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Don't get me wrong, I totally get the premise, but you don't have to raise your children in a gender-neutral environment to let girls know it's okay to get dirty and to let boys know it's okay to show emotion.
Gender (and sex) will always play a role in every society - regardless of culture and stereotypes. Females have innate abilities from birth that males don't. And vice-versa.
Parents should allow their children to express themselves however they wish. Parents also have a duty to prepare their children for the society they will encounter and anything less than that is doing a disservice to the child IMHO.
Empathy isn't a byproduct of being raised in a gender-neutral or genderfluid household. Empathy, just as every other behavior, is a learned trait based on environment.
I don't have daughters, but I'm cognizant enough to realize women, by and large, are oppressed by way of culturally-based religious beliefs, stereotypes and traditional customs (such as those in third-world countries). My take is, in American society, parents should reinforce to their daughters that they can accomplish anything and everything they put their mind to and they are not limited in any, way, shape or form by their sex. Anything short of that is doing a disservice to the girls IMHO.
Don't get me wrong, I totally get the premise, but you don't have to raise your children in a gender-neutral environment to let girls know it's okay to get dirty and to let boys know it's okay to show emotion.
Gender (and sex) will always play a role in every society - regardless of culture and stereotypes. Females have innate abilities from birth that males don't. And vice-versa.
Parents should allow their children to express themselves however they wish. Parents also have a duty to prepare their children for the society they will encounter and anything less than that is doing a disservice to the child IMHO.
Empathy isn't a byproduct of being raised in a gender-neutral or genderfluid household. Empathy, just as every other behavior, is a learned trait based on environment.
I don't have daughters, but I'm cognizant enough to realize women, by and large, are oppressed by way of culturally-based religious beliefs, stereotypes and traditional customs (such as those in third-world countries). My take is, in American society, parents should reinforce to their daughters that they can accomplish anything and everything they put their mind to and they are not limited in any, way, shape or form by their sex. Anything short of that is doing a disservice to the girls IMHO.
