Can you please help me articulate the issues with this? Jigsaw

When I see school materials like this I always think of The Apprentice where they have put the wrong person to the task and only have 40 minutes left to get it all together!

Even in the 1950s stereotypes weren’t taught and enforced like this. The stereotypes may have been widely accepted, and homosexuality was illegal, but nobody told kids they were somehow in the wrong body if they didn’t conform.

We cannot just pretend that they [sexual stereotypes] don’t exist if we want children to grow up as reflective questioning individuals. It is the discussion and reflection that comes out of these lessons that is important in the context of the whole wider programme

Which sounds very laudable but doesn’t explain why they are teaching children that a child who doesn’t fit those stereotypes is neither boy nor girl, rather than that the existence of that child proves the stereotypes are wrong. So what they are teaching is the opposite of questioning stereotypes (unless their only concern is the specific “stereotype” (or in this case fact) that girls are female and boys are male.)

It's sexist stereotype bollocks and so regressive. This would have been called out as sexist in the 80s, how have we regressed so far. Makes my blood boil, even without the heatwave.

@grey12

The mere fact that it keeps emphasising "girl's toys" and "boy's toys" is upsetting.....

I raised three daughters (no sons) and they were offered 'girls' AND 'boys' toys. Some they liked, some they didn't. My Little Pony was a great hit, so was Lego, so were video games like Minecraft.

Restricting toy choices for any child is a shame. Gender does not need to come into it at all, why does anyone need to call things 'toys for girls' etc.

'Bella' and 'Billy' sound like they have already had their horizons limited by stereotyping, what a shame.

The stereotypes! How utterly ridiculous. All children should be encouraged to just be themselves AND to be happy being the sex they are.

They seem to be deliberately suggesting that "being a boy" is an activity involving a particular set of toys and hair length.
This is really offensive and against govt guidelines to boot.

" You should not reinforce harmful stereotypes, for instance by suggesting that children might be a different gender based on their personality and interests or the clothes they prefer to wear."

www.gov.uk/guidance/plan-your-relationships-sex-and-health-curriculum#ensuring-content-is-appropriate

The pictures themselves are a problem.

Long hair = girl
Short hair = boy
Medium hair = trans (non binary?)

Whole thing is a shitshow of pushing stereotypes while claiming to do the opposite.

It's just so ... obvious?

But I am starting to realise that I really really am the exception in terms of not caring about stereotypes. I wasn't brought up with them and I worked in a pretty unusual job where your qualifications were really the only thing people cared about. But now living in a small rural town and looking at the media I can see that most people have pretty rigid views.

Why is Bella the one with .long hair and Billy the one with short hair? Is hair length how we know who's a boy and who's a girl now?

For me boxes are fine, but they need to be penis box and vagina box. Not fucking footballs and fluffy unicorns.

Ah, so you don't fit in our boxes?
No, I can't make them a different shape, sorry. I need to make a new box for you.

Let's try it with race/ religion.

Lesson for 6yo.

Children who are white/ Christian.

Have strong views about those who are not.

They will make comments and laugh at them about their race/ religion.

They naturally will exclude them and bully them.

...

What messages does that give a class with different races/ religions?

It tells the white/ Christian children that these behaviours are expected and normal.

It tells the other children that again, it's normal to be treated like that. And the only thing to be done is burst into tears. And hope the other children have consumed the message that they have to go against their natural bigotry and be kind.

I mean. What? How is that s good way to go about any of this?

They are introducing / confirming that

There are girls things
There are boys things.
It is normal to bully children who do not conform
Children who do not conform will naturally not fit in with girls or boys (great message!)
They also burst into tears and are unable to stand up for themselves so the other children must be careful with them

In the follow up. Children with parents who don't adhere to stereotypes may make them feel confused and out of place.

Great messages.

Well this

'including those with family members who do not fit typical gender stereotypes,'

How many people on the planet adhere to stereotypes all the time?

What stereotypes are they thinking of? Is there a list? They vary between areas countries religions etc etc. There is no approved list.

EG some areas are much more dressy than others. Which norms are the ones to judge conformity by?

The starting assumption that children pretty much all are bullies wed to stereotype so strongly is straight off s damaging message.

They aren't. Some more than others. Usually about only a couple of things, not everything.

They are being told this behaviour is expected and normal.

That's a terrible approach.

“Billy wants to play with boys toys.
Bella wants to play with girls toys
Are there toys just for girls and toys just for boys?”

Well they’ve just been told there are, it’s not even a subliminal message.
I think 6/7 years olds are too young to interpret this any other way.

This makes me furious. I can't imagine my reaction if my girls had been presented with this crap in the 1980s ( 2 girls, both entirely different, different personalities, different interests. Oh, perhaps one or both was actually non-binary?) My Granddaughter now has they/them pronouns, though she hasn't mentioned it to me or her mother (Instagram).....

My birth body was such that about 10 days after having a baby a neighbour asked when I was due