Young voices - some not allowed

[arethereanyleftatall]

My 15yo DD was invited by her school to go to a 'young voices' event. An event for children to share and discuss their views on a wide range of topics.
She was one of 8 from her school, many other schools attended with same numbers. Hundreds of pupils. She said there were many children their with pride pins etc on display.
She is gender critical and believes sex matters.
Basically her views were not allowed. She was shouted over by other pupils in the discussions and organisers did nothing.
They all had to write on a post it who their inspiration was, and pin in to a board. She put JKR. The board was being manned by the organisers. When she came back to the board her post it has been removed and placed on a 'hate' board alongside terrorist organisations etc.
She absolutely hated the day, said it wasn't 'young voices' at all, but 'young voices as long as you agree with us.'
She is petrified of being expelled/suspended/told off because of her views.

Any advice please on what to do?

That’s appalling. Her beliefs are legally protected. Complain.

@arethereanyleftatall Please tell your daughter she is an absolute heroine. She’s shown such courage and should be crazy proud of herself. What she did was harder than most people are willing to do. That strength will take her a long way 💪🏼❤️

Do you know why your daughter was picked as only one of eight from her school? I'm guessing because she's articulate, switched on and they thought she'd make a good representative? If so, she and you can be proud of that.

Fucking hell that’s outrageous!

id be putting in a formal complaint to the British youth council who oversee youth voices

I seriously doubt any action will be taken, but I'm fairly sure that putting someone's name on a "hate board" is libel.

The very idea of a “hate board” is worrying.

By the way, I’m just one of many men who are also concerned about the attempted shutting down of sensible women’s voices. Women (and girls) who stand up to this bullying in a positive way are great.

There are 2 issues OP. The most important is to ensure that your daughter knows that she is not wrong. She is legally entitled to express her views and educators should be encouraging the young to explore and articulate views. That's the whole point of education.

The second is that what she's described is a form of coercion and control in an attempt to socially groom her and others out of understanding facts, science and legitimate views. It's very serious and I'd contact the school to lodge a formal complaint. Schools are legally required to be politically impartial and they need to ensure that events they select enable democratic debate. If groups like this are unable to manage a plurality of legally permitted views then they're not suitable to be working with children.
Hopefully if you approach it from the "You may not know this but this is how the organisation behaved" you can keep the school onside - it's in nobody's interest for the young to be intimidated in this way.
The organisations Sex Matters or Transgender Trend may well have some advice?

Yes @RapidOnsetGenderCritic I thought that too. I mean who sets one of those at an event for children?

and then as an adult moves a child’s inspiration to a board named hate?

I mean seriously what kind of adult does that it allows that to happen?

This is dreadful!

How did the school risk assess this event? Do they think they've adequately discharged their safeguarding duties?

What are they going to do about the fact that they sent her somewhere to be bullied (sp edit) and ostracised for her legally protected views?

And the hate board sounds libelous!

OP your daughter is a shero.⚘️💜💚🤍

The "hate board" is extremely worrying. Even if you're going to put terrorist groups on there, Hamas being an obvious example, there needs to be discussion about it so that young people understand the classification.

So it seems JKR was filed alongside groups like Hamas?

It seriously sounds like indoctrination. Has anyone at the school/ the event done their Prevent training?

Thank you so so much everyone. I really appreciate this for her. She came back broken.

I'm at work now, but will talk to her tonight and decide what to do.

"She came back broken" - that makes me weep.

To subject a 15 year old to organised hostility and bullying at an event entitled "Young voices" is unforgivable.

This, OP.

You may not know, but this poster ^^ has been involved in education for years, and is a child safeguarding expert.

Tell your daughter that the children there who shouted over her have been indoctrinated. I know it sounds a bit mad, but there it is. When you have rapists being sent to female prisons and men taking women's awards in sporting events, we have to accept that indoctrination is exactly what it is.

And that bloody adults, all of whom should know better, have been influenced to the extent that women have had to go to court to make sure the law is upheld.

And because of those women your daughter's views and actions are now legally protected. The event organisers were guilty of discrimination by their actions. And, by classifying those views as hate, very likely defamation.

In fact, the whole bloody event sounds a little bit like a spot of indoctrination if you ask me. Let's hear your views, and we'll classify them according to our own prejudice.

Your brave daughter is totally in the right. And it takes some bloody balls (as it were), to stand up for what you believe, in the teeth of peer pressure.

I don't know about her, but when I was at school long time ago, we were taught about peer pressure and how to withstand it. And now adults appear to be complicit in it. Shame on them.

It's bloody awful that she's now been made to feel afraid.

I'm not surprised, it's absolutely shocking. Scandalous.

And bloody frustrating.

Frightening young women into shutting up, ffs.

You can tell her she's not alone. Numerous women, too many to count, have faced the same treatment.

💐 but she deserves a medal.

Well a lot of women she's never met are really proud of your dd, if that's any consolation for her!

I also think your daughter is awesome. Please tell her so.

That hate board puts me in mind of the ‘two minutes hate’ from Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four.

There has to be space to allow teenagers to develop critical thinking skills. Exploring and debating opposing sides of an argument, even when you hold strong opinions about the topic, is something that we should all learn.

Inclusion, needs to allow space for a range of views, including that biological differences between the sexes are a factor in equality.

Your poor daughter! She is a courageous young woman.

You have had a lot of good advice - @MrsOvertonsWindow and also writing to councillors/MP. Our local MP is very GC: if you're lucky yours will be too.

What happened is outrageous. Inexcusable, in fact. 🏅 to your DD - she has more guts than many adults.

Just adding my voice to say I also think she's awesome.

I wish I'd had the courage at 15 to say what I thought in the face of hostility. It's taken me decades and the menopause to find that! As a PP said, it's something many women only find after years of 'be kind' conditioning.

Your daughter is there already. I hope she can take this experience and use it as a 'make, not break'. Good on her - she'll go far!

Your daughter sounds thoughtful, intelligent, principled and strong. At only fifteen as well. I’d put her on my Post-It as an inspiration. She’s going to do great things in the world and she has the support of her fellow women and girls. 🫶💪🩷

This.

She's a suffragette.

She should reflect on this.

Anyone who speaks the truth to power is vilified. But it is such an important thing.

Every scandal with a whistleblower faces this. Does she believe that whistleblowers should stay silent?

JKR is a whistleblower and your daughter can see this.

You should be so proud.

Undoubtedly, this treatment of your daughter breached the conduct code or 'ways of working' that governed the event.

I don't know if the organisers would be proud of their inaction or deny it. It might be worth discovering this by lodging a factual account of your daughter's experience if she can face it*. (NB: that's a big if.) It might also be helpful to check what the governance is for Young Voice (if it's Young Minds, I've just failed to locate it on that site).

*iirc, there was a wretched incident at a girls' school when one of the girls spoke from a GC perspective. The teachers didn't protect her and the other girls were allowed to behave appallingly. The girl endured more unpleasantness after the event and the family ended up homeschooling her?

The event organisers need reminding about legal obligations and safeguarding obligations in the context of it being a view worthy of respect in a democracy.

It is NOT hate.

JKR got reported for hate. The police said 'bollocks'.