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Original poster

Nothing like every day sexist presumptions is there?'

38 replies

Autumncolourlover · 18/11/2020 09:54

Considering it's a catholic school and last year boys and girls were angels then you'd think they'd have thought that some of the lads might want to be angels again. Angel Gabriel was a man after all. I hate this sexist stereotyped shit. Ds is 5 and is a natural for the part of an angel with his long blond hair and angelic devil in disguise looks. This sort of thing really pisses me off. I might be a bit cranky today anyway as he's being bullied because of his hair with the phrase "like a girl" used as an insult.

Nothing like every day sexist presumptions is there?'
OP posts:
Babdoc · 18/11/2020 12:05

My own DC were at a brilliant village Sunday school 25 years ago. DD1 was cast as Herod! She acted it with great relish.
Mind you, all the kids were quite exuberant. One year a full scale fist fight broke out during the actual performance of their Nativity during the church service. The minister waded in to pull them apart, just as DD shouted indignantly “The shepherds started it!”
The congregation were in hysterics. Grin

HarrietPotterska · 18/11/2020 12:03

@BlueCatRedCat exactly. The implicit bias is gross.

BlueCatRedCat · 18/11/2020 12:02

BTW our secular school has always cast a mixture of boys and girls for all parts, whether traditionally male or female, including angels. Perhaps expecting the destruction of sexist stereotypes in an institution that does its best to hold them up is the problem?

BlueCatRedCat · 18/11/2020 11:57

Ds is 5 and is a natural for the part of an angel with his long blond hair

You lost me at this. Nobody is a "natural" for the part of a non existent entity; but let's not forget all the dark haired, dark skinned, not slim, not particularly pretty looking children who probably never get a look in either.

ErrolTheDragon · 18/11/2020 11:51

@HarrietPotterska

Just as presumptuous of white children with blonde hair being angels
Well, yes!

I was the long haired blonde girl in 60s Sunday school ... Mary or angel, Mary or angel...Hmm

Original poster
Autumncolourlover · 18/11/2020 11:45

Dd1 was cast as a camel one year. She had tonsillitis so missed it. They did have a girl play Bugsy Malone though. Not in the nativity obviously. She had short hair though so maybe that's why. Sexism is alive and well in 2020. When they introduced trousers for girls I did ask if boys would be able to wear summer dresses but they weren't keen on that Grin

OP posts:
growinggreyer · 18/11/2020 11:44

I have always seen a mixture of boy and girl angels in 25 years of teaching in various primary schools in England. One of my favourite memories is the "naughtiest" boy wearing a pair of enormous cardboard wings that he discovered he could flap during the production. His Mum laughed until she cried at his antics. What a scamp!

HarrietPotterska · 18/11/2020 11:20

Just as presumptuous of white children with blonde hair being angels

Circusoflove · 18/11/2020 11:16

It’s probably just a mistake considering they include underpants in the costume requirements underneath.

ErrolTheDragon · 18/11/2020 11:16

sheep were always boys

Confusedindeed! Grin

deydododatdodontdeydo · 18/11/2020 11:08

Nativities are a nightmare, I'm glad my kids are out of them!
Yes, it's sexist. Our schools tended to have girl angels, shepherds were a mix, but sheep were always boys Confused

ErrolTheDragon · 18/11/2020 11:00

Yes, it's sexist. Do they have a similar sheet for the shepherds but male gendered, I wonder?

I think some of it stems from the fact that if the parts were allocated according to the sex of those roles in historical/biblical terms, Mary and the Innkeepers wife would be the only female parts. Angels were sexless, albeit always described and named as masculine.

But now - apart from Mary they should let the kids choose whatever they want.

Imnobody4 · 18/11/2020 10:42

It just shows how early all this rubbish sets in. I've attended lots of nativity plays in different schools and have never seen boy angels. I also bet they'd cast a boy not girl as Satan, a fallen angel.

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