Chapter 5. Controversial Issues

Feminist parenting

Bem (1983) suggested that “feminist parents who wish to raise gender-aschematic children in a gender-schematic world are like any parents who wish to inculcate their children with beliefs and values that deviate from those of the dominant culture” (p. 610). More specifically, Bem suggested strategies for parents who want to raise gender-aschematic children, including: (1) enable children to learn about the differences between the sexes without introducing societal or cultural associations of being female or male, and (2) provide alternate “subversive” schema that children can use to interpret societal sex-linked associations (p. 610).