did you read the story? the parents aren't keeping the child's sex a secret from the child--they're just not telling people who ask (and presumably they're also not consistently coding the child one way or another via clothing, hair, etc.). The family is in on the secret; it's outsiders who are not. And that keeps outsiders from imposing a set of gender expectations on the child. What's so freaky experimental about that?

... the real history of a little boy who was born with a defective set of male genitals back in the 60s. The doctor who treated him was keen on gender theory (yes, that theory! the one which feminism is based upon) which stated that genders were cultural (social) and not biological .

So the doctor decided that the best solution was to make a surgery to this boy's defective penis to transform it in a fake vagina. Then, he instructed the parents to treat the child as if he was a girl and to never tell him (or the world) the truth. Since he thought that genders were social and not biological, he thought, a boy raised as a girl would be indistinguishable as a (sterile) girl.

The child was raised as a little girl in every respect and had a lot of problems with his identity. When, being older, he was told the truth, he said that he has always knew that there was something wrong with him. He reconstructed his penis with surgery and married a woman.

Since the 60s, there have been a lot of scientific studies that prove beyond any doubt that gender is biological. Male and female brains are different. Male and female behaviors are different. Even male and female ways of speaking are different. Culture only mirrors biology.

Of course, feminism doesn't want to pay attention to that. It is based on gender theory, which states that genders are social so if women do something different than men it is only because of discrimination, oppression, patriarchy, etc. Although gender theory has been completely disproven by science, rejecting it would imply at least a radical rethinking of feminism, if not its complete demise. But this would be devastating for so many people who have made of feminism their profession or so many women who have put feminism in the center of their identity.

So feminism has become the left version of creationism: does not matter how much scientific evidence we have against this theory. We will disregard this evidence and will act as if didn't exist.

I hope Pop won't get hurt because of the misled ideas of his /her parents. It reminds me all those left-handed people who were forced to write with the right hand, because it was supposedly the right way to do it. Or those gay people that were "reeducated" to be straight. When you think that something biological is only cultural/psychological and can be changed by cultural/psychological means, a lot of misery ensues. Luckily Pop is not forced to do anything but knowing who you are (in all respect, including gender) since your childhood is good for children, who value stability and certainty more than adults do.

To say it with other words, when you try to rewrite human nature based on wishful thinking instead of hard reality, there is a huge amount of harm and misery that can be done. I hope Pop is not a victim of that.

My daughter, blessed as a toddler with a stocky build, a strong resemblance to her father and a fearless personality was universally assumed to be a boy. My son had curly blond hair and long eyelashes-- and a preference for pink clothing. We didn't plan it this way (really) but they both have unisex names.

We seldom corrected a wrong assumption-- why make people feel bad? Long before kindergarten everyone knew the sex of both children. A little bit of gender identification happened naturally. They are both normal teenagers now, different only in that they are both very comfortable with the opposite gender in a way that most kids aren't.

Pushing a child into a proscribed gender role is like deciding your child will be an athlete or a musician. Why force a child into a mold?

I think what these parents are doing is wonderful and really, not that big of a deal.

This is more about the parents and their smug superiority than it is about what's good for the child. It's about sticking it to "the man" and mother-in-law and society and the bourgeoisie, not about girding the kid's confidence. I don't think the kid is going to be "behind" because of this, but in my observation young people who grow up as part of social experiments aren't typically happy about being used to make a point once they get old enough to speak out about it. And when it's just the kid who is the experiment, when it's not even in the context of a whole family and community doing the same things? Massive, massive bitterness. You'd feel used, and with good reason, if it was done to you without your consent.

Why don't the parents obscure their genders too, then? Andro haircuts, makeup, clothes, names? Why not "genderqueer" the whole family? Too much stigma? Too inconvenient? Parents are already attached to their gender identities? Hmm...

Look out, Abba and Ziggy Stardust....in about 23 years, the Swedish version of David Bowie will explode onto the music scene -- with a very loud "Pop"!

What a great idea! Wish we could do this for ethnicity and skin color.

I'm going to be disappointed if they don't name their next child "Snap" or "Crackle".

Due to the child's parents' grandstanding, this child will probably grow up to be a very sad and mal-adjusted adult. So sad for "Pop," (or is it "Mom"?)

but I think making an experiment of a child- a real life person- is misguided and unethical. Sure parents make all sorts of decisions for their kids that are probably not great ideas but making your kid the focus of this doesn't seem a lot different than the asshole who named their kid Adolf Hitler to make a point. I have a hard time believing it is about the kids and not the parents.

The biggest concern I would have is they are bringing concern about the childs gender to the fore and putting a whole lot more focus on it than there would be normally. Why not work to help your child assert their nature against what people impose - like showing your young son it is good and healthy that he has an emotional life and your daughter that she as a person and not just for her looks or being properly demure. There are ways to counteract some of the cultural conditioning without making it the center of your childs life. I bet the kid ultimately rebels by developing an exceptionally gendered identity.