Non-binary teacher?

[Thompson198]

Name change.
I’ve got a 5 year old daughter due to go into year 2 in September. We’ve just been told that the teacher for next year is a non-binary/‘non-gender-conforming’ man who wants to be referred to by ‘Mx’ (pronounced mix) and they/them pronouns.
Quite a few of the parents have already complained and started looking for other places at local schools because of this.
what do you think?
My daughter has SEN and is one of the youngest in her class, I worry how she’s going to be able to keep up with the pronouns and understand this without us having to teach her about gender ideology at her age. My husband is extremely against teaching her gender ideology, especially so young, I’m not the most positive about it either but don’t feel as strongly as him. He also doesn’t want her being at the school in September but they have been very supportive for her so far and I’m concerned it might not be the same elsewhere.
Thoughts? How would you feel if this was your child’s teacher?

@poetryandwine psychologists and neuro scientists do think NB are different.
Often with very IQ.

Do you have a source for this?

Do you really, honestly really, think that non binary people don't know what sex they are?

Do you really believe transwomen don't know they're male and transmen don't know they're female?

I've never spoken to anyone who holds that belief (and I've spoken to plenty of trans people) so I'm fascinated that you do.

I promise I'm asking in good faith if you really do believe this?

(I also want to be thought of as a person plus the brain stuff isn't true).

You ate being pedantic. I said ‘for lack of a better word’ and yes you can a sense of Call It What You Like evidenced in any elementary child psychology book. I’m not getting into a debate involving this level of pedantry.

No they dont. People's brains has been rotted by this utter garbage.

I neither said nor implied this. See above

I’d like to think most do but there are people like India Willoughby, Dr Upton and Katie what’s his name who all claim to biological females. There’s also been cases of transmen who thought they’d be able to father children post transition. A lot of these people are very mixed up.

I'm not meaning to be pedantic.
Girls and boys know they are girls and boys through biology.

If they say 'I'm a boy because I like football and have short hair' that is just due to stereotyping influence. Sometimes they try to make sense of the world through that, but can be guided by it being pointed out that girls can have short hair and like football too.

I don't believe that most girls and boys have an innate gender identity different from their understanding of their sex.

Yes, @RetiringRita there are plenty of learned sources in excellent journals. But if you start citing them, my experience on other threads is that lay people will start debating the experts, spuriously.

I appreciate your bringing the point up and as it happens the non binary people I know are very intelligent indeed, but too small a sample to generalise from. This whole line of reasoning is too far from the OP for me to bother with. Anyone genuinely interested can easily educate themselves

I agree with you. For the third time I used the phrase ‘for lack of a better word. ‘Gender identity’ is a natural phrase in my world whereas ‘sexual identity is not

No, if there’s actual evidence of this I would be genuinely interested. I’ve had a Google and I can’t find anything, so I’d be grateful for any links?

it’s a cop-out to say you have all this amazing evidence but you won’t post it because we’re all big meanies who will dismiss peer reviewed science

It’s not a good phrase to use because gender is extremely regressive and based on outdated stereotypes.

No, it doesn't, but any trans person or those with a loved one who is trans should be alarmed that a movement which might well have started out with noble intentions has, whether by accident, design, intimidation, or mere silence and complacency, been misappropriated by something altogether more sinister.

Of course if we start an open door policy into women's spaces and sports, predatory men will take advantage as sure as day follows night. This wasn't an incomprehensible reach. The trans movement became a 'TQ', breaking down safeguarding boundaries, priorising kinks free-for-all. That it isn't necessarily trans people doing this does not negate what a movement bearing their name has to no small part become.

Any movement using the word 'safeguarding' as a dogwhistle is immediately raising a huge, bright red flag showing others precisely who they are. Of course this is injurious to those trans people merely wanting to live quietly and present as they wish, free from discrimination - and if this had been all this movement was about I'd have supported them wholeheartedly. But aside from the moderate, sensible voices of the likes of Rose of Dawn and Miranda Yardley in earlier years - where were the cries of 'not in my name' against this misappropriation?

They were tumbleweed. That's where. The ones standing up and fighting it, at the cost of their careers, livelihoods and, in too many cases, their personal safety, have been women.

Thing is, once upon a time I might have done so too… but now I would always state men are biological human males, women biological human females but some people have strange and silly ideas that they can pretend this is not the case because they are confused and unhappy. We can be compassionate that they are confused and unhappy, but pretending to agree with their ideas won’t help or fix them.

I suspect I won't find it in the time but I'll send it on dm.
It's to do with feeling different if you're super bright.

We have no evidence whatsoever that this teacher is up to no good. If we did, I would want them out in an instant. Forty years ago parents were making this sort of pre-emptive complaint about those radical women styling themselves ‘Ms’ - what ideas might they put into vulnerable DC minds?

There is something in Atlantic magazine recently about how having a super high IQ is isolating

No one said we did this was as part of a wider discussion about language and safeguarding. Not everything is about this particular teacher. Discussions evolve.

Which teacher were you referring to in the post of 18.27 that I responded to, then? The one who was ‘up to no good’?

A hypothetical one where we were discussing the use of language and how if a child said they were in the toilet using the Mx prefix it would be impossible to know if they were male or female, and therefore how much of a threat it would be. Its there for all there to see. I’ve said numerous times we have very little info about the teacher in the OP so we can’t infer anything about them.

That is because we kept getting asked what we would say to very young DC. Hypothetically.

The most gender-non-conforming thing a male teacher can do is identify as a man while not being a stereotype, but by trying to distance himself from men, he's reinforcing them.

This

I look forward to this as well.

The leverage of using Ms as a comparison of using Mx is false.

One was about equality- removing discrimination because married and non- married women.

The other is about forcing compliance about an individual’s philosophical belief about themselves.

The obfuscation of language weakens the ability to safeguard children and women. It lowers children’s boundaries. Not just with particular individuals but there is also the cumulative impact.

Having a non-binary identity is very much under the transgender umbrella. It is a gender identity.

What is important to remember though is that there are no biological markers for transgender identities. No neurological markers either despite some people’s assertions.

The only commonality between people with transgender identities is that they share a philosophical belief that does not reflect reality. There is no other group in society that expects their philosophical belief that is not based in material reality to be treated as if it is materially real. The question is, why is this group to be affirmed in law and policy. Including school policies. The OP is right to question what is expected of their child in relation to this teacher. They should be asking questions about this and what potentially is the impact to their child.