Hello heroes of the world,
it's been a week since I wrote anything here. Today I thought it's time to sit down again and go on a journey of thoughts. Yesterday I wanted to buy something for a friend for the birth, but I don't know the sex of the child yet. When I went to the store, the clothes were almost all pink and blue. While doing so, I caught myself thinking, "If I buy pink now and it turns out to be a boy, it will just gather dust in the closet. Blue can be worn by a girl in a pinch."
Embarrassed by my thoughts, I ended up deciding against both colors and went home without anything. I asked myself, why do we need the terms "typical girl" and "typical boy" at all? I scoured many articles and forums on the internet about this topic after this experience. Afterwards, I felt better because I am not the only one who finds this world, now divided into pink & blue, alienating for girls and boys. It's sad that our society thinks it's not normal for boys to wear pink and girls to go wild. Especially in the baby departments of fashion houses, there are few neutral colors these days. The same is the case with toys. There are few toys that are designed with neutral colors. Many companies focus on the gender stereotype colors, such as pink and blue, when designing their products. If you look at the supermarket shelves, food products are also marked with the typical gender colors. So girls think the chocolate in the pink package is for them and the blue package is for their brother.
Society has now quickly accepted this color assignment, which is profitable for the industry. Because if someone wants to break through this color assignment, the child is immediately labeled as "different" or "weird. Even when boys play with dolls and girls with cars, something is wrong and sometimes even leads to bullying. For the sole reason that it is not typical or ultimately does not correspond to what society and industry envisage for the sexes. Would many more children choose their color or toy differently if they were not given it by society and the environment supported them?
I think it is important that children can develop freely and use the clothes/toys they really want. By this I don't mean a different style of upbringing, but "only" the detachment of the stereotypes in society. This way they will not be inhibited in their own personality. I am sure that then they will not have to suppress anything and will be much happier.
Genderless
That is why I am fascinated by Olidi, known from the adventures of my siblings RoLa published as an adventure book. This person has devotedly supported RoLa in her adventures and has revealed herself as a lovable personality. Olidi does not want to be reduced to gender and therefore wants to be openly genderless and thus not restricted in her/his own actions. Olidi wants to do what she/he wants and not be judged by society. In our society there are more and more differences between the sexes. Whether consciously or unconsciously, differences are made between women and men, whether in the profession or in interpretations of behavior. I can well understand that more and more parents want to take the pressure off their child and let it grow up genderless. Thus, no one knows the gender and the child is less restricted in his actions.
Do you think genderless parenting is good or bad?
Let me know your opinion via comment (below) or Instagram. I'm curious what you think about this topic.
Yours
PS: For more pictures of my experiences with RoLa (nephew & niece) feel free to visit my Instagram profile.