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Daisy Phung

Dr. Lim

AP Language and Composition

17 January 2017

The Importance of Gender Neutralism

Growing up, it has always been my parents, my sister, and me, and at first I never felt the

pressure to act like a ‘girl’. This lasted until my dad remarried and they had a son. A wave of

expectations rushed over me and all of a sudden my brother was placed on a pedestal. My step-

mother would expect me to cook for him and clean his things. When he was hurt, I was to blame.

She once told me that because I am a girl I should take care of the house by cooking and

cleaning. All this because I was a female. Gender neutral terms should be used in order to help

the issues that come from gender specific ones.

Gender neutral words can help children get away from gender stereotypes. Growing up

girls will think they have to be girly and boys, manly. Gender specific influences come right

from birth with pink or blue baby balloons. An article states, “...the same opportunities to test

and develop abilities and interests without being limited by stereotypical gender roles”

(Rothschild). These terms limit children from acting the way that they want to because there is

now an expectation put on them only because of their sex. It would be fine to use these specific

terms as long as parents are able to teach their children to live the way that they want to.

Children should learn not to listen to the gender norm, to follow these invisible “rules”.

Neutral terms allow children to be more free to do do what they want to in life. They are

able to pursue their own future without limitations. Women do not only have to be housewives

and men do have to be the “money makers”. Gender neutral terms let taboos that form because of
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specific terms disappear. A social worker stated, "A major pro to raising a gender-neutral baby is

that you will be allowing your child to develop without the artificially created limitations that

society has placed around gender" (DiProperzio). Without these limitations children are allowed

to be open to what they enjoy without being judged. There are some things that are known to be

gender specific, like wearing makeup is known for girls or how video games are known for boys

to play them.

These terms also help in situations like how to address different people who do not go by

a specific gender. Many people do not relate to any specific gender so it is difficult to know how

to address them. By using specific terms we may accidentally offend people who do not use

terms like ‘she’ or ‘he’. Neutral terms are able to help us talk to people comfortably without

them being offended. Unless someone asks to address them by ‘he’ or ‘she’ it is fine to use these

terms, so it is known that the person will not be offended. Some argue that having too many

terms will be confusing. However, people like Rocko Gieselman deal with issues from this. The

article has said, “Gieselman self-identifies not as a gay woman but as transgender” (Scelfo).

Gieselman never felt as if they were only and ‘male’ or ‘female’, so addressing her was always

difficult. Gender neutral terms would help her get away from being in between a girl or boy.

There are many who do not agree with gender neutral terms. They feel as if people have

their roles in society, being a man or women. In the article “Why Gender-Neutral Child-Raising

Is A Terrible Idea” by Rachel Lu she addresses what she thinks in the issue with gender

neutrality. She stated, “ All boys do need to be told: Become a man” (Lu). We should never put a

label on something that is like gender. Children being told this will have expectations to how

they should act growing up. This limits the child growing up because now he feels like he has to

act manly. Another argument some have relates to what girls can do specifically or what boys
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can do specifically. However, that is not true for James Charles a teen and CoverGirls first

CoverBoy. He had become famous for his makeup skills even shooting with Katy Perry. He

stated, “Men in makeup is becoming more widely accepted” (Safronova). This proves that

without the limitations from specific terms people are truly able to express themselves with

something that does not fit their sex.

Now that the topic of gender neutralism is coming forward more and more we should

take a step to help. With gender neutral terms we are able to take away limitations gender

specific terms have placed, how we are expected to act, stereotypes against sexes, and how we

can address certain people who do not go by male and female. Non Neutral terms create

limitations on how people can act and may create situations from not knowing how to address a

neutral person. Gender neutralism is a growing topic and it will take much more to have it

become a normal thing.

Works Cited
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DiProperzio, Linda. “Should You Raise a Gender Neutral Baby?” Parents. Parents, 2013. 27

January

2017. http://www.parents.com/parenting/gender-neutral-parenting/

Lu, Rachel. “Why Gender-Neutral Child-Raising is a Terrible Idea.” Federalist. The Federalist,

13 July 2016. 13 December 2016. http://thefederalist.com/2016/07/13/why-gender-

neutral-child-raising-is-a-terrible-idea/

Rothschild, Nathalie. “Sweden's New Gender-Neutral Pronoun: Hen.” Slate. Slate, 11 April

2012. 13 December 2016. http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2012/

04/hen_sweden_s_new_gender_neutral_pronoun_causes_controversy_.html

Safronova, Valeriya. “Meet CoverGirl’s new Cover Boy.” New York Times. The New York

Times, 12

October 2016. 27 January 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/16/fashion/meet-

covergirls

-new-cover-boy.html?_r=0

Scelfo, Julie. “ A University Recognizes a Third Gender: Neutral.” New York Times. The New

York Times, 3 February 2015. 13 December 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/

education/edlife/a-university-recognizes-a-third-gender-neutral.html?_r=1