Third gender

[Chuanzao El Ale Destroyer]

I have in my buxiban a student who looks like a girl, has long hair, and wears the kind of cute clothes, though no dresses, that little girls wear. Answers "I am a boy" to the question "are you a boy or a girl?', which I asked to all kids because it was in the textbook. My boss told me some little girls go through a tomboy stage and that is cute enough. Yesterday he told me this child is indeed a biological male, he has talked to the parents and child is a biological boy.

Wants to be a boy, calls self boy, dresses like girl.

I have read that 1 in 2000 people are born with ambiguous genitals. In Western countries they get surgery. In Eastern countries...I don't know. Is this common?

Who else has experience with this?

[funkymonkey]

Wants to be a boy, calls self boy, dresses like girl.

How old is this student? If he is very young, isn't it the parents who are dressing him like a girl?

[kjmillig]

I have a 5th grade girl who dresses, looks, and acts like a boy except she has to wear the pink activity uniform. I just treat her like a student. All the students know she's a girl and don't pretend otherwise.
With your case, do you know if he has "ambiguous genitals"? If he says he wants to be a boy, maybe it is all the parents or grandparents doing. Maybe they want a girl and so try to make him look that way.

How old is this student? If he is very young, isn't it the parents who are dressing him like a girl?

Ditto.
If it isn't causing a disruption, just go on teaching.

[Chuanzao El Ale Destroyer]

I have a 5th grade girl who dresses, looks, and acts like a boy except she has to wear the pink activity uniform. I just treat her like a student. All the students know she's a girl and don't pretend otherwise.
With your case, do you know if he has "ambiguous genitals"? If he says he wants to be a boy, maybe it is all the parents or grandparents doing. Maybe they want a girl and so try to make him look that way.

How old is this student? If he is very young, isn't it the parents who are dressing him like a girl?

Ditto.
If it isn't causing a disruption, just go on teaching.

I do just go on teaching. He/she is a nice little person.

I am just curious.
I don't want to ask questions because I don't want to rock the boat. No, I am just guessing at ambiguous genitals. Child is about 10.

If the kid was a third gender type and the parents wetre waiting until he/she grew up to choose his/her own surgery, I commend that. It makes me feel a lot better than the idea of parents dressing a biological boy, who calls self a boy ansd wants to be a boy,. as a girl. That's just disturbing.

[Chuanzao El Ale Destroyer]

I have a 5th grade girl who dresses, looks, and acts like a boy except she has to wear the pink activity uniform. I just treat her like a student. All the students know she's a girl and don't pretend otherwise.
With your case, do you know if he has "ambiguous genitals"? If he says he wants to be a boy, maybe it is all the parents or grandparents doing. Maybe they want a girl and so try to make him look that way.

How old is this student? If he is very young, isn't it the parents who are dressing him like a girl?

Ditto.
If it isn't causing a disruption, just go on teaching.

I do just go on teaching. He/she is a nice little person.

I am just curious.
I don't want to ask questions because I don't want to rock the boat. No, I am just guessing at ambiguous genitals. Child is about 10.

If the kid was a third gender type and the parents wetre waiting until he/she grew up to choose his/her own surgery, I commend that. It makes me feel a lot better than the idea of parents dressing a biological boy, who calls self a boy ansd wants to be a boy,. as a girl. That's just disturbing.

[Chuanzao El Ale Destroyer]

I repeat: I am referring to child as "he" per childs wishes and behaving normally as a teacher. I'm not out to change this kid at all.

I just think Taiwan is a magical place. Folks, I just got here in February. I used to teach in Korea and never saw anything like this there. Fill me in.

Since people seem confused, here are the factas

1. Child looks and dresses like a girl, long hair and bows, girl shoes, etc.
2. Child refers to self as boy
3. Parents tell boss child is biological boy.

I know nothing else.

[Tempo Gain]

Might, just might, possibly be something along the lines of a fortune teller saying about some kind of "fate" the child or family has.

[Chuanzao El Ale Destroyer]

Might, just might, possibly be something along the lines of a fortune teller saying about some kind of "fate" the child or family has.

Really? A family would dress a boy as a girl becasue of a fortune teller?


The other kids in the class seem just fine with it thoguh, no teasing or bullying at all.

This kind of thing happens al the time?

[sjhuz01]

Have more often seen the opposite here - tom-boyish/androgynous girls w/big emo glasses & boyish haircuts. Most seem to fall squarely in the teenage emo/Converse-wearing/crappy punk music clique & it's so common there HAS to be some popular star who started it all. I wonder if it's "just a phase", if Taiwan just has lax gender roles, or if there really is a larger proportion of Gay/Bi women.

If not for the sheer numbers I probably wouldn't have noticed - too many cute ones who actually look female to pay attention to instead

In any case, the tolerance level for being "different" does seem to be much higher here than in Japan. I haven't heard about bullying to the same extent - driving kids to suicide, etc. I'd worry more about the 10y.o. boy after his classmates hit the awkward adolescent years. Younger kids don't care, which is good.

[Icon]

Might, just might, possibly be something along the lines of a fortune teller saying about some kind of "fate" the child or family has.

Really? A family would dress a boy as a girl becasue of a fortune teller?


The other kids in the class seem just fine with it thoguh, no teasing or bullying at all.

This kind of thing happens al the time?

Not often, but yeah, it is part of the very traditional thinking.

I think we had something similar, like disguising the child so the ghosts won't get to it and kill it.

edit:
or dressing him up in purple robes and long hair as Jesus, as penitance -for what , I dunno.