Growing up Mormon, Kyl knew that she and the other girls in her community were expected to be good wives and mothers—placed on a certain path in life because of their gender. But after leaving small-town Utah, traveling the world, and attending college, Kyl learned that gender was more fluid, a spectrum, and that the gender binary was doing more harm than good. So, years later when she and her husband are expecting their first child, they come to an unorthodox decision: they will not assign a gender to their baby. Kyl and her husband Brent want their child’s options and opportunities to be limitless, so they create an environment where Zoomer can explore and play with gender and make their own way towards their gender identity and expression.

 

Raising Them is a must-read for anyone interested in learning about gender creative parenting, or looking to re-examine their own relationship with gender in a culture where the paradigm of binary gender is shifting. Kyl invites us on her journey and asks us to consider and challenge traditional childhood gender socialization in the hopes of making the world a more inclusive and equitable place for future generations.

 

 

Dr. Kyl Myers (they/she) is a sociologist, educator, and globally recognized advocate of gender creative parenting. Kyl’s TEDx talk, Want Gender Equality? Let’s Get Creative, encourages people to rethink childhood gender socialization in an effort to break up the binary before it begins. Kyl is the creator of www.raisingzoomer.com and the @raisingzoomer Instagram account, advocating for letting kids be kids in an environment where everything is for everyone. Kyl has been featured in articles in international media, including New York, TIME, and Archer. Kyl can be found providing bite-size gender studies lessons on their @drkylmyers Instagram account.