St Pauls School ditches the title "Head Girl" - The Times 19/06/21

[Melroses]

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/f707e7ac-d068-11eb-9bfa-a3bc386e6928?shareToken=e18c13082af7a98763f997219209b04c

An interesting follow up on Twitter:

twitter.com/TimesLucy/status/1406185779278368771

St Pauls School staff has received training which includes safeguarding advice, along with other independent girls' schools, from a company that is run by 2 late transitioners which exists to bring awareness of trans and non binary to the business sector.

@beatrice14

I'm 15 and currently in Year 10 there.

What’s your take on this?

I'm definitely a gender critical feminist. A lot of my friends there aren't really interested in feminism, I think this might be because as pps have said, single-sex schools protect against sexism. Also, most people in my year are quite priveliged in a financial sense , and can be a bit naive about problems that they aren't very likely to face. (e.g. trans women in women's prisons) It also angers me that I have only heard transgender people and issues being talked about respectfully by people in my year, as they should be, but the same courtesy isn't extended to other less 'woke' causes. A close friend of mine who has a single mother was repeatedly and intrusively questioned about her absence of a father from the first week of Year 7, and the school didn't seem to care about her feeling excluded by the language of their much publicised Dads4Daughters programme. A classmate of mine said that 'women who are raped shouldn't be allowed an abortion as you don't need a father to bring up a child and we don't know where life begins' apparently not considering the trauma of potentially forcing a rape victim to give birth . and that's the tip of the iceberg.. Sorry to go off track, but I sort of feel that the school can pusing gender ideology partly due to naivety/apathy about feminism from many students. There is a very good feminist society- but they stay out off gender critical stuff.

Thanks for your reply Bea.

You clearly have a wider, deeper and more mature view of society, feminism and "privilege" than many of your peers and teachers. You're absolutely right about recognising the impact of trauma in that situation and longer term effects.

If you feel able to, you could make these points to the governors.

Well done Bea. Very brave of you to come on here. You sound like a very level headed young woman. Your parents must be so proud of you.

Well said Beatrice14. Yes single parenthood is not very woke. And poverty is deeply uncool. Thanks for your insights !

I didn’t catch Woman’s Hour this morning, but looks like Amanda Spielman, Ofsted Chief Inspector and ex SPGS sixth former has views:

It is "sad if girls can't be proud of being girls", England's chief inspector of schools has said, after a London school said it was renaming the role of head girl.

Amanda Spielman said she wanted to ensure that the "power" of being a woman "doesn't get lost".

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57557181

WarriorN, thanks, I would love to raise it with them, but I'm not sure how to.
It's good Ofsted have commented. The school do try and promote feminism, anti-racism etc, but they could at least teach about gender critical feminist views and gender stereotypes as well. There's a lot of pressure to wear expensive clothes and make-up (difficult for those who don't pay fees, and not helped by having no uniform) and perform femininity. In a English class discussion on tomboys, many people agreed that 'being a tomboy is something one should grow out of' and one classmate waxed lyrical on how offended she would be if someone called her a tomboy. Obviously, not everyone wants to be gnc, but the school could challenge gender stereotypes rather than promoting regressive gender ideology. Also, the school newsletter wrote this about the Trans Youth project talk, implying they support hormones.
Jordan and Atwood shared some of the data they had collected. It showed no statistical difference in mental health between socially transitioned transgender children and cis-gendered children. This points towards the idea that the disparity in mental health between trans-youth and cis-youth is the result of the societal neglect and mistreatment of trans-youth.This research is of the upmost importance in light of the recent ban of hormone therapy in Arkansas for those under 18. The results from their study will hopefully go onto inform education and political structures, allowing for safer spaces for transgender youth and more nuanced education.

Hi Beatrice. Great to see you here. This might seem a bit of a tangent but bear with me. I went to university with some girls who had been to SPGS (in the 90s) and said that eating disorders were rife there. As someone who has suffered with eating disorders myself I see a lot of parallels with trans identifying teen girls. Are eating disorders still a big issue at St Paul's would you say?

Hi Valancy, thanks, I have heard that it was a problem in the past, but I don't think it is now. The old headmistress really tried to improve school food and mental health/body image support, and I'm not aware of any people with eating disorders in my year. I know one person who self-harmed, but on the whole, I think there aren't many people with mental health/body image issues. I can see how eating disorders can be linked to gender dysphoria, and the school have now got gender stuff into the science department, the newsletter, and the gay society, so I think they should think of the potential effects before trying to get woke points.

Thanks Bea. That's good to hear that it's not such a problem now. My (very amateur) working theory that the teen girls who would have been anorexic and bulimic in the 90s are now trans identifying instead.

I think that's very likely. It seems to be a big thing in the older years, but not in mine, so maybe it will happen in my year as we move up the school, but hopefully not!

Your year will have its own heroines and role models. I’d suggest Jess de Wahls...

@beatrice14 OP here - (as in - Old Paulina, not the original poster!) I've fired off a furious letter to the Highmistress on this, but I wish I knew how to support you and your friends directly. You sound like you're the kind of girl who has her head screwed on straight and upholds the values of our school. Good work, head up, keep going and I hope I meet you one day at some of the mentorship stuff I've done with the 8th!

Didn’t Tomasina Meirs for to StPs? She doesn’t seem they type to go for this bu***t.

Hi Xiao, thanks, it's good to know that you, as an op, feel the same way, and spoke out. I do think that most people in my year would feel the same way if they knew about the problems of gender ideology. The issues is that only one side of the argument is discussed. Politely and respectfully disagreeing on any topic should be encouraged.