No more girls and boys; can our children go gender free? BBC 2 tonight

@rhinestonecowgirl yes I can't think of anything that would be inappropriate for an 8 year old to watch in it.

Fine to watch with your child.

I thought it was an excellent programme last night. I stumbled across it and initially was very by the title but the themes in the programme were fascinating.
I actually think the teacher was pretty brave to allow them to film and critique him. I hope he felt it was worthwhile.
Re the books, yes it's only one small step in the right direction that the "princess" is now the hero but I have a 7yo girl who absolutely loves the Princess in Black series because she's the first "superhero" (her words) she's come across in books that's a girl.

We still have so far to go though. School is an important part of it but wider society has major issues with forcing stereotypes. The usual pink/blue toys etc that didn't exist years ago. And the clothes. I was in Mothercare a couple of weeks ago and they had a space & science range of clothes in the boys section. Nothing remotely comparable in the girls.
Then you go into m&s and try and find something fun and bright for a 5-6 boy and can only find mini versions of what their dads wear and all dark and drab.

Anyhow... I'm waffling. The programme was very interesting, I'm looking forward to seeing the end result.

Ekphrasis

I read Steve Biddulph when my son was born. However, I have since read on here that many feminists don't rate him, at all.

I'll read your link.

Planning to watch this on catch up - would it be suitable to watch with my 8 yr old DD? In our house we have tried our best to challenge gender stereotypes, but I know both DD and her older brother have struggled a bit at school as they don't 'fit' with other girls/boys.

He has touched on the boys being very competitive and that they had far more words to describe anger than love. He also mentioned that 95% of the prison population is male

I know he's touched on it. I wonder if there'll be any discussion about why and to see if that behaviour can also be changed.

Important to have books where girls save the day, but also important to have books where boys deal with friendship issues
We had a thread about this a little while ago and (while it was on preschool books about caring men and boys) the latter are like hens teeth.

He has touched on the boys being very competitive and that they had far more words to describe anger than love. He also mentioned that 95% of the prison population is male.

Just to add my own anecdata- when my boys started nursery at the age of 3 all of them (within a week) learnt that "boys don't cry". So disappointed as DH and I had tried so hard to move away from that type of guff.

I wonder if he'll address issues about violence, competitiveness, always wanting to win and aggressiveness with boys - and how that's also learned. That's such a massive issue - and it's ok to not always win and that you don't have to use violence to get your own way.

It was about height and physical strength lifting heavy fencing posts 8 feet high. It would be very few girls who could manage that.

Probably because your girls have had no practice at doing strong things. It is effect not cause.

I left civil engineering because of bollocks that you are spouting. I once went out to take about 10 clay samples which involved banging a metal ring the same size as a large can of soup, into the ground and digging it out filled with soil, and the client wouldn't let me do it! He took the rammer off me and did it all himself. I was about 23, strong, and that was my - you know - actual job.

I didn't watch this but think I'm going to on catch up. Just thinkng back to my primary school days, we wiukd get changed together in the classroom and did the same sports for PE but had seperate loos. I never noticed any pushing of gender roles at that age. Secondary school it was very different. I'm mid 30s btw. I also know that the same primary school now has e.g. Pirate and princess days, so something has definitely changed for the worse!

Like Datun, I didn't watch this because I feared for my blood pressure.

I'll check it out on catch up.

It was a great programme. It seemed as though the children enjoyed it as well.

I found the point about brain training really interesting, and not something I had really thought about before. Now it seems so completely obvious that differences in achievement in various subjects can be explained largely by the push towards children doing different activities in their early years depending on gender.

It's depressing as well though - how can we overcome these issues when children are exposed to so many gender stereotypes? When I think back on my childhood, it was fairly gender neutral in some ways in my early years. Then the lack of confidence crept in, and it has taken me many years as an adult to become brave enough to ignore much of the stereotyping again.

For example in the swedish school they had signs on the wall saying 'girls are strong' and 'boys are sensitive'. Whereas in the UK school they had signs which said 'girls are strong' and 'boys are strong' which is more equal.

You are missing the point so completely it is almost funny.

Glad some of you actually watched it before commenting as being a parent of one of the real stars of the show,it was so disappointing to read negative comments before it had even aired!bet those of you thinking it was about gender identity, were surprised when its about unequalness between sexes!I am so proud my child was part of something so cool!

With luck, this may make the transing of children frowned upon.

Many people already think it's ridiculous transing a child purely because they play with the toys of the opposite sex.

Hopefully, 'toys of the opposite sex' well cease to exist.

Widening of the life experiences of boys is hugely important. It shouldn't make the national news when boys chose to wear skirts to school in exactly the same way it fails to hit the national news when girls wear trousers to school.