ŻiguŻajg, a government programme of artistic events aimed at children and families, will this month put on Gender Boss, described as a “multidisciplinary production aimed at teaching kids about gender fluidity” and “entertaining the idea that gender is playful and malleable, not chosen for you but by you.”

Produced by Martina Buhagiar and featuring Martina Georgina and Romeo Roxmann Gatt as the lead artists, it is set to put on five performances – twice for schools and three times for the general public.

“Like curious creatures entering the wild, away from the constraints of the classroom, the home, daring to run free from the societal norms often forced upon us and our bodies and minds,” ŻiguŻajg’s website states.

“We are here imagining a world without these strict rules and constraints, a world where we can transform into anything we want, be whoever we want to be, even that precious object on the mantelpiece.”

“Where gender is playful, malleable, fluid, not chosen for you but by you. Where we are able to explore it from a place of curiosity and excitement rather than a place of fear and prejudice.”

“Are you a brave one who is ready to put your imagination into play so you may transform into anything? Anything?”

“This work will be an attempt at imagining an environment where animal and human and non-human are placed closer to each other. Where failure is not an ugly word, mess and chaos are welcome and violence is replaced by love.”

Zahra said that while she hasn’t read a copy of the script, the way the performance is being described on ŻiguŻajg’s official website raises a number of concerns.

“If it means what we think it means, which sociologists, anthropologists, sexologists, psychologists and other experts were consulted for advice before their subject reaches these children with open minds in the way it is being promoted?” she questioned.

“While we are in favour of free expression, creativity, arts, gender and personal liberty, we are also in favour of everything taking place in the right time and place and, when it comes to sensitive subjects, through consultation with experts. If it is designed wrongly, it can have an opposite effect on children of such a young age.”

Do you think children should be taught about gender fluidity?