Tomboys Are Girls
I don’t know if the word tomboy is used anymore.
I do know in my time there were tomboys, and they were girls. They were girls whose interests were more in physical sports, playing and competing with boys, and many times dressing like boys.
I never thought a tomboy was a boy. I don’t know what tomboys considered themselves, but I doubt they thought of themselves as boys. Tomboys did not share bathrooms or locker rooms or showers with boys.
From a societal perspective everyone, including parents, being a tomboy was merely a phase of gender presentation in teen adolescence.
In the ‘woke’ ideology of today, a tomboy is a boy and tomboys are told they are boys.
On the other hand, back to the ‘old’ days, sissies were boys who acted like girls sometimes. They were boys who did not demonstrate masculine traits and to some extent exhibited a lack of adventure and strength. Again, it was considered an adolescent phase. Again, ‘woke’ teachers now tell them they’re girls.
In the K-12 schools I attended the last thing we were interested in was transgenders. Teachers taught reading, writing, math, geography, and science. I had no classroom time hearing from teachers about or discussing whether I was a boy or a girl. I would have considered that subject stupid – as time wasted. I still do. It’s one of many things I like about Florida where teachers are restricted from teaching gender identification.
Yet there are many school districts around this country today where teachers are told to embrace the topic as the number of transgender and gender nonbinary children rises. Why would we expect anything different when a school lesson for second graders includes “Who can describe what transgender means?” And telling the malleable minds of children and adolescents they can decide what sex they are, or want to be, including being members of the opposite sex?
Further, there are now several states considering ways to accommodate those school ‘lessons’ by allowing hormonal adjustments and even sex change operations – without parental consent.
Again, from my perspective, it is not the role of our schools/states to teach a subject or topic called “sexual orientation.”
Yet there are six states that now require LGBTQ+ instructional materials and time to teach a history and a social science curriculum inclusive of LGBTQ+ people and identities. Nevada requires that curriculum be taught beginning in kindergarten. In total, 7.2 % of the population identified themselves as part of the LGBT+ community in the most recent census. The best estimate of transgenders in the population is 0.6%.
Those educational mandates around sexual orientation use the term “inclusion” to supposedly silence their critics, adding that those people are underrepresented.
If a major part of K-12 curricula is to teach about underrepresentation, what about the American Indian and Alaska Native population at 0.2%, Arab and Middle East Americans at 0.5% or Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander at 0.2%?
What about the percent of the population with autism or dyslexia or Tourette Syndrome? What about the 2.8% who are mixed race? Shouldn’t every work group – government employees, the military, major corporate work forces, astronauts, wait staff in restaurants, etc. – represent all the minorities we can identify? How else can we be fair and diverse and equitable and inclusive?
You see where this is going – nowhere – because it can’t be done – and frankly, we don’t want it done.
The United States has the most diverse population of any major country in the world. But it didn’t become a haven for and the beacon to the world by dividing its population into identity groups. It didn’t become the most successful and wealthy country in the world by labeling its population as oppressors and oppressed.
The United States became one of the most desirable and healthy places on earth by adopting an equal opportunity, free to excel, Constitution. People came here regardless of the color of their skin or ethnicity or sexual orientation. They still do – in droves when allowed – like now.
That Constitution, using capitalism with antitrust laws and democracy, gave people the right to govern themselves, innovate and thrive. The US has an unprecedented history and record and that’s what should be taught in our K-12 civics classes.
And so should the struggles of living up to that Constitution amid major historical disagreements in our society, political circles, Congressional enactments, and judicial decisions. But despite all the bumps in the road the US has inclusive voting and non-discrimination laws – and hopefully, respect for each other. It hasn’t been a walk in the park for the United States which includes the survival from a bloody civil war – which also is part of our history and evolution.
I heard a TV pundit recently state something profound, that the United States is successful as a melting pot, not a salad bowl.
Long live our tomboys who ultimately become wonderful, understanding mothers!
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Have a great and prosperous week.
Hug somebody.
References:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/06/03/schools-gender-identity-transgender-lessons/
https://www.politifact.com/article/2023/jul/13/how-many-trans-people-are-there-in-the-us-and-why/
SPIDER Bites
This week’s trivia question is: Which soft drink once contained cocaine as one of its original ingredients? (This is 2 weeks of easy ones.) The answer to last week’s question re: What do the stripes on the American flag represent? Answer: the original 13 colonies/states. You may not know the current design of the U.S. flag is its 27th. The design of the flag has been officially modified 26 times since 1777. While the 13 stripes were used in all flags originally, the flags varied primarily between carrying 13 stars or the union jack in the upper left-hand corner. The current 50-star flag, designed by Gen. Omar Bradley in 1959, became official in 1960 and is the longest lasting one – 63 years.
The artic vortex that gripped the country last week would be considered an anomaly by the ‘climate changers’ and be discounted when determining on the average global temperature for 2024. (See last week’s blog.)
In the same vein, EV owners where weather was in the deep freeze found they couldn’t charge their vehicles because the battery was too cold. Still want an EV? 99% of people still say “no” despite this administration’s attempt to artificially incentivize and force a large market for EVs in small market.
Donald Trump easily won the Iowa caucuses with a record percentage. To my disappointment was Ron DeSantis finishing 2nd meaning he continues his candidacy. I want him to remain as our governor.
The unmanned moonshot of Astrobotic Technology failed last week. It didn’t make it out of the earth’s atmosphere. Bummer.
The Chiefs-Dolphins NFL last Saturday night game was broadcast exclusively on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock. That broadcast limitation left many fans disappointed and unhappy as they didn’t have or pay for the service. All the networks have started ‘streaming services’ to ultimately bypass cable TV and the newer general streaming services and collect access fees directly from customers. As this transition takes place in the industry, broadcast companies will need to determine if they can collect those fees while simultaneously selling time to advertisers. The Chiefs-Dolphins game on Peacock had the lowest viewership of all 6 games last w/e at 26M. By contrast, the Packers-Cowboy game had 40M viewers. The world keeps changing around us. Both Peacock and CBS streamer, Paramount, currently have a $5.99/mo. fee for their services.
After 100 days of missile and drone attacks and 34 attacks on shipping and US warships, and after the 2nd US owned commercial ship was attacked by a one-way drone last week, the administration changed its previous stance and placed the Iran surrogate Yemen Houthis back on the global terrorist lest. That’ll show ‘em.
Two years ago most of the media carried the hoax that border patrol agents whipped immigrants. Last week, the media and the WH ran with another hoax reporting that Texas security blocked border patrol from saving a mother and 2 children who were drowning in the Rio Grande. Little wonder that only about 30% of adults trust the media for truth. Ethics and journalistic protocol before publishing be damned!
