Secondary school (girls only) included a transwoman in their assembly on inspirational women

[Flippettyflip]

Le sigh. My daughter is 13 and her assembly this week had a game where they had to guess what woman the teacher was referring to from inspiring women from history or similar. She can't remember who the TW was, but sounds like maybe Caitlyn Jenner. Who "transitioned" age 65 and says Bruce still lives inside them www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/may/08/caitlyn-jenner-bruce-transitioning-kardashians-reality-tv-star

Regardless of who the TW was, and fortunately my kid is aware that woman is not a costume, I'd like to complain on 2 grounds:

1. Impartiality - it's not a fact that TW are women, it's the teachers opinion. They should not present it as fact and they need to be careful about balance on such a politically sensitive subject.

1. If the point was to provide inspiration to the girls, how does featuring a TW help? None of the girls can legitimately aspire to be a TW. Why try to teach them that "womanhood" is apparently about what you wear/look like or how you describe yourself?

Can you please help me word a response? I'll ask for a copy of the slides for a start.

What I heard was EI used a women's bathroom and no other women there objected. However she was followed in by Julie Bindel(I think) and her friend who shouted at the other women there because they weren't objecting to EI?

”Come on Marg you can do better than that.”

I’m familiar with Margarita’s oeuvre to date, and I’ve seen little that would support that. But we live in hope.

Hardly going to inspire the girls to win the men's Olympic decathlon gold, now is it.

Wrong story. Eddie talked about how he went into a ladies' toilet many years ago, wearing men's clothes, in order to change into his lady outfit.

A group of teenage girls called him out, asking what he was doing, as as far as they could see, a middle aged man had just walked into the ladies.

Eddie came out and apparently chased them down the street. He presented it as a Very Brave Act, but every woman who's ever been a teenage girl saw it rather differently.

Perhaps someone here might not have seen this petition but wish to sign it before the cut-off, tomorrow the 18th.

Remove references to 'gender identity' from relationships education guidance

Since 2020 the DfE has published guidance for relationships and sex education. This says "Pupils should be taught the facts and the law about sex, sexuality, sexual health and gender identity in an age-appropriate and inclusive way". Gender identity is a social construct, and not recognised in law.

There's no evidence that we're born with a ‘gender identity’, and we do not believe that schools should be teaching children about this concept. We also believe that teaching school children about gender identity is inconsistent with the Education Act (section 406), which prohibits 'political indoctrination'. The Government should remove all references to 'gender identity' from guidance on relationships and sex education.

To sign:
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/618970

Different loos, different years, different examples.

You've been in a few threads where the first incident has been discussed, including EIs own SM posting about it.

Don't come the cowboy with me, Sonny Jim

I see my previous comment was deleted for saying a true thing about Caitlyn formerly Bruce Jenner.

Here’s a link documenting the information that lurking TRAs apparently don’t want you to know.

www.allaboutlaughs.com/caitlyn-jenner-reveals-bruce-jenner-used-to-try-on-his-10-year-old-daughters-clothing-when-kris-jenner-and-kids-would-leave-the-house/

Of course my comment was deleted. Reality is just too offensive for some people. 🙄

MargaritaPie · Today 16:50

What I heard was EI used a women's bathroom and no other women there objected.

It wasn't a bathroom, it was a toilet. Also, he bragged about upsetting some teenaged girls in a toilet, who shouted at him and made him sad, so he ran away.

Sorry for the Guardian link, for those of you who don't go there, but it looks like an excellent candidate for the thread. I've included the first few paragraphs.

www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jan/15/tom-felton-film-female-archaeologist-canyon-del-muerto-ann-axtell-morris

He is one of the most recognisable actors in the world, known for his role as Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter franchise. But now Tom Felton wants to use his platform to spotlight someone whose historical achievements have been obscured for decades.

Felton has produced his first feature film, Canyon Del Muerto, recounting the story of Ann Axtell Morris, one of the US’s first female archaeologists, who worked with the Navajo in the 1920s to uncover North America’s earliest civilisation, the Anasazi.

“It’s an epic story that hasn’t been told before,” Felton said. “Ann Morris was only recently acknowledged as a credible archaeologist, even though she set the tone for the next 100 years of young women having the opportunity to enter the field.”

It's poor thinking.

What is the school trying to do?

If looking for trans representation to encourage girls who want to transition that their life could be good, I'd choose Ben Barres (born Barbara) a successful academic and neurobiologist.

If looking for inspiring trans representation to encourage girls to see trans women as women, I'd choose Sophie Wilson (born Roger), super successful British computer scientist and innovator.

Or do they want to inspire girls in their future as female human beings?

He apparently left his previous wife to transition, left her with his young kids and then started a relationship with Kris Jenner and didn’t transition after all.

Brody Jenner, one of his sons from that relationship has basically said he was a shit dad, he left, he wasn’t around even on birthdays, didn’t go to his wedding, wasn’t there for him or his siblings at all. He also knew for about 5 year that Bruce wanted to be a woman and had to keep it secret. His mum hadn’t told him sooner as she was worried about her sons mental health. He’s a selfish fucker, certainly no inspiration. Kids everywhere and a trail of destruction, kids and wives, behind him.

Strange that they would pick an AGP transsexual as an inspirational woman. Surely there are better examples?

Pretty aspirational considering women don't compete in this event at all.

Your points are already good, OP. Keep it succinct and polite but to the point. I’d also add some examples of women they could have used with a brief explanation of what they did, and I’d make sure to include GNC women and women who were in STEM early on, as well as women who stood up for women’s rights.

Think I've come across Barres. Didn't they use their lived experience to publicly reflect on male privilege? Most definitely a better role model.

Thanks everyone. I see @MargaritaPie has popped on to wilfully misunderstand why anyone might object to featuring a TW in an assembly about inspirational women to a group of girls. Mags dear, try listening to @Ereshkigalangcleg: "male people aren't "inspirational women"."

@BethDuttonsTwin that school sounds tough. How does this help girls to navigate the frankly crappy teenage years? People my arse.

@Ereshkigalangcleg

@BellaAmorosa love the idea of keeping the flame alive, thanks.

@PermanentTemporary just read up about Ben Barres. Depressing tale of excruciating sexism forcing Ben to deny his sex but good on Ben for fighting it,csounds like a great supervisor.

Nailed it Eresh!

Tbh I'm with you in just thinking why do this? And the idea that CJ is inspirational just makes me think they haven't thought at all about this. I wouldn't expect them to choose golfer Jack Nicklaus either but they might as well, he'd be an equivalent in terms of relevance and interest.

Help me out- this might need it’s own thread but here goes. I’ve often thought this- ‘If the point was to provide inspiration to the girls, how does featuring a TW help? None of the girls can legitimately aspire to be a TW.’ But never said it aloud as I know the people who are good with arguments will immediately say we have no autistic girls so what’s the point of Greta thunberg as a role model, everyone here is local so they can’t ever be malala, no one is deaf and blind so don’t bother teaching them about helen Keller… etc. and I’ve never been sure how to respond to that. I feel quite strongly they are wrong and there is a very good case for presenting aspirational examples of the female
class whether they are all feasible for all the girls or not, but haven’t worked out the words to explain why that is. Perhaps you can help!

Indeed @deeperthanallroses. If a school for girls (original type) puts forward a list of Inspirational Women, I'd assume they expect the girls to be particularly inspired by stories of women, because they are all going to be women themselves. The implication, ironically, is that they expect the girls to identify with the women presented. Then apparently they think that the girls are also going to identify with Caitlyn Jenner because... they wore a corset on the front cover of Vanity Fair? Because they fathered a few kids and are sexually aroused by stealing and secretly wearing girls' underwear? Because they are a conservative politician? Because they were very successful in a sporting event for men decades ago? What is it about CJ that makes them the right choice for girls to identify with?

If anything similar happens again I would go straight to formal complaint. They can’t ignore that.

Have you checked what their teaching abut gender identity in PSHE/RSE?

I have no words for the sort of thinking that came up with the idea that men who want to be women were chosen as examples of inspirational women in girls’ schools.

This is a petition against teaching ‘gender identity’ to children in their RSE lessons.
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/618970