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

So much begins in the classroom and at home. All the messages. It's really disappointing that this stuff isn't better known in education.

Also worth noting that the 'gender neutral' in this programme was about saying that in a physical sense, there is no difference in terms of physical or mental ability/ capability in children.

I find this fascinating- examining that already, at just 7, the girls have lower self confidence, lower self esteem, more words for emotion (apart from anger). Really looking at how gender, as a social construct, is holding girls and ultimately women back in life.

This will be interesting.

Adults playing with girls and boys..

I am finding this interesting to watch. It is all to easy for us to fall into gender stereotypes as it has been ingrained into us for all of our lives.

It should but I think people forget or think it doesn't matter.
So many teachers and preschool workers mention my DS sex when referring to his behaviour and motor skills. Both are a bit of a problem but he is adopted and these are also indicators of a poor early start plus there are likely birth family links (including his birth mum who is, you know, female).

It is still very very common to have lines/groups of boys/girls, and to call over to a group "oh boys, over here please" etc

I really try not to do that in my class. So much of this stuff should be good practice.

I tracked down 4 or 5 female tradespersons for our Guide DIY badge. One replied to my messages and promised to come to our big joint session but never showed up, the others didn't even reply. Nice to be a TV producer!

Yeah that is, er, unusual. It is still very very common to have lines/groups of boys/girls, and to call over to a group "oh boys, over here please" etc

He has 2 cupboards - a boy one and a girl one...

Why?

I think he has some subconscious habits and I think we all do.
I call all children (boy or girl, but I am a Guide leader so there will be more girls) sweetheart.

Is it really irritating? I couldn't bring myself to watch it, just listening to PM made my blood boil.

Crumbs No, gender has only recently become synonymous with sex. Gender is masculine/feminine, sex is male/female. Gender is a social construct and means different things to different societies at different points in time. Sex is innate, objective, binary - male and female.

Gender stereotyping has absolutely nothing to do with sexual identity. 'Masculine' women are not automatically lesbians, ditto 'feminine' men. I think you are getting muddled with your language and concerns about gender identity, but that's not the same as sexuality and not what this programme is really about, as far as I can tell.

Good grief, the teacher is very sexist.

That teacher is really annoying. Teachers should know this stuff and should be aware of their role and influence.

There's a difference between gender equally and gender denial.

My youngest is in primary, whilst in general boys and girls are treated the same, there are differences, but it comes from other children as well.
My son is 6, he's recently coming home saying that girls can't run, girls can't throw or catch, girls don't need wellies in school because they don't like getting muddy - it's easy to assure him that this isn't true, but these insidious messages come from their peers, and their parents.
It's also the case that boys are steered towards rough, tough play and (in his old school where he was in reception in a boy heavy year), topics were very traditionally boy oriented, with fluffier options if the girls wanted to choose them.
Gender stereotyping will be difficult to escape from.

I am indeed describing a difference in sex making a difference to,what people can sometimes do. Gender was until very recently synonymous with sex. Interestingly, the world over there are very, very few societies that come anywhere close to 'gender neutral'. Has the whole world been wrong all through time?
I have no issue with children being children but do strongly believe that as they grow they need to identify with an adult gender/sex to remain mentally healthy as adults. Unclear sexual identity creates real problems for youngsters as they grow. That doesn't mean boys shouldn't cook or girls shouldn't be encouraged to become engineers. It does mean they need teaching to become healthy adults who are confident in their own sexuality just as much as they potty training and to be taught how read. Pretending there are more than two genders/sexes is more than a touch of 'emporers new clothes' and the result of a powerful lobbying minority.

I don't really understand why this is an experiment. Surely schools shouldn't be treating boys and girls differently to start with? I don't have a huge amount of experience with primary schools but I've done a bit of volunteering and didn't notice anything in particular.

Can someone who has watched the programme enlighten me about the types of things that were changed?

It seems they need to be gender neutral not for the children's benefit, but because the adults can't manage to treat them the same otherwise.

Sweetpea

Treating children as children and not tiny men or women could certainly work.
Allow people to play with what they want without judgement and the world will be a better place.
I imagine this will be difficult for some though, who see gender differences as natural and encourage their girls to play with Barbie's and wear pink, and their boys to play with cars and wear blue, as this seems to be the current norm, and gender neutral largely seen as attention seeking bollocks.