Bits

[mrissa]

I was in Hallmark this afternoon, as part of the list of everything in the world I needed to do between noon and 3:30 today, and I had to pick up a card to mark the arrival of the wee Benjamin into the world. He's the new son of some of our college friends, and so I was looking through cards, and...do they all have to be so gendered? WHY? Seriously, there was no way to get a card at this store that was clearly for a new baby and not clearly for either a boy or a girl. I couldn't have gotten ambiguous about it, not even by picking a pink card and writing his name on it anyway. They all said "BOY" or "GIRL."

On the one hand, okay, about the only thing we know about the sprout just now is what bits he's got. But on the other hand, does it really matter to me in the slightest that this baby has boy bits? Would I welcome him differently if he had girl bits? I'd probably be less careful of changing his diaper, but as he lives in DC and I live in Minnesota, this is unlikely to be an issue. And otherwise no. It tells me nothing about his future personality, about what he can expect from life or what he'll come to want. So what would be wrong with a card saying, "Welcome, little one"?

I know, crunchy hippie freaks who think things like that aren't supposed to buy Hallmark cards in the first place. Sigh.

Comments

Intersex

[oursin.livejournal.com]

To avoid this social difficulty (among other things) I have heard that it is the practice to 'tidy up' any anomalous baby genitalia, prior to discharging them from hospital (a purely cosmetic intervention, given that other manifestations are likely to appear at later stages of development). Now being protested, but I'll bet it's still fairly widespread.

Re: Intersex

[porphyrin.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's not.

At least, not in my experience in Columbus (n=6 hospitals) or here (n=6 hospitals).

So that's an n of 12, most of which are tertiary care centers.

Take that for what it's worth. And email me if you want anecdata.

Re: Intersex

[oursin.livejournal.com]

I was going on a presentation I heard some years ago:
it might have been addressing a situation which had existed but which was becoming less prevalent even at the time