How will this work then?

I think he just says these things for a reaction and to see how much attention will be paid to his wind ups. All towards massaging his already inflated ego.

Stupin man, poor child, He always looks so grubby , as if he is need of a bath. Ewww poor child! Has he not thought , how this poor child is going to go through life, not knowing which toilets to use? The man is an idiot,, Katy Perry was lucky getting away from him.. My son had a Barbie doll, Batman toys. My daughter used to play with my sons toys, both grew up, Marcus has a girlfriend and Emmy has a boyfriend, both are happy. Russell Brand is a few brain cells short!

Anything for publicity. Total prat!

My niece and partner are doing just this with their two boys now 5 and 3 years old.The boys are well balanced and charming and are interested in a range of games.They attend a nursery (in Sweden) which adheres to the same principle with all the children who attend. So far I have not seen any drawback!

I've seen a few comments about gender neutral clothing. Can someone explain what that is? As far as I know it's either trousers or skirts.

The thing is no matter how a child is brought up, following whatever crazy thinking, you cannot get away from the fact that a boy is a boy and a girl is a girl. It has nothing whatsoever do to with toys, clothes, colours or names.

Nothing wrong with gender neutral clothing. How many of us are wearing jeans and a sweatshirt today?

At a simple biological level maybe Gilly.

It's when people expect children to behave in a certain way, or not behave in a certain way, simply because they are male or female that the problems start.

What gender neutral means to me is having the same expectations in terms of achievement and respect for others for both boys and girls, and within a moral framework allowing them to be themselves, and that's what I tried to do with my own DCs.

I totally agree. What Russell is suggesting seems to be to NOT label the child as, lets say "a girl" and so expect her to like pink, My Little Pony etc. There are even gendered bikes these days, which are nothing to do with having a crossbar or not, as it was in my day. There are plenty of names that aren't odd e.g. Leslie/Lesley, Charlie, Rowan, Jo/Joe and more here.. www.babycentre.co.uk/l25008043/top-30-unisex-names-photos
Most children these days wear unisex clothes..jeans, trousers. dungarees, shirts, jumpers, anoraks etc. My grand-daughters (3 and 6 years old) have predominately unisex clothing and have never craved a skirt or a dress. The elder one loved anything about Thomas the Tank Engine.
As women, if we want a society where women are able to be a pilot or a firefighter, then where's the problem in that? I struggled to think of jobs that boys/men are excluded from by their gender and can only conclude that they are in the fortunate position of having much more choice, as few, if any jobs, are considered too feminine for males.

The kid will make up its own mind - either it will decide that it's a boy or it's a girl. I'm in favour of letting a child decide not what gender it is - it's one or t'other, but if he wants to play with dolls or she wants to be a motor mechanic, good for them!

This is ridiculous, and he will soon find this out when the child is here. What does his wife think about this I wonder. Also the grandparents. The man is an idiot!!

I don't think the we can underestimate biology jane.

The sexes are made differently and short of a sex change (gender re-assignment or whatever the correct terminology) that is the way it stays.

I don't think we do either sex any favours by expecting girls to toughen up or little boys to "get in touch with their feminine side". However politically correct we want to be, there will always be activities favoured more by one sex than the other.

I do however agree that children should not be brought up with any expectation predetermined by their sex and I think on the whole this no longer happens.

I suspect however that RB has been out of the limelight for a while and needs another bandwagon or "pet subject" to focus on.

It was in Canada that some poor child had parents that thought this gender neutral idea was a good one. Except when he went anywhere that had rules, like school uniforms and boys and girls toilets.
He now knows he is a boy, and is very happy.
There really are still things that Boys and Girls have to do differently, like playing on a Mens team in sports.
Why experiment with a child? Some things just dont need changing.

As women, if we want a society where women are able to be a pilot or a firefighter, then where's the problem in that?
That's not the point, though.
He doesn't want to think of the baby as a boy or girl, a man or woman. This baby will be thought of as gender-neutral, which some people are.
Actually, if the baby is most definitely one sex or another and not gender-neutral, then I think it is insulting to gender-neutral people who may really be struggling with how to live their lives for Brand to do this; as if he is mocking them.

Does this mean the poor child will be gender neutral, until he can choose himself, will be interesting to hear later which gender the child chooses, maybe even have a sex change.Some crazy people about!

Does the mother have no say in it then !!! Or is she starry eyed cos it's Russel Brand and what he says goes.

Even little children will ask each other. Are you a girl or a boy? When it's not obvious.
When the child hears others being referred to by he/she etc is it it going to wonder why it is excluded? Only way round use of pronouns would be to use its name all the time -- how tedious.
Can't imagine family and friends not being tempted to have a peek to see what sex the child is -- somehow even if we treat girls and boys equally the sex of a baby is of prime interest

Gosh..lots of judgements on here about RB as a person! He certainly has a public persona that he has created that you either love or hate. That might not be the 'real' person. Maybe he is the way he is because he feels has had to 'fight' against 'gender' expectations and does not want that for his child. i only know the character RB not the real person.

Is trying to be 'gender neutral' more than trying to let your child have every chance to find out their preferences, likes and dislikes without the pressure of stereotypes / marketing and traditional expectations?
Girls and boys are frequently pushed into behaving/responding in certain ways because of the language we use, tone of voice, clothes, toys, TV programmes & adverts, books etc! It is very hard to extrapolate the impact of environment from the innate behaviours and preferences that children display. It is hard to protect a child from all those outside influences but as others have said many of us have tried hard to encourage our children not to feel they have to fulfil a stereotype unless that is their preference.

He not only looks as if he needs a wash, he acts as if he needs a brain, is he and a partner actually expecting a child? Is it speculation? I have to switch channels if he comes on he is so stupid and not funny at all, just weird. I feel so sorry for celebrity children. Who would want Angelina as a mother? These people are in love with themselves, what the child actually wants, interaction, love and sensible boundaries they don't get. What a load of codswallop raising a child without a gender, don't they think other children might notice or doesn't that matter.

I agree he does always look grubby and I imagine him having bad breath because of his horrible mouth. He's as thick as two short planks, an embarrassment to watch and listen to, not that I do I change channels if I see him, he makes me cringe. Men like him shouldn't be capable of fathering a child, let alone getting close enough to someone to actually do the deed. Poor poor child, fancy having a big hairy foul mouthed dandy as your father. No I'm not keen!

I think that RB might be a very doting and loving parent to have.

He reminds me a bit of my DH as a younger man

He was certainly very gender aware when he pulled that exceedingly cruel prank on Andrew Sachs.
Let's hope that no-one is as viciously unkind to him about his child as he was to the Sachs's about their granddaughter.

I hope your DH has a nicer personality than him Penstemmon, presuming you mean he looked a bit like him.

No more than I expected from him.

He did not look very like him as DH is a ginge! He was a bit of a cheeky chancer though with all sorts of ideas and opinions and liked to be a bit outlandish. Mostly harmless fun and he would not have been hurtful as I think RB was to AS. A stupid and thoughtless thing to do. But I'm not perfect either.

Think that DH had had a steadier childhood than RB.