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?

Dear OP's DD,
it's hard being different. Even being 100% right, and brave, doesn't make it easier to be different. Even all of us here telling you you are courageous and awesome and a shero probably doesn't help much if you're surrounded by dogmatic bullies.

Maybe the other students at your school are more diverse and open-minded than the ones at the Youth Voices event?

Know that you are right, keep your belief like a little flame that never goes out, hidden inside, or carried like the Olympic torch if you feel like showing it and sharing it. Either is OK, whatever feels right for you.

Do what you have to do to get on with life, but keep the flame lit☺

About the A level project - though it is a good idea in theory, I do not think you could trust the marker not to mark the extended essay down if they disagreed with the view, even if the writer were George Elliot herself.

What the actual fuck? Did she attend this conference in Maoist China?

I don't know her name and next time I am asked for an inspirational and brave person can you tell her from me, I am putting her down. She has done something I am too cowardly to do, my job and means of earning money would be directly under threat.

She is my hero. Please tell her that women who know about her all feel the same.

Wot?

And Free Speech Union

So sorry for your daughter 💐 I’m appalled that she was treated this way in a UK school for stating very reasonable opinions. I despair at the complete absence of critical thinking in some young people.

What do you mean, wot?

World of tractors?

Nothing but admiration for your daughter from me, op.

As someone in education, it's sad but true that educators can not only be flawed, but actively damaging. I'm sorry no one protected her, that's appalling and I am ashamed she was left vulnerable. Particularly when she should be applauded for taking part in good faith and sharing. What they tried to do is crush her spirit and it's disgusting to do that after pretending it was a safe space to do so.

Be rest assured the existence of a 'hate' board meant it was always designed that way. So they went out their way to humiliate young people for their choices. Even if their choice was Andrew Tate or, yes, even bloody Hitler, that would be wrong . That it's JK Rowling is sinister.

Please let your daughter know she did nothing wrong and the way she is feeling is because the adults failed to do their jobs and decided to bully instead.

Oh, I get it now, I am not talking about you, cake, I mean, though I don't know this heroic daughter's name, if I am asked who my hero is, I am going to say it's her, because she has done something I myself am too cowardly to do

when my DD attended and eventually went to the annual ‘parliament’, that the county-wide events feed into there were pronoun badges and most myps took the piss. But this was prepandemic.
The issues her chapter took up for their year were mostly fashionable and not so much to do with the actual problems faced by people in our neck of the woods. She gained personal confidence but a lot of the others she met were already heading to be NUS types. It’s pretty self-directed amongst themselves so an introduction to the reality that the shoutiest/best at networking get the most support. So if your DD continues she needs to find her people (there will be some). It gave my DD some added self confidence and a strong aversion to student politics, which was useful in the end

Ah, sorry. My post had been misinterpreted before and I think it's left me a bit paranoid. Your post is lovely.

Not sure how yours could have been, you are supportive and apologising for typos

Sorry not time to read the whole thread, but am dismayed that this should have happened to OP's DD who seems brave and brilliant to have found her independent thoughts and confident enough to articulate them.

Unfortunately for her she's has no had the lesson that adults aren't always right, and that some adults can take advantage of position of power to try and make others think like them.

Quite simply if young people are being asked to say who inspires them the adults in charge should have made it clear everyone is entitled to their own opinions.

So firstly the pupils who tried to shout her down failed in their roles as they should have challenged their behaviour. We are mean to be a democratic country, not one run by mob rule.

Secondly there is no way that whoever was running the day should have moved her nominating JKR to the hate board. Teachers are not supposed to imposed their views on pupils in their care.

And yes if this was funded by the local authority she should complain about being bullied by a teacher. Or at least tell the school.

But appreciate she may not want to do anything public.

There was a video that quite a few on FWR shared a link to where a teached in the US challenged a student who said JKR was unacceptable. If anyone has the link (I will search) can you add it as OP's DD might enjoy it because it shows how easily people are duped into being mental sheep, but also there is no evidence the was JKH says or stands for is hate speech.

Best wishes to both of you.

Easy to find there's a FWR thread about it!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5006030-teacher-warren-smiths-deconstruction-of-accusations-towards-j-k-rowling

I think to your daughter deserves a present. I recommend this https://www.jessdewahls.com/jewellery-lapel-pins

Big Swinging Ovaries indeed

@arethereanyleftatall I just want to add my voice to pp so your daughter knows just how wonderful she is. It is hard standing up for what is right but I hope it comforts her to know how many women support her.

As @ArabellaScott said earlier today she doesn’t need to fight this fight if she doesn’t want to.

BYC sound like a training camp for Mao's Red Guards. The adults involved are despicable and not one should keep their job.

Edit: Your daughter is indeed a stalwart.

I think I've worked out the type of thing to suggest writing on a post it should anyone else's kid participate in this sort of thing.

'JKR : unfairly vilified for standing up for women's rights by misogynists'.

Tell your daughter that I think she should be very proud of herself. I don't know her and I'm filled with admiration.

Having clear, well considered principles is a strong basis for a life well lived. You've had a lot of excellent advice already so I'll just offer my congratulations to both of you - mother and daughter.

Well JKR's 'hate' is clearly shared by the NHS this evening.

Dear OP, your daughter was magnificent. Standing up for what she believed in is something to be proud of.

The people who should be truly ashamed are the organisers of the shocking event she found herself in. They obviously planned it to divide and demonise those they disagreed with. Not to encourage constructive debate.

The school should take a serious look at themselves for not checking out what this outside organisation planned to do. The school is at fault too.

There are experiments done in the past where psychologists divided a class by eye colour and then treated the two groups arbitrarily differently, encouraging the brown-eyed but ignoring or putting the blue eyed ones down. It rapidly becomes brutal and one set bullies the other. That’s what this outside organisation has done. Outrageous. they shouldn’t be allowed near a school.

I’m sure OP’s daughter made many think who were too scared to speak up. Very well done

Another adding a voice of solidarity for OP’s daughter, and congratulations on dealing so bravely with such an appalling situation.

Yes, it was brave, and these kinds of events at schools have been smug echo chambers for years.

I have a somewhat similar experience in school as a 15 year old, which was totally just me being naive rather than brave, but it revealed to me mob groupthink was all too real, and even teachers who kew better would often not stand up to it. But it's stood me in good stead over the years, skeptical of just going along with the majority opinion, or even the opinion of the "good".

Exactly what I thought. Could someone please tell the idiots who put up a Hate Board that Orwell wrote that novel as a dreadful warning, not as a how-to manual.

And I’m cheering OP’s fabulous daughter on!