I'm just an average gypsy AMA

[GypsyAMA]

I've noticed a lot of hatred towards gypsies on here so I thought I'd answer any questions anyone may have that could help you to understand my culture more. You might still disagree with many aspects, but at least you'll be coming from facts and not stereotypes.

I'd like to know how much the men are involved in child rearing? Or is it mainly women who take on that role? Can you get divorced without any problems, or do people tend to stay in situations they can't leave? What would you say is the biggest lie that the general public believes about your way of life?

Men do basically none of the child rearing in majority of families.
Yes you definitely can get divorced although I think our divorce rate is a lot lower.
The biggest lie is that we steal everything.

Thanks so much for doing an AMA. I often act for gypsy families (lawyer - not criminal work) and they have difficulty getting people to act for them sometimes.

I think one thing people worry about is that a group of gypsies might move onto a piece of land and leave a lot of rubbish and human waste when they leave.

Why don't you value girls education? Do most not complete high school?

Thanks could be premature, let's see how it goes first!

There are some people that leave mess, but they are a very small minority. The vast majority of gypsies don't even live on the road anymore as that way of life has been made so difficult these days.

We don't really value education for girls or boys. But girls usually leave sooner because schools start to teach about sex etc. Majority don't complete high school, I didn't.

Thank you for this thread. This is an area of great interest to me.

How many gypsies have horses instead of cars? It seems to be the norm around here

What can we do about children disappearing from education at around 12? It doesn't seem fair, it seems like those children are losing the option to consider other ways of life, because they are brought up to continue in their parents life style - what are your thoughts on this?

When is it ok to use the word gypsy and when is it not ok?

What's the issue with learning about sex? As fairly young marriage seems to be common, is sex education not very useful?

Do you wish you had? Do you have children? Will they complete high school?

Genuine Q.

Do you have toilets in the caravans? We have people that come onto our local field regularly and each time they leave environmental health close the area to clean up as there is human poo left along with dirty tissues.

And then I was watching a TV show where a young couple were buying a caravan and she said they don't have toilets in as they're considered dirty?

Why do gypsy children do so badly in school? What can we ( teachers) do?

I'm glad to hopefully help.

Not many have horses really, to be honest I know nothing about horses at all.

I honestly don't think there's anything you can do. Some kids do choose to stay in school and I think that's great, but I wouldn't allow mine to. If they wanted higher education I'd be very supportive but I wouldn't allow it in a school setting.

Are you an Irish Traveller or Romani gypsy?

It's fine to use the word gypsy, it's an ethnicity

News media and government refer to gypsies as "travellers" -- is that them trying to be overly politically correct? In other words, is the term gypsy okay with you guys? Thanks!

We don't really value education for girls or boys. But girls usually leave sooner because schools start to teach about sex etc. Majority don't complete high school, I didn't.

Why not value something that could prove so advantageous for your children? Surely an educated child with aspirations of their own is something to aspire to for your children?

DC has a bestie from a traveller family. The friend is lovely and has come to us for play dates but invites have never been reciprocated.
Is that normal, as I have been told (by other school mums)? Also they say the travellers never invite other DC from outside their community to birthday parties.
I'm afraid DC hasn't been invited in case we immediately refuse.

Please can you explain why not?

It's just not the done thing, not sure how else to explain that onw

Travellers are Irish travellers, a completely different ethnicity to gypsies. I find it really frustrating that they lump us together

If they wanted higher education I'd be very supportive but I wouldn't allow it in a school setting.

Do you see the contradiction there? How are they supposed to learn about and access higher education if they don't even do half of their secondary education?

Is English your first language? Do you have another language? Thank you so much for this thread, there is loads I want to ask. I hope its ok to ask these things, but I guess it is, as it is an AMA

What would the reaction be if a girl wanted to have a career & didn’t want a husband or children?

Are you an Irish Traveller ? In Ireland Gypsy is a derogatory term and the term Traveller or member of the Travelling Community is used officially