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Gender neutral school uniforms

Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2019 10:01 pm
by Derek Plattis
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... rls-gender

As I understand it, the Welsh government has made it compulsory, as from this coming September, that schools allow the parents of students to purchase uniforms from budget outlets, not just a single, more expensive supplier.
They have also ruled that school uniforms must be gender neutral allowing girls to choose between skirts and trousers and therefore giving boys the same degree of choice.

I'm just interested to hear any comments on this from contributors to this forum.

What do you think are the implications? It has met with some very mixed reactions from contributors to The Guardian newspaper.

Yours,

Derek

Re: Gender neutral school uniforms

Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2019 11:42 pm
by crfriend
Oh, Jeezus, based on that article let's let it be pants (mixed slang fully intended) for any/all sexes/genders/whatever until the age of majority (whatever that may be in one's locale) for the next 50 years -- and then relax it again.

I am sick and tired of hearing the same old chestnut of "victimising women" and "patriarchy" repeated ad nasuem. Flatten it into a Maoist notion of bland uniformity for "the chillun" and let it sort itself out as it will once they reach adulthood.

Re: Gender neutral school uniforms

Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2019 1:42 am
by Ralph
This has come up a few times as various counties/states/whatever enact their version of a gender-neutral uniform allowing boys and girls to equally choose among skirts or trousers. I'm sure the usual suspects will jump in with the same observations that have come up before*, but here's the TL;DR synopsis:

On paper it's great, and we wish such options existed when we were in school. BUT - few if any boys will take advantage of the official permission to wear a skirt, because boys generally don't like to be pounded into a pulp, physically or psychologically, by their peers. And we all know that's what will happen. WE are of course all enlightened, and many of us are fortunate to have friends/family/community that are enlightened, but primary schools? Not so much. Being different in any way is a death sentence. How I wish that were not the case, but there's a reason schools are desperately trying to come up with more effective anti-bullying solutions... because it's still a huge problem.

* I don't mean that in a perjorative way. I know who the most frequent contributors to these discussions are and I value their insight, even if I don't always agree with all of them. I only mean that based on past performance I have a pretty good idea which of the regulars are likely to respond, and how their responses to this article will be similar to their responses on other articles covering the same ground in the past. My own reply above is a rehash of what I (and others) have said each time, too.

Re: Gender neutral school uniforms

Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2019 4:41 am
by dillon
Ralph wrote:This has come up a few times as various counties/states/whatever enact their version of a gender-neutral uniform allowing boys and girls to equally choose among skirts or trousers. I'm sure the usual suspects will jump in with the same observations that have come up before*, but here's the TL;DR synopsis:

On paper it's great, and we wish such options existed when we were in school. BUT - few if any boys will take advantage of the official permission to wear a skirt, because boys generally don't like to be pounded into a pulp, physically or psychologically, by their peers. And we all know that's what will happen. WE are of course all enlightened, and many of us are fortunate to have friends/family/community that are enlightened, but primary schools? Not so much. Being different in any way is a death sentence. How I wish that were not the case, but there's a reason schools are desperately trying to come up with more effective anti-bullying solutions... because it's still a huge problem.

* I don't mean that in a perjorative way. I know who the most frequent contributors to these discussions are and I value their insight, even if I don't always agree with all of them. I only mean that based on past performance I have a pretty good idea which of the regulars are likely to respond, and how their responses to this article will be similar to their responses on other articles covering the same ground in the past. My own reply above is a rehash of what I (and others) have said each time, too.
I agree with Ralph to an extent, except that the idea of accommodating gender identity would likely be effective in the primary grades. The likelihood of a child developing an intensely strong sense of being wrongly identified as a particular gender occurs very early. In genetic male kids identifying as girls, it may be apparent at an age as young as three. In genetic female kids identifying as boys, that age is a bit later, at around 7 to 10. I believe, as apparently some school authorities also believe, that younger children are more accepting of transgender mates than post-puberty kids, I.e. middle schoolers. Therefore allowing young children to express their natures not only accommodates the affected children but may help infuse acceptance in classmates that could carry on for a lifetime. It is, after all, part of the responsibility of educators to dispel myth and promote factual understanding and critical thinking.

Some kids come to self awareness post-puberty, in the teen years. At that age it becomes more difficult to change perceptions and attitude. The poisoned attitude of adults and peers becomes persistently toxic to the mind then, as the fear of being labeled or misunderstood nags at the psyche.

Re: Gender neutral school uniforms

Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2019 5:52 am
by Gusto10
Maybe, maybe, maybe it would be best to abolish in these contexts the words boys and girls and use only the word student (for academic studies) or pupil (other schools). If the school uniforms are issued, hand the pupil both trousers and skirt. Also taking it further, jackets should have sippers in the middel, same with the means of closing for trouser or skirt, so it will be neutral so neither right or left handed people will feel discriminated. Formfitting should also be abolished in favour of non discrimination. What have I forgotten? The brown paper bag which provides neutrality under all circumstances.