Barnados - Gender Identity Training

[Skittlesss]

I’m a trainee teacher and university have had Barnados in twice now to deliver their Gender Identity training to us all.

The first time it was about the Genderbread person and how we should look at people’s gender as opposed to sex.

The second time it was a bit of the same. They also read out some statements and had us moving across the room as to whether we agreed or disagreed with the statement. If you were on the “wrong” side then you were asked to explain your opinion. Things like “should children be allowed hormone blockers”. We’ve been told that women have to be called ciswomen and to be perfectly honest, I felt very uncomfortable with what was being said. I can’t quite put my finger on why - I think it’s because I’m an adult and I have my own experiences and knowledge about it all, but if they’re doing this presentation to kids then surely it’s brainwashing them? I just want to be a woman not cis anything.

Has anyone else had this Barnados training? I thought they helped abused children.

Her - you had to tell her? God almighty...

Harry the while training had everyone thinking that if was crazy. The woman was telling a room full of teachers of various ages (but all female) that none of us really knew of we were really women!

The training opened a lot of people's eyes about the ridiculous ideas which I don't think was what she really intended. I was glad of the platform to discuss women's rights both during and after.

Good one Caaarrrl I hope I can do that and have support from others when the training backfires.

That sounds awful. Unfortunately I know schools where the Barnardo's training has informed their school policies (primary schools). It all makes me so scared!

Thanks. I had to be careful what I chose to say and which points to disagree with for worry if being labelled as transphobic.

Sorry responding to the first page there.

God, just when you think we are getting somewhere another institution falls for gender bollix.

We were subjected to training by Gendered Intelligence.

Some of it I found very useful and helpful actually.

Some, especially around the biology and scientific facts was astonishingly wrong.

It was shortly after the Caster Semenya ruling (and heaven knows, I feel for Caster as a person, and she has done amazingly well) when it was srevealed that CS had quantities of testosterone way beyond the upper levels for any bio woman, and in fact that this is probably because she has internal testes. We were given a lecture about how CS was expected to change her body to match the sport rather than sport become more inclusive.

We were told that there were many different ways to determine someone's sex, genitals, hormones, chromosomes, and all could be different. (without being intersex).

BlueHarry - it wasn’t an explicit “you’re wrong” but it was like a surprised “oh, why did you pick that side of the room” and there’d be a few people on one side, lots on the other and then us in the middle whispering to each other “they didn’t prepare us for this kind of session... what’s going on... I don’t know which side to go on”. It was the first activity they had us doing and I “went to the loo” after a few statements.

I wish I had said something but I am too cowardly and I was pretty shocked that was what we were doing that day - especially since we had already had the gender identity Barnados input at the start of the course.

I felt uncomfortable with the lecturer (very woke) taking pictures of us all stood up there and I wish now I had questioned that.

I wish I could question more but I’m afraid of being called transphobic or something terrible.

If they took photos of you I would ask them to delete them as you don't give permission.

Valency what impact has Barnados had on the primary schools policy? Just asking as my DCs primary have had Barnados into do training. I’ve had a look at their Single Equality Policy and it’s a generic County Council one that has been adapted to be school specific but includes gender rather than sex as the characteristic to be protected.

But I think very VERY few people would come out thinking you can change biological sex, someone can be a man if they aren't bepenised, children should be sterilised and have their bits chopped off because they don't find into gender stereotypes etc.

I dunno. Over the years I've seen a lot of people swallow and then parrot back utter gubbins when presented by an authority figure on a subject they don't really understand well. MN feminist section is not a representative cross section of society.

Of course they can't sell everyone the lie; but they don't need to.

On the fact based stuff, I think it would be worth you looking at the Nation Curriculum for Science, OP, so you have a reassuring appeal to authority if challenging bollocks.

God that is really worrying. To pick up on a point made earlier by Coyacan, I think it is worth holding in mind are they hoping to target marginalised kids? I mean, it’s like a cult..they normally pick on kids who no one cares about etc. I don’t get why Banardos are dabbling in gender.

standwithyou I don't know the full details. I'm a member of a PSHE/SRE teachers forum as I teach some pshe. Somebody asked for help with lgbt element of school SRE policies and another member said there's was based on training from Barnardo's and their primary had a standalone LGBT policy based on the Barnardo's training. They offered to share it and lots of teachers requested it. It's a large group and the membership is a mixture of primary secondary teachers and I've never seen a dissenting voice (aside from my own - I was quickly called transphobic) on gender ideology.

Grammar fail! Theirs

That's a typically intimidatory training technique - framing a question with a desired answer and deliberately publicly exposing those who are wrong. If you expose them physically and make them feel anxious and uncertain from the outset it ensures compliance in the rest of the session. Crap trainers use this.

You'll find examples of this type of behaviour in Lundy Bancroft books anywhere that discusses coercive control techniques.

That's a typically intimidatory training technique - framing a question with a desired answer and deliberately publicly exposing those who are wrong.

Then taking photos of the people who had wrong thoughts.

Thanks Valency - DCs school except for getting the protected characteristics wrong isn’t too bad. I know it’s sad to be thinking it’s ok but compared to other schools...

This is awful. I hope l would be brave enough to challenge this divisive behaviour. It’s witch dunking in everything but name, with the photos to shame you further. Horrible.

It isn't "training", is it? It's indoctrination.

Well, I'm surprised there was no chanting, some of these actually do have chanting.

There was a thread a while ago about contacting councils who had used 'gender' instead of sex as a protected characteristic and getting them to change it back.

I don’t get why Banardos are dabbling in gender

Money. Trans is were the money is. Barnardos have been well and truly stonewalled. Safeguarding and child safety has gone to shit.

This sounds horrific and ridiculous.

Please, please complain.

I am a teacher but my training is ancient history now. I would have loved to be in that classroom with you. I have found that as I get older, I care a lot less about what people think of me. I also have less to lose.

Please challenge this training with your institution.

You are training as a teacher. Would you ever put your students in a situation where they were required to publicly justify a personal opinion or a minority opinion on a controversial subject in front of the whole class? No. That would be bullying. (Best practise when dealing with controversial subjects is to ask for volunteers or assign groups for each side of the argument and the argument is the learning experience rather than the assigned opinion).

Consider this - you had a choice to stand up for what you believe whilst being intimidated or to hide your opinion and ‘go along to get along’. Had you chosen the second option, it would be increasingly difficult to revert to the first because humans like to be consistent and avoid cognitive dissonance. Interestingly, this is tactic that used in war - prisoners could be persuaded to slowly change opinions in order to remain consistent with a previous statement. Whilst they might not change allegiance completely, it generated excellent propaganda.

As an older and particularly bolshy woman, I would like to think I would have been able to question and eloquently disagree with many points made by the Barnardos trainer. Realistically, it would probably be more of a rant verging on incoherence.

But I would definitely raise holy hell about being photographed without my express permission.

(I suggest you ask your institution why the photos were taken and for what purpose and Do Not Let It Drop until they have an answer from Bernardo and confirmation they have been deleted).