Will biology teachers face discipline in the future...

Actually, science teachers have it pretty easy as they get to absolve themselves of much of this shit.

Year 7 biology was about puberty and sexual reproduction from a ‘scientific’ point of view. No discussions about contraception, gender or sexuality were included in the curriculum. Students asked questions (I could write a book on them) but it wasn’t obligatory to discuss them.

On the subject of ‘male’ and ‘female’ I would simply state that scientists assigned terms to describe And hypothesise about observations about the world that could then be used to make predictions. If evidence supported the ideas they become accepted theories.

Thus, we accept that a proton has a positive charge of +1. The proton doesn’t ‘know’ it possesses that property, but it doesn’t affect the fact that it behaves a certain way in a mass spectrometer that supports the idea. We could have assigned it a value of -1 and it would then have behaved perfectly in accordance with that theory if an electron was assigned a charge of +1. The same with N/S magnetic poles.

Sperm cells are designated male and egg cells are designated female. End of story.

I told them that people could dress how they liked and cut their hair how they liked and should always be respected but what makes us male and female is in our DNA and can not be changed. So only people born as a female could ever have periods.

I know why they said it, their sister was transitioning a few years above. Like so mant teen girls who decide they want to be boys I'm fairly sure she was probably on the ASD spectrum and was quite 'boyish' in the activities she enjoyed. There had also been abuse in the home at one stage and being a 'boy' is safer. We had been asked to refer to her as their new name, I avoided that where possible but also didn't want to upset her.

I teach (not biology) but when it has come up I have just been very clear that I am talking about sex using the correct terms, not gender.

what's SLT please? Thanks

I do worry, having met SLT who can be easily taken in by any old nonsense (anyone for Brain Gym?), that science teachers may be put under pressure with this.

There are some blessings to having the national curriculum and a Tory government. Given all the recent changes to the NC over recent years, there is unlikely to be any coming down the pipeline imminently. Whilst PSHE may change, the biology curriculum is unlikely to. Biology teachers can fall back on that for the time being.

I’ve had firsthand experience of exactly this. Can’t go into detail about it, but SLT wanted some ‘language changes’ made to accommodate a trans student. A few long, technical scientific terms were thrown their way and it was suggested that SLT should tell us the correct, sex-free alternatives. They backed off rather quickly.

TheRealMcKenna mentioned similarities between genderism and creationism - when I started teaching there were some academies that were pushing the "creationism as an alternative theory to evolution" thing. I know of teachers who felt they had to move school - I'd have been the same.
I do worry, having met SLT who can be easily taken in by any old nonsense (anyone for Brain Gym?), that science teachers may be put under pressure with this.

I’m a gender critical biology teacher. I couldn’t get up in front of my classes and say that men have periods or can get pregnant. I talk about women and girls having periods. I talk about men ejaculating. I could not say anything else. If I was forced to, I would stop teaching.

It smacks of 1984’s 2+2 = 5 scenario.

my new favourite person

I really like James Lindsay.

Thanks for posting I've not seen that interview.

[quote Signalbox]Sadly I don't think that the sciences will escape if things continue on their current trajectory.

James Lindsay and Joe Rogan discussing how science is considered to be a western construct and "western way of knowing" (starts at 1:26) and how American schools and universities are incorporating this idea into science curricula:

newdiscourses.com/2020/07/james-lindsay-joe-rogan-critical-social-justice/[/quote]
It’s way worse than ‘western’. This is white culture.

www.cascadia.edu/discover/about/diversity/documents/Some%20Aspects%20and%20Assumptions%20of%20White%20Culture%20in%20the%20United%20States.pdf

This document formed the basis for an ‘infographic’ that was recently published in the national museum of African American history and had to be taken down.

It actually seems really racist to me.

This is a brilliant video featuring James Lindsay (my new favourite person) going through many aspects of Critical Race Theory and Queer Theory and how they view ‘reality’. It’s long, but well worth watching as it analyses where the science denying ideas originate.

Sadly I don't think that the sciences will escape if things continue on their current trajectory.

James Lindsay and Joe Rogan discussing how science is considered to be a western construct and "western way of knowing" (starts at 1:26) and how American schools and universities are incorporating this idea into science curricula:

newdiscourses.com/2020/07/james-lindsay-joe-rogan-critical-social-justice/

I have always felt that if you’re a parent you must not do the typical British thing and feel awkward around sex - tell your kids the truth as soon as you can. My 5 year old has known about periods for some time, she knows about “mating” as she calls it and that even baby girls have eggs inside them. We look at birds a lot and that’s a good way to talk about male and female.
On the other hand growing up in the 80s I knew very little until I was about ten and if that was the case with a ten year old today it would be v dangerous imo

Had some very interesting discussions on creationism over the years and its much the same ridiculous ideology as the gender stuff. I know most of the older staff in our science dept are GC and as we have a number of transgender students, they deal with it with much eye rolling. We had a new crop of very young staff just out of Uni last year and I'm not sure where they stand but I may do a bit of digging to find out.

I worked in a religious school which had a not insignificant number of pupils who believed in creationism. I always emphasised that science lessons taught the scientifically accepted theories that were supported by evidence. Nothing is ever ‘certain’ but that theories were accepted as long as no evidence every proved them to be false.

Science teachers have always had to navigate their way around ridiculous ideology. If they give up on this fight then the country is truly f*cked as everything is then up for grabs.

It would certainly make an interesting test case!

When you write "CIS woman", Maxine, you mean "woman", right?

As a woman, I don't need any invented prefix to make my biological status any clearer. I am an adult human female.

I’m hoping it will disappear like McCarthyism did after a while, but there is the outside possibility that we look forward to a future like in Interstellar, where instead of the moon landings being denied, one gutsy girl dares to express the view that there are only two sexes and she’s hauled up to the principal’s office. Matthew McConaughey then leads a dangerous mission to space to take all the science believers to somewhere safe to ensure the future of the human race, leaving all the science deniers behind to figure out how to procreate without understanding biology.

There you go Christopher Nolan, a script idea for you.

@MaxineTS wow! Thanks for coming to a feminist forum to mansplain to us all how a man with genital surgery is basically a woman, that’s not insulting at all 🤔

Maxine I've never had children and my periods are stopping. I have short hair, rarely wear make up and wear jeans and trainers all the time. Every cell of my body is still of the biological sex class woman (no cis necessary).

I don't accept that transwomen who have transitioned are women, because they're not. However I do realise for the most part they're also being badly affected by the current gender nonsense.

@MaxineTS sorry, I tried to read your full post but I only got as far as “CIS”???

CIS women??? You mean women, yes?

Maxine thats a lovely story, but being female isnt about whether one has children, or periods.

XX is female, XY is male.
Its impossible to change sex, regardless of how many operations one has.

I am sympathetic to how transsexuals such as yourself are also being screwed over by TRAs so I apologose if that sounds harsh, but when we are at risk of losing all sex based rights we have to be very clear on what sex is.

As a side note, cis is seen as offensive and can get your posts deleted on mumsnet, just saying women will do.