Edinburgh University to hand out pronoun badges

[BiologyIsReal]

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2018/08/25/edinburgh-university-student-union-officials-hand-pronounbadges/

I will break every rule in MN's be nice to trans policy if I even make a comment.

I wonder if using their own batshit back at them might work? E.g. if you started saying that you found people asking your pronouns triggering and discriminatory and you thought this was a safe space etc? You'd have to have quite a good poker face though.

There will be people who find this triggering and discriminatory. Women having their identities questioned, redefined, and drawn attention to, and gaslit into performing compliance with the notion of a gender identity they don’t believe in. There’s a longish thread on here about the psychological effect of being told that the term “woman” is being changed. So, I think this would be a perfectly understandable response (though, certainly, certain sections of the university community wouldn’t find it to be).

Jelly, if we were closer, I'd definitely take her!

I think my father had a place in a government bunker (not that one). He was meant to be charge of rationing for the area if anyone was left alive after they popped back up. I'm not sure that we were supposed to know about it. At any rate we were furious that he wouldn't have been able to get us in as well!

That article is like reading a Monty Python sketch.

Oh I totally agree Name. It is discriminatory. I think I was thinking more like they'd have no comeback if you use their terms. Because you could say how do you (the person telling you to state your pronouns) decide what is and isn't triggering for someone?

Agreed, Viago. I wonder what the response would be if we started doing the crying, shouting and accusations that Jordan Peterson's students are shown in one video doing (if you haven't seen it, I don't recommend it - I cringed myself inside out, and it made me almost terrified to say anything to a student, in case someone might react like that!).

Anyone on here work in a university and have a plan for how they'll respond if asked to wear such a badge, or state their pronouns?

I don't work in one, but as a mature student starting at a new university next month and worrying a little that this sort of thing will come up, my plan is just to act confused, say 'no thank you' to badges, and if asked about pronouns avoid it or if pressed say 'I don't mind' (Tempted to ask 'well, what pronouns do you think?' but that will probably get me subjected to tedious gender nonsense)

I'd love to say 'Professor' but that feels too much as if it might be perceived as trying to offend the actual professors and not the genderists.

"Tempted to ask 'well, what pronouns do you think?' but that will probably get me subjected to tedious gender nonsense"

On the other hand, getting them to articulate their stereotyped views and to make judgements about you on the basis of your appearance would completely expose to bystanders unaware of all this bullshit just how offensive it is?

ErroltheDragon posted this several days ago which I think I would use:

I think the appropriate response should be something like, 'I don't care, I find the prioritisation of gender (which is the means of women's oppression) over sex (which is why women are still oppressed) to be driven by misogyny.'

Good article in The Scotsman

www.scotsman.com/opinion-2-17103/bill-jamieson-transgender-politics-is-a-minefield-1-4791914/amp?__twitter_impression=true

Excellent article SunsetBeetch. Really shows up this nonsense for what it is.

My dd is starting at Edinburgh university soon. She got her welcome week pack from the Students's Association today. Almost all of the student officers and other students featured in it are introduced by their pronouns as well as names and subjects/years. It does have the effect of normalising the practice.
It is also very irritating that this is so prominent when there is no mention anywhere of access to venues. This despite the fact the main (19th century) student association building is very difficult to access.
Inclusivity in this case obviously doesn't mean inclusivity for all.

Saw this on Twitter, seemed apt.

Very disappointed by the link in the Scotsman piece labelled 'Edinburgh student union to hand out ‘gender badgers’ during freshers week'. I was hoping for pink and blue striped cuddly toys or suchlike.

But wouldn't asking be insulting as it meant they didn't pass as one or the other?

So how do the introduce the pronouns?

Ms Fekko
M Fekko, Mr
M Fekko (female)
Mary Jane Fekko (woman)
MJ Fekko - Guess (don't dare get it wrong)
Mimsy Pimsy Fekko Upo D'arce - I'm a pwitty ikkle likkle girl who lives unicorns, pink ice cream and puppies

I would hate this. I would feel very anxious if I found myself in the situation where everyone was expected to say what pronouns they want to have used for them. I get socially anxious so I'd be torn between conforming, so as not to draw attention to myself, and feeling like I was being co-opted into an alternative reality where I would be angry with myself if I went along with it.

Whilst I like the response above, 'I don't care, I find the prioritisation of gender (which is the means of women's oppression) over sex (which is why women are still oppressed) to be driven by misogyny.'

I'd never say that.

Would it be deemed inappropriate to simply say " I don't feel comfortable giving this type of information" leaving my response ambiguous? Of perhaps I could play dumb and say "I don't have gender dysphoria so it's not relevant to me"

This genuinely worries me. I was recently in a cafe where a female waitress - who clearly wasn't trans or NB - was wearing a giant trans-colour badge which said /she/her/hers I don't live in or very close to a city, this was in a sleepy small town populated by wealthy conservative pensioners. I also work for the public sector so feel it is just a matter of time until I find myself at a meeting or training where this nonsense hits. Ugh.

That kind of obedience training by a university is deeply dangerous to our children and the kind of society that institutions of higher learning once claimed to be dedicated to creating.

I'd never say that.

I don't suppose I'd manage it in real life either TBH.

What's the local what if sayings 'off you fuck' in Glasgow?

Away tae fuck

What the ? Just use names for heaven’s/hell’s sake.

I do not understand why a college is admitting people whose gender identity is so fragile it requires constant affirmation from strangers.
Perhaps they could create some special classrooms or possibly schools for the people who are obsessed with gender affirmation so they can feel safe.

I so wish that was satirical.

@vesuvia I can’t remember if the word “inclusive” was below the disabled and non gendered symbols, but I can assure you I’ve seen that sign in London. There was an entire thread about it the other week.

To clarify, by “that” I mean the article, not gender critical comments.

My toddler daughter, who knows she is a girl, understands at a very very basic level who is a boy or girl but is struggling with “her” and “she” and instead says “he” and “his”. She isn’t transgender, she’s a 3 year old grappling with language. In this current climate, it makes me concerned she’s going to arrive home one day believing she’s a boy.