In a recent course on human sexuality we debated the question of gender. When it was my turn to speak, I said, well when I had my babies I heard, "congrats it's a boy!" and for the second one, "congrats it's a girl!" For the most part it really is that simple. However, in more extreme situations what do you do when someone is born both? According to medicine, doctors encourage parents to choose the gender in which the child is biologically...hormones. In the same class we heard about a doctor in British Columbia who messed up a circumcision and then talked the parents into a gender change for the child. When the child grew up and found out that he was indeed a boy, he sued the doctor, hospital and I believe his parents and won. Talk about a life screwed up. While choosing gender may seem 'confusing' for those never faced with the issue, wouldn't it be far worse to choose for your child and then find out that the decision you made was 'wrong'? When I was in Europe, I noticed that many cities just had 'bathrooms'. No gender was specified. While in Germany, I went to a public pool and the change room was for both genders. Perhaps having a bathroom for both genders could/would solve many issues of what bathrooms to use. We now have 'family' bathrooms where any gender can enter. We also have handi cap bathrooms again gender neutral. Perhaps in public places we should have gender neutral bathrooms where both genders can enter freely. That would be wonderful for me since I have been known to sneak into the men's room (while my husband stands guard) during the intermission of a concert or play because the woman's bathroom line goes down the hall, around the corner and into the parking lot!
