I havent got a issue with anyone identifying as whatever they want, it's there choice, it's also my choice not to pretend they are anything other than what they really are, but if they want to pretend then crack on
we already facilitate religion in schools where people say they hear voices and act on the words of someone theyve never seen.
We really need to be careful on here with people’s feelings. Ive heard [mention]Bossman [/mention] is transitioning to become a squirrel. In all seriousness, im not really sure what I feel about some of this stuff. On one hand, let people be what they want to be providing they aren’t encouraging harm to others. On the other hand, some of this stuff feels very much like the Emperors new clothes.
I suspect the one identifying as a cat said it for a laugh and the teacher let it get out of hand. In my day they would have got a clip round the ear and told to have a serious debate
A 13 year old saying they identify as a cat in a class at school seems to me very very likely to be absolutely taking the rise out of the teacher. If they actually felt that way I see the chance of them announcing this in a class full of their peers to have a chance of practically zero. This is massively different to the actual gender discussion. There are people genuinely feel they aren’t the gender their ‘bits’ classify them as, some have said bits chopped off and reconfigured, some don’t, but it doesn’t mean they can’t 100% feel and indeed be a different gender. There are also those who are non-binary and don’t feel they are 100% of one gender. It is very easy to be dismissive and say there are two genders. But like all other areas of medicine, progress in this field has now led to medical professionals for many years recognising gender dysphoria and gender identity as a true medical issue, and treatments and support are available, rightly. That doesn’t make some kid dicking about at school saying they are a cat within their rights to identify as said feline. They are belittling the real people living with being misgendered and widespread intolerance, that’s if they’ve been brave enough to come out in the first place.
Yeah, that's the one change for the better. Dicky Pym would be in the nick these days and not just for his punishment methods. ( Holgate old boys will know what I mean)
|I identify as a dinosaur, so, if I call you love or open a door for you, treat you like a bloke if I think you're a bloke or whatever, then sorry, you'll just have to respect the way I am.
That's pretty much how I see it too. A very good mate of mine is transgender and has recently announced that he is transitioning to she. I'll find personally difficult to see him as a her because he's always been a he to me. By the same token, it has zero effect on my day if he wants to live his life as a she and he will still be a mate even if a she. I also know that if I slip up and call him a him he (or she by then) isn't going to be militant about it. However, if he told me that he was now a cat, I'm sorry but response would be don't be so daft. I think that there is a point at which you move into the realms of ridiculousness and (if true) a teacher b0ollocking someone for not respecting someone's right to be a cat crosses that line. It is "crazy" (or more likely indulgent and attention seeking) and I don't blame a 13 year old for not having the eloquence to use a word other than crazy. There's some video online somewhere of a mum in the US giving 'evidence' to a schools board dressed as a cat to say why a "man pretending to be a woman" was wrong. I'd bet anything that the kid "identifying" as a cat had seen that and decided to push the boundaries.