Interview with Alex Mees

On November 11 I went to Alex Mees who is the main case study I am going to include in my documentary. Alex is a father to a four-year-old boy and one-year-old girl who him and his wife bring up with gender neutral principles. It was a decision they came to before their son was born and is something they've carried through in raising their daughter.

Interview Prep

To prepare for the interview I had an initial phone call with Alex to find out more how the concept of gender neutrality fits into the everyday life of his children and what his opinions are on the topic. Alex sounded really passionate about the topic so at this point I planned to make him the main case study in my documentary, so I would audio record and film his interview. For further research prior to the interview I also had a look through Alex's Instagram account @these_two_dudes where he documents the everyday life of his children and the gender stereotypes that he comes across.

Interview Day

I interviewed Alex in person at his home in London, which I audio recorded and also filmed. I had prepared a list of topics I wanted to ask Alex about which included why he chose to raise his children gender neutral and how it fitted into practically into their everyday life amongst other questions. However I only used these questions as a rough guideline as I also wanted to let what Alex was saying lead the conversation and the questions I was asking.

One element of the interview I found interesting was how Alex stressed that what him and his wife were doing was not radical, as some people may criticise gender neutral parenting as being. He is not stopping his children from having a gender however is just simply subverting the gender stereotypes that his children face on an everyday basis.

Here is a preview of my interview with Alex:

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