“…the least mixed-up child I’ve ever Xamined…”: A Feminist Reading of Lois Gould’s “ X: A Fabulous Child’s Story” Anonymous College

Lois Gould intertwines the topics on gender and feminism effectively in the short story “X: A Fabulous Child’s Story.” People conclude that Baby X is a misfit for failing to conform to the typical standards that dictate gender. Baby X identifies neither as a girl nor a boy. Baby X is a unique child who offers feminist critical lessons on how they can use their understanding of the social construction of gender to challenge patriarchy. A Feministic Reading of Lois Gould’s “ X:A Fabulous Child’s Story” accounts for the role that agents of socialization ( parents, family, school, friends, books, toys…) play in the social construction of gender; children’s perceptions about gender are mixed up due to the social conditioning which makes them associate girls/ women with femininity and boys/men with masculinity.

Names are used to define what is feminine and what is masculine. Therefore naming systems are methodologies define the genders of boys and girls from the time they are born. To elaborate, in the course of finding the most ideal parents for Baby X, the scientists discovered that, “there were families with grandparents named Milton and Agatha, who didn’t see why the baby couldn’t be named Milton or Agatha instead of X, even if...