LGBT
Related: About this forumNo One Will Protect You: The Suffolk County “Cross-Dressing” Ban
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Students in Suffolk County, VA may not be so lucky after next month. That school district will be taking a vote in March to determine whether theyll be implementing a new dress code, one which bans clothing not in keeping with a students gender to the extent that it causes a disruption and/or distracts others from the education process or poses a health or safety concern, according to this article. To be clear, they dont mean safety concern in the sense that the clothing is covered in spikes, or made of asbestos, and thus could be hazardous to the student wearing it or to passersby. They mean that, if a student gets beaten up for dressing weird, the clothingnot, say, the bullyis to blame.
I have so, so many concerns about this proposal, but lets just get the obvious one out of the way first: This new dress code is horribly transphobic. A student who is biologically male but identifies as a girl would be risking punishment for wearing girl clothes, even though she is dressed in a manner in keeping with her gender. Trans students will therefore have to choose between conforming to a gendered manner of dress that doesnt fit their self-imageessentially, going to school in a costume every dayor facing whatever consequences the schools deem appropriate for violating the dress code.
The fact that this new rule would almost certainly be enforced in a way that conflates sex with gender and reifies cissexism is the most immediately troubling thing about it, to be sure. But you know what, when youre given a cornucopia of fuckery this abundant, why stop there? Lets dig deeper!
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So this new dress code will punish trans kids, and specifically transfeminine kids, and in so doing will perpetuate a culture of sexism and cissexism, but if it keeps our children safe from the horrors of teen bullying, wont it all be worth it? The proponents of the new dress code are trying to spin it as a move to protect queer and trans kids from being picked on by their peers, which sounds like a noble goal is really just so much victim-blaming with a slightly spiffier hairdo. Wait, lets do this in pop quiz form:
Q: Whose job is it to protect children from bullying?
A. Teachers and administrators, by making it clear that bullying is never acceptable and will result in punishment.
B. Bullies, by showing self-control and choosing more positive ways of expressing themselves.
C. Victims, by not being so weird, gross, and/or freaky.
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Read the rest: http://tigerbeatdown.com/2012/02/27/no-one-will-protect-you-the-suffolk-county-cross-dressing-ban/#more-4463
Disgusted.
William769
(55,150 posts)Some crazy shit has been going on in Virginia this past year. I think they need to get their water imported.
Catherina
(35,568 posts)and especially, the reasons why.
Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)Catherina
(35,568 posts)They'll probably want all the girls in skirts and dresses after they score this victory.
For right now, it looks like pants/slacks are ok for girls
enlightenment
(8,830 posts)that FtM kids who dress their identified gender (male clothing, as opposed to 'girls in jeans') and/or other gender specific 'traits' (cutting their hair in a masculine style; binding their breasts) will be told that their appearance 'forms a disruption of the education process'.
This is a terrible, backward idea. What the hell is going on with this nation?
Catherina
(35,568 posts)I asked myself the same question with this thread "Homeless mom sentenced to 5 years in prison for stealing sons education"
I'm going to bed now and both these stories are so depressing, I'm afraid of dreaming about them. I'm astounded this is where we are now.
Initech
(100,149 posts)starroute
(12,977 posts)saras
(6,670 posts)Aerows
(39,961 posts)And that teachers of the feminine gender can no longer wear pants?
The right gets weirder every day. I love my mother, and she's a right winger, but she doesn't wear skirts, never has and never will. I think the right is TRYING to make women mad at them. You are a white straight Christian male. You are angry because you can't subjugate people anymore. We get that. It doesn't mean you lost rights, though, it just means that you are feeling the sting of your privilege being taken away.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)strip searches?
i've known people who were not trans -- but seriously -- you couldn't tell just by looking if they were a boy or a girl