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Report: Three Middle Schoolers Have Been Charged With Sexual Harassment for Not Using 'They/Them' Pronouns

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It was long thought that “words will never hurt” you. That, as it turns out, was wrong.

In fact, not only can words hurt, but you can be injured by your own — more precisely, the pronouns you employ.

Just ask a trio of Wisconsin middle schoolers.

As reported by Green Bay’s Channel 2, three boys at Kiel Middle School have been charged with sexual harassment.

Parents claim the boys are under investigation by the district for alluding to a classmate with the wrong pronouns.

Last month, moms and dads were informed their children had violated Title IX by way of gender-based harassment. The youngsters had name-called on the basis of sex.

Succinctly:

The district claims the boys were not referring to the student’s requested pronouns of “they” and “them.”

Following the news, one mother accompanied her son to school for a discussion with officials. She insisted the pronoun issue was confusing for him and that he wasn’t obligated to comply.

Speaking to WBAY, Rose Rabidoux slammed the situation:

“Sexual harassment, that’s rape, that’s incest, that’s inappropriate touching. What did my son do? He’s a little boy. He told me that he was being charged with sexual harassment for not using the right pronouns.”

As for anyone’s demand to be invoked via “they”:

“It’s plural. It doesn’t make sense to him. I said so, I told him to call them by their [name].”

Attorneys are now involved. The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty’s Luke Berg lambasts the whole thing as hogwash:

“It’s not sexual harassment under Title IX, under their own policy, under federal law, and it’s probably a First Amendment violation. Almost certainly, if that’s their theory, that solely using the wrong pronoun…that would be a First Amendment violation.”

Furthermore:

“Eighth-graders shouldn’t be subjected to this kind of investigation or this type of reputational harm for something that on its face clearly doesn’t violate Title IX in sexual harassment. Their own policy says that, if on the face of the complaint the conduct — even if proven — wouldn’t amount to sexual harassment, it should be immediately dismissed. And that’s what should have happened here, and it didn’t.”

To demand how a student be referenced seemingly constitutes a case of compelled speech. But it appears compelled speech is increasingly endorsed by adolescents and institutions:

University Directs Students to ‘Practice With Pronouns,’ and It Highlights Our Stunning Sophistication

University Eyes Forcing Students/Staff to Use Preferred Pronouns, Giving Everyone Access to Girls’ Locker Rooms

Student Protests University’s ‘Inclusive’ Pronoun Rules, a Petition Demands He Be Kicked out of School

Students Decry College’s Paltry Pronoun Provisions — There’s Not Even a ‘Mushroomself’

University Orders Adherence to Preferred Pronouns and Made-Up Monikers, Threatens ‘Action’ Regardless of ‘Intent’

For some, it’s downright religious:

Back to Wisconsin, the Kiel Area School District’s Superintendent Brad Ebert has issued a statement:

The KASD prohibits all forms of bullying and harassment in accordance with all laws, including Title IX, and will continue to support ALL students regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, creed, pregnancy, marital status, parental status, sexual orientation, sex (including transgender status, change of sex or gender identity), or physical, mental, emotional or learning disability (“Protected Classes”) in any of its student programs and activities; this is consistent with school board policy. We do not comment on any student matters.

As for pronouns, of course, they’re words generally spoken in one’s absence. So whether or not one’s orders are followed will likely never be known to them. Yet, as we continue to learn, it’s of the utmost import.

In fact, mouth sounds ringing out away from a person affect their very safety:

It’s an increasingly sophisticated world.

And in Wisconsin — as well as all of America — there is surely much more to come.

-ALEX

See more content from me:

Profess Your Privilege: Southern University Launches ‘White Student Accountability Group’

They’re Cotton-Picking Committed: Oregon Education Stocks the Boys Room With Tampons

Salute to Self-Awareness: Washington Post Publishes a Denouncement of George Washington’s ‘Racist’ Name

Find all my RedState work here.

Thank you for reading! Please sound off in the Comments section below.

'Per Loves Perself': University Schools Students on 'Why Pronouns Matter' for 'Folx'

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California State University, Northridge wants its attendees to understand the importance of pronouns.

Therefore, via its University Student Union’s Pride Center, the school has dedicated a webpage to “Why Pronouns Matter for Everyone.”

“Jump-start the learning curve,” it says, “by educating yourself.”

CSUN tells cisgender students not to make their peers do work that’s on them:

Don’t make your Transgender and Nonbinary peers do all the work in pronoun education. You can jump-start the overall learning curve by educating yourself and boosting our reach with others around you.

Awareness is key:

Without realizing it, we use pronouns all the time. We use these pronouns in speech and writing to take the place of people’s name and many other proper nouns. One example lies in self-references: Every time you use ‘my’ or ‘mine’ you’re using a pronoun!

Fingers = off triggers:

Often, when speaking of someone in the third person, these pronouns have a gender implied (think he/she). These associations with gender are where our language can become triggering or divisive for folx whose gender expression doesn’t match their gender identity. Using someone’s correct pronouns is one of the simplest ways to show your respect for their identity.

As for gender identity and gender expression being at odds — if I accurately understand — that refers to, for instance, a biological male who wears a dress yet doesn’t identify as a woman.

Perhaps that person considers themself neither/nor — “noun-self” pronouns such as “bunself” or “kittenself” may apply.

The school warns of “how divisive pronoun assumptions can be for many individuals.”

Let’s break down how this can be so instantly harmful. 

  • You can’t know what someone’s pronouns are by looking at them. Often, we make assumptions about the gender and pronouns of another person based on their appearance or name. These assumptions aren’t always correct.
  • The act of assuming (even if correct) sends a potentially harmful message that people must look a certain way to demonstrate the gender that they are or are not.
  • When someone is referred to with the wrong pronoun, it can make the individual feel disrespected, invalidated, dismissed, alienated, or hurt. This can determine within the first few minutes if they will feel respected at CSUN or not.
  • Sharing our pronouns and correctly using other people’s pronouns sets a tone of inclusion. It can truly make all the difference, especially for new community members who may feel particularly vulnerable in a new environment.
  • Many people may be learning about pronouns for the first time, so this will be a learning opportunity for the CSUN community. You will be setting an example for your peers.

A list of pronouns is provided, with the note that “there are no ‘male/female,’ ‘man/woman’ or ‘feminine/masculine’ pronouns. All pronouns can be used for any gender.”

Students are offered “Ey,” “He,” “Per,” “She,” “TheyThem,” “Ve,” “Xe” and “Ze” for consideration.

Example sentences:

  • Ey loves emself.
  • He loves himself.
  • Per loves perself.
  • She loves herself.
  • They trust themself.
  • Ve loves verself.
  • Xe loves xemself.
  • Ze trusts hirself.
  • Ze trusts zirself.

Some folx don’t allow you to use pronouns for them:

  • Taylor trusts Taylor’s self.

And to be clear, you shouldn’t feel fear:

Don’t panic over pronunciation! While above are some common ways to pronounce these pronouns, there are many variations, so it is best to ask how the individual pronounces them.

Perhaps the most curious part of the instruction is that, since pronouns are normally used away from those to whom they refer, the people will never know what you said.

Nonetheless, the CSUN’s FAQs section addresses the question “What if I make a mistake?”

It happens. We all make mistakes! We recommend using R.A.M. (Relax, Apologize, Move on). The trans community often shoulder the burden of alleviating embarrassment and hurt feelings of cisgender individuals. Don’t excessively apologize or make it about yourself or how hard it is for you to learn new pronouns. Simply apologize, do better, and use the correct pronoun the next time.

If everyone has their own pronoun combinations, communication-wise, we’re on course to become the most complex society in human history — please see my example of our recommended new normal here.

But so goes progress.

So if you’re attending CSUN, set aside some time — there’s a world of work to do.

-ALEX

See more content from me:

Excellence in Equity: California Eyes Obliterating ‘Bias’ by Getting Rid of Grades

Georgia Puts the Kibosh on Universities’ Anti-Liberty ‘Free Speech Zones’

Harvard Apologizes for Slavery, Offers $100 Million to Make It Better

Find all my RedState work here.

Thank you for reading! Please sound off in the Comments section below.

Excellence in Equity: California Eyes Obliterating 'Bias' by Getting Rid of Grades

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In California, they’re trying to rid America of its obliterative bias.

One way: Stop giving grades in college.

As seen in a March 16th memo posted online, the president of the state’s public university system asked the Academic and Student Affairs Committee to consider a big change.

In some cases, the old ways have been alright — particularly grading on a curve — but ultimate equity trumps all:

The University of California is exploring innovations in instructional delivery, assessment, and grading to improve learning outcomes, promote academic integrity, and advance educational equity. Traditional grading practices, such as averaging grades across assignments or grading on a curve, have merit in some cases but there may be more effective options for advancing achievement and educational equity. UC campuses are engaged in a variety of initiatives to reexamine assessment and grading practices, some of which are illustrated in this written item.

The president references “learning outcomes,” but if I understand correctly, at issue is reward rather than retention — grades, after all, reflect the latter.

Prior presentations to the Board of Regents have described ongoing UC efforts to assess, innovate, and adapt instructional methods to support learning outcomes. The University is following the same approach in evaluating assessment and grading methods to improve learning outcomes, promote academic integrity, and advance educational equity.

Regarding an educational revamp, California’s been on the move.

In March, the public secondary ed system permanently abandoned standardized testing in admissions evaluation. An official line asserted such tests didn’t predict how students would perform on regular assignments and tests once in college.

From CSU acting Chancellor Steve Relyea:

“[W]e are eliminating our reliance on the high-stress, high-stakes test that has shown negligible benefit and providing our applicants with greater opportunities to demonstrate their drive, talents and potential for college success.”

At the time, I posed thusly:

If someone has “drive, talents and potential for college success,” they’d presumably do well on (standardized) tests.

But it seems that may soon be a non-issue. Furthermore, if the system will no longer require anyone to make good grades, then it was absolutely right in nixing standardized scores.

And to be sure, the West Coast isn’t alone in its exploration:

Professor Razes the Evil of Writing Rules, Whacks White Supremacy by Gonging Grades

University Professor Goes the Route of ‘Ungrading’ — in Math

Excellence Awaits: Professors Make Their Case for Ending Grades

Primary education’s taking part as well:

Virginia School District Targets Inequity by Shooting at Grades and Deadlines

Oregon’s Education Dept. Takes a Stand Against Standards — Racism, to the Layperson

In Order to Attack ‘Systemic Racism,’ a School Eliminates Failure and Time Constraints

Back to California, the president’s letter offered “key tips” for superior schooling. A few:

  • Think of assessment as opportunities for students to learn with equity and inclusion as the foundation to create effective learning spaces for all students.
  • Provide opportunities for and encourage collaborative work.
  • Allow (or require) students to consult many sources to answer questions, as we do in the real world.

And for those instructors keen on less work:

  • Consider the grading labor for each assessment.

Courtesy of the missive’s conclusion:

Traditional assessment and grading practices may perpetuate bias and inequities and the University of California is engaged in a number of efforts to advance initiatives that promote grading with equity, including those that improve and reward mastery of subject matter in a course. … [U]C’s efforts and partnerships with other intersegmental and peer institutions will advance research and identify promising practices that can continue to improve student outcomes and educational equity.

Maybe it’ll end up mimicking MIT:

In 2020–21, [Massachusetts Institute of Technology] implemented a new “Flexible Pass/No Record” grading policy1 for entering first-year undergraduates. This policy allowed first-year students the option to designate up to 48 units to be graded on a pass/no record basis. Under this policy, students needed to complete the subject and receive a grade. The student then had the option to keep the grade or request that it be converted to a pass/no record. Letter grades of A, B, or C were pass and D or F were no record. … Initial feedback was the new policy had been well-received by students, with 78 percent feeling “very positive” about this new grading policy.

MIT, incidentally, also eliminated standardized testing. But then:

The world is changing. In the past, an iconic nightmare was the scenario of showing up for school to take a test for which one hadn’t studied.

A new generation will have night sweats over arriving to school to find there are no safe spaces.

If they’re California Dreamin’, at least they may be safe from getting a bad grade.

-ALEX

See more content from me:

Georgia Puts the Kibosh on Universities’ Anti-Liberty ‘Free Speech Zones’

Harvard Apologizes for Slavery, Offers $100 Million to Make It Better

‘Public Health Crisis’: Diversity and Inclusion Director Decries the Racism That Causes Alcohol Consumption

Find all my RedState work here.

Thank you for reading! Please sound off in the Comments section below.

Georgia Puts the Kibosh on Universities' Anti-Liberty 'Free Speech Zones'

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If you’ve spent time at colleges in recent years, you might’ve encountered a “free speech zone.” But in Georgia, such a thing can’t any longer exist.

On Tuesday, Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law HB 1, otherwise known as the Forming Open and Robust University Minds (FORUM) Act.

The legislation will nip in the bud certain First Amendment funny business at public colleges and universities.

For those unfamiliar with the state of school speech, Georgia’s Libertarian Party provides a description previous to the bill becoming law:

“[F]ree speech zones”…physically contain political, religious, or other controversial speech to certain areas of campus. … As it sits now, students are given less than one percent of the entire campus for “free” speech.

Speaking to The College Fix, Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Zack Pruitt offers more:

“Restricting free speech to small, out-of-the-way areas of campus limits the ability of students and student organizations to effectively communicate their message. … In one GA case, Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski, Georgia Gwinnett College had two tiny ’free speech zones’ that made up .0015% of campus which severely limited the ability of student Chike Uzuegbunam to share his faith with others.”

HB1’s action, from the measure itself:

To prevent the creation of “free speech zones” at such public institutions of higher education; to allow for reasonable, content- and viewpoint-neutral, and narrowly tailored time, place, and manner restrictions on expressive activity at public institutions of higher education; to prohibit material and substantial disruption of protected expressive activity at public institutions of higher education; to require public institutions of higher education to provide public notice of rules and expectations regarding expressive activity; to require public institutions of higher education to develop materials, programs, and procedures related to expressive activity; to provide for a short title; to provide for definitions; to provide for related matters; to provide for an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

The mere concept of a free speech zone signals a colossal cultural change. These days, a “free speech” sign is much more likely to serve as warning than welcome.

Consider the following image allegedly from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis:

Whether or not the photo is legitimate, it’s a solid illustration of higher education’s shift.

Meanwhile, of course, the same is happening to speech in the public square:

Academics Fear the ‘Hate’ of Free Speech as a Liberated Twitter Looms

Jen Psaki Decries the ‘Harm’ and ‘Misinformation’ of Free Twitter, but America Was Founded on Our Right to Be Wrong

MSNBC Warns That Free Speech On Twitter Would Be a ‘Danger’ to Free Speech — and It Perfectly Captures Where We Are

Nothing stays the same. Yet, not so long ago — and for a very, very long time — we all had access to a giant free speech zone. It was known as America.

With the signing of HB1, students in Georgia are getting treated to a bit of old-school liberty.

-ALEX

See more content from me:

‘Public Health Crisis’: Diversity and Inclusion Director Decries the Racism That Causes Alcohol Consumption

Report: University Schools Midwifery Students on the Handling of the Birthing Penis

University Directs Students to ‘Practice With Pronouns,’ and It Highlights Our Stunning Sophistication

Find all my RedState work here.

Thank you for reading! Please sound off in the Comments section below.

'Public Health Crisis': Diversity and Inclusion Director Decries the Racism That Causes Alcohol Consumption

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At Mercer University, they’re concerned about health.

Hence, the Mason, Georgia college’s director of Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives has pinpointed a “public health crisis”: racism.

In an article published on school news site The Den, Dr. Ansley Booker says the judging of people according to skin color has become an emergency.

She notes she’s not alone:

Across the country, local and state leaders are declaring racism a public health crisis or emergency. These declarations are an important first step to advancing racial equity and justice and must be followed by allocation of resources and strategic action, according to the American Public Health Association.

Only two Georgia governments have announced the same — there’s a great need to “educate Georgians on this health crisis.”

As for an area of said emergency’s emanation, Ansley fingers maternity:

Rural Black women have double the maternal mortality rate of rural white women, according to research conducted by Dr. Jacob Warren, Rufus Harris Endowed Chair and director of the Center for Rural Health and Health Disparities, a National Institutes of Health Center of Excellence within the Mercer School of Medicine. Dr. Warren’s research has also established that no rural county in Georgia has a maternal-fetal specialist — a doctor who helps care for pregnant patients who are having complications or high-risk pregnancies.

Additionally, minorities “suffer greater racial disparities in food insecurity when compared to their white, non-Hispanic counterparts.”

For example, the rate of food insecurity in the white, non-Hispanic population is 7.1% versus 17.2% for Hispanics and almost 22% for non-Hispanic Black people. That is three times the rate as compared to white people.

It also noted that almost 19% of the state of Georgia, or about 2 million people, including 500,000 children, live in areas that lack access to affordable fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy products and other foods that make up the full range of a healthy diet. We call those areas food deserts.

And nonwhites are more likely to suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease:

In the United States, COPD is the fourth leading cause of death. … Communities within the lowest socio-economic status are 14 times more likely to have a respiratory disease such as asthma, tuberculosis and lung cancer.

Furthermore, she asserts redlining relegates “Black, indigenous, Hispanic and other minority neighborhoods” to “areas with poorer land quality, less access to healthy foods and voter disenfranchisement.”

If I accurately understand, they’re made to drink and smoke:

Even when controlling for factors of social determinants of health, research shows socio-economic status disproportionately impacts certain communities. Black and Hispanic individuals, even those with high education levels, had higher exposures to secondhand smoke and were more likely to engage in tobacco or alcohol consumption, possibly explaining the higher incidence of COPD in these populations.

We’re living in revelational times. Ubiquitously, there’s tremendous talk of “structural racism”:

Elite College Announces It Will Help Rid White Churches of Their Systemic Racism

In Order to Attack ‘Systemic Racism,’ a School Eliminates Failure and Time Constraints

American Psychiatry Association Condemns the ‘Structural Racism’ Murder of George Floyd

10th Graders Told George Floyd Was Born With ‘Two Strikes,’ Asked to Describe How Systemic Racism Victimized Him

Air Force Academy Professor Defends Teaching Critical Race Theory and ‘Structural Racism’ to Cadets

Professor Preaches Parenting to Parents: School Your White Preschoolers on Structural Racism

The Commander-in-Chief concurs:

Joe Biden Admits ‘Systemic Racism’ is ‘In Everything We Do’

Biden Commissions the Class of 2021: Rise up and ‘Root out Systemic Racism’

If racism is doubtlessly embedded into America’s systems, such could only be known if it has been discovered. And if the jig is up, it would seem easy to call out the mechanisms and simply remove them at once.

Yet, for Joe Biden and others so far, mum’s the word.

Surely at some point, someone will break the silence.

Meanwhile, we’re being robustly informed of structural racism’s egregious effects.

Is racial prejudice the reason select people are smoking and drinking, and possibly developing COPD as a result?

According to Dr. Ansley Booker, yes.

Once the presumably-upcoming whistleblower emerges, America’s public health crisis will hopefully be ended for good.

-ALEX

See more content from me:

Report: University Schools Midwifery Students on the Handling of the Birthing Penis

University Directs Students to ‘Practice With Pronouns,’ and It Highlights Our Stunning Sophistication

A Ghost Reminds Six Students of a KKK Equestrian, and That Alone May Unsaddle a $100,000 Statue

Find all my RedState work here.

Thank you for reading! Please sound off in the Comments section below.