School recommended reading - I am so cross

[Wishiwasaway]

I thought my son’s school was one of the sensible ones, that had managed to avoid the trans indoctrination but no…

Today, on their instagram, the sports department are promoting “The Passing Playbook”

This is the premise of the book:

Fifteen-year-old Spencer Harris is a proud nerd, an awesome big brother and a Messi-in-training. He's also transgender. After transitioning at his old school leads to a year of bullying, Spencer gets a fresh start at Oakley, the most liberal private school in Ohio.

At Oakley, Spencer seems to have it all: more accepting classmates, a decent shot at a starting position on the boy's soccer team, great new friends, and maybe even something more than friendship with one of his teammates. The problem is, no one at Oakley knows Spencer is trans - he's passing.

So when a discriminatory law forces Spencer's coach to bench him after he discovers the 'F' on Spencer's birth certificate, Spencer has to make a choice: cheer his team on from the sidelines or publicly fight for his right to play, even if it means coming out to everyone - including the guy he's falling for.

I have emailed the school and pointed out:

• single sex sports are not discriminatory, they are necessary for women.
• promoting the idea you can play sports according to how you feel, and not your biological sex, only has a negative effect on girls
• That it is a crime in the UK not to disclose your sex to your partner. In the book Spencer kisses the boy who is unaware that Spencer is actually a girl.

i am now on tenterhooks to see what they reply….

It is like being a viking shieldmaiden, blows never fucking stop coming from every direction.

It’s so dishonest of them to have Spencer, a biological female, winning a place on the boys’ team. Now that really is something that never happens!

I wonder why they didn’t have Hannah, a 6ft 4’ transgirl wanting to keep “her” place on the girls’ team??

I was thinking exactly this.

Unbelievably disingenuous premis.

There really isn’t much precedent or chance in sports of women being able to make it to the top of a men’s team and totally disingenuous to use this example to pretend it’s ok for mixed gendered teams where they are presenting as a single sex team to the teams they are playing against or league they are playing in.

Very interested to see what the school has to say since you’ve pointed out they are promoting a book presenting a sexual crime as normal behaviour with no comment on the serious nature of what has occurred.

This sort of novel reminds me of the workers' paradise art of the Stalinist era.

You know, the hordes of happy children crowding around Comrade Stalin in the park, all the inconvenient truths outside the frame.

Like the art, the book is there to convince people of a certain way of thinking. Kids who read it are meant to come up the end thinking, 'Oh, poor Spencer! How cruel is a world that denies his dreams!' rather than, 'Well, you can't actually change sex, and a natal female is highly unlikely to be performing well enough to join the boys' team and...'

They’re pushing women in men’s sports because people are less worried about that as there’s no advantage. Then if you ok that, you have to support men playing in women’s sport.

Amanda Bynes starred in "She's the Man", a film which has a plot less ridiculous than this book.

Still no reply from the school. I am wondering if the Head is thinking “this was supposed to be a harmless post about pride” and instead it has opened up a whole lot of questions and issues. I genuinely don’t know what reply I will get.

i should add this is a respected private school which is currently single sex, but is going coed next year. Wonder what prospective parents of girls will think…

https://the-lies-they-tell.org/2021/09/19/book-review-the-passing-playbook-by-isaac-fitzsimons/

An interesting review.

If anyone is interested. the following is a link to why this book is so bad:

the-lies-they-tell.org/2021/09/19/book-review-the-passing-playbook-by-isaac-fitzsimons/

LOL - cross post! @Justme56

Well done for pushing back op.

That book 🙄
As so often, self interested adults promoting their niche views at children in books that self identify as "literature" for the young.

Our poor children being on the receiving end of all this shit. And as for the useful idiots in schools pushing this at the young..😡

Well, in the real world you don’t have to do that. If (and it’s a big if) there are no safety implications for women playing with men in a particular sport, then the solution is simple - keep women and girls sports as the protected category and make the boys/mens ‘open’ - any woman regardless of ‘gender identity’ can then have a shot at that if they want. Only allowing ‘passing’ trans identified females into the boys/men’s team is discriminatory.

Sounds like this fiction is lagging behind the curve of real world solutions.

I'm reminded of the female boxer who identifies as trans. She had a boxing match with a man, and it apparently went very badly. I can't give any further details (maybe a description is out there) because what I read was explaining how it has been scrubbed from the internet, as it showed what a terrible idea it was.

ETA - I found this. https://www.worldboxingnews.com/trans-boxer-pat-manuel-knocked-out-21-seconds/

No chapter about how Freddie the handsome team captain puts Spencer into a wheelchair by flattening her in a tackle with his 6 foot 3 and 15 stone frame whilst Spencer comes in at about 5 foot 1 and seven and a half stone?

OP, if you do get a response from the school , I'd be interested to know who recommended this book to your school. If it's a private sector organization brought in to work in schools, they may have some "interesting" connections.

For example (not saying that this is the organization in this case), Diversity Role Models (who have a very dodgy past) have just teamed up with Stonewall, so I'm trying to keep an eye on where they're going next:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5537528-diversity-role-models-and-stonewall-coming-soon-to-a-school-near-you-june-2026-announcement

Does the book explain why a 15 year old girl can successfully pass as male? Because that would be highly unlikely without puberty blockers. Given that puberty blockers can only be given in very restricted circumstances in the UK now, that could be added to your arguments for the school.

Good on you, OP... brick by brick..,

I'm confused. Are you in the UK, OP? Why are English schools using American propaganda books set in Ohio?

This is one of the reasons I would be interested to find out who recommended the book!

Jesus Christ you're allowed to kiss someone without telling them you're trans. This place continues to astound me with its petty silliness.

@MimiGC i have indeed gone back to the school and explained that the lead character is also on cross sex hormones and describes puberty blockers as “misunderstood”. Both of which are now banned for children in the UK.

The Head has now replied to say he will look into it and get back to me.

I genuinely don’t think they thought this through. It will be the formal response which will be the most telling.

On a positive note, I have been following this issue for about 5 years (peaked by Lia Thomas) and today I shared this post with 5 of my close friends. They were all outraged like me. We are all awake to this issue now.

Sexual assault by deception is sexual assault. Several criminal cases in the UK have confirmed that lying about your sex vitiates consent.

So no, you are not allowed to kiss someone if you have to conceal your sex to get them to agree to it.

"without telling them you are trans" is a dishonest framing designed to conceal the reality of someone lying about their sex to everyone around them.

And yet, here you are..,,

It could well be classed as sexual assault in the UK. Pretending to be the opposite sex is viewed as deception.