Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Paul Nguyen
Dr. Lim
12 December 2016
Gender Neutrality
There has never been a more prominent time in America than now with the legalization
of same-sex marriage, the acceptance and recognition of all sexuality was a true stepping stone in
American society. Gender neutrality should be an extension to that acceptance and recognition
of any sexuality because as society evolves, it will be forever changed and people must learn to
accept one another for who they are. Laws like the 13th amendment evolved society by
integrating all free blacks into society in America. Similar to the free blacks, people must learn
to accept one another for who they are because we are all human and equal under the law.
Although gender neutrality may lead growing children to be sexually confused by eliminating
gender stereotypes, it still strongly advocates for the freedom of choice for children. Eliminating
gender stereotypes will allow children to grow up with a wider range of choices to choose from,
such as toys and extracurricular activities. Gender neutrality must be achieved in society
because the LGBT community are all humans who deserve the right to feel safe and secure in
public.
Gender neutrality is a hard-fought topic by the LGBT community, being that gender
neutrality should be considered a right instead of a privilege (Ruekgauer). The topic of gender
neutrality created pronouns that categorized transgender people non-offensively, because most
transgenders were not comfortable with being called she or he, but rather “they” (Scelfo). These
Nguyen 2
pronouns were called gender neutral pronouns such as “they,” “xe,” or “ze” (Scelfo). Gender
neutrality led to the topic of letting children grow up and freely choose their sexuality, because
parents should not be planting gender stereotypes into the brains of their children (Esposito).
Gender stereotypes force children to be taught from a young age there is a certain way and
difference in which boys and girls act. This eliminates free choice for the children because they
have been psychologically and mentally trained to love their opposite sex (Esposito).
For all people to be able to live in a safe and comfortable environment, gender neutrality
should be a widely accepted movement. Constantly, transgenders are feeling like their
well-being is at risk whenever they step into a public restroom because of their personal
appearance and expression (Lang). With gender neutral bathrooms for all genders, transgenders
especially will receive the benefit of spending their privacy at peace and free of discrimination
(Lang). Examples of this already happening would be in universities all over the country, adding
gender identity and expression to their non-discrimination policy which allows transgenders to
live in these schools safely (Jaschik). Another major benefit of gender neutrality is the
possibility of empowering society and children. Gender neutral toys have been proven to widen
children’s range of preferences and play style, which means these adolescents will grow up
With gender discrimination and bullying prominently existing among children, gender
neutrality must be accepted to battle this harmful and unequal environment. Gender neutral
parenting strives to eliminate gender stereotypes amongst children, which is the root cause of
gender discrimination and bullying (Kraft). Gender discrimination is caused by the difference in
parenting of all children, the children that become the bullies are usually raised to strictly follow
Nguyen 3
traditional gender stereotypes. Gender neutral parenting, however, is a more liberal way to
parent modern children to disregard gender stereotypes and have a more open idea of sexuality
(Kraft). Gender stereotypes are harmful to children because while children are growing up, they
will be confused by learning that there is such a thing as the LGBT community. These children
growing up to learn about the LGBTs will feel an automatic tension between traditional versus
modern gender norms. Society must accept gender neutral parenting in order to cut down gender
Although gender neutrality promotes freedom of choice and protects the civil rights of all
transgenders, there are some setbacks to gender neutrality. One of the perks of gender neutrality
is freedom of choice for children of this generation, but knowing children and their adolescence,
they do not have the knowledge to procure what is right for them. So if a child was raised gender
neutral and given the chance to choose his/her sexuality, they may end up sexually confused for
the rest of their lives. Another case makes gender neutrality dangerous, if there are public gender
neutral restrooms LGBT people could be a target to all pedophiles. Since gender neutral
bathrooms allow all sexes to enter, the bathroom will become an easy target for all pedophiles to
prey upon.
Despite these few setbacks, gender neutrality has pros that trump the cons such as gender
neutrality being able to make all transgenders feel safe within their own public restrooms. The
possibility of dangerous pedophiles lurking within gender neutral restrooms does not compare to
the impact of all transgenders to feel safe within their own restroom. Gender neutrality advocates
freedom for all, in particular small children that should grow up without latching onto gender
Gender neutrality is a major controversial topic in today’s modern society, but without it
being brought up LGBT members would be left vulnerable. This topic came about because of
the inequality amongst LGBT members in society and no sense of security or safety within
public restrooms for transgenders. The topic of gender neutrality advocated for the equality for
all including children who should grow up without gender stereotypes getting in the way of them
choosing their sexualities. Admitting gender neutrality may allow transgenders in public
restrooms to be more vulnerable to attack, this could be avoided if one person stalls were deemed
all gender neutral instead of whole restrooms so pedophiles would not be able to attack as
frequently. Gender neutrality is a stepping stone for society and without the right support and
Works Cited
Esposito, Lisa. “Gender Neutral Parenting: Letting Kids Choose.” US News. US News. 4 Sept
/articles/2015/09/04/Gender-neutral-parenting-letting-kids-choose.
Jaschik, Scott. “Momentum For Gender Equality.” Inside Higher Ed. Inside Higher Ed. 27
08/27/gender
Kraft, Abbie. “Gender Neutral Parenting: Know The Benefits Of Raising Gender Neutral Kid.”
ntherald.com/articles/61390/20160815/gender-neutral-parenting-know-the-benefits-of-rai
sing-gender-neutral-kids.htm
Lang, Nico. “Why All Public Bathrooms Should Be Gender Neutral.” The Daily Beast. The
/articles/2016/04/18/why-all-Public-bathrooms-should-be-gender-neutral.html
Weekly.
/gender-neutral-bathrooms-right-not-privilege/
Scelfo, Julie. “A University Recognizes A Third Gender: Neutral.” NY Times. The NY Times. 8
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/education/edlife
/a-university-recognizes-a-third-gender-neutral.html?_r=0
Shaw, Maureen. “Science Shows Gender Neutral Toys Empower Children, And Possibly
Society At Large.” Quartz. Quartz Media LLC. 5 September 2015. 13 December 2016.
http://qz.com/494673/science-shows-gender-neutral-toys-empower-children-and-possibly
-society-at-large/