Unmaking a Difference

Is Gender Neutrality the New Stereotype?

by Robin Phillips

I was alerted to the rise of a new stereotype when I read that London's most popular toy store, Hamleys, was undergoing a complete overhaul. In a move full of symbolic significance, the shop did away with separate girls' and boys' sections.¹

In itself, this might seem like a harmless bit of remodeling. But it is significant that these changes occurred after activists had condemned the toy store as "sexist." Hamleys' attempt to expunge gender from playthings is part of a larger political project that seeks to remove all vestiges of gender from every facet of society, replacing them with a new unisex stereotype to which we must all conform.

The Secret Gender

I wish I could say that the new stereotype of gender neutrality was limited to toy stores like Hamleys. Alas, no. Earlier this year, the UK newsletters were full of stories about the case of little Sasha Laxton,² the child of the secret gender.

The experiment began even before Beck Laxton gave birth to Sasha. The parents had determined that their child would be called Sasha regardless of whether it turned out to be a boy or a girl. And just to prove to themselves that gender is trivial, the parents waited 30 minutes after delivery before asking the midwives the sex of their child.

For the next five years, the Laxtons kept Sasha's sex a secret. They referred to their child simply as "the infant," scrupulously avoiding gender-loaded pronouns like "he" or "she." They were also careful about dress. One day Sasha's parents would dress "it" in striped trousers, the next in a sparkly pink tutu with fairy wings and ballet shoes. Moreover, the Laxtons' home became a gender-neutral zone, as the parents sedulously sought to shield their child from society's prejudices and preconceptions.

Read more at Salvo Magazine.