To ask school why DS was told there are 72 genders?

[Ersorrywhatnow]

DS - 13 - came home from school & said he had a ‘weird’ Philosophy & Ethics lesson led by a new-ish ( non-binary/trans) teacher where they discussed sexuality and gender and 72 genders were mentioned. They covered some of the ‘main’ ones like pansexual, bisexual, trans etc

I told DS that there’s not 72 bloody genders. But am curious as to what materials were used, where they came from and whether or not this was a genuine discussion as DS said it was stated as fact. So for example
When they discuss Judaism or other religions the teachers don’t state ‘god exists’ they talk about belief systems and how they are similar, how they’re different etc

it sounded like this lesson was more - this is fact.

or so I just leave it, knowing that DS is sensible, and knows that gay, trans, bi etc people exist in the world and that’s fine ask the school what the lesson was exactly?

I’m gay, BTW, so this isn’t some anti LGBTQ thing

That Cakegender reminded me of Shrek and ogres being like an onion with all those layers.
Is this all it is? Trying to describe what it feels like to be a human being?
Why does it need to labelled as something specific? We all feel like this. No one is especially special.

I am made of more than 50% cake. That is a factual fact, it can easily be proven lol! 100% cake gendered! It has taken me years to find my niche amonst humans!

It has gone crazy and if it is, or is fastly evolving, into being a personal interpretation, how you feel, then there is no point on gender. I find that sad because I thought it was nice to make people who do not want to be referred to as he or she feel included and recognised. But since the appearance of this cis term that they throw around I think it has gone downhill, quickly!

Posters have correctly pointed out that some of the descriptors mentioned aren't even genders, they describe sexuality.

The way I'm looking at it is comparing sexuality to say hair colour. Most people would be a blonde or a brunette but to different degrees, then there's also a few 'bit different' gingers. However if you were to describe your own hair you might say I'm mostly a mid brown with red undertones...So Chestnut? Well kinda, but in the summer or when it's just been washed it's very red, almost ginger. Oh, but it looks pretty mid brown today. Yeah, I think I've got a grey coming through too.
I'm a natural brunette, pretty dark (9/10) but I'm grey in patches so have coloured it dark blonde. If I wear a pony tail it's pretty light, darker roots show if it's down

So everyone could give a very specific way about how they identify. I'm sure you could easily find 100 hair types.

If they were being taught about star signs then there might just be a tiny bit of reason behind it. I don't believe in horoscopes, but for example, a child born in July is likely to be one of the youngest in their year at school which may have a very slight influence on their life.

But this 72 genders idea (in fact there are over 100 genders according to the BBC) is so daft I can't think of any reasonable rationale behind it. Can anyone please explain why they believe there are so many genders and why children need to be taught about it?

Sexuality is simple. You re attracted to opposite sex, same sex, both or neither.

Gender seems to be based on how you feel as a person. So this could actually be infinite. It could be the 100 genders but then it may be permutations of them or ratios of combinations and maybe your interpretation of what it feels like to be a cake isn't the same as mine.
I might a coffee cake in the morning because I feel perky, energetic and robust but become a small fairy cake that someone forgot to put baking agents in by the end of the day

It's an interesting number to have chosen, for this number-of-genders meme that's been going around for quite a while with the number 72, specifically, attached to it. If you look at the number 72 on Wikipedia, it's a number with a lot of religious meanings and connotations, especially in the Abrahamic religions. 74, for example, has no religious meanings listed. I don't know if it's anything more than a vague attraction towards numbers that already feel familiar or important, or something about the number 72 that just feels nice, but it's kind of interesting to me, anyway.

@Humanbiology but was he strict because he was gay, or simply because he was a good teacher who happened to be gay?

My ex-boss a gay. Very difficult in 90's City Investment Banking, but he's a phenomenal mind that happens to be a gay man. Thus success followed, and his lifestyle was utterly irrelevant.

My point, no one really gives a monkeys and this never ending attempt at differentiation is just distraction from being a good human that does the best they can.

Oh god, that sounds very like autistic DS's 'girlfriend', although I think the exact term was demisexual panromantic.

I'm afraid I went for 'sounds like she's not actually interested, sweetheart', but I never was a tactful person.

I have very fond memories about him I was wayward back then. He was the only one who pushed me but he was like that with all his pupils. He was a good teacher and I appreciated that I left with a GCSE.