Man threatened with Prevent for questioning transgender book at nephew's school.

[aweegc]

Prevent, for anybody who doesn't know, is the government's counterterrorism programme targeting radicalised/extremist Muslims. Schools are obliged to report cases of extremism or radicalisation to it, similar to reporting safeguarding concerns.

I have to say that I'd thought about Prevent being used for some transactivists, it had never occurred to me that Muslims would be silenced this way. Although, now I hear this, it is too obvious a tactic to have overlooked and it's utterly despicable.

So, I just came across this on Instagram. A British Muslim man approached his nephew's school on behalf of his sister, because she was really unhappy with her son bringing home a "book promoting transgender lifestyle". He thought it would be an easy discussion where he was mediating between two women (I'm not commenting on that part - separate issue). I've transcribed it for anybody who can't access the video.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CriblPHol5d/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Transcript:

He says to the head teacher, "'My sister's worried about a book that promotes the transgender lifestyle. If you were going give this to the children or put this in the library, why weren't parents consulted.?' She just went on the offense....When I started to speak to this lady, walahi [I swear to God], it was just a click. When I started to speak she said,
'The way you're talking, we'd have to refer you to Prevent'.
I said, 'What's Prevent?', because at the time I had no understanding.
She goes, "The way you're speaking is very extreme."
I said, "I haven't said anting to you extreme. All I've said is that we don't feel comfortable with our young, innocent nephew being sent home with a book called Princess Boy without the consultation of the parents.'
She goes, 'Well I don't care, it's the Equality Act.'
So my question to her was, 'Well where's my equality then? If it's the Equality Act, and we live in a secular society so there's a full range, a marketplaces of views and everyone must be respected, regardless of how we conflict with one another.. She wasn't having it.'"

I didn't check who he was because I didn't see how to as I don't follow him or whoever the account is.

However, I do know that what he's saying isn't impossible. That's why I posted. I had never thought of Prevent being used to silence people who believe in biological sex (regardless of their cultural, political or social leanings).

If he's making it up, then he's a liar. And I don't support that. And he's doing nobody any favours.

It doesn't sound entirely implausible to me though, sadly.

I agree.

People should read Shak Afsar's instagram and other social media posts carefully and make up their minds about whether to take him at his word.

The book isn't about a boy liking "stereotypically girly items" it's about a princess boy who likes "girl" items. If it was breaking down gender stereotypes it would not assign the items to girl/boy like it does

Here is his insta account.
https://www.instagram.com/shak_afsar1/

Just watched the prevent advert in my Gp surgery; the main character who's radicalised is white and named John.

As PP have said, the Prevent Programme is not reserved only for Muslims. It’s for all extremists, including the far right.

Regardless of this particular case - and man - I think one massive problem we currently have is that there are people who might be described as 'far left' - often militantly and violently so, and who would very ironically consider themselves as 'liberal' - who for some reason are never included in the groups of extremists that are being watched and prevented.

Rather than being on the 'dangerous' watch lists, as they clearly should be, they are the ones compiling the 'dangerous' watch lists and filling them up with everybody who disagrees with them and is brave enough to state it publicly.

...Not to say that there aren't a lot of people who are rightly on those lists, whatever political 'side' they fall on.

Agree

The people who are being targeted know when they are being targeted

This.

At the moment most prevent cases are far right as are most terrorist incidents. The media isn't reflecting this.

All these books are annoying. They are so didactic and preachy.

I agree.

When my stepdaughter’s mother objected to school changing her name and sex marker on the register without making contact let alone requesting parental permission, the school, a Bronze Stonewall Champion, accused her of importing bigoted values and attitudes from her native country (a small former soviet state with an Orthodox Christian background). That her mum is an atheist who emigrated to Britain to get away from the legacy of communism and enforced right-think was ignored in favour of the school’s xenophobic narrative (school using PoMo redefined words while speaking to a woman who has English as a third, or maybe 4th, I forget, language, didn’t help at all).

The only way we got them to back the fuck off was via Baroness Nicholson’s letters re: UK law on parental responsibility and the UN Rights of the Child to family life without state interference.

So many teachers/social workers are convinced they are on the Right Side Of History on trans they have developed a bigoted automatic response to anyone who contests their view, and this particularly affects foreign born residents and citizens and people who follow conservative (largely the Abrahamic) religions.

Which protected characteristic do you think this book is about?

I’m uncomfortable with this for a different reason. If I was a headteacher and a man, who was not the parent or guardian of the child in question - he’s an uncle I believe- with an attitude that he was mediating ‘between 2 women’, my back would be up (obviously I would not reveal this and would remain professional)

Why was it not the mother of the child? Why did it need a ‘man’ to go in and deal with it? Misogynist, controlling behaviour and I would have felt decidedly uncomfortable. How did he get an appointment? I’m just imagining my brother going into school to have a meeting with my child’s Headteacher on my behalf - the Headteacher would have justifiably gone ‘If there is an issue, I will talk to the child’s mother’.

If she threatened him with Prevent I’d like to know a bit more about it. Perhaps he was talking to her in a hugely imperious, patronising way. Maybe she perceived she was alone in a room with a man who saw her as second class citizen who might have been behaving a tad aggressively?

I know this is an incredibly sensitive issue and that schools are having to navigate the religious beliefs of groups who find homosexuality an abhorrence, deny women their bodily autonomy etc… but
I think we need to take a holistic view of this interaction and not just jump on the fact that this man doesn’t like a book where a boy wears a dress.

GC ranting?

You're on the feminist board. Feminism is critical of the idea of gender and the stereotyping which goes with it.

If you are pro-gender stereotyping, perhaps a feminist forum isn't the right place for you.

I think you make very valid points. Would your view change if he had written permission from the child's mother to 'mediate' I agree with you it puts your back up the misogyny but that doesn't mean what the child mother wants addressing should be dismissed out of hand because she herself felt unable to have a meeting herself? I don't know this man but it looks like he's not a great character but I don't think it's fair to say the mother had to come in herself. Maybe she had other children so she could not? Maybe she has English as an additional language? Maybe she is tied up with work etc etc.

Why was it not the mother of the child? Why did it need a ‘man’ to go in and deal with it?

IME there are a significant number of mums in British Muslim households who have a very low standard of spoken and written English (we know that there are many women who rely on their primary age children to interpret leaflets from their GP, and a significant percentage seem to be living in Muslim households - see the recent census debacle for an interesting tangent).

Not denying that this is rooted in sexism (eg arranged marriages that bring brides to Britain and then expect them to stay largely confined to the house/only socialise with other mums in the same situation) but a man going into school to talk to the teacher on a woman’s behalf isn’t particularly unusual.

It would normally be the dad/husband but a brother would be the next option if dad wasn’t available.

Many conservative and religious parents feel that traditional gender roles are very important for children to learn and fulfill.

Why should they have books for their children which undermine this?

Being gender critical is an one view not the correct one.

The equality act says we should not discriminate, not that everyone has to share the same views or want them promoted to your children.

Children from religious and conservative households where women are seen as less important than men and whose lives are restricted as a result don't need to have this reinforced in school.

You may believe that being gender critical is not a 'correct' view, but it is in line with the EA.

If you want to teach your children traditional gender roles you can't be prevented from doing this, but you can't expect schools to go against the equality act and reinforce your beliefs.

If you work in a public-facing role like teaching, you have to work with people who have different values and views. I'm a (female) doctor and work in an ethnically diverse area. I often encounter attitudes that are contrary to my own about women's roles. I will stand up for myself/colleagues/female patients if need be, but I don't do it by threatening someone I see as sexist with Prevent. That would be eye-waveringly unprofessional.

You may believe that being gender critical is not a 'correct' view, but it is in line with the EA.

What do you mean by “it is in line with the EA”?

"My enemy's enemy is my friend."

Unfortunately this line of thinking is causing GC feminists to forge alliances with (let's just say) "inappropriate" bedfellows with deeply illiberal views, thereby discrediting the GC project, and turning many people against it.

OK, I misunderstood Prevent, because I thought it was set up to deal with radicalised Muslims.

When it was set up it absolutely was. It was vile, racist and Islamaphobic.