{"id":7832,"date":"2015-01-16T18:15:08","date_gmt":"2015-01-17T00:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/?p=7832"},"modified":"2015-01-18T08:23:33","modified_gmt":"2015-01-18T14:23:33","slug":"the-whiplash-and-dream-of-raising-boygirl-twins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/2015\/01\/16\/the-whiplash-and-dream-of-raising-boygirl-twins\/","title":{"rendered":"The Whiplash and Dream of Raising Boy\/Girl Twins"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"legwarmers\"<\/a>
My twins<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Raising pre-school aged boy\/girl twins in a rigidly gender-bifurcated universe where attitudes sloooooowly change is one big gender bender, my friends–I swear. Some days, I get whiplash. Let me show you what I mean.<\/p>\n

Last month, the Australian-based initiative called No-Gender December <\/a>made a valiant stand against the gendered marketing of toys to our children, raising both eyebrows and awareness. I loved it. Huzzah and yay!<\/strong><\/p>\n

But with January comes announcement of the arrival of Heartlake City<\/a>, a \u201cgirl\u201d section of Legoland Florida\u2019s hit theme park scheduled to open this summer. Look at the picture (below, right), and read this post<\/a> about how the introduction of the girl <\/em>section (which includes a shopping mall, a convertible where girls can take selfies) implies that all the other sections (dinosaur exploration area, fire station, city streets, pilot school, archeology-themed ride, science area, jousting, playground) are for boys. The creepy tune and lyrics of “Girl Land” from the Free to Be You and Me album<\/em><\/a> come to mind (“you go in a girl, and come out a lady!”). Hiss. Boo.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Heartlake<\/a>
Heartlake City, aka (IMHO) Girl Land<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I love Lego, and so do my kids, and I hate that Lego bricks themselves\u2014that once gloriously gender-neutral toy, a Danish <\/em>toy, for irony\u2019s sake\u2014now have gender.<\/p>\n

But the same day I learned about Legoland\u2019s launch of Girl Land, I came across a poster in a coffee shop located on my town\u2019s main drag announcing that come February, About Face Theater is bringing A Kid Like Jake<\/a> <\/em>to the Greenhouse Theater Center, along with “weekly post-show discussions around the topics of gender development in children, contemporary parenting and discovering identity for young people.” Huzzah and yay!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a>This play by Daniel Pearle, an urban drama about an upscale couple annoyingly obsessed with getting their kid into prestigious private kindergarten (the kind that cost an annual $40K), is simultaneously a modern portrayal of a kid with enthusiasms for gender-variant play. The poster I saw in the coffee shop features a little boy, backed turned to the viewer, gazing longingly at a wall onto which a shadow image in the likeness of Disney\u2019s Cinderella is projected at five times his size. \u201cWhy can\u2019t a boy be a princess?\u201d the caption reads. Right there on Main Street. Granted, mine\u2019s a progressive town. But I still find cause to celebrate the fact this play, and with it its sweet and beautiful poster, is going around the nation. So I repeat: huzzah and yay!<\/strong><\/p>\n

No Gender December. Girl City. A Kid Like Jake. Yay boo, yay boo, yay.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

This whiplash reminds me of a handmade book made by some kid in my elementary school (hello Greeley!) and housed in the school\u2019s library. The book\u2019s title was Fortunately, Unfortunately<\/em>. On one page, something good would happen to the pint-sized protagonist. (\u201cFortunately, when I woke up today, Mom made me my favorite pancakes.\u201d) The next page featured the reverse. (\u201cUnfortunately, we were out of syrup, so I had to eat them plain.\u201d) Something delicious would happen, then something annoying would happen that would take that deliciousness away.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Our preschool rocks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That\u2019s how I feel about our culture\u2019s one-step-forward, two-steps-back slouch toward a world in which a very young boy (like mine, pictured up top) can wear pink and purple legwarmers without bystanders batting an eye. He’s five, and who cares. And fortunately, my two five-year olds go to a remarkable preschool, where messages like this one are plastered on the walls:<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, not everyone in our wider community may feel the same way as my preschool community does. Yet.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, my daughter does. When my son told his twin sister he was jealous of her new legwarmers, she let him \u201cborrow\u201d them without missing a beat.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, he came home without them on. (Not sure what happened at school \u2013 highly likely he just got hot.)<\/p>\n

And for one final moment of whiplash, while walking down a main street in town the other day returning to my office, I passed by the new French bakery, with a sign on its door that read \u201cNous sommes Charlie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\""Nous<\/a>
“Nous Sommes Charlie”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It broke my heart. And then my spirits rose again.<\/p>\n

Because right next door, at an indoor playspace for babies and tots, I saw this:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
“Raise courageous people”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Raise courageous people,” the rainbow-colored sign in the window reads. There’s a second sign above the first, with a quote from Matisse: “Creativity takes courage.”<\/p>\n

I have a dream, that my two little children–and all<\/em> our little children–will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by their anatomy, and what they like to play with, and what they like to wear, but by the content of their character.<\/p>\n

Raise courageous people. Raise courage, people.<\/p>\n

Though I may have whiplash, I, too, have a dream today.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I invite you to follow me on Twitter @girlmeetsvoice<\/a>, join my Facebook community<\/a>, and subscribe to my quarterly newsletter<\/a> to keep posted on coaching, writings, and talks<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Raising pre-school aged boy\/girl twins in a rigidly gender-bifurcated universe where attitudes sloooooowly change is one big gender bender, my friends–I swear. Some days, I get whiplash. Let me show you what I mean. Last month, the Australian-based initiative called No-Gender December made a valiant stand against the gendered marketing of toys to our children, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1902,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21107],"tags":[31100,31101,31099,31097,21523,31098,31091],"class_list":["post-7832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mama-w-pen","tag-a-kid-named-jake","tag-about-face-theater","tag-heartlake-city","tag-i-have-a-dream","tag-lego","tag-legoland","tag-no-gender-december"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1902"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7832"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7858,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7832\/revisions\/7858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}