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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to be sad that my DD can’t go on a brownie sleepover?

999 replies

Only13percentleft · 11/03/2019 15:21

NC’d for this as it is identifying.

My DD is a Brownie and loves going each week with her friends. Her Brown Owl has asked if the girls would like to go on a region organised sleepover where lots of Brownies sleepover at a theme park and then have a fun day on the rides together.

A bit of back history first. After receiving the Girlguiding email in September (about the inclusion of trans women/girls in the organisation) I wrote to Girlguiding asking if they would still be offering single sex sleeping arrangements (as they are now a single gender organisation) as I didn’t want my DD to be sharing with the opposite sex on residentials. They ‘reassured’ me that they would look to accommodate any request that helps a girl feel more comfortable saying that ‘this has included organising separate facilities for anyone who needs them.’

Fast forward to this sleepover, only 4 months later. I aske d Brown Owl if she could guarantee single sex sleeping accommodation for my DD. She contacted Girlguiding who are organising the sleepover. It has taken them nearly 6 weeks to come back to her but the long and short of it is that they can’t guarantee single sex sleeping accommodation. They’re going to be sleeping in large marquees with lots of different people from different units.

I’m really sad for my DD who now cannot attend this event. She needs to be in single sex sleeping accommodation and this can’t be guaranteed.

And if anyone asks why I’m posting this now, it is to make other people aware of this situation, especially as sleepovers are being organised for the summer. Girlguiding do not make it explicitly clear that single sex sleeping accommodation is not their default position. They do not say on their permission forms that you may be sleeping in the same space as someone of the opposite sex. Leaders are also not allowed to tell you if this is/is not the case.

OP posts:
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10IAR · 13/03/2019 16:48

It isn't just targeting though, is it GIRES that diagnose transing kids as a cure for autism? I have lost count of who is doing what these days

I have too unfortunately. I probably would have been told I was trans by that mob, as a misfit non stereotypically female teenager. What's worse is that at that age I would have been vulnerable enough to believe them, I was so desperate for somebody not to think I was a freak.

Whereas as a grown woman, who still isn't stereotypically female in many ways, I know who I am and would be well placed to tell them to do one.

God fucking help them if they come for my kids.

Rufusthebewilderedreindeer · 13/03/2019 16:48

sackrifice

Apparently boys only know they are boys if you dress them in blue

At least thats what i think that means

10IAR · 13/03/2019 16:49

I should clarify the words misfit and freak were not used to describe autistic people, it's how an undiagnosed me felt and was treated.

10IAR · 13/03/2019 16:51

Apparently boys only know they are boys if you dress them in blue

But what about the poor confused Victorian boys for whom pink was considered de rigeur?

Poor DD with her green dinosaur t-shirt on, watching football highlights. I must rush to reassure her that her body hasn't miraculously grown a penis because it's fucking impossible

Rufusthebewilderedreindeer · 13/03/2019 16:52

Poor DD with her green dinosaur t-shirt on

WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING

She's gonna think she's a tree!!!!

drspouse · 13/03/2019 16:52

If you dress a boy in pink/gender neutral, of course he's not going to know what he is.
My DS finds his willy is a fairly handy indicator (and he wears pink, and owns a tutu). Most of his clothes have gone down to my DD so I suppose that's gender neutral. She is also aware she's a girl.

I tell you what's also handy, though, people who think you can mix children up by putting them in the wrong colour clothes. Easy to tell their agenda, thanks for that!

7Pip · 13/03/2019 16:53

Well if you treat them like a girl, surely that heavy influence from a mother is going to make them think that they're a girl and not feel comfortable being a boy?

10IAR · 13/03/2019 16:53

Rufusthebewilderedreindeer ah so THAT'S why she stands in the garden pretending to be a tree, it's the t-shirt! Silly me, she'll be identifying as a silver birch next Grin

Rufusthebewilderedreindeer · 13/03/2019 16:53

I put all my children in red t shirts once

Oh my god the confusion that caused!!

Rufusthebewilderedreindeer · 13/03/2019 16:55

1OIAR

Well i hope Ive been of some help

Poor liitle confused twiglet Sad

7Pip · 13/03/2019 16:56

The sheer madness on this thread is difficult for me to get my head around.

You seriously dress your son in a pink tutu? And you're surprised boys want to be with the girls? Don't you think a pink tutu might be out of place in the boys changing room?
Ridiculous madness.

drspouse · 13/03/2019 16:56

treat them like a girl
Do you mean, tell them to sit down, be quiet, and let everyone else's feelings come first?

10IAR · 13/03/2019 16:56

7Pip say what?

How exactly do I go about treating my DD "as a girl"?

Because she knows she's a girl, she doesn't need me to feed her bullshit patriarchal stereotypes to reinforce that.

She plays with makeup, wears pink, green, blue, yellow and whatever other colours she wants. If she wants to wear a dress or jeans that's up to her. If she wants to play football (she does) that's up to her. If my boys want to wear whatever they want that's up to them too.

Odd for someone apparently inclusive that you think that means enforcing stereotypes.

That is called outdated dear, not inclusive.

10IAR · 13/03/2019 16:57

Rufusthebewilderedreindeer

Grin
7Pip · 13/03/2019 16:57

Maybe let boys be boys and they won't be confused as to what they are.

10IAR · 13/03/2019 16:58

You seriously dress your son in a pink tutu?

Daily. He is not allowed to wear anything else, he must wear it at all times.

drspouse · 13/03/2019 16:58

You seriously dress your son in a pink tutu?
Me?
It's not made his willy drop off, so you can stop panicking.
It's not pink anyway and I don't "dress him in it" as he found it quite easy to put on himself.

Rufusthebewilderedreindeer · 13/03/2019 16:59

1OIAR

Grin

And again the thread goes a bit weird

10IAR · 13/03/2019 16:59

Maybe let boys be boys and they won't be confused as to what they are

Mary Whitehouse is that you?

7Pip · 13/03/2019 16:59

Do you mean, tell them to sit down, be quiet, and let everyone else's feelings come first?
Is that how you were treated?
I come from a matriarchal society and we as women certainly don't sit down and be quiet!
And I'm not going to sit down here and be quiet either.

Rufusthebewilderedreindeer · 13/03/2019 17:00

Fair point drspouse

Tutus are a piece of piss to put on

Its basically a frilly hole

drspouse · 13/03/2019 17:00

7 I know we have blown your tiny mind but if you tell a child boys can wear tutus, they don't experience the kind of sexist brain rot you seem to have.

10IAR · 13/03/2019 17:00

And again the thread goes a bit weird

I'm at the point of laughing now. There's nothing else for it, on this thread at least.

DD has decided she's a velociraptor now.

10IAR · 13/03/2019 17:01

Its basically a frilly hole

Actually spat my tea out Grin

Rufusthebewilderedreindeer · 13/03/2019 17:01

Velociraptors are much better than trees

Makes me want to watch jurassic world again

I'll watch it on Friday night