[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

This is indeed the issue but it's worth pointing out that the term "gender" has a specific origin and definition and the terms "gender" and "sex" are by definition not interchangeable. Notable because if they WERE interchangeable, the term "gender" would never have been required in the first place. Yes many people (mistakenly) believe that they mean the same thing. They don't. Sex is a biological term and there are two sexes; that is scientific fact. Gender is a sociological term not a biological term and gender is a sliding scale... that's just what it is and what it means.

If we're coming down to personal opinion, the accurate opinion of someone who is critical of that scale, would be that the sociological concept of gender is flawed or false in its entirety.

The statement that there "are only two genders" is false, by definition, and not open to interpretation... there are either a multitude, or it doesn't exist and there are none. There are not "two". Full stop.

So there are several issues here. One being that the pupil actually is both A) factually incorrect and B) over-confident in his reasons for being correct...

BUT yes, also, the teacher himself is blatantly totally unclear on this and is waving his authority wand because he doesn't actually know how to academically address the issue (by explaining the difference between the scientific / biological definition of sex, the sociological concept of gender, and the differences between the two) because HE doesn't understand it either.

So... meh. The kid is incorrect but it's also a piss-poor example of effective teaching, especially because the teacher is clearly on the verge of losing his cool when (from what's in the video) there's no reason to do so, and his approach is actually doing nothing but cementing this belief rather than helping a young mind to engage in some less-rigid thinking.

But what can you really expect in a high school teaching environment? Crap working conditions, crap pay, low prospects, little reward. It's not attracting the best and brightest and it won't - ever - until our governments realise that it is the most important thing that we should be spending on.

So basically you agree with Vicky that gender basically means personality type then?