DD (13) has been shown Trans 101 video at school. Please help me draft a response.

[veryconcernedparent]

NC for this.
I've been lurking on the Feminism board for the last few months and have really had my eyes opened.
I have just discovered that DD, who is in year 9, has been shown the following video in form time:

www.trans101.org.au/video1.html

I'm horrified and really feel I should get in touch with the school but I am not as well informed as many posters here and I don't know where to start. What issues do I raise and how?

There was apparently no discussion in class after the video, although there was plenty among the children afterwards. I have discussed the issues with DD in the past and thought she understood but the discussion we've had since she saw the video shows that she is now very confused.

Many thanks in advance.

Assigned at birth
Gender is internal sense of self
Gender can be male, female, neither, mix of both or something else
If you don't 'feel' like what you were 'assigned' then you're transgender

I must have a very short attention span because I gave up after that. The stupidest video ever. Where are the biology teachers. Why are people wilfully confusing sex and gender.

Have you looked at Safe Schools Alliance and Transgender Trend? They may be able to help.

The latest govt guidance explicitly states that this type of propaganda should not be shown in schools. ( assuming you are in Uk) if it is saying that you are born in the wrong body etc. These young people are presented as being cool, and are really talking about being gender non conforming in terms of stereotypes, which is ok. But by linking behaviour or looks to being transgender is really sinister.

Have you looked on the Safe Schools Alliance website? Not sure whether they have anything on this specific organisation, but it's a good place to start and there are letter templates on the site which might be useful as a basis for writing to your DD's school.

safeschoolsallianceuk.net/

You could point out that they are not allowed by law to simple present one political perspective. And ask who and when they will be presenting the alternative point of view.

www.transgendertrend.com/department-for-education-rse-guidance-schools/

www.gov.uk/guidance/plan-your-relationships-sex-and-health-curriculum#using-external-agencies

As this is an extreme ideology and inaccurate the school need to justify how it meet statutory government guidelines.

There are lots of threads on this already with advice on how to approach the school. Get an appointment with the head and ask why it was shown, how it meets govt guidelines, what lessons (it's not just RSE/PSHE clearly) and assemblies include gender ideology teaching (they will argue it doesn't) and that you do not give your consent to having your child included in anything connected to this.

I don't think I can help you OP, although I am sure others can. I just really wanted to comment on this.

ignores the huge and amazing world of people who are trans and gender diverse.

But it's not! It's so narrow. Even if they're looking at "gender diverse" people from other cultures, they're shoehorning them into their particular Western framework - therefore reducing an opportunity to genuinely learn something about other cultures into an opportunity to navel gaze. "Gender diversity" is the least interesting form of human diversity imaginable. I think it's really sad that kids are being taught stuff that narrows their minds in the guise of expanding them.

From the govt guidelines

We are aware that topics involving gender and biological sex can be complex and sensitive matters to navigate. You should not reinforce harmful stereotypes, for instance by suggesting that children might be a different gender based on their personality and interests or the clothes they prefer to wear. Resources used in teaching about this topic must always be age-appropriate and evidence based. Materials which suggest that non-conformity to gender stereotypes should be seen as synonymous with having a different gender identity should not be used and you should not work with external agencies or organisations that produce such material. While teachers should not suggest to a child that their non-compliance with gender stereotypes means that either their personality or their body is wrong and in need of changing, teachers should always seek to treat individual students with sympathy and support.
You should work together with parents on any decisions regarding your school’s treatment of their child, in line with the school’s safeguarding policy and the statutory guidance on working together to safeguard childrenen_.*

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/plan-your-relationships-sex-and-health-curriculum

When deciding if a resource is suitable, you should consider if it:
• aligns to the teaching requirements set out in the statutory guidance
• would support pupils in applying their knowledge in different contexts and settings
• is age-appropriate - think about the age, developmental stage and background of your pupils
• is evidence-based and contains robust facts and statistics
• fits into your curriculum plan
• is from a credible source

this is totally against the new government guidelines and perpetuates the dangerous message re. 'if you don't conform to the narrow 'gender' stereotypes imposed on you based on your sex, you may be trans'. That is saying that if you're not a girly girl who likes pink pretty stuff and doesn't like being talked down to, you may be a boy.

No wonder your poor daughter is confused, this is a ridiculous video which chucks out tons of random words identifying as information. Why ever would the teacher use this resource? and certainly just to dump it on the kids with no discussion - what was he or she thinking?

And it is suggesting that you might choose to use the toilets/facilities of your 'gender identity' - this is definitely against safeguarding principles. You could point out that the number of rapes in schools each year is in the 100s (average 200 I think) and sexual assaults will be higher. How will letting children use the toilets of the opposite sex help reduce that figure?

fwiw - I would be livid that the school saw fit to show the children such utterly confusing and potentially damaging nonsense.

Isn’t the OP in Australia? Not sure what the guidance is there

@veryconcernedparent you’ve asked quite a few questions and had lots of posts with suggestions, but you haven’t actually stated why you are horrified or what issues you want to raise.
I would have thought that if you are horrified, you would know why. As an intelligent person that can write a lucid post asking others what to say, you’re probably also capable of clearly articulating your own thoughts with supporting reasons why.

@RubyQ2010
Passive-aggressive with a side order of backhanded compliment.
No scare quotes? Missed a trick, there.

Not sure where you got Australia from PP

Ruby the OP is clearly horrified at the content of the video shared and that her DD is now confused. It's not a long OP to read and no ambiguity. It's also not yet a hour since the OP posted, give her a chance to respond.

It's because the link is to an Australian organisation, www.trans101.org.au/video1.html, but these days that's often not indicative of anything.

Thanks nauticant I didn't watch the video (couldn't stand to the second post gave me enough to post on) but yeah that could have been shown in a U.K. school or any school.

MN is global and we get visitors to this board from all over so she could be in Australia, fair enough.

We are aware that topics involving gender and biological sex can be complex and sensitive matters to navigate.

Why should biological sex be complex and sensitive to navigate? It's just one facet of humanity.

Why horrified? Sit down and discuss this with your daughter, ask her what she thought. How she feels. Are you worried that she’s suddenly going to want to be trans off the back of a video saying that trans people exist? And how they feel?

Thank you so much for all the responses. There are some extremely helpful suggestions and links here. I'm going to spend some time going through these and put together a response. Based on the replies so far, I think I will focus on factual inaccuracies and government guidelines. I wasn't sure whether to mention wider issues regarding women's sport, refuges, prisons, etc. but I think not in my initial email. I might post my draft here before sending it.

I'm in the UK.

Are you worried that she’s suddenly going to want to be trans off the back of a video saying that trans people exist? And how they feel?

No, that's not what I'm concerned about.

Then why ‘horrified’? I don’t get it.

I'd stay with the main issues here OP, although it may be relevant to mention this could be looked at as encouraging girls to co operate in setting aside theirs and the school's safeguarding boundaries or to make girls' personal boundaries conditional on agreement from male children. And that is not something to be teaching young girls.

But the main focus really would be trying to find a polite way to inquire 'you appear to have taken advantage of your position in access to my child and having their trust to have presented a highly biased and questionable piece of information from a political lobby to her as objective truth. WTAF?'

Set of views, on correction. 'piece of information' is probably not accurate, I was trying to find a polite way to put it.