_____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
There is no denying that I have sort of an intillectual love affair with Mr Russell Brand, when I hear him speak I am mesmerized by his genius and overall presence. However, recently he has been both criticized and praised for some words he said about how he will be raising his newest addition, and once again I have stars in my eyes and a heart that has turned to utter mush.
During a recent interview on The Jonathan Ross Show, Russell has admitted that through his fiancee’s pregnancy they did not know the gender of the child and now that ‘she’ has been brought into the world they don’t feel the need to force a certain way of living on their child in terms of gender.
“…. I may not even ever impose a gender upon it, let the child grow up and be the whatever the hell it is, never tell it there is such a concept….”
This is where equality stems, where the concept of our very beings evolve – at birth. I remember when I was pregnant with my firstborn, we knew he would be a boy and immediately everyone wanted to shower me with the color blue, they assumed he would play hockey and soccer and be rambunctious, just as little boys ‘are.’ Instead I decided right then and there that we would raise our children gender-neutral and I am forever happy that I did. We insisted that clothing would be neither boy or girl, that he would be free to play with whichever toys he chose and that no matter what, we’d love him (them) unconditionally.
Easier said than done? NOPE! It took very little time before family and friends adapted to the fact that our very adorable boy loved his dolls, wore tutu’s on occasion and even regarded himself at times as a ‘girl.’ Our little boy had become exactly who he chose to be…the best part is that he really owned his personality and was strong with his choices. While many would argue that we ‘made’ him this way, I will not. Simply because we had a second child (also a boy) who was more than surrounded by the cliche ‘girlie’ items by the time he became a toddler and was the exact opposite by choice. He fled to the more artistic side of his personality, he is a crafter and a creator, loves various toys not just dolls and would never be caught dead in a tutu.
Now that they are 7 and 10 I can see that they have really grown into themselves, they have become who they were intended to be- without stigmas, or direction to change any facet of their beings. They accept their peers for who they are and would never judge someone for liking or doing something they did not agree with. I am almost certain that Russells new little bundle will evolve into something great as well and I am quite confident that this may just be the key to a more accepting society as a whole.
