I was discussing this thing with "boy/girl" questions with Y. One thing she said at least set me straight: I don't think that it says anything at all about a person's idea of gender that she/he asks this type of question. It is something that we are expected to ask, we take it as an innocent question. But I still think it does reveal something about the kind of world we live in that the question is seen as intelligible and that it is seen as innocent. For this reason, I think it was a wonderful thing when E, in her "announcement-SMS", stated that it, the kid, "wasn't a unicorn" - and no more than that.
Continuing on the same topic, one might reflect on why it to some people seems to be such an outrageous thought that names (of human beings) could be gender-neutral.
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