In its latest updated guidelines about how to talk to preschool-aged children about their bodies, Planned Parenthood denies science by suggesting parents teach their children that genitals do not determine someone’s gender.
While the most simple answer is that girls have vulvas and boys have penises/testicles, that answer isn’t true for every boy and girl. Boy, girl, man, and woman are words that describe gender identity, and some people with the gender identities “boy” or “man” have vulvas, and some with the gender identity “girl” or “woman” have penises/testicles. Your genitals don’t make you a boy or a girl.
You can say that most girls have vulvas and most boys have penises/testicles. You may want to emphasize that it doesn’t matter too much what parts someone has — that doesn’t tell you much about them. But you can make that decision based on your values and how you plan to talk with your kid about gender as they grow up. (Planned Parenthood)
The guidelines also shun the stork and other metaphors about how babies are made, and instead suggest parents can be more explicit in their description of reproduction.
If they have more questions about how the baby gets in there, you can say, “Most women have tiny eggs in a special part of their belly. Most men have very tiny seeds, called sperm. Sometimes, when two grownups have sex together, one grownup’s penis goes into the other’s vagina. They can make a baby if a seed and egg meet. Do you have any other questions about that?” — but kids this age are usually satisfied with simpler explanations. (Planned Parenthood)
As the Daily Caller points out, the guidelines differ from old versions when truths such as “women have breasts. Men don’t,” were told, instead of “those are nipples. Everybody has nipples.”
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