I don't mean to offend anyone who has a unisex name or have given their child a unisex name. But I just have to share what just happened, which is an example of a consequence you may not have realized:
I am at work and I just got a call from a child wanting to audition for our next show. My audition form asks for their age as well as their gender. Normally, I have the parents calling. They say "I'd like to set up an audition time for my son/daughter". That makes it easy. But this kid that called right now was named Billy (Billie?) and was 13. I honestly could not tell if this kid was a boy or a girl. And I didn't really want to ask. How rude would that be? "Billy, are you a boy or a girl?" Nooooooo....so not gonna ask that. Could have been Billy and his voice hasn't changed yet. Or could have been Billie, short for Belinda? I don't know. So I just left that column blank. No harm, no foul.
So, before you name your son or daughter with a name that could go either way...think of me talking to them 13 years down the road and not knowing what to put down in the "Gender" column and being too nice to ask.
Please don't be offended, especially you...Billy....Billie....Billi?
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2 comments:
I'm not offended. Robyn will probably get that question when she gets older. One way to find out is ask they spell the name. Sometimes you figure out the gender by the spelling.
Or you could say, " I need to fill out this form for your audition. Bear with me as I ask you every question."
I have been there, it is never fun to ask and feel silly. But is worse to assume and be wrong!
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