Gender issues have been all over the media a lot lately, haven’t they? What with LGBTI, gender fluidity (what exactly is that anyway?), the Same Sex Marriage debate and the contentious Safe Schools program, you could not be blamed for fessing up to being genuinely confused about the whole thing.
But let’s start with the basics. Just about everything on the planet is either male or female. Nature dictated this so that species could breed, be they plant or animal and sexual orientation forms in the womb and that’s that. Generally speaking, that orientation means an attraction to the opposite sex but sometimes it orientates toward same sex. Nothing wrong with that. Still with me? Okay, good.
Anyway, still generally speaking, primary school-aged children tend to avoid their opposite sex classmates on the whole because, well, they each think the other really gross when they are that age! This phase only lasts though until the hormones kick in and they begin to see each other in a whole new light. This would probably be the same deal for those attracted to their own sex. But as I said, orientation begins in the womb and while little kids aren’t necessarily consciously aware of which way their attraction goes, subconsciously they are.
Right, but the trend at the moment appears to be getting started on little kids early and “educating” them about gender thingies that they would barely understand because they are just too young to really grasp the complex issues of sexual orientation. Let’s face it, they are just too young to fully grasp sex, full stop! Hence the brouhaha over the Safe Schools program that was packaged as an anti-bullying campaign when it really wasn’t about that at all.
Anyway, there seems to be a big a focus on prompting primary schoolers to think too much about which way they lean, with a big emphasis on LGBTI and that’s probably not a great idea with kids of that age. Inherently they probably know their own leanings , even if they are not overtly conscious of them, so do they really need to be influenced (pushed) toward what’s currently on trend? Has anyone ever thought to ask a primary schooler what LGBTI and/or a same sex relationship actually is? Kids being kids, they probably have a completely different interpretation of what it’s all about and the social engineers driving the program have no idea! No surprises there.
But let’s face it, kids are easily influenced. I went to a Catholic primary school and in Year 2 every little girl in my class (me included) decided we wanted to be nuns when we grew up. All, that is, except the one who was double-jointed in almost every joint in her body (we were so jealous) who wanted to be an acrobat. Either that or a famous actress who would star as an acrobat in movies about circuses (yes, I know, but we were only seven at the time) and one other who was hell bent on being an air hostess, as they were called at the time. But the rest of us were going to be nuns because we liked our nuns at school. They were wonderfully mysterious and about as holy as one could get! What was not to love? The reality, of course, was that none of us would end up running off to join the convent but at the time we were surrounded by nuns and were unwittingly influenced and that was without any pressure or programs to get us into the mindset.
But today there are books and programs geared towards getting young children to identify with their sexuality and if they can be coerced into identifying with something other than heterosexual they are celebrated. That’s enough to get any little one’s attention! I suspect the push toward getting female school children out of uniforms that are dresses and into long pants and shorts might be connected, even if the powers that be deny it till they’re blue in the face!
Certainly, teaching tolerance of others at an early age is a good thing and a child leaning towards an LGBTI identity should be able to feel safe at school and comfortable with who they are, but does that mean all their little classmates have to follow the same orientation? It doesn’t, but the program doesn’t seem to recognise that obviously heterosexual kids have the right to feel comfortable in their own skin too, and that’s what has rubbed so many people the wrong way, who are then wrongly labelled as homophobic or something.
Primary schoolers really don’t need the hassle of having to tackle complex sexual issues that they are still years away from really understanding, so please stop!
It’s messing with their little heads.