Parents Keep Child's Gender Secret - Annotated Bibliography Example

Annotated Bibliography Jayme Poisson , Parents keep childs gender secret. (http www.thestar.com/life/parent /05/21/parents_keep_childs_gender_secret.html#) Jayme Poisson gives a detailed account of how it is challenging for parents to reveal the identity of their children in the current generation. The story is of a Kathy Witterick and her husband David Stocker whose four old baby Storm seem not to have a clear gender as evident by how their neighbor treats them on the matter. They are also not telling anyone the gender of their child which raises a lot of questions. The real identity of the child is only known by very people who include the immediate family members and the midwives who helped deliver the child. Each time a child is born, the first question that many people ask is whether the child is a boy or a girl. However, Stoker argues that knowing someone is not based on what lies between their legs. They decided not to share Storm’s gender with anyone when the child was born so as not to bring out any form of confusion which attracted a lot of criticisms on their style of parenting. Those who argued against it reasoned that the couple were trying to exert their political and ideological values on the young child while others were of the opinion that they were setting up the kid for a life of ridicule and bullying. However, the couple argued that they were giving their child freedom to make a choice on who they wanted to become without being constrained by the social norms that define male or female. The couple argues that they have witnessed the fact that parents make a lot of choices for their children and they are denied the opportunity to decide on themselves on who they want to become in their lives. They have allowed their other two children to decide on what to wear and how they need to manage their hair. Their children are indeed under pressure from those whom they interact with in a bid to have them adopt one clear identity. In the case of Storm, the parents decided to take an early stand on their position of not allowing their child to be identified with one particular gender. This is what motivated them to send early messages to all the couple who were likely to question on the gender of the child. During their vacation to Cuba, they agreed to bring up the identity of Storm as a boy and that rolled out the general perception of the child as a male. The couple is still of the opinion that the child need to find out his own identity when he grows up and they will not be pressured to identify the child as either male or female. The author has offered to explain how the perception of the society can influence one’s personal and ideological views. The quest for free thinking that is not pegged on the general believes of the society. It is the society that dictates to a person which gender they become or get associated with in the course of their grown and this basically lies on the their sex as either male or female. However, the author has resolved to demonstrate a different view by elaborating on the case of one family that has decided to go against the drains for not disclosing the gender of their child to the world. This source is very credible as it was published by the Toronto star which is one of the leading media houses in Canada. The author Jayme Poisson is a great professional who has been in that field for a long period of time in addition to her academic qualifications. This source is more elaborate and detailed in the information that the author wishes to present to the public and it contains analysis and views of others on the issues being addressed. It has further borrowed from the works of other authors whose articles are peer-reviewed which makes it more credible and instrumental for the essay. Hoffman, Curt; Hurst, Nancy (1990), Gender Stereotypes: Perception or Rationalization? (http://www.researchgate.net/publication/232440532_Gender_stereotypes_Perception_or_rationalization) The article is based on the proposal that gender stereotypes usually arise to rationalize the general distribution of the sexes into social roles and norms. The research by ----------- was based on a broad descriptions of members of two fictional categories of people namely those having 80% of workers in the city and the remaining 20% composed of those raising children. They researchers later came up with personality ratings of each of the groupings and the subgroups that occupies each of the roles. It was evident that stronger stereotypes emerge in circumstances where the categories were biologically defined. The basic effect was thus replicated using the roles that are not differentially connected to familiar human groups. These findings were interpreted to mean that stereotypes can emerge solely in response to a sexual division of roles as well as serve to rationalize the division by attributing to the sexes inherent of the differences in personality. The research demonstrated a number of findings that are relevant towards developing an understanding of the gender stereotypes. The first experiment showed that stereotypes emerge in direct response to the difference based on how the two categories of people were divided among social roles which was also evident in the second experiment. The second experiment showed that the roles that were under consideration were not far linked with familiar human groups. The studies found out that the objective sex differences in personality are not necessary to the formation of gender stereotypes and that the fact of an unequal role distribution is thus sufficient. This source is credible and of greater essence for the purpose of this study as it has adequate evidence a research that was undertaken by the authors. The research was based on primary data collection which proves that the data used were factual. It will further assist in demonstrating the actual events in relations to the development of stereotypes among various personalities. The source further offers several pieces of evidence both in a direct as well as indirect manner that is very consistent with the proposition that stereotypes formation is in line with the attempt to rationalize the category role of correlation. This tend to increase its credibility and accuracy. Thomas D. S, Kreukels, P.C, Annelou L.C, & Peggy T. C. (2013). Gender identity development in adolescence. (http://www.google.co.ke/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CBwQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.researchgate.net%2Fprofile%2FPeggy_Cohen-Kettenis%2Fpublication%2F256376965_Gender_identity_development_in_adolescence%2Flinks%2F543e5e890cf27749d16aca42.pdf&ei=y-vqVJmtHoLVavLEgogD&usg=AFQjCNHLuL9VL8ZfHD6WAuQuVbMTHSbS-g&sig2=7bsskD_hA25fNZZGseun1A&bvm=bv.86475890,d.d2s) The article offers to develop a detailed account on the current trends that are known on trajectories as well as the contributing factors towards gender identity development that takes place among the adolescents. It offers a historical account of gender identity, the description of the general identity development in the life of adolescent children, the gender identity among the general population and the variation of gender among the youths. It further discusses the possible psychological and biological considerations that contribute to gender variant identity. It indicates that both biological and psychological factors have a lot of influence on the gender identity formulations with little information known on the complex interplay that takes place between these factors. It has been found that individuals also play a key part in the process of formation of these variations in gender identity. The research into the normative as well as gender variant identity development of the adolescents is indeed lagging behind hence the need for more research into these factors that affects the life of adolescent children. The development of non-normative gender identity cannot be properly understood without considering the period that mark the adolescence perception of themselves and the view of those around them. The source offers is credible for the essay as it is purely based on statistical research that draws a lot of examples from the real world and it further offers an explanation on the variant gender identity. This source can be closely linked to the first source as they both talk about gender identity and the various factors that are at play when it comes to matters pertaining gender roles and identity. Work Cited Hoffman, Curt; Hurst, Nancy (1990), Gender Stereotypes: Perception or Rationalization? Jayme Poisson (2015), Parents keep childs gender secret. Thomas D. S, Kreukels, P.C, Annelou L.C, & Peggy T. C. (2013). Gender identity development in adolescence. Read More