In an interesting article entitled “My Name is Jesse”, by Jesse Ellison, the writer reveals her unusual upbringing as an “experiment” in gender neutrality. Apparently Jesse’s parents decided that it would be in her best interest to try to deprogram her natural inclination toward her gender-based proclivities. For example, they would dress her as neutrally as possible, let her only play with wooden blocks instead of dolls, etc. Unfortunately, the more she was pushed, the more Jesse would rebel, demanding dresses and the like; she wanted to be just who she was, and not a political statement.
Jesse’s mother says “It took a while to think, ‘Maybe men and women really are different from each other, and they’re both equally valuable.’ ” Contrary to what they expected, Jesse’s parents found that trying to even the playing field by refusing to acknowledge the inherent differences between the sexes simply exacerbated the issue. In fact, far from being an equalizer, such actions simply brought into greater relief the disparity already existent.
Any condemnation based on gender is simple intolerance. It’s up to the parents to foster acceptance by modeling it. This can be difficult, given that sexual discrimination still exists to varying degrees in most parts of our society. We want to tell our children that they can be anything they want to be when they grow up, and they can, but we need to also bear in mind that this is not an entirely just environment, and there is inequality. The best we can do is to lead by example — show fairness, respect the differences of others, pursue justice. If tomorrow’s adults grow up with these tenets in place, the charged political landscape might just change over time.
