prefer the opinion of a 'consultant' over that of a qualified psychologist?

The winner by far is iamnobody's non sequitur reference to forced sex changes on children.

What I love most though are the ugly hypocrites like Exquisite Koi who I recall as being in favour of circumcision and stridently dismissing any notion of it having long term psychological effects, but are incensed about parents simply shielding the child from gender stereotyping.

You know, I absolutely agree with your point of view, but perhaps I can inform you of why a lot of guys have this impression of feminism: because a lot of women define it that way.

I've believed in equality for a long time. It wasn't until I got to college (at age 24, after a stint in the Navy, serving with women, btw) that I was informed of how much of a sexist pig I am.

I took a class in sociology, because I was interested in a career in that field. My professor then informed me that there is absolutely no biological difference (besides the obvious physical traits) between a man and a woman, and gender is entirely a social construct created by the patriarchy. She then informed the class that she had to "import" all her boyfriends from Europe. (What, like furniture or cars?) After the class where she preached that "all white people are racist," I gave up on a career in sociology.

To me, the idea of total gender neutrality is a rather degrading idea. It would imply that I'm a heterosexual man simply because I prefer to use a woman's vagina vice a man's anus as a sperm receptical. How dehumanizing.

So, in conclusion, I hope you can see why so many guys who want equality and want to celebrate the wonderful differences between us would be turned off by feminism. The way it's being defined in the academic world by its self-proclaimed proponents is a real turn off. When I meet a strong, educated woman who I can live in harmony with, "feminist" is the last word to cross my mind.

I love how all the people expressing outrage are unable to actually read and comprehend the article.

Nothing in the article suggests that the child doesn't know its gender. Nothing in the article suggests that the parents are letting the child choose its gender. They're merely not telling you what sort of junk its carrying, because it's not your business.

But we get pages of irrelevant drivel from the usual suspects, saying "they can't keep it from the child!", and "are they going to let it pick its species, too?!", and "there are real differences between males and females", etc., etc. Pathetic.

There's not much to comprehend beyond the silly presumptiousness of parents who are keeping people in the dark about their child's sex to make a point they believe the rest of humanity needs to know.

As I've said, they're pretentious.

A few other posters have already mentioned this, but it deserves repeating:

"sex" refers to the biological givens, including xx or xy chromosomes, external genitalia, internal reproductive organs and hormones, all of which have to do with the biological development of the individual. Yes, there are some minority of individuals who through no fault of their own but probably the result of some incidence in the womb fail to develop in the usual way. Sex-assignment surgeries and so forth may ensue, and sometimes whoever is making the decisions chooses the wrong path. Hopefully better genetic testing will put that kind of error in the past.

"gender" refers to the cultural and social givens that get piled on to the biological ones, so that a "female" learns to become "feminine" and a "male" becomes "masculine." Whatever that means within a given sociocultural environment. What counts as "feminine" or "masculine" varies a lot across human populations, and even within them if large enough, and it is certainly an interesting enterprise to determine which characteristics of "gender" are also characteristics of "sex" (e.g. testosterone x social dominance). There are still a lot of unknowns about the interaction of sex and gender, but I think it helps to keep the two concepts separated.

Having said all that, the rules of gender differentiation in American culture has become so absurd it defies description! Pink and Blue? I have a friend who has twins, a boy and a girl, who share the same clothes, the same toys, the same room, the same parental love. When the family goes out and about, it is the twin wearing the blue hat that others see as "the handsome boy" and the twin in the red/pink hat others see as "the pretty girl." Unknown to observers, the hats and the clothes are interchangeable.

I'm ranting, Sorry.

Person: Hi there, good to meet you, Koi! Where are you from?

Me: I don't believe in defining myself with a limiting label based on geography.

Person: Come again?

Me: I don't think that in order to appreciate me as an individual you require knowledge of my precise geographical origins nor the arbitrary linguistic designations thereof.

versus this:

Person: Hi there, good to meet you, Koi! Where are you from?

Me: I'm an American, from Washington State! And you?

Hmm....

Person: Hi there, good to meet you, Koi! Where are you from?

Me: I don't believe in defining myself with a limiting label based on geography.

Person: Come again?

Me: I don't think that in order to appreciate me as an individual you require knowledge of my precise geographical origins nor the arbitrary linguistic designations thereof.

versus this:

Person: Hi there, good to meet you, Koi! Where are you from?

Me: I'm an American, from Washington State! And you?

Hmm....

Haha, believe it or not, a sore conversation for many people who don't consider themselves to be from where they appear to be from!

In fact, because I didn't notice your username at first and Koi sounds like a non-American name, I thought at first that that might be what you were getting at.

What really happens to many people:

(Scene: Koi, a third-generation Chinese-American who speaks native English, is meeting a curious white person.)

CWP: Hi, nice to meet you Koi! Where are you from?

Koi: I'm from Washington State? How about you?

CWP: Hey, come again? Where are you REALLY from?

Koi: *sigh* I was born and raised in Washington state...

Not unrelated to the gender conversation actually...people get pressured in so many ways to form their identity around expectations based on what they look like.