The Need for Recognition: P4C as a Response to Simister's “Bright Girls Who Fail”

I remember a story I once read11Louis Gold: ‘Baby ‘X’, in Fox, Thilde: Fair Play for Boys and Girls: Towards Equal Opportunity, pp26–42 that was written to confront the gender stereotypes that are so deeply embedded in our culture. The story was about ‘Baby X'. Baby X was part of a very ‘x’ pensive ‘x’ periment… Baby X was to be raised without anyone knowing whether ‘it’ was a boy or a girl The aunts and uncles had their noses out of joint as they were unsure what type of presents to buy, or what colour clothing to knit. Strangers stopped complimenting X as they weren't sure if they should be noting how ‘pretty’ X was, or how ‘clever’ — and the teachers at school were concerned as they were unsure what encouragement to give X — should X be encouraged to go outside with the boys and play soccer, or encouraged to stay inside and play shop with the girls? Was X's math good for a girl? or was X's poetry good for a boy? The story ends with the boys in X's class beginning to play with dolls, and the girls demanding an equal place in the sport teams.