should 'girl' clothes. At least they've come to their senses, hopefully it doesn't result in the child having identity issues when older.

reply to post by March of the Fire Ants


[color=dodgerblue]The article says they only announced the gender because the child is now in school and they were forced to disclose it.

The article also states that he wears a girl's blouse with his school uniform.

Ha ha yeah hyper feminine is what it sounds like. They are biased with what they let him wear.

So it would be okay to raise a child in what is considered normal and that's not child abuse? Dressing your child can be construed as child abuse by some party somewhere. What we feed our kids can be considered child abuse. The ten-year-old kid whose mother allowed him to get a tattoo in memory of his deceased brother *by his own request* is, by our standards, an abused child. Who makes these decisions? And on behalf of whom?

Who do we think we are to decide what is best for others? Why do we even have a culture that is virtually nothing but people deciding what *other* people should and should not be doing or allowed to do? Look around you. Can you travel freely? Can you eat freely? Can you "internet" freely? Can you do anything at all freely? Do you look for work freely? By "freely" I mean specifically by doing what you yourself truly feel as a sovereign and sentient person. Why is it so bloody important to us that we all abide by as closely the same thinking and methods as everyone else? Security? Peace of mind? Or just ego?

Loving those double posts.

Why didn't they just buy a Ken doll? It is gender neutral and they can dress it how they please.

reply to post by Starchild23

Unfortunately, "controlling a sentient being in order to reflect their views" is the problem. We are getting too many people like this nowadays...they believe that the child is a medium by which to impress their friends, express an opinion, or just make themselves feel good.

[color=dodgerblue]I think this statement is extremely accurate.

Since when were children meant for making a statement?

I wonder how this kid is going to feel about his parent's decision later in life?

reply to post by March of the Fire Ants


Let's all wear smocks and tights instead! I heard those were gender neutral back in the 1400's...

Good parents...

Sick twisted, unforgiving, and cruel society...

I wonder how the boy will turn out?

They named the boy Sasha, and dress him in a sparkling pink bathing suit.

To each his own I suppose

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Are you serious? That surprises me coming from you.

Good thread on the topic.

Raising Gender-Neutral or Gender-Specific Kids... Does it Matter?

My view? Here

In short:
There is no handbook for raising children, so just because these parents are doing it differently than previous generations doesn't mean they're doing anything wrong.

EVERY parent raises their child under a social experiment.
...
It's funny how most people here talk about freedom from government intrusion, but when a couple decide to buck the system and its rules, let their child be who they are instead of assigning it with societal pressure and not make them go to government-sponsored 'school', they are seen as crazy progressives. ...stepping outside the programming! Oh noes!

So how did they reference the child when they where discussing him before the great gender unveiling? Did they just refer to him as an "it"?

Friend to the Parents: "What do you think I should buy Sasha for "it's" birthday?"

gender mystery



sorry about that ken

Originally posted by TheLieWeLive
So how did they reference the child when they where discussing him before the great gender unveiling? Did they just refer to him as an "it"?

Friend to the Parents: "What do you think I should buy Sasha for "it's" birthday?"

[color=dodgerblue]The article says that she referred to Sasha as 'the infant' on her blog.

This experiment isnt about young Sasha...no, it's about the uber trendy partners, Laxton and Cooper. Look at us!!! We are so ahead of the curve; so new age and such trend setters...blah, blah, blah. Sasha and his gender neutral development is a public statement like marching into a super market with a wad of cloth grocery bags it's a public declaration that "we are so much more evolved than you."

Hope Sasha turns out ok, but feel the kid will someday just snap. He only gets one Childhood and it's his not mom and dad's petrii dish.

I am all for gender neutral upbringing. That does not however include banning manly clothes, and allowing girls ones D:

However i cannot see how this could work in our current society, where your sex is so descriptive of who you are. It should not be, but it is. In that environment you cannot start to experiment like they did.

Well it seems obvious to me that they wanted a girl and got a boy.
What I see is two pissed off parents turning their little boy into a girl.
I mean it's not so gender neutral when they got him in girls cloths and turn around and say he can't wear boy cloths.