We have been alarmed at some of the rhetoric we have seen within the “Gender Critical” movement recently. As a response to recent discussions, we decided to publish our position as a non-religious, non-political, safeguarding organisation.
We believe conflating same-sex attraction with a fetish or sexual deviancy is an abhorrent position borne from prejudice and we thoroughly reject it. Lesbians are women and are welcome in women’s spaces. Gay men are men and should be welcome in men’s spaces. Social and/or medical transition of ‘gender non-conforming’ children who may grow up to be same-sex attracted is gay conversion therapy.
For the avoidance of any doubt: we support lesbians and gay men. We support the right of adults to define their own sexuality. We strongly oppose the sexualisation of children, including their exposure to sexualised content on and offline. Children are all human beings under the age of 18. We oppose the enforcement of damaging and regressive gender stereotypes onto children. Children should not have their clothing or interests restricted by virtue of their sex. Women wear ‘men’s clothing’ for different reasons than men wear ‘women’s clothing’. Women who do not conform to the standards society has deemed appropriate are generally putting less time into their appearance, whilst men dressing as stereotypical women are putting in more time than society requires for men. The two positions are not comparable.
Nobody should be wearing their fetish gear (whatever that may be) in schools or around children. This is a #safeguarding concern. If you do not recognise that someone wearing clothing, that by their own admission is part of their fetish, around children is a safeguarding concern, you have become a safeguarding risk yourself. If you are concerned about the behaviour of an adult in a school follow the school’s complaints procedure. If you are not taken seriously, google the LADO for that area and contact them. Do not be put off by accusations of ‘isms’ and ‘phobias’.
We are not a ‘Gender Critical’ organisation. We are not part of the ‘Gender Critical movement’. We are a child safeguarding organisation and we always take a safeguarding first approach. We will not tolerate safeguarding being undermined by anyone or anything. Our position is informed by the experiences of frontline safeguarding professionals and the findings of Serious Case Reviews (now called Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews, SPRs) and Public Inquiries. We adhere to legislation such as Keeping Children Safe in Education, Working Together to Safeguard Children, and the principles of Safer Recruitment including the importance of an ongoing culture of vigilance. If anyone is concerned about a charity they should follow the procedure for making a complaint to the charities commission.
Safeguarding is preventative and we lobby to strengthen existing protections for children. There is always room for improvement with safeguarding.
We strongly refute the concept of legal sex on safeguarding grounds. We will not support any compromise position that centres rights over safeguarding. See Tanya Carter’s interview for the Future of Legal Gender project in 2022 which gives more detail on our position on the concept of legal sex.
This is our position. This has always been our position. This will always be our position. We defend this position publicly and in private, every day for no pay. We are completely unfunded.
#RestoreSafeguarding #DiverseEd #WomenEd #Edutwitter #UKEdChat