Children in the UK have been asked to describe their gender from a list of more than 20 different options in a new survey. Youngsters aged from 13 to 18 were asked to select from 25 choices, including “gender fluid”, “genderqueer” and “non-binary”.
As well as traditional options of “girl” and “boy”, children were also invited to select from a list that included “tri-gender” and “intersex”. The national survey was linked from the website of the Children’s Commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, and was forwarded to some schools by local councils.
However this new survey has received great criticism from the Christian Institute. The Institute’s spokesman Simon Calvert said: “We must not intrude on childhood by deliberately confusing schoolchildren about what makes a boy a boy or a girl a girl just to satisfy adult political agendas.
Among the schools to issue the survey was Blatchington Mill in Hove, East Sussex, which has gained a strong reputation for its work on LGBT-related issues. Its headteacher Ashley Harrold said, “Gender identity is a real and valid concern for some students at any school, and we’re no exception. We feel our curriculum should address anything that prevents students feeling happy, feeling confident in themselves and feeling accepted by their peers.”
The choices
- Girl
- Boy
- Tomboy
- Female
- Male
- Young woman
- Young man
- Trans-girl – Someone who has or is currently transitioning from male to female.
- Trans-boy – Someone who has or is currently transitioning from female to male.
- Gender fluid – Those who have different gender identities at different times.
- Agender – Those with no gender identity or a neutral identity.
- Androgynous – Partly male and female. Not one specific sex.
- Bi-gender – Those who experience two gender identities, either at the same time or swapping between the two. These can be male and female or other identities.
- Non-binary – A blanket term to describe those who do not feel exclusively male or female.
- Demi-boy – Someone whose identity is only partly male, regardless of their birth gender. They may or may not also identify as another gender.
- Demi-girl – Someone whose identity is only partly female, regardless of their birth gender. They may or may not also identify as another gender.
- Genderqueer – Those who don’t go along with traditional gender distinctions.
- Gender nonconforming – Those who do not follow conventional ideas about how they should look or act based on their birth gender.
- Tri-gender – Shifts between three genders, which could include male, female and genderless or another combination.
- All genders – Someone who identifies as every possible gender option.
- In the middle of boy and girl – An individual who identifies somewhere in between male and female.
- Intersex – Someone with physical, genetic and hormonal features of a male and female.
- Not sure
- Rather not say
- Others (please state)
Additional info sourced from BT.com
