P4P on POP

I recently read about a Swedish child named Pop whose parents are raising ungendered. I think this is incredible. During my time in the Peers for Pride class we talked briefly about raising a child without gendering it. My biggest concern with this idea was how it would play out, and if I could play it out. Afterall, I was born and raised in a gendering society and no matter how hard I try, I have yet to eradicate the deeply ingrained idea of gender as a reality. While I'm not sure that this is the dawning of a genderless era, I definitely think it is an interesting step in a new direction. If we can open up children's minds, eventually those children will be adults who can think of things as more fluid and less concrete.

I have some concern on how the child will be treated when zhe reaches school age and puberty, but I imagine by puberty zhe will have made up hir mind on what pronoun, if any, zhe prefers. I also would like to take this opportunity to point out the third pronouns that are relatively unknown, even in the queer community. I have yet to meet or hear of someone who calls hirself "IT." That means you shouldn't be referring to people as "it" either. Here is a pronoun grid for those of you who are willing to try and broaden your vocabulary and ideas about gender, as well as for those of you who are tired of the gender binary and want another option:

zhe (AKA zie/ze) ----- he ----- she

hir ----- him ----- her

Another good idea is to try to limit pronoun usage when possible and simply call a person by hir name.

The article I read can be found at the following web address:
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid95235.asp