Thread by @LabWomenDec

Some initial responses to the non-statutory guidance for schools in Scotland released yesterday - a thread. TLDR: the guidance is based on uncritical acceptance of gender identity ideology. We hope that headteachers will seek alternative advice.
gov.scot/publications/s…

Before we comment on the problems with the new guidance, we want to direct everyone in Scottish schools to @Transgendertrd's school resources. The @scotgov guidance is non-statutory. You don't have to use it and you'll find much better advice from TT. transgendertrend.com/transgender-sc…

Problem One. Uncritical use of loaded language as though it's universally accepted. We found 11 mentions of sex being assigned at birth, and no mentions of the fact that sex is determined at conception and observed and recorded at birth. This is ideologically-driven propaganda.

Problem Two. Teachers are told that they must use this language, implying they must teach the concepts as framed. The loaded terminology is described as "respectful and inclusive" and "correct", and its usage recommended as "reassuring" to children. This is thought-policing.

Problem Three. The guidance suggests primary-school-aged children (i.e. from age four) who assert that they are of the opposite sex are speaking an authentic truth that only they can know, and the adult's role is to affirm them. Let's look at the resources recommended... (cont/)

/... Introducing Teddy, picture book for under-8s. Timmy the Teddy says "In my heart I've always known that I'm a girl teddy not a boy teddy." So children are to be taught that an inexplicable feeling is the only way to know whether they're a boy or girl.

Problem Four. A very confused picture emerges re the single-sex exceptions. This needs detailed untangling and quite possibly a legal challenge. In the meantime, @WG_Scotland have pointed out some obvious problems here.

https://twitter.com/WG_Scotland/status/1425845381498351624

Problem Five. The guidance is full of dodgy stats and emotive appeals to what will happen if transgender-identifying pupils are not affirmed in their unrealisable fantasies that they are of the opposite sex. The evidence base is entirely compromised.

https://twitter.com/STILLTish/status/1425869269552742400

See this thread from Transgender Trend for their more detailed analysis.

https://twitter.com/Transgendertrd/status/1425901336290340870