Boys can have periods! The Times

How are 8 year olds supposed to understand that "trans boys" aren't a subcategory of boys, but a subcategory of girls?

According to trans ideology, transboys are a subcategory of boys. After all, 'TWAW'.

Schools should be teaching biological facts in a way that children can understand. Confusing them with some boys having periods is not helpful. Females have periods, males don't. How you choose to identify is irrelevant.

Absolutely correct VeggyGravy, this is an issue only needing to be discussed between mother and daughter, it is a female issue nothing to do with men. Does using a tampon break the hymen? In which case thousands of girls are doing it every day. In some cultures girls and women's bodies are still under male control.

Christ Fekko. Slightly concerned about what the new measures might be.

My oldest is only P5 and I'm hoping it's a while before I hear any of this guff from them.

In biology classes of all places language needs to be clear about biological functions and differences between the sexes.
Why is fucking up childen so high on the agenda right now?

It's simply, no no no.

Boys get erections.
Transboys get periods.
Girls get periods.
Transgirls get erections.

(Obviously under the eye of Mermaids, transgirls do not get erections because they never mature and transboys do not get periods because they never mature.)

Ok, sorry, misread, they might not be 8 years old, but really ... even teens could misunderstand that.

How are 8 year olds supposed to understand that "trans boys" aren't a subcategory of boys, but a subcategory of girls?

My parents have problems grasping that ridiculous concept.

So it doesn't really make a difference imo.

Just in case anyone's interested, a link to the actual report is here:
www.google.com/amp/s/www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/pupils-8-told-boys-can-13740888.amp

I would just like to point out that the report does not say 'boys can have periods'. It says 'trans boys and non-binary people may have periods.' which you may not like, but is true.

I'm on the fence, but I think the headline is misleading.

Actually tho we were told you couldn’t wash your hair when you had your period

How ... was that supposed to work?
The period is in your pants, the hair is on your head, so what exactly did they say the connection was? Was washing hands also taboo, or just hair? What allegedly happened if you did wash your hair during your period?

If people believed that, then perhaps it is not so surprising they now believe that boys can have periods.

(I am, again, surprised that we feminists are the ones accused of hating men. Scaring young boys by telling them that they might get periods is just cruel. Genderists seem to worship adult males but hate young boys. Hm, well, it is called patriarchy, rule of the father, for a reason.)

Ffs. I’m hacked off that they arent pushing ‘live and let live’ or ‘we are all entitled to live our lives’ or even ‘we are all gods little sunrays’.

Where were these do gooders when gay kids and teens were being bullied? Or disabled kids? Or even kids with glasses? No-bloody-where.

Will they also educate that boys can have periods and TWAW? Why not throw in a bit of creationism whilst they are at it and flat earth theory?

One snif of the highly organised trand juggernaut, and all of a sudden it’s great to be trans (to paraphrase - who was that again? Pop star who decided that he was very very gay indeed - then he wasn’t at all)

"Educate to Liberate"

Educate whom about what? Educate children about stereotypes? Teach them the oh-so-liberating view that if you conform to a specific stereotype you must be a specific thing, regardless of material reality and biological fact?

Or educate that stereotypes don't matter, and that liking pink, or disliking your body, do not affect your sex or change you in any way?

I really think this could freak some boys out! Your average boy will not be conversant with the mental gymnastics required to make sense of the statement 'boys can have periods' and if it's a teacher saying it, they might reasonably expect it to be true and will spend the next few years worried every time they go to the toilet! Because they won't have the basic biological knowledge PLUS assertive common sense to dismiss the statement. Good luck with this, teachers of Brighton!

Meanwhile somewhere north of Hadrian’s Wall...

This is so damaging, so confusing for children. The other day DD, DS and me we're walking to the park and she initiated a game in which I was to be the mummy and DS the daddy. She was to be the dog. When I asked if DS could be a dog too ( he wanted to be) she said no, because it's a girl dog and DS is a boy so he has to be a daddy. She's five. She understands biology. Understanding biology is one of the many ways she is learning to make sense of the world, and she incorporates this learning into her play all the time. It occurred to me that for a trusted adult, a teacher or and educator (say someone brought into school to talk to the children), to teach that actually a boy can be a girl and vice versa would actually be very destabilising. It would undermine her current efforts to "make sense" of the world around her and her place in it. This is what all children do and is a normal part of their development.

It makes me angry that children are being encouraged to question themselves and being taught this ideological crap that flies in the face of science. Who sanctions this? It's disturbing, actually.

we must ask why certain adults wish to confuse children by pretending that there is no distinction between the sexes

Yes, we really must.

As well as constantly remind children and the general public that a group saying something frequently, with authority, still doesn't make it true.

Brighton and Hove council defended its guidance, saying... some people who have periods are trans or non-binary

This part is true. However those people are biologically women and girls by sex, and their chosen gender identity is additional to their sex. It's no problem to cater for this group without stepping from that truth into a bare faced, manipulative and politically motivated lie involving children, such as 'boys have periods', or erasing the reality of women and girls.

Well done The Times. This batshit must be patiently and repeatedly called out for what it is.

For the first time, I'm glad DS1 is at an all boys' school (no trans boys in attendance) that seems to have swerved all this ridiculous shite. They still seem to take actual, real, biological science seriously!

It does seem late Drspouse I agree but this is what happened at my dc's primary. They might well have talked about it before in some way but a lesson where they were seperated into male and female groups and talked about puberty was at the end of P6 for ds, he was 10.5 at the time.

Obviously, a girl couldn't make her own mind up!

Reminds me of this.

www.comedycentral.co.uk/inside-amy-schumer/videos/birth-control

@Igneococcus in England, it's on the curriculum for Y3, which is 7 and 8 year olds. The idea is NOT to see who gets their period and then, oops, we'd better tell everyone about it. The idea is to tell the girls (at least) about it before any of them could possibly get it (I'm not sure if 8 counts as early enough to be unusually early).
Also, waiting till one girl gets their period before teaching about it means that the class will assume one or more girls have it and will try and guess.
P7 is quite late for only one girl to have her period.

KittiesInsane, unfortunately, no I don't think that is what they mean, given that so many of the people who spoke on Woman's Hour believe that sex is a spectrum/there are many sexes/sex is a social construct.

If you, your parents, or your cultural community have strong feelings about the hymen, you should not use the Mooncup at this stage in your life (you can read more about the Mooncup and the hymen here).

My mother had strong feelings - she told me tampons were only for 'women who were married or had had a baby'.

I would have thought girls would know from biology what a hymen was and make their own mind up. But then, biology lessons do not seem to be what they were...………….

It's nuts isn't it veggygravy

OtepotiLilliane42 don't worry .

I understand what you are saying and thanks for taking the time to clarify your thoughts.

I was less disagreeing with you (yes, by their definitions they are technically correct) and more expressing why I think it's important to be clear about who has periods (and we appear to both agree on that).

I can see that teaching that 'transboys have periods' might become necessary for the sake of some very confused children who believe that their inner gender ID does outweigh their biology.

'Yes, Ollie, your inner gender ID is a boy, but really, you do need to know that because you are female, you will menstruate when you hit puberty. Here's what you need to do about it.'

'Louisa, I know you ID as a girl, but you aren't going to menstruate because you are biologically male and don't have a uterus. Instead, here's what will happen...'

Could that be what they mean?

I keep forgetting, I think, that although we know what happens in real life to boys and girls, the children in the thick of this don't automatically know about puberty and sex. Those brought up with alternative facts may genuinely find it hard to work out which biological facts will apply to them.