Nothing like every day sexist presumptions is there?'

[Autumncolourlover]

Considering it's a catholic school and last year boys and girls were angels then you'd think they'd have thought that some of the lads might want to be angels again. Angel Gabriel was a man after all. I hate this sexist stereotyped shit. Ds is 5 and is a natural for the part of an angel with his long blond hair and angelic devil in disguise looks. This sort of thing really pisses me off. I might be a bit cranky today anyway as he's being bullied because of his hair with the phrase "like a girl" used as an insult.

It just shows how early all this rubbish sets in. I've attended lots of nativity plays in different schools and have never seen boy angels. I also bet they'd cast a boy not girl as Satan, a fallen angel.

Yes, it's sexist. Do they have a similar sheet for the shepherds but male gendered, I wonder?

I think some of it stems from the fact that if the parts were allocated according to the sex of those roles in historical/biblical terms, Mary and the Innkeepers wife would be the only female parts. Angels were sexless, albeit always described and named as masculine.

But now - apart from Mary they should let the kids choose whatever they want.

Nativities are a nightmare, I'm glad my kids are out of them!
Yes, it's sexist. Our schools tended to have girl angels, shepherds were a mix, but sheep were always boys

sheep were always boys

indeed!

It’s probably just a mistake considering they include underpants in the costume requirements underneath.

Just as presumptuous of white children with blonde hair being angels

I have always seen a mixture of boy and girl angels in 25 years of teaching in various primary schools in England. One of my favourite memories is the "naughtiest" boy wearing a pair of enormous cardboard wings that he discovered he could flap during the production. His Mum laughed until she cried at his antics. What a scamp!

Dd1 was cast as a camel one year. She had tonsillitis so missed it. They did have a girl play Bugsy Malone though. Not in the nativity obviously. She had short hair though so maybe that's why. Sexism is alive and well in 2020. When they introduced trousers for girls I did ask if boys would be able to wear summer dresses but they weren't keen on that

@HarrietPotterska

Just as presumptuous of white children with blonde hair being angels

Well, yes!

I was the long haired blonde girl in 60s Sunday school ... Mary or angel, Mary or angel...

Ds is 5 and is a natural for the part of an angel with his long blond hair

You lost me at this. Nobody is a "natural" for the part of a non existent entity; but let's not forget all the dark haired, dark skinned, not slim, not particularly pretty looking children who probably never get a look in either.

BTW our secular school has always cast a mixture of boys and girls for all parts, whether traditionally male or female, including angels. Perhaps expecting the destruction of sexist stereotypes in an institution that does its best to hold them up is the problem?

@BlueCatRedCat exactly. The implicit bias is gross.

My own DC were at a brilliant village Sunday school 25 years ago. DD1 was cast as Herod! She acted it with great relish.
Mind you, all the kids were quite exuberant. One year a full scale fist fight broke out during the actual performance of their Nativity during the church service. The minister waded in to pull them apart, just as DD shouted indignantly “The shepherds started it!”
The congregation were in hysterics.

Just as presumptuous of white children with blonde hair being angels..

Ha yes...

I always wanted to be an angle, dunno why, but despite being white I had mousey hair with the dodgyist fringe you ever saw, I usually got cast as a shepherd, think I was one of the three wise men one yr

I hankered after being a wise man - they were always 'kings' with gold card crowns adorned with jewels (Rowntrees fruit gums) and they got to make a dramatic entrance from the back of the church and march down the aisles. And the subversive chance to say 'Frankenstein'.

I was probably too fat ( by fat I mean I wasn't a stick and my thighs and arse have their own zip code) to be an angel and in bedsheets you wouldn't be subjected to having to look at it...

And of course Mary didn't have wonky feet and a big nose...

Given that in the bible the angels are referred to in the masculine tense and with masculine names I've always found it odd that girls were the 'default' for angels. But then I was also the child that questioned why everyone believed Mary when she said she was pregnant but because "God did it" when it was more likely she had a tumble under a tree with someone that wasn't Joseph so maybe I'm not the best to comment on that.

However, the assertion that blonde curls and blue eyes makes for a natural angel far more disturbing than the everyday sexism at play IMO.

Ive seen loads of nativities over 3 schools. Never seen a male Mary, or a female Joseph. Every other part... Boys and girls. Kings, sheep, angels, snowflakes, donkeys, townspeople, random other characters (my DD was a midwife last year!)

But then I was also the child that questioned why everyone believed Mary when she said she was pregnant but because "God did it" when it was more likely she had a tumble under a tree with someone that wasn't Joseph so maybe I'm not the best to comment on that

I wish you'd have been at my school...I might have actually had a friend

Only of you could answer why God didnt raise his own child...

Never seen a male Mary

That would be beyond the bounds of idiocy a miracle too far even for god, I think!

Whatwouldscullydo I was the awkward kid asking questions no one else did. Apparently that makes you a malcontent.

I'd have got you in trouble!

I'd have chanced it... we could have had the whole " why did God get an underage girl pregnant " conversation as we stood outside the heads office ...

I was a King with a gold crown and my dressing gown with ladybird buttons

@ErrolTheDragon

Never seen a male Mary

That would be beyond the bounds of idiocy a miracle too far even for god, I think!

The way things are going it will probably be the norm in a couple of years.......

“We three persons who identify as very privileged male gender of Orient are...”.