This!
My youngest just started kindergarten in Texas. All the boys and girls in a class are referred to by their kindergarten class name...monkeys in my boys case. While they probably are not adhering to a gender neutral ideology cuz the church moms would lose it...it has a similarity...just not pushed to the extreme.
Last time somebody got called a monkey/ape here in Australia, this happened 1:17:
If I wanted to be super picky, what if I was an African American sending my child to this kindergarten? Could you imagine the uproar and backlash caused by a perceived case of vilification and racial stereotyping?
The point is, no matter what you do, there'll always be somebody to complain about something. There'll always be a minorty group that requires appeasing. That's why I can't complain when Australia is apparently under attack by it's own Muslim community. Keep handing them benefits, keep building their mosques and keep allowing their oppressive-culture on our soil and we've only got ourselves to blame.
I fear that this issue stems much further than this "gender neutralization" nonsense (which was foreign to me until today) but rather is another case of "political correctness gone mad" and the majorities, bowing to the minorities.
For perspective, here's 11 examples of political correctness gone mad.
1. The BBC has dropped the use of the terms Before Christ (BC) and Anno Domini (AD) on one of their programmes and decided that the terms 'Before Common Era' / 'Common Era' are more appropriate
2. The European Parliament introduced proposals to outlaw titles stating marital status such as 'Miss' and 'Mrs' so as not to cause offence. It also meant that 'Madame' and 'Mademoiselle', 'Frau' and 'Fraulein' and 'Senora' and 'Senorita' would be banned.
3. Throughout several US councils and organisations, any terms using the word 'man' as a prefix or suffix have been ruled as not being politically correct. Manhole' is now referred to as a 'utility' or 'maintenance' hole.
4. Loveable cartoon rogue Dennis the Menace has been given a politically correct make over. BBC chiefs decided to take away his edge in the remake. Gone are his bombs, catapult, water pistol and pea shooter - and in their place is a simple boyish grin.
5. Spotted Dick - a classic English dessert has been renamed to avoid embarrassment. The traditional pud Spotted Dick has been given the title Spotted Richard, after UK council bosses feared the original name might cause offence.
6. A school in Seattle renamed its Easter eggs 'spring spheres' to avoid causing offence to people who did not celebrate Easter.
7. A UK council has banned the term 'brainstorming' – and replaced it with 'thought showers', as local lawmakers thought the term may offend epileptics.
8. A UK recruiter was stunned when her job advert for 'reliable' and 'hard-working' applicants was rejected by the job centre as it could be offensive to unreliable and lazy people.
9. Gillingham fans had begun to fondly offer celery to their goalkeeper, ‘Big Fat’ Jim Stannard. The club, however, decided that celery could result in health and safety issues inside the ground. As a result, fans were subjected to celery searches with the ultimate sanction for possession of celery allegedly being a life ban.’
10. In 2007, Santa Clauses in Sydney, Australia, were banned from saying 'Ho Ho Ho'. Their employer, the recruitment firm Westaff (that supplies hundreds of Santas across Australia), allegedly told all trainees that 'ho ho ho' could frighten children, and be derogatory to women. Why ? Because 'Ho Ho Ho' is too close to the American (not Australian, mind you) slang for prostitute.
11. Some US schools now have a 'holiday tree' every at Christmas, rather than a Christmas tree.
Again, people's opinions on this kind of thing is always going to be subjective and that's totally fine at the end of the end. What's not fine is this constant unnecessary manipulation of traditions, names etc. on the basis of a resulting psychological long-term affect/long-term damage. I'm no psychologist, but I don't have the slightest doubt in my mind that a child at Christmas would not be frightened by a Santa Claus saying "Ho Ho Ho." Or for that matter, a child being referred to as either a boy or a girl causing inherent confusion.
The reality being, if every decision is made on the basis of "protecting human feelings" and not offending minorities, there would be absolutely next-to-nothing that could be said and considered "appropriate" when addressing particular issues.
You can't please everyone. It's about damn time we stop trying to.
gender isnt nature, its learned identity/behavior.
you dont naturally pick up a truck vs. a barbie as a boy/girl, theyre handed to you.
This is why I don't understand this "gender" crap. I grew up with a lot of female cousins and played with Barbies a number of times. And I'm as straight as a fucking cock on Viagra.