Let’s play “choose the ‘ism’” (as in: rac-ISM, able-ISM, sex-ISM, age-ISM, etc)
This is a special edition because it’s a special kind of triggering blog. BEWARE: this is highly triggering and apparently schools are full of ISM teachers that can’t see their own ISM’s.
I was highly offended and triggered yesterday by a community of teachers. There were a few standing up for the rights of minorities and the vulnerable – but the sheer volume of bigots has really thrown me for a loop and I’m still reeling from the aftermath and the disgusting response by moderators. Please skip this blog if you are dealing with ISM trauma.
So, how does the ISM game work? Well for starters – there are no winners – only losers and everyone ends worse off. But for educational purposes of this blog, here’s how you play: I give you an example of a post, and then give you some of the responses that were given – and you guess (with the ISM replaced by X) what type of ISM it was. Then – I give you the answer below.
POSTER ASKED: “I’m an X teacher and I wish to use X at school, will this be accepted”. Posted in an Australian Primary school teachers group – a group specifically for our countries teachers to learn and ask questions of other teachers.
The only right response should’ve been – use it – it’s part of who you are. But the responses ranged from bad to worse – to FUBAR! Here are some examples (and of course these hateful cowards all commented as “Anonymous members”, because they obviously know what they are saying is offensive, discriminatory and hateful – otherwise they wouldn’t hide behind pseudonyms (if they had have used their real names, you can bet the nice people in the group would’ve reported them to their schools principals):
1. “X should stay out of the classroom”
2. “Just do your job”
3. “I don’t know what X is”
4. “Don’t confuse children”
5. “That’s a weird, made-up thing”
6. “You shouldn’t be allowed near children, especially not helping children showering after swimming” (NOTE: the poster and none of the comments had anything to do with swimming, dressing, n@kedness, showering or anything else – this was one of the FUBAR comments if you can’t tell)
7. “Maybe don’t screw up and confuse small children”
8. “Just use ABC instead – it’s the same as X” (Clue: ABC is actually the opposite of X)
9. “Stop pushing your political agenda”
10. “No other profession carries on with this X garbage in the workplace” (Clue: X is used and accepted in every workplace worldwide – or that workplace faces discrimination lawsuits)
11. “Keep your mental illness to yourself” (Clue: X is not a mental illness)
12. “Stop with Woke agenda” (Clue: X is not an agenda – it’s part of who they are)
13. “It’s our job to teach them the 3 ‘R’s – not any ideology” (Clue: X is not an “ideology” – this commenter also replied with a truly offensive ai picture of a person throwing up a representation of X)
14. “The problem is that parents are on this teachers page – and it’s their agenda” (Clue: X is not a parental agenda either).
15. “TBH who gives a shit about X people”
16. “Don’t work in a rural or religious school”
17. “Kids won’t understand”
18. “I will not use X”
19. “You should ask permission from the principal to use X” (Clue: asking for permission to use or identify as X is discrimination in itself).
20. “This isn’t a topic for this group” (Clue: Teachers teach children with X daily – they are in most classrooms globally – so if it’s not a topic for teachers – then who is it a topic for).
These went on and on like this…for more than 200 comments, then comments were turned off. Then six more posts were added to the group about the same topic – with lots more hatred spewed about X – until admin deleted ALL of them and then added their own ‘ISM’ take on the topic, saying “Please stop posting things that you know will cause an uproar … stick to curriculum, classroom ideas, tools etc… remember it takes nothing to be kind”.
By responding with this – the admin have doubled down on the ISM – made it OK for teachers to hate X and spew their hate without repercussions, without leaving up the posts as education to other teachers, and have silenced the X community, while allowing ISM’s to be rampant within their group. Each of the ISM perpetrators above should’ve been outed and banned from the group – and from teaching altogether. But no – instead the admin silenced discussion around a topic that continues to affect the children in those peoples classes, and harm teachers who are X and children alike.
The admin was right in one thing “it takes nothing to be kind”, but they took the side of the ISM’s (and the side of being truly Unkind). By deleting all the hard work and spoons of the people who were standing up for the X and educating the bigots about why X does belong in schools, why X doesn’t confuse children, why X is important and covered by discrimination law, why it’s important for children to have representation of X in classrooms and all schools, why X doesn’t harm anyone, why X should be talked about and used, why ABC is not appropriate and actually offensive to X. etc etc etc etc etc etc etc……….
So… have you guessed what X is yet…. I doubt it, because it could be anything. It could be something dangerous or truly controversial, or something that’s completely harmless and perhaps innocuous and something very ‘everyday’.
Let’s unveil it so you can see how petty, how ridiculous, how damned ignorant, bigoted and discriminatory these teachers truly were – how they took something that was innocuous and run of the mill/everyday use – and turned it into a F show.
ANNNNNNDDDDD X is…………………
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Using the Title “Mx”.
Yes that’s right – the poster simply wanted to know how tolerant schools and teachers were about using a perfectly valid and common place title like Mx is, because the poster identifies as non-binary. They got their answer. Australia is full of bigoted uneducated fucksticks!
Mx is the same as Mr or Ms – but these truly fucked people saw it as an attack on their world – on their ability to ‘teach’ on their sense of being human or some other fucked up mentality. They called the person mentally ill and a pedo with their disgusting vitriol. Me and a few others jumped in to protect, defend and attack the fucksticks – only for admin to protect them, and others to double down and post more hatred in following posts. This poor person wasn’t alone, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they felt alone.
This was pure discrimination – pure hatred – pure sexism.
For those who want to know what ABC was referring to – it was dickheads saying that they should just use “Ms” instead – as they think Ms/Miss/Mrs/Mr are the “SAME” as Mx. They truly showed their ignorance in this .
I tried to make the point that Mx is on most government forms these days – that it’s protected by discrimination law, that it’s NOT the same as Mr/Ms. I even gave the ignoramus’ a history lesson on the invention of Ms and how it was also vilified when it came in to being. Instead of learning – as teachers are meant to do (it’s literally their jobs) – they invalidated and vilified both Ms and Mx. They said that children always misgender them as teachers – so who cares. They said the poster should use their first name instead – but they get the dubious honour of continuing to use or be called Mrs Smith or Mr Jones – but this non-binary person doesn’t get to use their human right to a title… WTF!
It is not OK to misgender people. Yes, children make mistakes and accidentally call all adults mum or nan or dad or whatever occasionally. But you don’t make fun of them for it and you don’t IGNORE it. You kindly remind them of your name. I’m Ms McKay, I’m Mx McKay, I’m Mr McKay etc.
Some a-holes said – “how do you pronounce it – kids won’t know how to pronounce it so you shouldn’t use it”. They actually used that as an excuse not to use it – people didn’t know how to pronounce Ms when it came out in the early 1920’s either.
Most children and adults can’t pronounce my name – I teach them – that’s my job. It doesn’t confuse them, cause a ruckus or a problem or anything else. I simply teach them… and they learn. If they can learn to say Scottish names that start with Mc – then they can learn to say Mx it’s not that much different. But I do make allowances for people with speech delays, impediments or any other disability. There’s options – but the options have to be OK with the individual. I’m not OK with people changing Heather to Heffer (which one of my ‘friends’ did at school – they weren’t a friend obviously). But I give options if it’s a problem, options that I’m OK with, and meet the needs of the child/individual.
But these teachers were trying to force a different sex on this person by telling them to use Ms instead – that’s not OK. They weren’t just saying don’t use it – they were telling them not to use it for discriminatory reasons, and telling them they need ‘permission’ to use it – and that parents and the community won’t be OK with it. WTF?!!!!!!!
There was a similar argument in the media recently about an actor – racists were saying – “I won’t learn to say his name” because they were a-holes, and bigots. Once someone tells you their name is Mr McGrath (pronounced MAC GRAHHHHHH) you don’t say – that’s too hard to say – or – I’ll just call you by your first name, or, I’ll just call you Ms McGrath, or – I’ll make up a nickname for you…. You respect them enough to listen and try – learn and do it. You don’t misgender them, you don’t disrespect them, you don’t tell them what title they can and can’t use or identify with.
I had many people attack me for trying to come to this person’s aid. I didn’t hide behind a pseudonym, I didn’t hold punches, I told them facts. They returned with attacking my facts as being ‘opinions that didn’t belong’ – of me ‘overreacting’, of me being the problem.
If that OP reads this (not sure how they’d find it unless they had looked at my profile before the post was deleted) – but I hope you are OK. I hope you rejected all the bigots and only saw the people that were trying, trying to help. For those of you also in that group that also identify as non-binary or are part of the LGBTQ+ community – I hope you are also OK as it was extremely triggering and a horrible insight into the bigotry/hate in Australia. I hope this post is not talking for /or over you – but you feel heard and amplified by this post. It is not my intention to talk for or over you – but to bring to light those fucksticks who deserve punishment (eg: outing as bigots and sexists and fired from their jobs and have their ‘working with children checks’ removed and possibly charged with hate crimes).
I was triggered horribly by this whole thing, so I can only imagine how the OP felt. I’m truly sorry. And so so so glad my kids are homeschooled. Everyday that I come across this stuff, I thank my lucky privileged ass that we homeschool and they aren’t subjected to teachers/schools like those sexist depraved ignorant B@&#^$&#^$!!!!!!! It should be part of a test to be able to become a teacher – if you are a racist, sexist, ageist, ableist, etc person – you cannot teach – ever! Being any ONE of those things should completely deny you access to the profession or to being anywhere near impressionable vulnerable children.
No - I won’t apologise for this blog – or for my opinion about bigots – IMO they don’t deserve to get jobs at all, let alone work with children daily. Especially those who think that Mx isn’t part of society or any other ‘workplace’ WTF! If they think like that – they obviously haven’t been part of the real world for a very long time – and we don’t want them either. I know I don’t want to work with anyone who doesn’t respect my pronouns, name, sex, abilities/disabilities, age, race or anything else about me. Because if they don’t respect any of that – they don’t respect anyone – they don’t respect me or you.
Do you want to work with people that possibly hate the parts of you that make you, you? That creates fear, anxiety and a non-safe workplace – imagine what being taught by people like that does to non-binary children, to a child that belongs to any minority. No wonder more children are being forced into homeschooling all the time. The fear and danger they face daily…. It’s making me actually cry right now. So, I’m signing off now to maybe go and regain some hope for this f’d up planet.