Unisex toilets in primary schools

Honestly, I do think students at primary level is quite young for such a thing. I mean, there are already male and female bathrooms that they can freely use, and I guess that’s enough. Actually, our school also considered installing unisex toilets before, but because of complaints from some teachers and parents, the plan was revoked. But what we did was, we just installed additional school toilet cubicles with the help of this company for the further convenience of everyone. But maybe this will work in a different setting, or for older students? A university perhaps?

I have used the term 'sexualised' when I believed a child had been subjected to seeing inappropriate sexual images/behaviour or had been involved in sexual abuse. Sexualisation,for me,means more of societies age inappropriate marketing and promotion of items for children that treats them as sexual/sexually aware. ie adult style clothes for young children making them appear like mini adults. Children always have and always will be curious about their own and others bodies. As long as it is age appropriate it is not cause for alarm.

Fair enough Ana.

No. I genuinely thought you believed that mixed wards were a thing of the past in all hospitals, which is not the case and is a scandal in its own right.

In some cases no. But in an ideal world they would. General wards (non acute) and Im sure you knew what I meant Ana.

Mixed wards have never gone away.

Boys and girls want a bit of privacy over their privates, so do men and women. This is not on at all. You may as well bring back mixed wards then. A minority is just that.

Oh boy! Plenty of scope for the "I'll show you mine if you show me yours" game then.

The term "sexualised" "sexualisation" is often used as a "technical" description of the behaviour of children who have been sexually abused at a young age and are acting out some of their behaviour towards other children in manner that is abusive and not age appropriate.

This is not just small children discovering there own bodies.
It is not at all the right terminology to use when talking about chidren becoming aware of their own sexual feelings and knowledge.

stillalive I used the word sexualisation once. In my world that is not a lot

I was just trying to clarify the term as I felt it had been used to describe sex education. To me sexualisation of children is treating them, through dress, behaviour & attitude, as though they are post adolescent sexual beings. In a nutshell sex education for young children, to me, is about teaching children to recognise their emotions & know their bodies as well as their rights and responsibilities in keeping themselves and others emotionally and physically safe.
I was not trying to be contentious!

Still don't understand your use of "sexualisation" a lot here Pen. It's ok to be different but to make everyone else feel guilty about not being is beyond the pail really.

Children know they are different. Hence all those inquisitive games of doctors & nurses! The younger children are aware of differences/ different lifestyles etc. the less they are likely to be 'hung up' about things. That is why children who have frequent/ regular contact with children/adults with disabilities, people of different races/religions, LGBT etc etc do not feel awkward when meeting someone new who may be different from them.

My DGD thought, then aged 5, it eminently sensible that her 2nd cousin lives with another man.. boys like boy things so why wouldn't they?

In my world, yes of course you will find a small percentage of children born in the wrong bodies and I'm 100 percent on board with a sex change. However it seems now that what I call a "fetish" and there are many is, which is fine by me, being allowed to dominate common sense for fear of not being PC.

lOVE IT

lOVE IT

Sexualisation of children? what on earth are you on about. We ARE different and that's the way it is.

I do think we can all be guilty of projecting our own negative experiences of our youth onto today's youngsters. Girls (&boys) are often far better informed than the 50s /60s generation re puberty etc. So periods,whilst still a bind, are not such a taboo subject and generally girls are more confident in managing menstruation. I am sure we can find anecdotal examples of neg. experience but generally I think things are better..even by the fact that sanitary towels are not the huge great hammocks of cotton wool a gauze,clipped to a twisted elastic belt, that were Dr Whites!!

Sexualisation of children is about the way they dress/behave etc. Asking who their boyfriend/girlfriend is when they are too young etc. I saw a 3/4 yr old boy with a teeshirt that said "lock up your daughters" I found that distasteful. Teaching young children about their bodies, their right to control who touches them, good & bad 'secrets', that love and respect need to underpin relationships etc. is what primary sex ed is all about. Of course they ned to know that, whilst hetero sexual relationships are most common, there are other possibilities but that the fundamental principles/values of when & who you eventually have a sexual relationship with are the same regardless of your partner's gender. .

Yorkshiregel Welcome to the 21st century!
How come talking to children about gay and lesbian relationships, when questions have been asked by a child is has been interpreted as "sexualising children at an early age."
If a young child asks then they need a sensible answer. It does not need to go into all details just answer what they have asked.
When a four year old asked how babies got into a mummies tummy is it thought by some on here that providing an appropriate answer is "sexualising children." ?

The damage that must have been caused, perhaps in our parents and grandparents day, by not talking about things like that was tremendous. My mother, born in 1920, had trouble explaining anything to do with bodily functions never mind sex.

I've always known gay and lesbian people, family,workmates and close friends.So I was very disturbed when a friend who had a family member who was a paedophile was horrified that my young son was "allowed "to be taken out by his lesbian cousin....who he loves and who he has known is gay since he was very young.My friend said she couldn't let HER children associate with GAY's and she was glad they didn't have anything like THAT in her family.Like I said its NOT contagious nor is it a disease ... and he was much safer with his cousin than he would have been with hers ,a supposedly happily married man with children

Maybe ruth has a view on gay relationships within families.

Earlier on this thread it was stated that children of primary school age should not know about LGBGT issues. I asked but got no reply to my question about my DGCs being involved in their aunt's civil partnership ceremony. I know that many on GN have gay sons and daughters. Are we all meant to keep this from the children in the family? Or can we simply allow them to grow up embracing the fact that 2 aunts or 2 uncles can be in a happy loving relationship? Perhaps these children, brought up to be tolerant, will be the ones who'll support their classmates through this blatant prejudice.
When I asked a teacher friend how pupils react when faced with transgender issues, she told me that the vast majority see it as 'no big deal'.

Ruth1958 it may surprise you that LGBT people existed in the last century and the one before that.In those days of course people were forced to conform to what was thought"normal" often causing them to live a lie in misery.Would you rather we return to those days than people be able to live the lives they feel they were born to live .Being gay or bi sexual or transgender isn't a disease ,I'm very proud of the two young trans boys I know...it took a lot of courage for them to speak out and as one of them has recently fought cancer had operations ,months of treatment,chem and radiation.It might well have been simpler for him to carry on as a girl.... it wasn't something he approached lightly.They are not impacting on YOUR life in any way .. unisex toilets mean they cant be beratted for using the "wrong" loo .Its not some left wing conspiracy to make you feel threatened

Penstemmon it seems that all things that didn't happen in the 50's or that grans dont agree with are "left wing" on this site .Or the people who agree with it are leftie loonies....