BBC Bitsize - Pronouns

[OhHolyJesus]

I mean I'm not surprised but Bitesize is used by schools through the country as a supposed reliable, unbiased source of education material.

mobile.twitter.com/SafeSchools_UK/status/1319025713475952641?fbclid=IwAR0rTBD2j5PKOeTKvYSSX90c4RUDmJDo7Zg613qnDBXNaAncv3J8epYWLSQ

You can complain here:

www.bbc.co.uk/contact/complaints/make-a-complaint

Or email your MP and cc MPs Safe Schools Alliance on info@safeschoolsallianceuk.

In the tweet thread there are some people already complaining. I'm not a defund the BBC kind of person but I can see why license fee layers are questioning what the BBC are doing with their money (there is a website 'BBC complaints' that's all about biased Brexit coverage).

Gosh, just reading that gives me anxiety. It seems to me it’s imposing on children that adult paranoia about inadvertently offending someone - over something (almost) entirely invented. The fear of social slip up and embarrassment for teens in particular is massive, asking them to change their basic language that they’ve been using from infancy, at risk of discipline or social isolation/ostracism from a friendship group seems to be setting them up to fail.

In general you rarely use third person pronouns to someone’s face. I think at the very least ‘they’ is general enough... without all the made-up, non-pronounceable ones

What's the harm in teaching 'gender identity', you ask?

mobile.twitter.com/Newsround_Blog/status/1151821906707984385

Newsround_Blog
@Newsround_Blog
Replying to
@brunskellevans
"The huge jump [in GIDS referrals] may be partly because @TaviAndPort
advertised their service on a BBC children's TV programme first shown in 2014, and repeated numerous times since then. In this clip, Dr Polly Carmichael talks about the 'benefits' of taking hormone #pubertyblockers."

What I object to is that the onus and full responsibility is being passed onto everyone else. It's apparently MY job to make sure everyone around me is feeling safe, whilst my head spins trying to keep up with all the demands that I ensure I don't make them feel unsafe by using the wrong pronouns.

I'm fucking exhausted. As if I don't have enough on my plate, now I have to consider the feelings of randoms who may, or may not, change their gender ID on a dime, leaving me, yet again, in the wrong and subject to social justice.

Fuck that.

Ffs - despite all the outcry about GIDS etc the beeb just can't let it go can they?

Why is it a safeguarding issue to accept people for who they are?

We no longer accept that nice man that turns up on the doorstep and asks to come in and explain your water meter to you without prior appointment with the water company and a verifiable id. This is because too many people have learned the hard way, and you can't put things right after the event.

Teaching young people to take anyone at face value without considering their own needs is undoing this.

@Bessica1970

If someone identifies as non-binary, why does that bother so many people? It reminds me of when gay people were historically vilified because straight people couldn’t handle that not everyone is like them! It doesn’t hurt you if Gemma wants to be addressed as ze, so why have a problem with it?

I think comparing someone expecting to be referred to as ze with centuries of gay persecution is appalling.

Can the NHS and the BBC also advise me how to visually explain this new form of learning pronouns to my autistic child who has difficulties with functional verbal communication and understanding of social cues please? He is nearly 7 and he doesn't quite grasped basic me and you yet let alone he, she and they. All the therapy materials have pictures of he - boy, she - girl, they - group.

Can Stonewall, BBC and NHS explain to me - why in God's name can't we pick a different word for a pronoun to refer to Non-binary? Why is 'They' being promoted as though we are incapable of making up a different word? What does 'acceptance without exception' even mean and how is that a good policy if it means so much added pressure and difficulty and confusion for kids like mine whose brains are just wired differently to understand words and are not neuro-typical. So what if my child looks at a person and has used the wrong pronoun because 1. he hasn't grasped the concept i.e. he doesn't understand that people can 'prefer' pronouns 2. he finds it confusing when the same word can mean different things in different context 3. He doesn't intentionally set out to 'harm' a person if he uses the wrong pronouns - he doesn't understand discrimination and cannot discriminate against any specific group. If Stonewall thinks there should be no exceptions even in this case, then I am really sad and sorry - this is against inclusivity and actively discriminating against neuro-atypical language challenged kids.

And straight away from your child as an example, we see how this is the opposite of inclusive.

As seen from the other thread an autistic teenager now has a criminal record fir asking a pcso if they were a bit or a girl.

This is the cloud we are expecting children to live under.

How is a non-binary person 'not like' other people?

What are the thought processes, behaviours and characteristics that distinguish a non-binary person from a binary one?

I’m sure it’s been said before by someone very wise.... are we not all just people with sexed bodies and a personality?

I think even mermaids have decided there could be as many genders as there are people.... a year or 2 after someone was doxxed or piled on on twitter for saying the same thing...

Do lids have to memorise 66 million pronouns?

www.facebook.com/bbcbitesize/posts/3865530130123944

Still up on FB and getting similar pelters...

It doesn’t hurt you if Gemma wants to be addressed as ze, so why have a problem with it?

It would be very rude to do that. I would address Gemma as you, which is correct.

I just saw it expressed succinctly in a tweet that went something like this:
My pronoun is I.
If you're talking to me, the pronoun you should use is you.
If you're talking about me, the pronoun you use is none of my damn business.

That picture is not just anywhere either - it is a changing room.

The picture is really weird for a children's website IMO? Why do they all look so petulant and navel-gazing?

If someone identifies as non-binary, why does that bother so many people?
It reminds me of when gay people were historically vilified because straight people couldn’t handle that not everyone is like them!
It doesn’t hurt you if Gemma wants to be addressed as ze, so why have a problem with it?

It’s nothing like being gay. And the point is that NB people are in fact just like everybody else. Nobody is a 100% representation of feminine or masculine traits. So identifying as NB is meaningless. It’s like insisting everybody has to call you a special pronoun because you identify as ‘not happy every minute of the day’ or ‘somebody who doesn’t always fancy breakfast’.

If I was addressing your hypothetical Gemma, I would call her “you” and her name eg “Gemma, would you like a cup of coffee”.

If other people are talking about Gemma and Gemma isn’t present, Gemma won’t hear the pronouns they’re using so Gemma won’t be made unhappy by them not using “ze”.

Another point is this contrived offence, makes it harder to point out genuine bullying and nastiness, and detracts from it.

@Bessica1970

If someone identifies as non-binary, why does that bother so many people? It reminds me of when gay people were historically vilified because straight people couldn’t handle that not everyone is like them! It doesn’t hurt you if Gemma wants to be addressed as ze, so why have a problem with it?

Because that isn't my religion and I have as much right as Gemma to have my beliefs respected.

And no, it doesn't hurt me if Gamma wants to be addressed as ze, but it does hurt me to be forced to comply with Gemma's wishes against my own wishes.

I use sex-based pronouns when discussing a person who isn't there. I find it offensive to be asked to deny my own knowledge of science, my integrity, my honesty and my right to my own beliefs. This is hurtful to me, because it denies me agency in deciding for myself how I interact with people in the absence of Gemma, who seeks to control my behaviour and speech.
Such authoritarian, illiberal thought and speech controls must be resisted.

Which is what I do. I've found it enormously freeing when I finally rejected demands like yours for my surrender to this ideology. And as Barracker wrote in Pronouns are Rohypnol, understanding why your demand is unreasonable, selfish and ultimately damaging to our interests is vital in our fight for women's rights.

(And that is apart from the research and the feminist analysis of the issue which tells us that in a male-dominated world it is not without consequence for women to proclaim their sex, making enforced pronoun announcements a tool for the further discrimination of female people.)

Breatheandfocus

So identifying as NB is meaningless. It’s like insisting everybody has to call you a special pronoun because you identify as ‘not happy every minute of the day’ or ‘somebody who doesn’t always fancy breakfast’.

So much this.

It's very "I'm so special and you all just conform to the binary", when we've all been dressing how we want and doing whatever non-stereotypical activity or job we fancy. 🙄🙄 Without any special words or validation. In fact probably the opposite...

It's very sneaky if the BBC are using the word non-binary, without explaining exactly what it is.

What, precisely, according to them, does not fit in with male or female? Because unless they stop relying on gender stereotyping, they are in flagrant breach of government guidelines.

So let's hear it. What is it, exactly, are they not identifying with?

They need to watch Newsnight a little more closely, don't they.

I'm with CharlieParley. I refuse to be coerced or forced into lying. It's a power grab.

They seemed to worry enough to remove the mermaids number....

Not sure what their thoughts patterns are

So glad our children are being taught acceptance and tolerance