School pupils are being challenged to debate trans and gender issues – and whether unisex toilets are a good thing
by Susie Mesure, iNews:
Gender is one of the thorniest subjects of discussion in the UK, so why did the Royal Institution choose to help schools cover the topic?
School toilets have never had the best of reputations. What with bullying, smoking and lobbing balls of wet tissue on to the ceiling, pupils have traditionally headed there for mischief.
For teenagers with gender dysphoria, school toilets, with their stark boy/girl divide, pose an additional trauma. But what if schools were to install gender-neutral bathrooms instead?
That is the question being put to thousands of children at secondary schools across the UK as part of a Royal Institution-backed initiative to get children thinking differently about science.
Hundreds of schools are expected to download the RI’s debate kits, which give pupils different roles to play, from concerned father to transgender teenager, to reflect a wide range of perspectives on what is a sensitive topic.
A contentious subject
The debates about unisex toilets come at a contentious time for gender issues, following the first overhaul in nearly two decades of how English schools teach sex education.
Transgender people, same-sex relationships, sexual assault and menstruation are among the new topics that will be taught from September 2020. The proposed changes to the curriculum, which vary by age but will include primary school-aged children, have met with vocal opposition from some parents and religious schools.
Read also: Unisex Toilets Debate Kit
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