They've queered Headspace.

[Hagiography]

I've recommended this app many, many times, as a neutral, secular and free* course for learning simple meditation techniques.

Just read their blog on 'pride affirmations meditations'.

www.headspace.com/mindfulness/personal-pronouns-inclusive-language

'Greet your queer self with more kindness and acceptance.'

*used to be free, now seems to just have a free trial.

Well it is pride month…. What the context of these? Is it harmful? Is it recommending children transition etc? Or is it about confidence to ‘come out’ as gay? Bi?

I don't think it's ever been free, has it? I did the free trial well over 5 years ago, and cancelled after that because it was too expensive.

And you don't think queer people should be allowed to 'greet themselves with kindness and acceptance' because....?

I think it used to have a free option, Daisy. Don't see that anymore.

I read 'queer' as 1. potentially offensive to many lesbian, gay and bisexual people who know it as a slur, and 2. allied to queer theory, the current implementation of which is highly political, partisan, and potentially problematic.

It's high time the use of 'queer' was challenged. It's very much not a neutral term. There is huge political baggage attached.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4564900-please-help-stop-queering-and-tqing-lgb-people

Insight Timer is much better than headspace, and is actually free.

Agree, Gab. Headspace was a good rec because it offered a very planned hand-hold through a course, step-by-step, but it's been many years since I've actually looked at it.

I’ve just looked on my headspace. Apart from the article that you have linked to nothing is different. They haven’t ‘queered it’.
I don’t understand the problem?

FYI Parts of headspace were free and you paid for more content. Unsure if this has changed as I’ve always paid.

THIS

The problem is the use of a term that is divisive, partisan and often offensive creeping into everyday usage in infinite tiny ways. Plus the subtle coercive suggestions for 'just being nice' when using compelled speech. It's rainbow-washing. It has nothing to do with lesbian, gay or bisexual people's lives and everything to do with a new ideology that is at its core homophobic and misogynist.

Everything is queer now apparently, see also the queering of historical figures:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/b2db3e46-ea9b-11ec-b47a-cf598c451bbb?shareToken=c1572805377d168a1909fb271226971a

Is it an app?

Yep. Most usefully, it has a simple timer! But also lots of guided meditations from various teachers.

It hasn't always been easy to accept myself as a bisexual. Lots of doubt, why subject myself to this crap when I could just marry a man and pretend to be straight, homophobic abuse when in a same sex relationship, getting slurred by my own 'community' as indecisive and promiscuous etc etc. I actually like the idea of a guided meditation to think of my sexuality in a kinder and more positive light.

The Q slur in the title would put me right off this one. Reclaiming slurs is complicated and is a conversation, but this is definitely not a case of 'this one was reclaimed years ago and is now fine, queer queer queer rainbow sparkle'. It's tied up with an extremely homophobic resurgent men's sexual rights movement and whenever I see it (and that 'progress' flag) I know I'm not in a safe environment to be out.

My youngest loves this app and uses it every day.

We too were disappointed to see the creep of critical theories into headspace.

Plum village has gone the same way dividing people up by these superficial identities instead of focusing on our interconnectedness or oneness. I can’t see that any peace or wisdom will come from so much focus on division, on appearances, on feeling wronged by this or that group, on hierarchies of oppression, on diverse tastes and preferences. It is the opposite of letting go of attachment to ego (personal identity) and understanding our true nature as all connected.

Hm. That's a pity about Plum Village. I completely agree about the over-emphasis on identities. It's very much clinging to self, it seems!

I always found his voice annoying anyway. I use Balance, which I paid £5 for for this year, and it has structured programmes. (Im a bisexual who is definitely not queer!)