Yesterday I did two lesson in a local secondary school with the sixth form. One was called “sex not gender” I was nervous as some of the materials on display featured the event I went to last week where the T was prominent. However the students were very interested and respectful of me and each other. I concentrated on the biological reality, stereotypes and feelings and was pleasantly surprised. I was able to talk about not being in the wrong body and managed to say that you can’t change sex , at least twice. They all wanted to be seen as saying you could do anything/ be anything if you were a boy or a girl, but with some more honestly stating that in the past they might have bullied or made fun of people not conforming to sex stereotypes. They were only too aware of pressure in sm selling eg false nails , cosmetic treatments etc. One boy pointed out that not everyone could have the same choices, eg a girl/ woman might not be employed in case she got pregnant . I was very impressed by the level of discussion and acceptance of difference, albeit by a group who were completely conforming! Eg every girl had long hair , boys all wore trousers and short hair. The girl with very long false nails made a comment about how baby girls often have earrings. She was very concerned that major changes should only happen when children are adults, which made my point very neatly. I don’t normally have a lot of contact with this age group so felt very encouraged to see the thoughtful questioning going on. A small win!