(OPINION) ETH – A recent BBC program aimed at nine- to 12-year-olds included the claim that there are ‘over 100 gender identities’. According to the report from the Daily Mail, The film, titled ‘Identity – Understanding Sexual and Gender Identities’, is being offered on the corporation’s website as part of its relationships and sex education package.
This report comes on the heels of Government guidance that were published last year advising schools to exercise caution when educating children about gender issues. The program reportedly features children asking adults about sexuality and gender on behalf of their peers, suggests the different identities include ‘bi-gender’, ‘gender-queer’, and ‘pansexual’ as well as teaching children that becoming transgender is a way to be ‘happy’ while making no mention of the growing legal and medical concerns about the rising number of children saying they want to change gender.
One part of the film includes a pupil asking: ‘How many gender identities are there?’ It is answered by ‘Kate’, described as an RSE [Relationships and Sex Education] teacher, who tells two children: ‘There are so many gender identities. So we know we have got male and female, but there are over 100 if not more gender identities now.
‘Some people might feel that they are two different genders, people might think they are bi-gender. You have got some people who might call themselves ‘gender-queer’ – just like, I don’t want to be anything, in particular, I just want to be me.’ The program also reveals another speaker named Leo, who is a health worker who describes himself as a trans man, who tells the children:
‘I told people it wasn’t because I wanted to be transgender but because I wanted to be happy and to be happy I had to be true to who I was. Nobody really treats me differently but I feel that the pieces in my life fit better now.’ The film also shows an adult called ‘Rachel’ telling the children: ‘Some people might be born and feel they are the wrong gender. They might be born a girl and feel like they are a boy.’
