From Jack to Eve: The Great Pronoun Lie Now Unraveling

As I've often said and written, when it comes to radical leftist ideas like "gender theory," we should look to the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. They are, after all, generally ahead of us in the progression of these kinds of lunacy. But now, in the United Kingdom, the trend seems to be reversing itself, which we Americans should see as a hopeful indicator. In an op-ed at the Daily Sceptic, the author, Dave Summers, shares some experiences.

It was the absence of a small enamel badge that first alerted me to the shifting sands of gender ideology in my Sixth Form college, a unique petri dish environment, filled as it is with impressionable teenagers and staff who are desperate to be kind.
The badge had belonged to Kate, the English department’s young gun teacher, who two years ago signalled she had gone a bit gendery by telling us that for an ice-breaking activity she would be getting new students to declare their pronouns. Apart from the creak of my greying eyebrow, silence had erupted within the normally loquacious team, followed by a few sage nods as if this was an activity we’d all been doing for decades. Somebody will say something, I’d thought, even if it’s just a ‘That’s interesting. Tell us more.’ But nothing more was said.

Nothing more was said because this kind of lunacy has been accepted in British and American schools for some time now. But that tide may be turning. It won't happen overnight, but it's happening.

Next, Kate – who in any age throughout history would be very recognisably a woman – began sporting the She/Her enamel badge on her lanyard. Foolishly, I’d taken the bait and asked as sensitively as I could why she was wearing it. “Because this is how I identify,” she said with the air of a Year 7 teacher explaining the facts of life to a curious student. “And it’s how I show support for our transgender kids.” I’d wanted to say something but bit my lip, partly because I was yet to develop a line of argument but also because she was looking at me in that way – you know the one – the razor-sharp stare of the self-righteous. I nodded, offered a thin smile and retreated. But last week, I noticed the badge had gone. Perhaps the fever has broken?

Is sanity reasserting itself? This may seem inevitable; the denial of biological reality that is "gender theory" and the unhealthy obsession with pronouns can't last forever. But it sure seems like it has lasted an uncomfortably long time now.

Oregon Father Slams Invasive New Gender Probe on Son's School Survey

That does seem to be changing. Mr. Summers has some impressions; there aren't yet any numbers, but there are indications by someone associated with the school system in question.

The continual fear of misgendering and causing upset haunted the college. For example, just before a Parents’ Evening I had received a hastily composed email from Jack’s tutor informing me that Jack is Eve at home and telling me to refer to her (or is it him?) as such when I meet the unsuspecting parents. In the minutes before the meeting I was declaiming, “Not Jack! Not Jack! Not Jack!” to an empty room, followed by “Eve. Eve. EVE!”, incanting like some deranged Wall-E, willing myself not to embarrass or hurt anyone. Heaven knows what the parents thought as they witnessed me refusing to make eye contact with their daughter Eve, my student Jack, and stumbling over second person pronouns in my desperation to avoid the ‘J Bomb’. This year, however, there’s not been a single name change (if you discount the girl who has sensibly eschewed her natal Madison in favour of the more exotic Lola). It’s not a scientific sample but it feels different. And better.

We'll take it.

Now, I'm not a teacher, but I have a feeling that if I were, I wouldn't last long in today's educational environment, at least in our major cities. Were I in the position Mr. Summers describes above, I would have replied with "No, I will use your son's legal name, the name he is known as in the school. I will not cater to a delusion."

I'm not a teacher, however. But more and more people are, as the old saying goes, getting hip to the scam. Boys are boys, and girls, girls, and never (barring a few extremely rare genetic abnormalities) the twain shall meet.

I've often said and written that we should watch the UK, we should watch Europe, because the trends and escalations in leftist policies that start there will come here. Maybe these hopeful indications from Britain will also carry over to the United States, and we'll see a return to sanity in the schools - even in the more liberal jurisdictions.

It's about time.

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