So, leave a message if you'd like and we'll respond to it whenever we're able. From radio call-in shows all over the continent, to a "hot topic" discussion on ABC's "The View," few lacked an opinion. Most said they were either appalled by the couple or applauded them for their courage.
They didn't really understand what would happen," said Joe Hall, managing editor of the Toronto Star. Hall said it was obvious from the very beginning -- even during meetings with his editorial staff -- that people could not help but express very divided opinions about the choice these parents are making. One reader wrote: "Wow, a good way to ruin your kid's life. Gender has nothing to do with sexuality. I think the parents are going to the extreme here.
When Storm came into the world in a birthing pool on New Year's Day, they sent out this email: "We decided not to share Storm's sex for now -- a tribute to freedom and choice in place of limitation, a standup to what the world could become in Storm's lifetime.
Even Storm's brothers, 2-year-old Kio and 5-year-old Jazz, have been sworn to secrecy, as well as one close family friend. The family, while not hiding the sex of their oldest sons, also allows them to explore their gender identity. Jazz wears his hair in pigtails. Since the story of this family was first told in the Toronto Star. Comments on the Internet read "one more messed up kid in the world" and "this is so wrong in so many ways.
He doesn't know. That's where you come in as parents," said Sherri Shepherd on "The View. Even Storm's grandparents, although supportive, said they resented explaining the situation to friends and co-workers. Now living off the grid in the forest northeast of Parry Sound, Jazz, Kio the couple's middle child, now 5 and Storm, learned about different kinds of trees and how to cook for big groups with no electricity. Building a cabin out of bales of straw, a low-carbon, environmentally friendly option, taught the kids about measurement and math, says Witterick.
This year, while Stocker is on sabbatical from his teaching job, they wanted to do something different, hence "Strawhaven," as they call it. Rolling out of the "media hoopla" that followed the Star story the family received interview and reality TV show pitches from around the world, people would yell "boy" or "girl" at Storm on the street there was a sense, says Witterick, that people felt sorry for her family because what they were trying to do seemed difficult, and particularly because it came with an onslaught of criticism.
Because she was reticent about reopening the "media circus" around her family, Witterick almost pulled the chapter she wrote for Chasing Rainbows. She grapples with her decisions, in part because she thinks some of the criticisms are valid - most notably that Storm wasn't old enough to give consent. On the other hand, Witterick believes diverse stories like her family's will give people another way of thinking about gender.
And so, every word she wrote was read aloud to her three children and partner during family meetings. And her writing would focus on her own experiences as a mother.
This would be a "love letter" to her children. The author uses symbolism and allegory to explore gender "creativity. Stocker teaches at an alternative junior high school and said he plans his lessons around social justice issues.
Witterick practices unschooling , which is similar to homeschooling, with no report cards, no textbooks and no tests. Since the sexual revolution of the s, child development experts have embraced a more flexible view of gender. But since then, women have become more competitive, aggressive and independent, according to Beresin.
We see hulking football players who are bawling. Witterick and Stocker have been besieged with phone calls since the media grabbed on to their personal story. Keeping the child's gender a surprise is "not a good parenting choice because it's their identity," she said.
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