What can teachers and other professionals do to create a more gender free environment in our schools?

[SarahCarer]

As my dd is autistic and, as a result, Gender non Conforming (GNC) I thought I would share some thoughts about how to de-gender our schools.

Firstly, teachers need to find a way to address groups of children without saying "girls" or "boys" . This is commonplace in some schools and puts an unnatural focus onto a person's sex which is of no relevance at all in the context.

Secondly every school should have at least one unisex toilet which any pupil can use without special permission.

Thirdly school staff should avoid using the terms "good girl" or "good boy" Again the sex is of no relevance and the statement risks implying that they are being good because they are behaving in a way consistent with femininity or masculinity.

Fourthly ALL sexism and homophobia should be robustly challenged

Fifthly sex ed should not have gendered content

Sixthly there should be no organising of classes with reference to sex except in PE or for sex ed.

Any thoughts on these suggestions or suggestions for others?

These are some of the ways we can protect our autistic children from gender dysphoria (GD)

I'm simply trying to straighten out your idea, get a grip on what you mean and iron out my own understanding of it.
I'm all for removing stereotypes, I think your daughter is great and you're doing a fantastic job of giving her that sense of free thinking self.

I'm all for abolishing gender stereotypes but you can't abolish gender. And it is nonsense to suggest that sex education should not have gendered content!

Look. I know what I'm suggesting is radical and it would inconvenience noble and her seating plan. And noble can feel free to ignore me. But I don't think you're engaging in good faith and trying to understand me at all. I'm pretty sure I have fully explained my opinion across a multitude of posts. Would you just do me a favour and explain what you mean by gender as distinct from sex?

What is gender softsheen?

You can (theoretically) abolish gender but you cannot abolish sex and I would not want to (obviously)

Yes Sarah and given that this is your thread about stopping calling girls and boys girls and boys, can you explain why I shouldn’t say ‘come on boys, get to your lesson’, to a group of boys hanging around the corridor?

I'm not sure you've explained properly at all.

So why don't you want people to say boys and girls?

I don’t have boy girl seating plans btw, but you said a teacher would use them arbitrarily, and as a teacher I disagree and have given the main reason as to why teachers use them. Have you changed your mind or are you going to continue to insist they are used for no reason at all?

If you do really want to understand then we need to find a shared language. So I have explained what I mean by gender. What do you mean by gender?

And it's not so much radical as not making sense.
You can (theoretically) abolish gender but you cannot abolish sex and I would not want to (obviously)
But what you are suggesting is abolish mention of someone's sex. Not calling a boy a boy is that.
And how on earth is sex education going to work?

So I have explained what I mean by gender.

You have not, one second you mean "sex" (like calling a girl girl) the next you mean sterotypes.

Then I'm happy to come back to your questions if you are really interested.

Do I have it right that you class calling a girl "good girl* as categorizing?

Of course sex education should have “gendered content”. Boys and girls will develop differently and should have the chance to learn and ask their questions in a same sex environment. That doesn’t mean boys shouldn’t learn that girls have periods, but that being a pubescent girl is awkward as fuck and you shouldn’t have to learn about it with sniggering boys.

I'm waiting for your response to my question captain and then I'll be happy to come back to yours.

HermioneWeasley I have explained upthread what might be an example of gendered content and why I agree with separate classes for sex ed. I use gender to mean the socmetal construct, not biological sex.

Societal! No idea where autocorrect got socmetal from

I'm waiting for your response to my question captain

I don't know what you think gender means, as at some points in this thread you've interchanged it with "sex".

Likewise it's made me confused, as you seem to class stereotypes as gender markers.
Until it's clear I can't explain what I think gender is, over the last few years what gender is has become batshit insane.

I use gender to mean the socmetal construct, not biological sex.

But then you don't want boys and girls to be called boys and girls, which isn't this!

You are unclear.

We are going to have some really messed up children in the future the way this whole spectrum of arguement is going these days......

Do you know what you think gender means captain?

Do you know what you think gender means captain?

Are you a broken record.

This is your "radical" idea you are selling, yet this is your response to genuine questions.

Fairy - Captain has been deliberately goading me for her own entertainment for the last few pages and I've been falling for it. This really has nothing to do with the original thread.

She's not been goading you. You just have no idea what you even mean.you have confused yourself between sex and gender and it's impossible to work out what you mean now