boy or girl baby

Who cares?

Some parents like to keep their baby's gender a secret before it's born, but not many hide that information after it's born. This couple does.

A Swedish couple has refused to reveal whether their child, Pop (now 2), is a boy or a girl. The parents made their decision based on the feminist philosophy that gender is a social construction.

"We want Pop to grow up more freely and avoid being forced into a specific gender mold from the outset,"  Pop’s mother, 24, said. "It's cruel to bring a child into the world with a blue or pink stamp on their forehead."

The child's parents said so long as they keep Pop’s gender a secret, he or she will be able to avoid preconceived notions of how people should be treated if male or female.

Pop wears both dresses and pants, and Pop's hairstyle changes on a regular basis.

“Ignoring children's natures simply doesn’t work,” says psychologist Susan Pinker in The Local, a Swedish newspaper. "Child-rearing should not be about providing an opportunity to prove an ideological point, but about responding to each child’s needs as an individual."

On the other hand, gender equality consultant Kristina Henkel told the paper that the experiment could have positive results. "Without these gender stereotypes, children can build character as individuals, not hindered by preconceived notions of what they should be as males or females."

What do you think about this? Would our babies better off if we raised them without a gender?