I thought sending my daughter to a single sex, Catholic school would protect her from this ideology because they’d be committed to the reality and definition of sex. I was wrong. In less than half a term – at aged 11 (Year 7) she was calling herself pansexual and questioning whether she was a girl.
We only discovered this because we go through her phone – and she was calling herself a boys’ name at school. It transpired she’d been attending a lunch time club called Sexuality & Gender run by a sixth form girl who called herself a boy. When we questioned the school about the safeguarding and that our 11 year old daughter was now calling herself pansexual we were told a (male) member of staff was always present. My daughter denied this : school refuted.
This school has multiple girls identifying as boys – using boys’ names and pronouns – and the word girl has been removed from the toilets and replaced by the word “student”. All done without any consultation with parents – parents believing their girls are at a single sex school (which they obviously are) are being told they are in a class with boys. The older girls are telling the younger girls via school assemblies and lunch time clubs what they should believe and “be”.
My slightly tomboyish daughter was told she was demi boy & pansexual. She was also told in an assembly to accept whoever uses women’s toilet – to not question if she thinks a man is in there with her – to trust they know best. When I raised this advice as a safeguarding / legal concern with the school I was dismissed with a “we teach girls to be kind” – complaints are futile because you are complaining to indoctrinated staff who have a very puddle deep understanding of these issues. They couldn’t even explain how this advice didn’t comply with current legislation in England. I could go on… their PSHE provider ran a class “beyond biology” – and had a “gendered soul” approach. It’s devoid of fact and science.
I have some sympathy with schools – our government and the department of education have effectively handed this entire area of education over to lobby groups.