In this episode we explore the tendency to think about gender as being two distinct, binary categories: boy and girl, man and woman. We talk about how parents and society impose this binary understanding of gender on our children and how we can do it differently. We’re joined by our special guest Neela Ghoshal, who shares her stories and experiences as a queer feminist mother of two young children and as a researcher and advocate on human rights violations affecting LGBTQ people in the Americas, Africa, the Middle East and Asia with Human Rights Watch. Note: Neela has lived much of her adult life in Kenya and talks about the cultural space in Kenya for discussing gender fluidity. Since much of our audience is in the United States, we wanted to acknowledge that there is a colonial legacy behind these gender norms in Kenya, in which European colonizers imposed laws to reinforce and uphold the gender binary. Neela discusses this colonial legacy more in depth in her chapter in the book, https://demeterpress.org/books/feminist-parenting-perspectives-from-africa-and-beyond/ (Feminist Parenting: Perspectives from Africa and Beyond), published by Demeter Press. Feminist Crush: Khara Jabola-Carolus and Hawai’i’s https://humanservices.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/4.13.20-Final-Cover-D2-Feminist-Economic-Recovery-D1.pdf (feminist economic recovery plan for COVID-19). Read about it https://www.yesmagazine.org/economy/2020/07/15/hawaii-covid-recovery/ (here). https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/9/15/21437805/whistleblower-hysterectomies-nurse-irwin-ice (Dawn Wooten), nurse and whistleblower who alerted the public to the alarming rate of hysterectomies being performed on immigrants at an ICE detention center in Georgia. All the women who support their colleagues to make whatever choice is right for them Resources: https://bookshop.org/books/they-call-me-mix-me-llaman-maestre/9780692148839 (They Call Me Mix / Me Llaman Maestre) by https://bookshop.org/contributors/lourdes-rivas (Lourdes Rivas) (Author) https://bookshop.org/contributors/breena-nunez (Breena Nunez) (Illustrator) https://jesslove.format.com/julian-is-a-mermaid (Julian is a Mermaid), by Jessica Love About Neela: Neela Ghoshal is a queer feminist mother, human rights researcher, and advocate for racial, economic and gender justice. In her work at Human Rights Watch, she conducts research and advocacy on human rights violations affecting LGBTQ people in the Americas, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Neela defies many binaries, struggling with and simultaneously embracing being neither/nor, both/and: she is pansexual (neither gay nor straight), biracial (South Asian and white), bicontinental (rooted in the US and Kenya), agnostic (as the child of secular parents of Hindu and Christian heritage), and the mother of multiricial, third culture children. She spent 40 years considering herself firmly female and uses female pronouns, but is no longer convinced she knows what that means. Neela is a recent transplant to Washington DC. She also recently had a chapter published in the book https://demeterpress.org/books/feminist-parenting-perspectives-from-africa-and-beyond/ (Feminist Parenting: Perspectives from Africa and Beyond), where she wrote about parenting outside the gender binary. Follow Neela on Twitter athttps://twitter.com/NeelaGhoshal ( @NeelaGhoshal).