Mermaids “Teaching” in Schools

[TestyAndTERFy]

I read something somewhere about the pro-trans “support” charity doing some outreach work in schools. I read on their website that they have funding and are looking for 25 schools. I also read that they’ve partnered with the police, CAHMs, and some other public sector groups to deliver training, which includes their so-called “gender spectrum” slide (the one with barbie on the left, GI Joe on the right and everyone else somewhere in between). I had a knee-jerk reaction to reading that that are going into primary schools and delivering this sort of information and also that some schools are being encouraged to hide the identify-preferences of children from their parents in cases where the parents are not accepting/encouraging. Rather than just going off the deep end I was wondering whether anyone has any first-hand experience or knowledge relating to this. TAI.

First thing's first: consider gender a language that you have to learn to be fluent in

Um, is it a language with apostrophes in it?

So Steph is a fairly average person but too self absorbed to notice that most of the women around her are pretty much like she is?

Normal, but like, in a pretentious way.

Thanks LadyLance I see the point about autism.

Re gender is a language - it codifies sex-based roles, traits and characteristics which society and culture deems masculine or feminine. It has deep historical roots and value is accorded to what is deemed masculine compared to what is deemed feminine. There are scores and scores of writings on this.

What gender does not do is allow you to change sex. You can challenge gender roles and stereotypes as much as you like (it is called being your own person), but fundamentally, unless you are really androgynous, people will read you as male or female and bring all their understandings of sex-based roles, traits and stereotypes (aka gender) to that reading.

Gender is not an innate entity in your head, though, it is societal or you would not have sex-based roles changing over time and place, and they would not be malleable.

Adults understand gender because they have been writing about it since before these kids were born.

Normal, but like, in a pretentious way

This is the crux of it really. This is why it's so bloody contagious. You get to feel all so very special and best of all you get to police language.

It's a very appealing method of control and gaining attention, and special treatment, for those who in reality have very little control and are forgotten about in our rampant capitalist world with diminishing opportunities for the young.

You get to say "no you can't say this, can't say that, you're exclusionary, transphobic, blah blah" and control others.

Whilst surrounding yourself with like minds who applaud and celebrate each other for basically having a human personality like everyone else.

It's very appealing.

The way people like this are using "gender" it basically just means "personality", in which case, great, there are 7 billion of them and yours is not particularly special.

WOW.

Since when is someone's sex "vague" ????? I get more upset when I see the bullshit being directed at children.
In schools...!

I'd love to know what biology teachers across the land are making if all this.

Also, there is a new screening test in feotal medicine, being used in the nhs. It's been available privately for a while. The NIPT test or harmony test.

It screens for several key chromosomal abnormalities (including some incompatible with life) and is non invasive. There's the option to test for sex linked conditions too. Ethics aside (and I grappled a bit) there's no vagueness about the fact my unborn baby is male, with xy chromosomes and we've known since 10 weeks. It was decided at conception.

He can decide to wear and do what he wants when older, he will always be male.

Medicine and biology are therefore transphobic:

Holycheeseplant your link reminds me of the saying 'science is not a democracy'.

You can't bend scientific facts to fit your own philosophy. Whilst some (although very rare) babies are born with ambiguous sex organs, the vast vast majority are born either male or female. I'm talking purely on a biological basis.

You can't bend scientific facts to fit your own philosophy.

People try, and they always get found out.

Biological sex is not an ambiguous word, I think if people really knew this was what was being touted there'd be many more peaking.

There's been a R4 prog exploring biological sex in the animal world. (Where it really can get a bit freaky) Ive heard snippets of; the main thing was they stated that in humans, our biological sex made us make or female (then went on to talk about worms clouting each other on the head etc...)

Is that programme being transphobic?

*male

Following on from the discussion upthread, there's an article in the times today:

www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/nearly-half-of-girls-have-self-harmed-rjp50vww6

Just under 50 per cent of young women have self-harmed, according to a survey that has prompted renewed alarm over teenage mental health.

This was defined as “when someone intentionally damages or injures their body”, which can range from cutting, burning and hitting to poisoning, alcohol abuse and deliberate starvation.

Research last year using NHS records found a 68 per cent rise in self-harm over three years, with 37 in every 10,000 girls and 12 in 10,000 boys having sought treatment.

The latest findings, from a YouGov poll of 1,009 people aged 16-25, suggest many more have experimented with self-harm without getting to the point of treatment. Asked “have you ever self-harmed?”, 45 per cent of women and 27 per cent of men said yes.

I hope nobody minds me place marking for later.

Unicorn? Unicorn? For goodness sake! With a bit of a bloody DNA strand on its crotch.

This gender assigned at birth malarkey is just hilarious (or it would be if it wasn't taken so effing seriously).

I was talking to DM yesterday about family history, my two DSs were there for mothering Sunday, so I like to get her talking about the olden days for them to hear.

She was saying when she was born during the depression (1930s) her dad was in prison for stealing coal for the range as they had no money or work. This was in the North East. There would have been no doctor loftily assigning a gender as no one had money for a doctor and there was no NHS, the women in the street and the older sisters would be there helping, and the midwife from the nunnery if you were lucky. My mum was a girl, don't think anyone had any trouble spotting that. When she had me at home 25 years later the midwife didn't get to the house till after I had arrived, so dad managed just fine with mum. Dad went off to register me, his daughter

Just embarrassing now the way its talked about when you compare that reality then.