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 couldn't work this out, either! How would the restaurant staff, security guards, etc. at these places even know?

I can't respect a lot of the things the OP has said about Gypsy culture.

The lack of education (specifically for girls) has been discussed to the n'th degree now, so i won't chime in again.

The violence is another thing that has shocked me.
You're supposed to want better for your children, and it blows my mind that it's seen as a-ok.
Children shouldn't be exposed to that, much less take part.

To keep a community tightly connected and rooted in male centric traditions you have to make sure there is no reason to leave or want something else. Education allows you choices and opens your mind to the world around you, it’s a threat to the very fabric of that culture. So the tradition has been passed on that the man will work, the woman will raise the family and that is that.

We struggle to fathom the ‘why’ because we have the freedom and ability to do as we please because of our education.

@PumpkinsAndCoconuts

I don't think wanting children to be educated is a cultural thing. It's just a normal part of being a human. I think a fair number of people don't 'care' about it but that's different to the OPs stance which is that
She wouldn't even allow it in high school/secondary school.

I think it would be more easy to understand the cultural side of it if the girls were doing something more productive with their time once they left school. Cooking, cleaning and looking after children is important but not something that you need years being trained to do?

If you leave school at 12 then have kids at 20 (as suggested by the OP) what are you spending those 8 years doing?

Habitus? Stereotypes? That would be my guess, tbh.

But OP also pointed out that the disruptive people are not representative but simply those that stand out / are recognised (You've probably had lots more but you don't realise because we are just normal people).

I’m therefore a little unsure as well. But it probably depends on the circumstances.

This is the crux of it. You can see throughout the world how girls and women are subjugated by withholding education. I didn’t know much about gypsy culture but what’s clear from this thread is that patriarchy is at the very heart of their lives. Blessed day.

Can I ask where you live? In the west country "handsome" pronounced "ansum" is a local dialect word of approval like excellent, lovely and so on...so a carefully pulled pint of beer on a hot day would be met by the comment "that's ansum"

I grew up in a travelling family, quite a bit known one. My mums a gorja.

While i respect a lot of our protection on our own etc, we cannot forget that travellers do call country people dirty and we don't generally get close to them. Times have changed and I married out the family and to be honest, I don't have much to do with my dad's side of the family due to the shit they put my mother through.

Like I've been at boxing shows where I've had to leave because the speaker says "can the travelling women leave the venue" because the travellers didn't like the decision and basically kicked off. And this happened Every year, same and different families.

Police won't come to our funerals because of how dangerous they are.

We are very clean, but have no respect for the gorjas parks and properties. And that is how it is.

Yes a few of us go off and mix in the real world and marry away and what not but let's not paint over the fact that stereotypes are true.
That doesn't mean we haven't got a great culture within itself in many things but from the outside, we can't brush it all off either.

I do think that different cultures have different approaches to education and that the importance parents place on their children’s educational achievements is often influenced by those.

Anyhow, I primarily meant to explain to OP how absolutely crazy that statement sounds to me and that I find it genuinely shocking.

I agree about there being a difference between parents “not caring” and actively preventing one’s DC from getting an education (or at least strongly discouraging it) because education isn’t considered valuable.

I don't know much about him other than he left school at a very young age, he was just an example.

Deborah Meaden also didn't complete school and is successful.

I’m in the west of Scotland and I’ve never heard it used in any other context but good-looking boy/man.

Thank you for giving an example. That’s really interesting.

Deborah Meaden also didn't complete school and is successful.

Are you sure about that?

There are always examples either way, but as the link to prejudice against the gypsy and traveller communities says

more than 50% of travellers have no qualifications

65% of gypsy men and 85% of traveller men are in precarious employment, compared to 19% of white British men

These things are connected it is a cycle that should be broken

A right to an education is part of the United Nations rights of children.

No group should opt out of this, it is morally wrong.

Do you find that gypsies are tolerant of other races?

also why do girls not get taught much about sex apart from the basics?

it’s crazy to see people blaming you for the behaviour of other gypsies or travellers like your responsible for everyone but thank you for taking the time to open up!

@conversekid

I think you might be deliberately missing the point. Deborah Meadon went to school until 16, some of her schooling was at a posh private school and then she went to college to study buisness. She didn't take A levels and she didn't do a degree but that is a country mile away from someone not being allowed to go to school from 12 - which is what the OP said about her own children.

It's not about exams and degrees but getting a basic education so you can make choices and be free to do what you want.

FWIW, I did my GCSE’, have a law degree and I’m a qualified nurse (didn’t follow the law career just wanted to study it out of interest) and I couldn’t tutor my children. I can’t even do my 8 year olds math homework! 🤣

Thank you for the thread @GypsyAMA
I would like to ask this, even though you have sort of touched on it.
I live on the continent (Italy) , and the gypsy communities we have here are easily recognisable as originating from different ethnic backgrounds to that of the local community. So aside from the fact that they dress in distinctive clothes, ( long colourful skirts and multiple shawls, scarves, jewellery etc) if you were to meet a single individual dressed in a more modern way you might not be 100% sure of their ethnic background, but you'd probably have a good chance of guessing that they had come from a Romani background.

However the way you describe your community, and how you say that people may mistake you for Irish travellers, seems to imply that you are not of the same ethnicity as the gypsy community that is prevalent here on the continent. The gypsy community here, and the Irish traveller community are like chalk and cheese in terms of appearance, so would never be mistaken.
I'm just wondering if there are multiple groups of people who maybe have all originated from different areas?
Thank you😊

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5061498-village-held-hostage-by-feral-teenage-girls

Oh look, terrible behaviour. Should I ask all the posters who blame me for the bad behaviour of my race, why this is happening?

How do you make money? Do you pay taxes?

She left school without completing her exams at 16.

All I am saying is that plenty people famous or not, go on to do well without the traditional education.

If it's for you then great but it's not for everyone.

Then she will still have had five or six years more of education than a Gypsy girl removed at 11.

according to Wikipedia:

On leaving school, Meaden studied business at Brighton Technical College, after which she worked as a sales-room model in a fashion house.[5] After graduation, she moved to Italy at 19 and set up a glass and ceramics export agency, which sold products to retailers including Harvey Nichols.[5]

Not quite comparable to leaving formal education at the age of 12…

Deborah Meaden went to college after school and helped run the family holiday park business (she didn’t come from nothing)

Earlier in the thread, it was considered to a 'colonial attitude' to give girls an education.
I mean. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Deborah Meaden did her O levels and decided to study business at college rather than do A Levels. She then worked in her family's business until she was promoted to MD.

https://www.deborahmeaden.com/2/about-me

Not the same as leaving education after completing primary school only!