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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask the school... WTF

458 replies

bookeatingboy · 01/12/2016 22:55

DS came home yesterday with a payment card for his first residential trip next year. The cards were blue and apparently all the girls got pink cards!

Some of the girls asked for blue cards and were told that blue is for the boys and pink for the girls Confused

OP posts:
BusyBeez99 · 04/12/2016 07:43

Don't call me ignorant just because I don't agree with your views. You have an opinion, I have an opinion.

WouldHave · 04/12/2016 07:45

No, ladies and men's signs on public loos are not gender stereotyping, unless they are respectively pink and blue. No-one has ever suggested that describing a woman as a woman or a girl as a girl is gender stereotyping. HTH.

yellowpostitnote · 04/12/2016 07:47

I hadn't noticed this before as I read it to ds last night.

It illustrates it perfectly.

There's symbols on them; they don't need a colour.

As men and women are not treated equally in society (in achievements and view of) to assign colours is to place them firmly in their places. Choose pink and boy is a girl, and a lesser person because of it (according to society).

Men and women are different in the way they excrete and privacy is important.

To ask the school... WTF
BusyBeez99 · 04/12/2016 07:48

They do on other threads on here......!

BusyBeez99 · 04/12/2016 07:48

Quick burn that story book!

yellowpostitnote · 04/12/2016 07:50

I didn't call you ignorant; I said I used to be ignorant to it and used to believe the same till I learnt differently.

yellowpostitnote · 04/12/2016 07:51

Err no it's a good book. But it's old fashioned.

BertrandRussell · 04/12/2016 07:57

If you think that different loos for men and women are examples of "gender stereotyping" then that really indicates that you don't quite understand.

yellowpostitnote · 04/12/2016 07:58

Thanks atsea.

I was doubting my gut reaction at using that word but when I thought about it, that was essentially what I thought about.

And why we don't generally have mixed gender loos.

Poptart27 · 04/12/2016 08:01

#firstworldproblem

JJR81 · 04/12/2016 08:02

I agree it's for room allocation. It's a quick way to count us how many girls and boys that will be attending. I don't think it's bad what they have done but I do think maybe the teacher should have explained the reason behind it when the girls asked if they could have blue.

yellowpostitnote · 04/12/2016 08:03

Very much a first, second and third world problem. An equality problem.

WouldHave · 04/12/2016 08:14

The school knows how many girls and boys are attending without having to allocate blue and pink cards. It really isn't difficult.

BertrandRussell · 04/12/2016 08:19

But even if there is some administrative reason- and I can actually think of a couple - that's not the point! the point is that they went straight to pink and blue.

It's not a massive issue in itself-of course it isn't. It is part of a massive issue.

voxnihili · 04/12/2016 08:20

I really wish I'd read this thread before I got the students in my class to colour code biological facts about males and females as part of a revision activity.

I chose the colours because I thought they'd be more likely to visualise it in the exam and remember which was which, but I guess there will be a complaint waiting for me when I return tomorrow!

GravyAndShite · 04/12/2016 08:25

No, ladies and men's signs on public loos are not gender stereotyping, unless they are respectively pink and blue. No-one has ever suggested that describing a woman as a woman or a girl as a girl is gender stereotyping. HTH.

They don't describe men and women they quite often uses symbolism. For example a man is a stick figure and a woman is a stick figure wearing a dress.
That's awkward because many girls don't usually wear dresses.

You can protect your children from gender stereotyping without imposing it on others. Simply adopt it as part of your life instead of coming on these threads and preaching. What's does it matter to you what someone else believes? It's like the new secular evangelists

Dd at 5yo described a situation recently where she reached the story's climax and said, "then she screamed like a boy...!" and collapsed into fits of laughter. There was no irony.

That little girl has been raised so far to know that the only thing a boy can do that she can't is pee standing up if he wants and the only thing she can do that a boy can't is one day give birth to a baby if she wants.

To me that casual gender flip showed me that I was doing my job right and I'm meeting my responsibility to my child. We are all chilled, and it's okay.

No one seems to be happy that things are moving forward. It's like they're addicted to being angry and regardless of how quickly progress is made, it will never be quick enough for some. Wanting things to move too fast, or be coming pedantic, can be detrimental to a cause.

WouldHave · 04/12/2016 08:29

This isn't a matter of "wanting things to move too fast". This is a matter of not wanting them to regress.

NotYoda · 04/12/2016 08:30

yellow

"I hadn't noticed this before as I read it to ds last night.
It illustrates it perfectly
There's symbols on them; they don't need a colour"

I don't think it illustrates it perfectly at all. Quite the reverse
The symbol for girls toilets has a girl wearing a skirt. Are you saying girls must wear skirts? I rarely wear skirts. You are intimating to children that
girls wear skirts and boys can't.

That's the logical conclusion of your reasoning about this pink and blue cards thing

NotYoda · 04/12/2016 08:30

X post with Gravy

NotYoda · 04/12/2016 08:37

As an aside, don't diss Richard Scarry. One of his books taught me how power stations work

BusyBeez99 · 04/12/2016 08:38

Ha ha ha ha ha at the skirts thing.

NotYoda · 04/12/2016 08:41

I would like to add, that schools struggle to get the big things right in the current climate - keeping children safe, ensuring there are enough staff, ensuring there is provision for children with special needs, making sure children are not being beaten by their parents, or send abroad to undergo FGM

If you complain about pink and blue cards then you are taking up time. Time that could be spent on better things. That is the realisty

Sparklingbrook · 04/12/2016 08:42

I bet nobody will complain at all vox.

toldmywraath · 04/12/2016 08:46

Is this still rumbling on? I'm not going to google about how dangerous gender stereotyping is, thanks.

How does sexual assault get conflated with pink/blue anyway? Sexual assault is dangerous & horrible I agree. But what has that to do with stereotyping?

yellowpostitnote · 04/12/2016 08:46

vox don't worry, I was teaching from a twinkl pack on pets in French to an SEN primary class and UNE was highlighted in pink. But UN was left in black. There wasn't much point talking about it at that moment (given getting all to focus at once is a challenge in itself). But, another time, we could have a little chat about it.

It is ingrained in us so it is an aide memoir. But it doesn't mean we have to accept that is ok or not acknowledge the wider issue.