Mum may declare model son, 8, non-binary so he can keep his long locks at secondary school

[scotsheather]

Never know exactly what to believe in these articles but this is exactly where this madness is taking kids. GNC = not OK. Trans = fine and cool. How far can we dig the earth out the bottom of the rabbit hole?

Same applies to any gender traits.

www.thescottishsun.co.uk/fabulous/5164704/mum-says-she-may-have-to-declare-model-son-8-non-binary-so-that-he-can-keep-his-long-locks-at-secondary-school/?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=scottishsunfacebook&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1578951982

Ridiculous. Schools should have policies to say all children should wear hair up if longer than a certain length. Stipulate length based on sex is appalling.

Wow, he has amazing hear.

I agree that schools should just require long hair to be tied back. Boys should not be made to have short hair.

Non binary isn't trans though, is it? Happy to be corrected.

Also agree it is daft and he should be able to have long hair

A girl wouldn’t be allowed to have all that hair hanging round her face either. He’s clearly able to tie it back when he has to.

Mum is a halfwitted publicity hound.

I believe NB is part of the 'trans umbrella' distinct from Sex. The point is a kid with less confidence like him is exactly the one that could succumb to the trans lobby.

Same rules for both sexes is what matters. Remember girls being yelled at in science labs to tie our hair back.

It really shouldn’t be beyond the wit of humankind to devise a dress and hair code that is unisex and acceptable to all ethnic backgrounds and religions.

Something along the lines of ‘hair that is shoulder length or longer must be tied back. Any layers or fringes that are longer than the eyebrows must be clipped or held back by a band so they do not fall into the face or cover the eyes.’

Quite Junge, so why are schools enforcing gender stereotypes and making different rules for boys and girls? Surely if the rules around dress, jewellery, hair and makeup were the same for both sexes we would have fewer children wanting to 'change sex'?

Why can't he have long hair if he wants? This is actually a great case because the mum isn't in any way embracing "gender", she's shining a light on how silly the rules are.

I’ve just looked at the uniform policy of our local school, and they just list uniform items and rules without any sex segregation.

It’s all just, ‘grey skirt or trousers’, blah blah, long hair must be tied back etc etc.

It’s the way forward, and I can’t see why all schools aren’t going that route. It must save so much aggro.

She says people often call Farouk a girl, but he just brushes it off.
974NewStreet think your post is tad extreme.
Absolutely silly that girls can have long hair and boys can't.

Mum is a halfwitted publicity hound

What a silly comment. And irrelevant. Even if she were "a half witted publicity hound" it doesn't make what she is saying wrong.
There is no good reason for refusing to let her son have long hair but if she had a daughter permitting it; or even worse allowing long hair if he "identifies" as anything other than a boy.

On another point I wonder if any of the hates skirts and long hair brigade will be along to say it can all be solved by making the uniform "gender neutral" - meaning trousers and short hair for everyone.

There's always at least one of them on any thread about school uniform.

The 41-year-old has launched a petition demanding the government stops schools from prohibiting boys from growing long locks.

Good for her - I'd sign that.

Hopefully schools will start to see the sheer stupidity and irresponsibility of allowing (if not encouraging) kids to declare themselves as 'nonbinary' instead of just scrapping gendered rules. Have a range of clothes available to all (yes, including skirts) and hair rules applicable to all. Simple.

There's also a bias against black hairstyles. I first saw someone talking about it on twitter I think?
www.google.com/amp/s/ww.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/09/19/more-states-are-trying-protect-black-employees-who-want-wear-natural-hairstyles-work/%3foutputType=amp
Lots of articles online about it

I don't necessarily have a huge issue if parts of uniforms are gendered. I think the main thing is that they are very functional and fairly comfortable for all people who are wearing them, but aesthetically, they are just clothes after all. Liking them isn't really significant, (sometimes I think the main point of uniforms is that no one really likes them.)

But I think it's odd that hair length differences in dress codes persist in places like schools, even just based on the fact that it's been quite common for men to have longer hair for a generation or more and it isn't particularly counter-cultural or anything like that. It's also the case that hair is more than just a uniform you can take off, it's part of your body even out of school, so I'd be inclined to be less proscriptive of hairstyles and try to simply make sure they are practical and easy to deal with.

I agree, there is a bias against black hairstyles. It's sexism & racism. If they're going to ban long hair, they should ban it for everyone, not just boys.

(sometimes I think the main point of uniforms is that no one really likes them)

I did.

I did.

Well yes, some are better than others. Some are just butt ugly though. No one looks good in a McDonalds uniform. That's not really what it's for.

Not sure that last link worked. Here's another account, very like the Ops link.
www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/10/14/black-hair-laws-passed-stop-natural-hair-discrimination-across-us/3850402002/

The 41-year-old has launched a petition demanding the government stops schools from prohibiting boys from growing long locks.

I'm glad that she's trying to end this discrimination for all boys in the first instance and not just immediately taking the NB route to bail her own son out. The fact that she is considering falsely declaring her son to be NB shows that children can be declared trans by their parents without the child wishing it. It also shows how nonsensical this whole idea of having rules and spaces based on "gender identity" is, because someone can easily claim an identity dishonestly.

Solidarity is winning rights for all of your sex class, not carving out a loophole for yourself. Transmen and female NBs, I'm looking at you.

I concur with the previous poster about the hair discrimination that Black people face. "Conking", a primitive form of hair straightening using caustic soda, burned the scalp and risked blindness if the caustic soda got in the eyes; Black people still did it to try to deemphasise their blackness and reduce the racism they faced. Conking hasn't gone away, the chemicals are just different now. Black women in particular remain vulnerable to hair discrimination and spend disproportionate time and money to avoid it because, like all women, they are expected to have long straight or wavy hair, which is time-consuming and expensive for them to achieve because Black hair is so tightly curled.

The govt making it policy that all schoolchildren have the right to wear their untreated hair in the form that it naturally grows, at whatever length they see fit as long as it's tied back, would remove the burdens placed upon boys to have their hair cut and Black children to have their hair straightened/braided/etc whilst still allowing schools to have rules against neon hair dyes and excessive hair spray.

Do you have a link for her petition? I’d like to sign it.

We aren't to link to petitions or fundraisers here, but you might find this Independent article helpful.

Reginabambina

Usually they don't allow links to petitions as there is a dedicated petition board but this isn't the easiest one to find.

www.change.org/p/houses-of-parliament-change-law/w?source_location=psf_petitions

bd67th
Cross post. Why didn't I think of that

DS (about to make me a granny) grew his hair in secondary school and had totally natural, totally gorgeous glossy chestnut ringlets below shoulder length by GCSE time. Nobody ever suggested he might be happier as a girl. He got a key role as a royalist cavalier in the summer historical pageant set in the Civil War.

He decided to grow it; he decided when to cut it - at about 17 and doing A levels iirc. I think he wore a hairnet for science and food tech lessons. When it went there was a huge saving in shampoo and conditioner!

Please let children do their own think and find their own labels if they want them. I worry about the channelling going on, especially for younger, more impressionable children.

Hair is just hair.