Toronto Baby has a Secret Gender

via Queerty by tefinger on 6/6/11

We know that Canadians are weird and all, but this one takes the cake.

Kathy Witterick and David Stocker, a Toronto couple, are keeping their new baby's gender a secret. Not even Grammy knows if her new Grandbaby is a boy or a girl or intersex or gender queer or what else have you. Ms. Witterick says that the idea that "the whole world must know what is between the baby's legs is unhealthy, unsafe, and voyeuristic."

It's not a bad point. And in a gender obsessed society, perhaps it's even a noble cause.

But by splashing your genderless baby all over the news and making a martyr out of him… her… it… We can't help but think that behavior  is unsafe, unhealthy, and voyeuristic. Before we wouldn't have cared. Before we wouldn't have known… Now we can't stop thinking about your baby's bits and pieces. And it's making us feel dirty!

The Canadian couple has two other sons (biologically speaking), Jazz, 5, and Kio, 2, who are encouraged to challenge gender norms by wearing dresses and braids. They are generally thought to be girls, the parents told the Toronto Star.

Again, this sounds pretty cool. We at Queerty love when families or individuals challenge society – especially when it comes to gender roles and stereotypes. In fact, that's why we run the fantastic Raising My Rainbow column. But why, dear God, why do you have to call up the press and talk to them about it? Who is it for, anyway? For your kids? Or for the world?

For the baby's sake, we hope it works. We hope the baby will organically grow into its own gender identity. But you gotta wonder.

Photo credit: Associated Press