Mermaids has hit the headlines.

[Triliteration]

Reports in both Daily Mail and Telegraph regarding a member of Mermaids calling the police over a midgendered pupil.

Surely the tide will begin to turn on this organisation. They are involved with schools and all kinds of organisations including the NHS, but I think their irrationality and bias is about to hit the mainstream.

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2018/02/23/teacher-accused-misgendering-child-told-police-committed-hate/

if you don’t want to be called a girl then don’t look like one”

Like the 2 trans men parents in the recent BBC programme; one of whom had long hair and was heavily pregnant and both of whom looked like pretty, feminine women. No one looking at them could possibly have thought they were men.

Stories like that help convince me that all students should wear trousers NannyOggsKnickers.

I agree Nauticant, although if they didn't really say much other than the way they subjectively saw the situation, no conclusions can be drawn that they are right or wrong. So you could say 'mermaids say they saw it as...' I guess.

But do agree important to listen for the truth (as well as lies) from ALL sources. That is one thing this whole area of discussion has really highlighted for me.

What the fuck happened?

It wasn't so long ago that teachers used to belt the students.

The school rugby coach/physics teacher took a pal of mine into the store room and beat the crap out of him. Teachers would throw chalk board dusters at pupils, hit them with wooden rulers, tell pupils that they were 'fucking useless and would end up in jail.

A particular favourite of mine was the teachers and pupils collectively referring to the place where' remedial' students were sent as 'The Nut Hut'.

And now teachers are sacked and have the police called when they refuse to call a girl 'he'

In one generation

Couldn't we just go from abuse to, you know, just teaching? That would have been nice.

Um - not sure about this. Don’t think I’d want to cause distress to a confused and possibly vulnerable child - no matter how identify politics critical i am. I’d need to know the child, parents and teacher to form a proper judgement. Mermaids and Susie Green have just stirred up a whole lot of resentment amongst the public though - possibly an own goal.

It looks like mermaid string to me. They are quoted all over it but the police did I nothing. The lessons with the row of rainbow genders from Barbie to gi joe must not have penetrated. They need Ofstedding.

Stirring, not string!

I agree PERF trousers for all students would solve a massive issue with uniform. I still maintain that school is meant to be a work environment for everyone and I don’t want to see anyone’s genitals (male or female) while I’m trying to get on with my job. It is a hugely distracting issue.

Although there still are issues around trouser. At the moment they are wearing them so tight that they must be sewn in every morning! Also not helpful or appropriate.

And yes, we were getting complaints from other students about flashes of dick on the corridor and during lessons. So we asked him to stick to the girls uniform rules. Which he declined and made a massive fuss over.

“if you don’t want to be called a girl then don’t look like one”

I’ve seen kids on twitter saying they’re boys/men - having he/him pronouns while they post selfie after selfie showing them as feminine looking girls. Make up, flirty poses in pants and vests etc. One very unpassing TW complaining to Costa on twitter that the staff misgendered them - but you look and sound line a male - no wonder folk are really confused. One TM posted pics of themselves looking “cis” because they had ditched the goth make up an changed their hair slightly. So many silly, self absorbed, confused, attention seeking numpties.

"Couldn't we just go from abuse to, you know, just teaching? That would have been nice."

Indeed.
Though knowing SG and the truth are not particularly well acquainted, I'm holding my opinion on this until we know more. In fact, I'd put money on similar stories coming out of somewhere before there's any sort of indication that this is actually 100% factual.

GRA - Gender Rights Activist

Surely SRA would be more correct?

Some misogynist added me to a FB list called "Cunts" recently, as I'm politely but firmly critical of trans ideology. Should I call the police?

It has been painted in the article as a bullying teacher. For all we know, this might be a known difficult pupil with parents who back up their child regardless of how they behave. If the pupil has a history of disrespect towards the teacher, and the teacher felt this was little more than a stunt, then perhaps the teacher just put their foot down. That is pretty much Jordan Peterson’s line. Respect has to be earned.

It seems unlikely to me that the school would not have taken action against the teacher if this was as black and white as it has been painted.

And regardless, involving the police is an obvious step too far and shows just how irrational this organisation has become. It’s an action so far out of step with common sense that almost any person uninitiated into the trans agenda will see it as ridiculous.

Oh come on. Imagine the utter glee that wee shit Madigan would get from this. Bet LM wishes he was back at school now

It's the ultimate 'fuck you' to the teachers isn't it?

Teachers bully and humiliate students far too often with impunity.
I do not trust Mermaids to tell the truth about this incident as they so consistently lie professionally.
When you call the police because a teacher bullied a transgender identified student you are taking the Orwellian position: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
Trans advocacy seems to me to be little more than obedience training for the "Cis" class.

GRA is the Gender Recognition Act which give authoritarian cults like Mermaids the power to teach the police how to handle crimes like misgendering.

Who the hell would be a teacher these days? The amount of shit they have to put up with is ridiculous. The idea that you have to "respect" your pupils - in my day, it was the other way round.

I worked with a perfectly pleasant trans man for a while. She's detransitioned so I can say 'she' now. But we worked with vulnerable clients. High, drunk, mentally ill, traumatized, scattered clients. Who all, constantly, 'misgendered' her. Because every fibre of everyone screamed, 'woman' but we were all supposed to pretend.

The staff did it constantly as well because in high stress moments your filters don't work well.

None of it was malicious but had she complained we would have been disciplined. It is Newspeak. It is 1984 and Animal Farm and all of those things.

I’m going to be a bit of a sea lion now and say:

‘bewilderness where is your evidence that teachers bully and humiliate with impunity?’

That is a massive sweeping statement and a fairly damaging one at that.

I have to admit, my first thought was of some of the threads on here where a parent says "my DC came home from school saying XYZ happened - aibu to report to offsted, the governors, the local newspaper...", and various people say "hang on a mo - have you double checked with the teacher that's what actually happened?" Then the poster gets the thread pulled "to protect her privacy."

Some teachers are bullies, yes, and if the events are as described then this teacher was being utterly shitty, but I'd be fascinated to hear the other side of the story, because the big caveat here is if the events are as described...

Additionally, as others have pointed out, involving the police was a massive over-reaction. And it's fascinating to know that there's no such thing as a stand alone offence of "hate crime" - it only exists as an aggravating factor in other crimes which would be crimes regardless. So, no, even if events were as described, this was not a hate crime.

You are possibly correct that I should not have said "with impunity". That part is anecdotal.
nobullying.com/bullying-statistics-uk/

I think the argument is that discrimination against a protected class is the offense and misgendering becomes a hate crime.

In my experience, pupils bully teachers with impunity.

Sorry, I don’t get what that link is supporting. The page it links to is on bullying in general.

Back to the original topic. If that teachers spoke to the child as reported then it is not on and they should have been reprimanded. However, context is also key and we’ve only had single utterances pulled out of what might be a whole conversation. Which is never helpful.

I’d also like to point out that most teachers go into the profession because they care about young people and their outcomes. There are a few bad eggs. But the attitude that teachers are bullies is what has led to the frankly combative atmosphere between parents and teachers. It is often difficult to get past parental perceptions of teachers as the enemy enough to build a working relationship. Which is sad.