Gender neutral craze comes to The University of Tennesee

Craze? Is that really the right word for this? Maybe so, but it seems rather dismissive and judgmental for an idea, albeit what appears to be a poorly conceived one. And that chart is ridiculous...that's my judgement. People are clearly struggling to do the right thing here, but going about it in some goofy ways.


a reply to: Sublimecraft

What? Women can't be stormtroopers? Pffft.

originally posted by: continuousThunder
Alright guys, listen up, these are the actual facts, from someone who lives it.
gender is not a binary
we do not live in a world of black and white.
Sure, we live in a society that tells you it's nothing more than man and woman, but look around, nature just doesn't bear that out - there are shades and scales, simple boxes just don't work to categorise complex humans.

If you're one of the lucky people [of whom there are fewer than you would ever believe] who feel completely comfortable with the gender you were assigned with the day you were born, try to imagine how it would feel for everyone you meet to insist you were a different gender, to never be taken seriously - to be openly mocked and derided just for having an option to be referred to with a term that feels comfortable.
Where's your compassion?
How hard is it to take on board that some people aren't the same?
Are people really so lazy or hateful that asking people what terms they prefer and changing one single word when talking to them is just too much?

Why in the hell do I have to change my vocabulary because YOU are confused? I'm not confused. If you have a penis you are male. If you have a vagina you are female. If YOU are confused, that's YOUR problem and YOU do not have the right to force YOUR confusion on me or anyone else.

If it makes YOU happy to identify as something you are NOT, then do it. If it offends YOU that I identify YOU as something YOU are then don't speak to me. YOU do not have the right to insist that the words male and female are now words used by bigots because you cant figure out whether or not you need to stand or sit when you pee. I will make you this promise. I don't care what laws are passed or what liberal BS media has to say, I promise that if a male dressed as a female enters the public restroom behind my wife or daughter, I WILL smear his makeup all over the floor.

[SNIPPED]

a reply to: kaylaluvI think brain gender reigns supreme, because I believe consciousness reigns supreme. Because without our consciousness, we are just dead meat.


I do Agree that the Human Brain Reigns Supreme but Sometimes The Brain Malfunctions.
Then We Have People With Totally Messed up Brains.
Such as People Who Murder Other People Who are Serial Killers and The List Goes on and on.
So in My Opinion these Are Brain Malfunctions.

Then We have People Who are Always Correct in their Assumptions no Matter What.
I Call These People BRAINLESS.
So if You Think You are Something Other Than What You are Born As
More Than LIKELY There Is A Brain MALFUNCTION.
Just My OPINION

P.S. Some Peoples Brains Are Like OLD WORN OUT AUTOMOBILES That are Supposed to BE 8 Cylinders
but ONLY FIRE ON 3

originally posted by: Shamrock6
UT has disseminated an alternative set of pronouns for students and faculty to use when addressing each other.

Let me be clear right off the bat - this is not a mandatory thing. Nobody is being forced to use the terms.

That being said, the university is "encouraging" students to recognize that "sometimes he and she just don't work." A university official says the new pronouns only sound funny because people weren't raised to be gender neutral.

Also included in the article is news that Target is eliminating boy/girl signage from their toy aisles. All in the name of neutrality and inclusivity.

Seems a bit silly to me. Then again, I readily admit that I was raised to differentiate between boys and girls. What do you think, zirs and hirs?

www.today.com...

My first reaction was, "fine, why not". Especially the Target thing, THAT is not a problem. My favorite toy as a child was the bearded GI Joe and could find it when asked before I could speak.

Then I looked at the chart on the article. Creepy. Like the beginnings of Newspeak. Some may say Newspeak has already begun, with Netspeak, but that is mainly abbreviations making it faster to type. I like inclusivity and would consider alternative ideas on how to go about softening up some labels, but I am not going for a new language.

Nice find. S&F.

a reply to: SoulSurfer

First, it isn't being "pushed". It came from an article in an internal newsletter that probably most students and teachers didn't even read.

Second, is there anything in the OP that talks about anyone suing anyone?

Third, here is an excerpt from the website of American Psychological Association:

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the American Psychological Association and the National Association of School Psychologists affirm that diverse gender expressions, regardless of gender identity, and diverse gender identities, beyond a binary classification, are normal and positive variations of the human experience;

www.apa.org...

Seeing as you are a psychologist, I'm surprised that you don't already know what is on their website. I guess you didn't get the memo?...

originally posted by: johnwick
a reply to: Shamrock6

This isn't aimed at you op.

To to all the lefties out there, I just pose this one simple question, since it is you lefties pushing all this idiocy.

Is there or is there not gender?

If there is, then WTF is wrong with you? Why are you trying to pretend like there isnt?

If there isn't, then why push transgender bs?

Because your mind set changes are giving us normal sane folks whiplash.

Figure it out one way or another and get back to me.

Oh, I see. Those who are left leaning are idiots and "righties", that is what you call yourself, I take it, are sane.

Of course there is gender. There is an entire course of study called Gender Studies. One university has a plan, which I do not like, but not for the reason you don't like it.

Something tells me that 'getting back to you' about it will simply unleash another rant.

a reply to: continuousThunder

Then I wish people to call me the Emperor of the Galaxy, otherwise I might feel offended or uncomfortable. Surely I too must be given the option to act like a spoiled brat. Only one word, well what's four of them then? Only takes about two seconds to say.

What kind of weak minded fool would ever care about such a trivial thing? They don't deserve to be called whatever they want to just because they can't deal with the world like a normal adult, they deserve to be ridiculed and ignored for stealing the spotlight from actual issues. Such a vain and contrived struggle.."look at us, look at us, we don't conform to the gender binary". These attention seeking vampires.. ugh..

articles.mercola.com...

In Europe, more than 1,300 chemicals are banned from use in lotions, soaps, toothpaste, cosmetics, and other personal care products. Contrast that to in the US, where just 11 are banned.1
Adding insult to injury, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tasks the companies that manufacture and market cosmetics and other personal care products with ensuring their safety.

Not only does this pose an obvious conflict of interest, but "neither the law nor FDA regulations require specific tests to demonstrate the safety of individual products or ingredients."2
The average US women uses 12 personal care products and/or cosmetics a day, containing 168 different chemicals, according to the Environmental Working Group (EWG). There are other chemicals risks as well, like those lurking in your household cleaning products, food packaging, furniture, and carpeting.

IMPORTANT: Using Content From Other Websites on ATS
MOD NOTE: Posting work written by others

a reply to: Forgottengods

They are deliberately trying to feminize the men for some reason... post above.

been fighting this from the get go.

Vocabulary changes generation to generation. People who say they don't want to change well that's fine. There are still older generations that use terms and names that are now seen as insulting. You are just dinosaurs, you'll die out and people in the future will laugh and pity you.

OT, but...

originally posted by: ~Lucidity
What? Women can't be stormtroopers? Pffft.

Nope they can't, because stromtroopers are clones and clones don't spontaneously change sex. Well, not unless you use amphibian DNA to fill in the gene sequence gaps...

originally posted by: WilsonWilson
Vocabulary changes generation to generation. People who say they don't want to change well that's fine. There are still older generations that use terms and names that are now seen as insulting. You are just dinosaurs, you'll die out and people in the future will laugh and pity you.

I c what u did there.

I see how language and vocabulary are changing, and I'm not sure who's going to be laughing. But I am pretty sure that no one will know how to spell "laughing" no matter who it is.

originally posted by: WilsonWilson
Vocabulary changes generation to generation. People who say they don't want to change well that's fine. There are still older generations that use terms and names that are now seen as insulting. You are just dinosaurs, you'll die out and people in the future will laugh and pity you.

This is true.

Read any teen texts lately?

I read an article awhile back about how texting is changing our written language.

originally posted by: Shamrock6


Let me be clear right off the bat - this is not a mandatory thing. Nobody is being forced to use the terms.

In this case, you are correct. No one is being forced but, what do you think about this article?

www.campusreform.org...

Multiple professors at Washington State University have explicitly told students their grades will suffer if they use terms such as “illegal alien,” "male," and “female,” or if they fail to “defer” to non-white students.

The punishment for repeatedly using the banned words, Breikss warns, includes “but [is] not limited to removal from the class without attendance or participation points, failure of the assignment, and— in extreme cases— failure for the semester.”

Apparently at Washington State University, it is being forced.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: ElectricUniverse

Since when are all traditions bad?

I don't know. Since when can you decide which are or are not?

it has nothing to do with either "being insecure" nor "thinking you are the crown of creation"...

Then please, clarify.

wow...well first of all, you tried to equate slavery with the traditional views on marriage and what it has been traditionally the marriage of man and woman. They are two completely different issues. But like always you were trying to play the victim card, same as when people don't agree with certain policies of a president and for doing so those people get labeled as racist... I wonder why you didn't try to equate the new same sex marriage with the attempts of other leftwingers who want to be able to marry minors, including children, and they want to make it legal. After all, there is a big attempt of pushing this "new tradition" to be accepted as well.

It's ironic how every time someone doesn't agree with your views you want to proclaim that "they have insecurities" or a "God complex mentality". I can reverse the roles and say that the ones with insecurities are those who want to change people's tradition on marriage, and on how the state now claims people should be defined. Those who want everyone to be defined as the few want all to be defined. You want to be accepted even if it means destroying old traditions which have nothing to do with slavery...

The worst part is that in your mind you think this is going to get more people to accept you and your views by forcing your will on people. What it will do is get less and less people to like your point of view.

If you are trying to be accepted into a society, you don't try to redefine traditions that have been part of generations of people. MAKE YOUR OWN, instead of wanting to force the traditions of others be changed to how you want them to be.

a reply to: Khaleesi

Students are willing participants in the class; to some degree they agree with the syllabus.

However, I would admit, I would never sign up for classes from those particular fascists (IMHO) noted in your linked article.

I believe in classroom control, certainly, but to some degree that's on the presenter. The first example stated that students were not to respond to anyone else in class except the professor, and to do so would be penalized.

Sounds like control-freakery is live and well at WSU in at least two classes.

a reply to: ElectricUniverse

well first of all, you tried to equate slavery with the traditional views on marriage and what it has been traditionally the marriage of man and woman.

No, that would be a ridiculous comparison. I just pointed out that traditions come and go and provided slavery as an example of one which has gone. Would the Pledge of Alligence be a better example? A invented tradition that came out of nowhere.

It's ironic how every time someone doesn't agree with your views you want to proclaim that "they have insecurities" or a "God complex mentality".

Every time? Really? I have mentioned on occasion that people seem insecure in their beliefs but I don't recall saying anyone had a "God complex mentality." Every time? No.

I can reverse the roles and say that the ones with insecurities are those who want to change people's tradition on marriage, and on how the state now claims people should be defined.

How does someone getting married change your tradition? How does it affect you at all?

old traditions which have nothing to do with slavery...

Right. But traditions do come and go. Slavery was one. Here's another one that's going away; asking a bride's father for his daughter's hand.

The worst part is that in your mind you think this is going to get more people to accept you and your views by forcing your will on people.

Whom am I forcing my will upon?

MAKE YOUR OWN, instead of wanting to force the traditions of others be changed to how you want them to be.

The OP is about suggesting the use of gender neutral pronouns. How is that forcing anything on anyone? Don't worry, you can still say "her" and "him". It's allowed. But preventing same sex couples from being married? No, you can't because doing so is discriminatory and illegal.

a reply to: Shamrock6

What do I think?
I think far too many people are far too ready to scream and rant about things that have absolutely no impact at all on their lives, and that their basis for such ranting is nothing more than terror that the society around them is evolving in a way they cannot comprehend within their simple brains.

All the people ranting in this thread (and I know there are, before even seeing the responses) are ranting about things that change nothing in their lives, they just desperately need SOMETHING to be angry about.