The medium for this post is in the infant clothing section at the store of your choice…
One day a baby was born, named X, so that nobody but the child’s parents would know the gender. When the Joneses came home with their child all of their family was there (none of them knowing about their secret). No one knew what to say when the Jonses proclaimed “It’s and X!”…. (from the essay X-A Fabulous Child’s Story by Lois Gould -> Google it)
When I finished reading the essay I was surprised at how many preconceived expressions/thoughts/actions were questioned by not knowing the gender of the child. Something as simple as buying clothes becomes a situation because, well, do we buy blue or pink (because obviously every boy should be in blue and every girl in pink… right?). Do we sign the child up for football or cheerleading? Do we buy them the “Boys’ Fire Engines” or “Girls’ Housekeeping Sets”? The examples are endless. Let’s take another look at what we might automatically assume simply based on whether somebody is a boy or a girl.
I’ll leave you with this mental picture, which still makes me laugh a little inside. Imagine a place where the boys wear Victoria’s Secret PINK fleece pants and the girls wear loose blue/grey sweats… Strange? I think so, but does it matter? Good luck finding the answer to why blue is for boys and pink is for girls (in most cases).
