Soon, you will not be allowed to refer to your sons and daughters as boys and girls.
Well, you could, I guess. But the purple penguins will be looking down on you.
Fox News reported on a school in Lincoln, Nebraska, who has encouraged all teachers to cease referring to their students as “boys and girls,” and rather segregate them by their choices in juice, milk, or their preference for things such as—well, purple penguins.
The article reported on the handout given to teachers, which includes the line, “Always ask yourself, ‘Will this configuration create a gendered space?’” Brenda Leggiardo, the district’s coordinator of social workers and counselors said, “We have kids who come to us with a whole variety of circumstances, and we need to equitable serve all kids.”
So here’s my question: They can’t “serve all kids” without robbing them of their gender identity?
You Be Red, I'll Be a Fork
Since when did the words “boy” and “girl” have such a negative connotations? Why is it that identifying as male or female in way that matches your sexual organs is considered taboo? Doesn’t that hurt gender equality? Now, in order to do things a man often does, a woman would rather refer to herself as “non-gendered,” rather than owning that she’s a woman and can damn well do it too? Does a man have to state himself as “gender-fluid” in order to step into a woman’s traditional role rather than saying, “I can do what I want!”?
Doesn’t this defeat the purpose in having men and women carry on equal opportunities?
When a child is born, and the doctor announces, It’s a girl! Or It’s a boy! or, Did you know there were two of them in there?, the expectation is not, in their elementary years, to have a teacher announce, It’s a penguin! It’s an elephant! Timmy, stop fidgeting and stand by the giraffes! Since when was just acknowledging that we have a penis or a vagina something to be so studiously avoided?
Gender equality is one thing—disregarding gender altogether is another. There is no shame in being who we are. Rather than forcing them to be blue cats, white pigs, and making them decide whether they want to represent juice or milk that day, allow each child the time and maturity to express themselves.
As for me, I refuse to be a purple penguin.