September 22, 2009, 4:59 pm
When Gender Isn't So Clear
By Lisa Belkin
http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/when-gender-isnt-so-clear/Tests on the South African runner Caster Semenya continue, as race officials try to decide whether the 18-year-old athlete — who says she is female — is a man or a woman. Martha Wilson, an American writer living in Canada, is not a runner, and she thinks she is certain of the sex of her daughters. But, as she writes in a guest blog today, the case feels very personal nonetheless, because it raises questions of concern to any parent.
ACCEPTANCE PARENTING
BY MARTHA WILSON
One of the trickier aspects of parenting crops up whenever I try to take in new information, give my brain time to accept that it's true, and calmly present the update to my children as established fact. But, okay: Gender and sex are more fluid than we've always been taught. They are, in fact, a continuum. Got it.
