Date of Graduation

8-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Anthropology (MA)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Anthropology

Advisor/Mentor

Natarajan, Ram

Committee Member

Erickson, Kirstin C.

Second Committee Member

D'Alisera, JoAnn

Keywords

Family; Feminist; Gender; Gender Neutral Parenting; Gender Neutrality; Queer

Abstract

In the United States, the social and cultural reality remains organized around the gender binary. The binary legitimizes itself on the widely held belief that gender is determined by biology and, therefore, is “natural.” By exploring and firmly placing gender as a cultural construct, this thesis looks at the possibilities of fracturing the binary. Borrowing from Stephan Hirschauer (1994) and Judith Butler’s (2004), this thesis theorizes what a gender neutral world could look like and examines how Gender Neutral Parents contribute toward a gender revolution. Gender Neutral Parents, a community that is mostly found online, represent a small group that is trying to break the harmful cycle that reifies the gender binary by removing gender from early socialization of their children. These parents re-do the relationship kinship has with gender by de-emphasizing sexual differences, creating inclusive language, and de-gendering material and visual culture. Their impacts on the gender binary are inconclusive, but their revolutionizing how the family interacts with gender opening more possibilities for a gender reform without limits.

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