ABSTRACT
Opening Illustration In 1972, at the heart of the second wave of feminist movement, Lois Gould published the fi ctional tale, “Th e Story of X: A Fabulous Child’s Story,” in Ms. Magazine. Th e story’s narrator describes an imaginary parenting scenario in which a baby is born, named “x,” and under the guidance of scientists is deliberately raised in a gender-neutral way. Th e
child is not subject to feminizing or masculinizing infl uences through toy selection and clothing coded as feminine or masculine, and is coparented equally by opposite-sex parents. Th e story calls attention to the many gendered messages we experience on a daily basis: “bouncing it up in the air and saying how strong and active it was, they’d be treating it more like a boy than an X. But if all they did was cuddle it and kiss it and tell it how sweet and dainty it was, they’d be treating it more like a girl than an X. On page 1654 of the Offi cial Instruction Manual, the scientists prescribed: ‘plenty of bouncing and plenty of cuddling, both, X ought to be strong and sweet and active. Forget about dainty altogether’ ” (Gould). Gould’s ultimate moral was that parenting that drew from a range of human virtues would produce well-adjusted, functional children who were free to express themselves and pursue their interests regardless of whether those expressions and pursuits were coded as masculine or feminine.
