Help me respond to this that I've seen to be used in schools

[wonderpants]

This was posted in a teaching group I am part of and I'm struggling to articulate a response!

For context, I have a teenage DD who is diagnosed autistic who has been exploring chest binding and currently identifies as non-binary. I am massively concerned about what is influencing her and her vulnerability!

Brilliant, Barracker

Barracker

If the words used don't have anything to do with physical sex, why are the illustrated people modifying their bodies?

Also, for Barrackers reworking.

My daughters school had a poster claiming there were 111 genders. That and the constant novels in the library about trans kids, and pushing rainbow clubs, and speakers on this and a myriad of other social issues they never asked the parents about, were about half of what made me profoundly uncomfortable with her being there. (the other half was academic shityness.)

We had homeschooled in the younger ears and I encouraged her in the end to do so again, which is what ended up happening. And I was able to talk through the issues with her in a less heated way and now I feel like she has a much better handle on them. Though she's heading back for high school next year, and I do worry still about the strong pushing of political and social agendas, where it seems impossible as a parent to keep up with what is going on.

Where does that poster come from, OP? Who produced it?

@39ScapaFlo interesting auto correct 🥴
Probably pen would be better

I've not been able to find where that image is from, but Tineye says it was first posted online in 2013, on a site that posts memes and it's been regularly shared ever since by the usual suspects. (It's not an actual poster, it's far too small for that.)
I'd prepare a reply to the group, addressing each point in turn (women are women because of sex, not regardless of it; breastbinding destroys the breasts, causes longterm physical harm and is associated with FGM; gender is not the same as sex - you can be any gender you want, but cannot change your sex; yes, people are all people but some people can be bad, which is why we have safeguarding rules; etc)

A poster like that could be a good place to begin to talk about some of the problems with young teens.

1 - If your body doesn't matter, why are the people in this poster modifying their bodies?

2 - Is it wearing certain clothes that makes someone a man or a woman?

3 - Our biological sex remains real and is important in many parts of our life, for example when we seek medical care, or want to have kids. What words are we meant to use to talk about our sex class for these purposes? Why are we being told it is wrong to talk about them? If we are mammals, why is it ok to talk about these words with dogs or gorillas but not human beings?

4 - If we are meant to love and care for people no matter what they look like, or what bodies they have, isn't that also true of ourselves? Should we not love, or at least try and get along with, the bodies we have? How is removing a healthy sex organ different from plastic surgery to change a nose you don't like? Is that not a problem of self-acceptance? How would we feel if someone wanted to change their skin colour?

Obviously there are a lot more things we could ask but I think something like that would be a good place to start for most young people, they'd be relatable questions Sex discrimination is important too, but it strikes me that it might be difficult for teens to relate to in terms of how our biology affects our experience with things like maternity leave etc.

Barracker

Also good questions Goosefoot. It's horrifying this is in schools. I'm still wondering what they are teaching in biology.

I can only speak for myself, but I don't bind to escape sexualisation. I'm very comfortable with my sexuality and enjoy dressing up, messing about etc. I bind because that's me. When I look in the mirror with a flat chest, it feels right. Sometimes it feels right not wearing one but that's just me as well. I also don't think for me at least it's escaping the 'violence' of sex mentioned in the linked article, especially considering some of the stuff I'm into (breath play, bondage etc without going into details!). That's not to say some people don't do that though, just my thoughts on it!

Yes, that's how a lot of anorexics talk as well.

I have never had an eating disorder, but I was somewhat buxom and I remember being frustrated trying to wear fashionable clothes, because they never looked right, never looked like my self-image. Off course this was because at some level what I was imagining was closer to the look of fashion models. Not that I was trying to emulate them really, I knew that was unrealistic, but the lines of the clothes were just totally different. They never looked right.

Being a mature person means understanding that your body is who you are, it's not some kind of avatar you inhabit. And that's not always obviously empowering, it may mean coming to terms with a body that looks wrong, or is damaged, or overweight, whatever. For a lot of people it's the work of many years, but it's an important psychological process.

Barracker!

Yes, I saw the original poster on SM, getting lots of love, especially from counsellors and teachers.

The first thing I wanted to say is 'What makes a woman a woman then?'
but I didn't because I was too cowardly.

I would say this is confusing for children who have SEN, for those that speak English as a second language and potentially upsetting for children who a sex specific health condition or who are being treated (or who have a loved one who is being treated) for a condition that affects both sexes but is treated differently depending on which the patient is (such as the most common form of childhood leukaemia, which takes an entire year of additional treatment in boys).
In addition, men commit almost 98% of sexual and violent crime and teaching children to correctly identify men from women is one of the primary tools used in keeping them safe from sexual abuse.

I might also ask them if they got their teaching qualifications from the University of Tumblr of if they’ve just lost their minds 🤗

Just noticed the figure in the top left is a tad schoolgorl porn.

I am just here to bow at the feet of @Barracker

Snort at Barracker.

Better example of rhyme pattern, too.

Sheer brilliance, Barracker.

The original version is utterly outrageous and I can hardly believe anyone working in education could share it. Appalling.

Why the fuck would a school of all places have that shite up on the wall? (Barracker yours made me laugh) Those creepy figures’ bodies are drawn very childlike. None look like ‘women’ or ‘men’ to me.
And as always, the male agenda first and foremost.

Not as funny as Barracker's:

Marketing transitioning to children is, in my opinion, emotional abuse.

Replacing sex with gender is like replacing modern medicine with prayer. Believing it yourself is foolish but demanding that others share your beliefs is inexcusable.

It's disturbing to you because it is bollocks.

A school is teaching unscientific garbage. You cannot be a man if you are female, you cannot be a woman if you are male, nobody is neither male nor female, nor are people 'a mix of male or female'.

Along the way of teaching bullshit, its using images of breast-binding to normalise this form of female self-harm.

It's non-scientific, anti-girl brainwashing, in other words, designed to normalise a particular faith-based world outlook.

It doesn't belong in the classroom because it 'teaches' fake facts and it presents self-harming behaviour in a positive light.

Being a mature person means understanding that your body is who you are, it's not some kind of avatar you inhabit. And that's not always obviously empowering, it may mean coming to terms with a body that looks wrong, or is damaged, or overweight, whatever. For a lot of people it's the work of many years, but it's an important psychological process

QFT

Images that push breast binding have no place in schools.