Preferred pronoun labels at childrens event

[StopitSarah]

I took my primary age children to a science event this weekend. It’s run by university students. Almost all of them had their preferred pronouns on their name labels.

AIBU to feel that was unnecessary and to feel a bit uneasy? One of my children wanted to know why “the man is saying we should say he/him. Isn’t that obvious?”

I asked one of the students who said it was to show support to any trans helpers and was for the benefit of the (adult) students, not the children.

I’m SO BORED and irritated by the trans agenda being every-bloody-where.

But AIBU? I had a good chat with one of the students and he said that they’re all science students and understand that woman = biological female is too simplistic. My brain exploded.

Give me strength

@TomatoSandwiches it bothered me a lot. So I thought this might be an interesting way to gauge if I have a point before I feedback to the organisers.

I think it was the explanation that the pronouns are for the benefit of any trans/non binary students rather than the children that made me so irate. It’s a childrens event. It’s not to bolster the fragile egos of the few trans students. How about the students who are gender critical and felt upset about the pronoun bollocks?

This is not trans activism. WTF?! This is letting children know that they don’t have to conform to some old fashioned standard . This is to prevent the large amount of suicides in the LGBTQ+ community
children are not going to have a problem with this unless YOU make it a problem.

Just don't go to such events. I'd have taken my ds elsewhere.

This is all so tedious and overdone, to the point of being provocative. My ds is 15 and it's making him less tolerant, not more so.

The people who insist on this nonsense have forgotten that for every action, there is usually an equal and opposite reaction.

Changing an entire societal custom for a very few people that want to be called something different than what they appear as is exhausting. Like your son said, it’s obvious when a man is labeled he/him and when a woman is she/her. No one used to feel a need to put their gender identifying pronouns on a name tag. When the label doesn’t match, there’s a demand being made that everyone must use the words that person has chosen to identify as. But because they are wanting a label now we all have to label ourselves otherwise we are transphobic.

There are many parallels between your ire at this so called 'trans agenda' and other groups who historically faced similar demonisation.

@OneFrenchEgg I thought the same thing about declaring skin colour. If I declared “black” that would be so unacceptable. And rightly so. I am a woman. A man cannot tell me he’s a “she/her” and expect me to nod along compliantly.

I don't disagree, I just approach these things differently.
I think you are perfectly within your right to complain.

@Divorcedalongtime you’re right. The old fashioned “sex assigned at birth” nonsense based on a baby having female or male genitals. Oh. Hang on. Wait…

@DojaPhat no, there aren’t.

Makes me think of when I don't know the sex of a baby or pet. I just say "your baby" or "your dog". It adds an burden to make people feel bad for using the wrong pronoun.

In 99% of cases when meeting people I don't need to refer to any of them as he or she, and if I did, because that person over there was hoarding all the sandwiches for example, their name label would be too far away for me to check the preferred pronoun. He or she are for talking ABOUT someone.

How tiresome.

When I was a teen, as with many teens, I was sad, confused, etc. If someone had come along and suggested i might be in the wrong body I might well have believed it. I'm glad they didn't.

What old fashioned standard? Gender ideology isn't about dismantling the idea of sexist stereotypes - in fact, it reinforces them by tying the very idea of our binary sexes to what we wear. what hobbies we're into, etc. Its sexism on steroids. And on Lupron, a drug used to chemically castrate sex offenders.

Lordy, when I was a child in the late 90s, early noughties I could have sworn this battle was over and nobody gave a damn if boys liked to put a bit of make up on or if a girl had a crew cut.

We've gone backwards.

It seems to go beyond standing up for people and being inclusive iyswim? I don't know what I mean. It's in my head. But I find it hard to understand feeling something other than how you are born. Otoh I don't care about feminine dressing, using names you prefer. I do care about women's sport.

There’s nothing old fashioned about knowing that people with XY chromosomes are male and XX are female. It’s basic biology.

Why does it trigger you so much to give everyone equal opportunities?
Equal opportunities? Wtf?
Apart from the ridiculousness of the above post, why would any trans members need the children to be made aware of this?

@RedEyeBaby I agree. I said to a friend in her 20’a recently that if the trans movement had been a thing when I was a teen people might have suggested I was a trans boy or non binary. She said “well maybe you are”? 😂😂😂 No. I’m a woman who has always liked wearing blue, jeans, doc martens and science. I’m also a woman who (not I’m an adult) likes to knit, bake and be a mother. Either way, I’m a woman. Stereotypes don’t interest me.

Let me rewrite that for you.
why does it trigger you so much to see children gaslit? Why is grooming wrong? It’s not good that children are indoctrinated early into pathologising normal puberty and encouraged to self mutilate.

@ReadersD1gest that was my main issue. “Hello small child. I’m here to help you learn about physics. But I also need you to know my pronouns so I feel better about myself.” WTAF.

YANBU but this is all over universities (I work in one). I keep my mouth shut as I want to keep my job.

Interesting but unsurprising what you say about the student you talked to being shocked at GC teachers- they're in a total bubble with this, I suspect the real world will come as something of a shock.

I think change is coming. Not just what we've seen reported on the news, but I think the kids who are lower down in the school system - mainly young teens- are getting fed up of all the pandering. Anecdotal but certainly among my kids' peers this is the case.

Offering vulnerable teens a “grass is greener” option by persuading them that they’re in the wrong body is so so harmful. I don’t understand why it’s being allowed. It’s abuse on a massive scale, and one day it’ll be acknowledged.

I hope you don't have a name change fail this evening

YANBU

I’d be really annoyed by this and makes me glad this sort of thing wasn’t around when mine were little.

I’m convinced this nonsensical ideology is just a trend that will pass. That time can’t come quickly enough though.

@Lamelie exactly how I feel. I am VERY WARY of my dc being exposed to this bs while they’re young. I don’t want them to consider for a second that they’re born in the “wrong” body.

@DojaPhat why? StopItSteven maybe?

It makes children ask the questions they don’t need to ask. Children can be whatever type of girl or boy they want to be. But they are girls or boys.

I thought kids were being indoctrinated in nursery school and being forced to be trans in primary school? Why wouldn't your kids already know if that was true?