What's a "Purple Penguin"?The gender inclusive name for boys & girls in Nebraska public schools

[Triumphant_Loser]

too similar/alluding to furries/otherkin, whom I believe to be degenerates.

Yeaaaah. I draw the line at people who think they are actually animals.

 

[Alceste]

People in this day and age have become too sensitive about having their feelings hurt. Also, I don't see the point of doing away with binary nomenclature when 99% of people identify themselves in some way with it (yes even many LGBT). And I find associating sexuality with pengiuns (or any non-human for that matter) as too similar/alluding to furries/otherkin, whom I believe to be degenerates.

Yeah, I guess I can't see this as having anything to do with people being sensitive about having their feelings hurt. It's more to do with teachers being concerned about their students being bullied and ostracized, or feeling alienated in a way that inhibits their learning. And they should be. That's part of their job.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Exactly. Like, you have the option between Male, Cis. Male, and trans-male. All of these are male! Why do we need three separate options?

When they first came out with that option, I got excited and went overboard with the choices. Now I have it as "male" and "transsexual male". The latter might end up removed because transsexual really shouldn't be an identity.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Yeah, I guess I can't see this as having anything to do with people being sensitive about having their feelings hurt. It's more to do with teachers being concerned about their students being bullied and ostracized, or feeling alienated in a way that inhibits their learning. And they should be. That's part of their job.

Then attack the problem of bullying, not the fact that there's boys and girls.

 

[Twilight Hue]

We could call them "children" instead of "purple penguins."

I know, it's a crazy suggestion.

No way! Penguins are cute. Childern....ewwww......

 

[Twilight Hue]

Male and female was never good enough. Gender is about more than your basic biology, and even if it weren't, there have always been children born intersex - both male and female.

Thats a good point. There is a natural third sex out there.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Then attack the problem of bullying, not the fact that there's boys and girls.

They aren't attacking it though, just making it less of a priority/breaking up the outdated (and absurd) tradition of segregating primarily based on boys and girls. Why shouldn't a school help teach there are many different groups, many different preferences, and by using simply groupings such as preferring bikes or skateboards it helps to teach far more about diversity and tolerance than is currently taught.

 

[xkatz]

Yeah, I guess I can't see this as having anything to do with people being sensitive about having their feelings hurt. It's more to do with teachers being concerned about their students being bullied and ostracized, or feeling alienated in a way that inhibits their learning. And they should be. That's part of their job.

1) Like SF said, it's more of an issue with over-bullying and how schools deal with such behavior then. What's happening at the school will only mask the bullying IMHO.

2) FWIW I was bullied A LOT throughout my K-12 years to say the least. And it has made me a better person. I am not saying that all bullying is acceptable or that people should be picked on for arbitrary reasons, but I do think that some of the bullying I experienced was healthy in my upbringing. Even though it was upsetting and painful at the time, it encouraged me to improve myself and not be so thin-skinned about everything. If people NEVER encounter emotional and social adversity, it's only going to make it harder for them when they go out into the 'real world'.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Thats a good point. There is a natural third sex out there.

Not all intersex people view themselves as a third sex/gender:

Why shouldn’t children with intersex be raised in a “third gender”? We advocate assigning a boy or girl gender because intersex is not, and will never be, a discrete biological category any more than male or female is, and because assigning an “intersex” gender would unnecessarily traumatize the child.

How can you assign a gender (boy or girl) without surgery? | Intersex Society of North America


First, how would we decide who would count in the “third gender”? How would we decide where to cut off the category of male and begin the category of intersex, or, on the other side of the spectrum, where to cut off the category of intersex to begin the category of female? (To read more about how intersex is not a discrete category, go to our FAQ called What is intersex?)

Second, and much more importantly, we are trying to make the world a safe place for intersex kids, and we don’t think labeling them with a gender category that in essence doesn’t exist would help them. (Duh, huh?)
Does ISNA think children with intersex should be raised without a gender, or in a third gender? | Intersex Society of North America

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

They aren't attacking it though, just making it less of a priority/breaking up the outdated (and absurd) tradition of segregating primarily based on boys and girls. Why shouldn't a school help teach there are many different groups, many different preferences, and by using simply groupings such as preferring bikes or skateboards it helps to teach far more about diversity and tolerance than is currently taught.

I fail to see what is "outdated" and "absurd" about the fact that boys and girls exist as different categories, and that the vast majority of human beings exist as one or the other.

 

[dust1n]

If this is what parents are concerned with, it's really no surprise why American education is so ******.

 

[Alceste]

Then attack the problem of bullying, not the fact that there's boys and girls.

Yeah, they're not attacking the fact that most people have one type of genitals or another. They're protecting the classroom from the inadvertent reinforcement of retarded social customs that dictate that if you've got a vagina, you're supposed to be into housework, dolls and boys, or if you have a penis, you're supposed to be into cars, STEM, and girls.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I fail to see what is "outdated" and "absurd" about the fact that boys and girls exist as different categories, and that the vast majority of human beings exist as one or the other.

It's not grouping them as boys and girls that is outdated and absurd, it's the idea that that is how it's supposed to be done that is stupid. Even if the OP article wasn't about gender identity, what's wrong with mixing things up? Why not mix the kids up and make it clear they are equals and alike in many ways, rather than keeping them as two separate groups that are only defined by the same two categories over and over? Actually, why not have them form into three or four groups to show life is hardly ever a clear cut black-and-white, either-or process?

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Yeah, they're not attacking the fact that most people have one type of genitals or another. They're protecting the classroom from the inadvertent reinforcement of retarded social customs that dictate that if you've got a vagina, you're supposed to be into housework, dolls and boys, or if you have a penis, you're supposed to be into cars, STEM, and girls.

How are the first two points, that the students shouldn't be acknowledged as boys and girls in the first place, helping to question socially-enforced gender roles?

A girl who wants to take shop instead of home ec is still a girl!

It's not grouping them as boys and girls that is outdated and absurd, it's the idea that that is how it's supposed to be done that is stupid. Even if the OP article wasn't about gender identity, what's wrong with mixing things up? Why not mix the kids up and make it clear they are equals and alike in many ways, rather than keeping them as two separate groups that are only defined by the same two categories over and over? Actually, why not have them form into three or four groups to show life is hardly ever a clear cut black-and-white, either-or process?

Why should they be mixed up? I don't think it's right to use children as social experiments, like those parents who raise their kids without any gender at all and refuse to disclose whether they're male or female, which I see as abuse. I even read in an article about Thomas Beatie, the trans man who gave birth to his 3 kids and later got divorced from his wife. His kids are sounding confused about gender/sex subjects and then he says that he would give birth again if his new girlfriend can't.

I don't mean to sound right-wing or conservative, but I think people need to start being more realistic and stop trying to deconstruct gender and sex and make it seem meaningless. There's a point where you run face-first into the wall of reality. It also shoots the cause of rights for transsexuals in the foot because it makes it seem like we really don't want to be males or females, that we really want to be a blend of both and that's not what we want. So we're being misrepresented and it's just confusing everyone. Now we have all this fighting between different groups of trans people. So this "trans umbrella" concept really needs to go. You want to be a male but you're keeping your reproductive organs, and not only that, but you're popping out babies and breastfeeding? Or you want to be a female but you want to keep your male genitalia and use it like any other male, including knocking people up, but you want people to think that your parts are "female" because you see yourself as one? Why even bother? Call yourself something else other than a transsexual and don't pretend that transsexuals are in the same category as you, especially those who are post-trans/post-op. Those who want to remain as physical and/or psychological blends of male and female deserve to have their own category because their experiences, needs and wants are different from people like me. I don't have much in common with them.

The only time I recall the students being segregated by gender when I was in school was when it was time to line up, say to go to the restroom, or for team sports. It's not like they make the make the boys and girls sit on opposite sides of the classroom or when they have to partner up with a student for an assignment, they can only partner with a student of the same gender.

 

[Buttercup]

If this is what parents are concerned with, it's really no surprise why American education is so ******.

I'm not sure if you've read the pamphlet (three pages) but I take it as basically ongoing education for teachers regarding gender inclusiveness and not much more. This "Purple Penguin" name thing is blown way out of proportion and is simply used as an example of how to gather a group of kids together using a non gendered name.

The pamphlet is no big deal, imo and this thread and the crazy arguments by many are why I dislike debating.

 

[Alceste]

How are the first two points, that the students shouldn't be acknowledged as boys and girls in the first place, helping to question socially-enforced gender roles?

A girl who wants to take shop instead of home ec is still a girl!

Nobody is arguing against acknowledging that there are basically two biological genders and most people fall into one genital category or the other. (And if they're born between the two, they get a gender arbitrarily assigned at birth by surgery.) They are arguing for not describing gender to children in a way that alienates gender non-conforming students and sets them up as targets for bullying by inadvertently painting them as abnormal.

You're wrong - a girl who wants to take shop in our culture isn't seen as a girl. She's seen as a "tomboy". IMO, it's better to describe her as a biological female, with a female gender identity and a heterosexual inclination, who also has a gender expression that our culture overwhelmingly recognizes as masculine.

 

[Twilight Hue]

1) Like SF said, it's more of an issue with over-bullying and how schools deal with such behavior then. What's happening at the school will only mask the bullying IMHO.

2) FWIW I was bullied A LOT throughout my K-12 years to say the least. And it has made me a better person. I am not saying that all bullying is acceptable or that people should be picked on for arbitrary reasons, but I do think that some of the bullying I experienced was healthy in my upbringing. Even though it was upsetting and painful at the time, it encouraged me to improve myself and not be so thin-skinned about everything. If people NEVER encounter emotional and social adversity, it's only going to make it harder for them when they go out into the 'real world'.

Thats an excellant point. Not for any type of support for the bully in any regard, but the manner by which adversary is received and dealt with personally. It only serves to make a person stronger and more resilient.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I'm not sure if you've read the pamphlet (three pages) but I take it as basically ongoing education for teachers regarding gender inclusiveness and not much more. This "Purple Penguin" name thing is blown way out of proportion and is simply used as an example of how to gather a group of kids together using a non gendered name.

The pamphlet is no big deal, imo and this thread and the crazy arguments by many are why I dislike debating.

Have you watched the New South Park? Eric is such a *******, but it was so funny.

 

[Buttercup]

Have you watched the New South Park? Eric is such a *******, but it was so funny.

I have never watched South Park. I know, shoot me now.

 

[Triumphant_Loser]

I can just imagine kids coming home from school. "But mom... I really am penguin-kin. This I who I really am!"