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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Bit miffed by school...

219 replies

CactusMactus · 19/07/2024 09:03

Received this email from school at 4pm yesterday:

"Dear Parents/Guardians,
We want to inform you that we will be hosting a guest speaker tomorrow to talk about building empathy for others and the importance of being yourself. This speaker is a member of the LGBTQ+ community and will share their experiences to help foster understanding and respect among our pupils.

Please note that this session is not a compulsory part of the national curriculum. If you prefer to withdraw your child from this 30-minute session, kindly let us know by the end of today, and we will make the necessary arrangements.
Thank you for your support."

So I emailed the school asking for a bit more information, I am totally cool with them learning about LGBTQ+ rights, experience and empathy for others... but there is zero information about who this person is and what their agenda is.

Full disclosure I am gender critical. And would object to my daughter being told she could be a man.

The school has not replied to me. So I am past the point of being able to choose whether my 8 year old listens to this talk or not!

Why would the school not share this information earlier? Surely this "person from the LGBTQ+ community" has had to be DBS checked prior to yesterday afternoon? Surely the school knows what the talk is about?

Any advice?

OP posts:
duc748 · 19/07/2024 19:59

I thought exactly the same, @Rightsraptor . I was trying to think of the eight-year-old myself too, and I think most kids barely really comprehend 'fancying' at all at that age. Can't they just enjoy being children at that age? But I don't have experience of kids that age now, so if that applies to today's kids, I can't say for sure. But I expect it mostly does. The last couple of days a bunch of girls about that age have been playing on the green out front, and they've a camping table, and a tablecloth, and some chairs, and it looks like they're having a kind of teddy bears picnic, with dolls and suchlike. I thought it was sweet that kids still do things like that.

CassieMaddox · 19/07/2024 19:58

Also regarding "age appropriate" introduction to people being gay - in that situation I told my children that adults pair up into a special relationship which is not just friends but about being in love like mummy and daddy are and that gay men have their special relationship with other men and lesbians with other women.

Children aren't thick. They see their parents romantic relationships are different than friendships. It's entirely possible to talk about different relationships in an age appropriate way Confused

CassieMaddox · 19/07/2024 19:52

Rightsraptor · 19/07/2024 19:40

I'm trying to remember being eight years old (so very long ago now) and I'm not at all sure I'd have understood what 'fancies' means in this context. I'd have almost certainly kept very quiet about that until playtime, when it would have been the topic of conversation for all the kids.

I wonder how this man would have answered a child who asked what 'fancies' means? I remember when one of mine asked what a lesbian was and I said a girl or a woman who likes other girls, which she interpreted very sweetly as being about friendship 'oh! I'm a lesbian then because I really like Amy & Camilla & Emma...' Is there an age appropriate way of explaining this? I think not, which clearly means (to me, at least) that this wretched man should never have been allowed to be in the school in the first place.

@CassieMaddox - please do pipe down. If he'd talked about fisting, you'd have popped up with 'this was an ideal opportunity for OP to explain to her 8yo what fisting is all about' would you? Give it a rest.

What?? Don't be ridiculous . There is a lot of difference between fisting and relationships.

I have a different opinion to lots of posters on here about "safeguarding". I think most teachers know how to do their job and that the world is not going to end if someone comes into school to talk about themselves, even I I strongly disagree.

I too am confused about how OP knows what was said if her child wasn't there?

PurpleBugz · 19/07/2024 19:48

I find the choice of wording very concerning. The talk shouldn't have happened at all in my opinion but to say boys and girls instead of men and women is massively inappropriate!! It's normalising to children grown men are allowed to be sexually attracted to boys and girls and it must be true because they learned about it in school! Even if it was child speak for men and women it does the same thing. NOT OK

Rightsraptor · 19/07/2024 19:40

I'm trying to remember being eight years old (so very long ago now) and I'm not at all sure I'd have understood what 'fancies' means in this context. I'd have almost certainly kept very quiet about that until playtime, when it would have been the topic of conversation for all the kids.

I wonder how this man would have answered a child who asked what 'fancies' means? I remember when one of mine asked what a lesbian was and I said a girl or a woman who likes other girls, which she interpreted very sweetly as being about friendship 'oh! I'm a lesbian then because I really like Amy & Camilla & Emma...' Is there an age appropriate way of explaining this? I think not, which clearly means (to me, at least) that this wretched man should never have been allowed to be in the school in the first place.

@CassieMaddox - please do pipe down. If he'd talked about fisting, you'd have popped up with 'this was an ideal opportunity for OP to explain to her 8yo what fisting is all about' would you? Give it a rest.

JanefromLondon1 · 19/07/2024 19:39

You could report this to the Safe schools Alliance. I met some wonderful ladies who will give you the correct information as to what is allowed to be spoken about with regards to this nonsense.

8 years old. It's fucking ludicrous. My DCs at 8 would have been more impressed with being a power ranger than the opposite sex!!

MrsOvertonsWindow · 19/07/2024 19:32

CactusMactus · 19/07/2024 16:03

The talk was by a man who identifies as a gender neutral and sometimes dresses as a woman and sometimes fancies boys and sometimes fancies girls.

And it's appropriate for 8 year olds to hear from him because??
It's an adult self indulgence and he's using children for his own ego trip. Thank heavens there are enough adults on here concerned about safeguarding children who've given some useful advice.

Please formally complain OP. Children are not in school to satisfy the egos of confused men.

sarvangasana · 19/07/2024 19:15

@CactusMactus Your best bet is to write to the Chair of Governors now documenting your concerns over the process that the school has taken and the content of the meeting with the children. This letter will then have to be addressed at the next governors' meeting, which will be documented, and then this will be visible to Ofsted when inspected. The governors will continue to work over the school holidays and they have to deal with it, rather than just addressing the school, who may try to conveniently ignore it.

Barrenfieldoffucks · 19/07/2024 19:03

Shortshriftandlethal · 19/07/2024 18:59

People have been urged on this thread to loosen up, ignore their own instincts and trust the school........that played out well, didn't it?

Great double speak for pushing boundaries hey.

Shortshriftandlethal · 19/07/2024 18:59

People have been urged on this thread to loosen up, ignore their own instincts and trust the school........that played out well, didn't it?

Shortshriftandlethal · 19/07/2024 18:52

The problem as a I see it, is the automatic linking of the LGB with the TQ+.......and this indeed turned out to be the case.

Even then, how would this be appropriate for an end of term event?

What have those automatic defenders, who referred to people as " bigots" and "homophobes" for voicing their concerns, got to say now that the evidence, that most of us suspected right from the start, came to pass?

Shortshriftandlethal · 19/07/2024 18:48

CactusMactus · 19/07/2024 16:03

The talk was by a man who identifies as a gender neutral and sometimes dresses as a woman and sometimes fancies boys and sometimes fancies girls.

How did you discover this? Was your child removed from the session in time, and were other parents aware?

Shortshriftandlethal · 19/07/2024 18:43

MarkWithaC · 19/07/2024 14:09

It's not really sex education, or inappropriate, to show and talk about with kids (of any age) that some people have two mummies/have an uncle who loves and lives with another man, etc.

But that can be introduced in more subtle ways; certainly at that age. ( via story books which depict different types of family, for example)

Most young children understand that a baby comes " when a Mummy and Daddy love each other"...and that is entirely appropriate. It is too confusing to introduce these sorts of alternative 'realities' in such blunt ways as a 30 minute talk from an LGBTQ+ activist on the last day of term......if indeed that was what the disputed session was to be about.

elgreco · 19/07/2024 18:42

When he said he fancied boys and girls did he mean children? Or was it coyspeak for being bisexual?

MistyGreenAndBlue · 19/07/2024 18:38

ResisterOfTwaddleRex · 19/07/2024 11:05

If you are in a safeguarding role, then you need to reflect.

But you know this.

Of course he/she isn't in a safeguarding role.

Every single time a poster on here gets pulled up on their agenda driven bullshit, they make this claim. "It's my actual job"
Suddenly, they are an NHS worker, a teacher, a civil servant - whatever they think will give them the right to tell you they know better than you. It never fails. 😂

ResisterOfTwaddleRex · 19/07/2024 18:37

How many people are going round telling random eight year olds exactly who they fancy, completely unprompted?

We know precisely what kind of person does this. The number of them with access to children has to be zero.

Mischance · 19/07/2024 18:34

CassieMaddox · 19/07/2024 18:00

Because that person is an example of the range of human beings children will encounter in the world?

It gives OP perfect opportunity to discuss this with her child.

But the point is that it is a parent's choice when to discuss sensitive matters with their child based on their deep knowledge of their own child. It is not down to the school to choose.
As I have said above. Primary age children need to be taught to respect their fellow human beings. End of. They do not need to be told ... you must respect Mr A, you must respect Ms D etc etc. .... and here is a prime example of one sort of person or another ... and wheel one out. It is inappropriate and crass.
Here's a black person you.. must respect the. Here's a Muslim .... you must respect them. Here's a lesbian .... you must respect them. Where do you stop? How many different examples of the wonderful diversity of humanity are you going to wheel out one by one?
Children need to know they should respect ALL their fellow human beings and treat them with kindness.

GiveMeMySoddingCokeZero · 19/07/2024 18:27

CassieMaddox · 19/07/2024 18:00

Because that person is an example of the range of human beings children will encounter in the world?

It gives OP perfect opportunity to discuss this with her child.

How many people are going round telling random eight year olds exactly who they fancy, completely unprompted?

I mean, I might (if it was appropriate to the conversation) explain to an eight year old who'd assumed otherwise that I don't go out with boyfriends, I go out with girlfriends, or mention a boyfriend in the past when they knew I had a wife now, or whatever was relevant to my situation. But bringing up who I "fancy" as a topic with a load of young children I don't know, and going into detail about exactly which type of people I fancy at what times when I'm dressing in which way, feels kinda skeevy to me.

lcakethereforeIam · 19/07/2024 18:25

Well that's an argument for having virtually anyone talking to children 🙄

CassieMaddox · 19/07/2024 18:00

Screamingabdabz · 19/07/2024 16:06

😱 … and 8 year olds need to know that because…

Because that person is an example of the range of human beings children will encounter in the world?

It gives OP perfect opportunity to discuss this with her child.

CassieMaddox · 19/07/2024 17:58

ResisterOfTwaddleRex · 19/07/2024 15:25

The deletions next to accusations of "being over sensitive" are a thing to behold.

Likely very instructive for lurkers.

It's also "very instructive for lurkers" to see that particular poster appears to be no more

duc748 · 19/07/2024 17:56

The sheer dishonesty and bad faith of it all, though. We have a right to expect much better than this from our schools.

Teacherprebaby · 19/07/2024 17:20

What an idiotic comment.

Teacherprebaby · 19/07/2024 17:16

It's not suspicious in the slightest ffs.

SickOfThisSht · 19/07/2024 17:13

Sounds like it’s formal complaint time.
So annoyed a primary school would do that (and concerned as DD is about to start Reception, a while to go yet but goodness knows which way things will veer) and yet, having lurked around the feminist boards for a while, am not surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised.