@the_great_she_elephant wrote:
4 channel wrote: Even though some folk may have swung a certain way other than their intended creation had designed them, at least children were taught that a boy is a boy and a girl is a girl. A human is a human and an animal is an animal.
So in your opinion:
1)What is the 'intended design' for intersex individuals - those born with with both male and female genitalia?
2) Should children be allowed to learn that: "A school of clownfish is always built into a hierarchy with a female fish at the top. When she dies, the most dominant male changes sex and takes her place."
3) Is it OK for pantomimes to have a 'Principal Boy' played by a girl and a 'Dame' played by a man in drag?
4) Is it OK for children to watch anthropomorphic animal cartoons e.g. Bluey?
5) How much identity confusion will it cause if children watch Bananas In Pyjamas?
6) Should they be allowed to believe in Santa, The Tooth Fairy or The Easter Bunny?
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I know you were writing to 4channel but I thought yours was an interesting post so I hope you won't mind me jumping in too.
1. This will be an unpopular opinion these days, but I think that sometimes nature gets things wrong. In fact I am sure of it. I have a daughter who was born with oesophageal atresia. Basically, such children died 100% of the time before the advent of proper surgery after WW2, because they could not eat or drink, the gullet didn't join the stomach.
Other children may be born deaf or blind. These days we are told, especially by some of the deaf groups, that it isn't a disability. Sorry, it definitely is.
My attitude to intersex individuals would be that nature has made a mistake but fortunately not a fatal one and doctors could work with the individual to see what their preferred options were, if any.
Can I just say I don't believe any individual should ever be rejected for the way they are born. A lot of us have conditions that may be linked to genetics or may just be present when we are born. Some conditions can make everyday life harder for a person & society shouldn't make it any harder on top of that.
2. Absolutely they should be taught that. It is a detailed fact. I believe part of the problem with society at the moment is in an effort to be 'fair', some groups have decided to reject the concept of difference when it concerns humans. In the example you gave, we would be teaching children that in a group of clownfish, a female was at the top and when she died the most dominant male changed sex and took her place.
In other words, we would be teaching that different genders exist. Contrast that to some parents who are raising children without revealing which gender that child is, even to the child. I understand their motivation is to avoid stereotyping, but realistically, there are physical differences between the sexes and acknowledging that shouldn't be a no-no.
3. Pantomimes & plays often used to have females playing the lead male role, back in the day (1960s). I recall as a child, going to some at the Tivoli here in Melb and I once asked my mum why & she gave some explanation which was a bit strange, about decency etc. There weren't any torrid love scenes in the plays but that's the way things were in those days.
4. Yes, Bluey is great! I don't think any harm comes of watching anthropomorphic cartoons. Kids have a lot of common sense, they know talking dogs, spiders, plants etc are not real. They enjoy a bit of fantasy and always have. A few years back, I read a class of Year 3's some of the work of May Gibbs. The gay nuts, the big bad banksia men etc. They absolutely loved it and why not.
5. None.
6. Yes, sure. They get a lot of joy and excitement out of it and it only lasts a few years. I know some parents don't agree with it and that's fine, they can bring their kids up as they see fit, but for those who get a bit of fun out of it, it's fine.
7. (My own addition). I think with all these extreme body makeovers we have seen here, they are always going to be rarer. You're not going to get everyone rushing to have the same things done just because they see it on media. Media/society does have a massive influence on us though, otherwise we'd all still be wearing the long frocks of the 19th century.
I think what media does is slowly change our perceptions and attitudes. My sister in law was telling me that when she was a young teen, her grandfather yelled at her for wearing a pant suit. "Girls don't wear pants", he apparently roared. Walk any shopping centre these days and you'd be lucky to see a frock on any woman, young or old. Grandpa would have a fit.
In the same way, some medical procedures are much more common now than they were eg face lifts, botox. It's not necessarily good or bad in itself but I do think at some stage medical practitioners need to step back and decide at what point they are causing more harm than good to a person's physical health.
