Current Wisdom: A Special Education Edition
No Bones About It
In a sterling example of how liberalism can make you stupid, a thoroughly woke University of Pittsburgh anthropologist told a packed room of students that you can’t tell the difference between male and female bone structure — to howls of laughter from the youngsters and a public correction from swimmer Riley Gaines.
A video went viral of a confrontation during the Leadership Institute event when Gaines asked senior lecturer at the school’s anthropology department Gabby Yearwood, “If you were to dig up two humans one hundred years from now, both man and woman, could you tell the difference, strictly off of bones?”
“No!” the professor replied as the room erupted in laughter.
The professor then responded to the laughter with shock, wondering how he could be doubted when he was “the expert in the room.”
“Have any of you been to anthropological sites? Have any of you studied biological anthropology? I’m just saying, I’ve got over 150 years of data, I’m just curious as to why I’m being laughed at,” he said before later declaring, “I have a PhD!”
—Fox News, March 31, 2023
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Gender Fluidity — And Bodily, Too!
The cinematic arts reached sloppy new heights courtesy of Oberlin College and Conservatory’s intrepid cultural revolutionaries — and at a tuition cost of just $61,965 per year!
On Tuesday, Hallock Auditorium was the site of the screening of the experimental film compilation Bodies are Fluid. Viewers interested in media art related to gender identity filled the auditorium to watch short art films exploring the topic. This included a film created solely with the artist’s mouth, a 1970s-era feminist film on menstruation, and a 16-minute-long recording of an intimate performance in which one artist shaves another’s lower body.
—Oberlin Review, April 21, 2023
Nonbinary Gender–Dysphoric Academic Satanists Head to Boston
Old Screwtape could have had a blast with this one. Then again, this might have been a bit too depraved even for his tastes — and certainly too confusing to try to explain to Wormwood. No, this isn’t fiction, nor parody from the Babylon Bee. And who says the Devil doesn’t have a sense of humor?
This weekend’s SatanCon in Boston will play host to several academics who are openly affiliated with Satanism.
Eric Sprankle, a “sexuality studies” professor at Minnesota State University-Mankato, will speak on “Sins of the Flesh: Satanism and Self-Pleasure,” according to the conference program.
Sprankle’s research interests include “the relationships between Satanism, stigma, and mental health,” “therapist biases against folks with stigmatized identities” and “the impact of stigma on marginalized sexual communities.”
He presented a paper on Satanism and mental health at a psychology conference in 2020, according to his faculty bio.
Joining him will be a man named David Dillard-Wright, who now goes by “Devi” and uses female pronouns.
The University of South Carolina-Aiken philosophy professor will speak on “Reclaiming the Trans Body: A/theistic Strategies for Self-Determination and Empowerment.”
Dillard-Wright “converted to Hinduism” and writes about mindfulness and meditation, according to his bio published by the Diversity Reboot 2022 conference.
Dillard-Wright is not the only gender-dysphoric academic at the conference.
Ash Patrick Schade will speak on the topic of Satanism in rural communities. Schade became famous because she called herself a man and then had a baby after hooking up with someone on Grindr.
—College Fix, April 28, 2023
‘Queering the Creative Writing Classroom’
In a groundbreaking missive published in the cutting-edge magazine Teachers & Writers, a certain “H. Dietrich,” alternately referred to as “Mx. Dietrich,” “their,” “nonbinary,” and (mercifully) just plain “professor,” waxed instructive on the importance of not “misgendering” amid the pioneering academic process of “Queering the Creative Writing Classroom.”
“Hi,” I tell my English Composition students, wanting to talk fast to get this part over with but not so fast that they can’t understand me. It’s nerve-wracking enough to come out to friends and family, let alone a group of current strangers in an academic setting. “I’m Mx. Dietrich, I use they/them pronouns, please be respectful of that.” Breathe. You did it. If I continue teaching, which I plan on, I’ll be doing this for years to come.
I was lucky: none of my students had a problem when I introduced myself with they/them pronouns. Most refer to me as “Professor” anyway. Every so often I get misgendered, but I try not to take it personally. I know how I look, I know my voice comes across as feminine. Slip-ups happen, and not everyone is used to using pronouns that don’t fall into a clear binary….
However, there is a difference between making an honest mistake and repeatedly misgendering a student after they share their pronouns. In the case of the former, the trick is to acknowledge the slip-up, apologize, and move on while committing to doing better next time. Excessive apologizing or apologizing with an excuse attached (“It’s just so hard to remember”) could lead to the misgendered student abandoning their goal of being referred to correctly in order to end an uncomfortable conversation. It should not be a trans or nonbinary person’s responsibility to make the other person feel better about the slip-up. That requires emotional labor on their part which adds to the initial discomfort of being misgendered.
—Teachers & Writers Magazine, February 6, 2023
Vermont Educators Produce Clever New Names for Boys and Girls
From Bernie Sanders’s People’s Republic of Vermont comes a bold new initiative. If only we at The American Spectator had this useful language when reporting on Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky in the 1990s!
An elementary school in Vermont will be replacing the terms “boy,” “male,” “girl” and “female” with “person who produces sperm” and “person who produces eggs” respectively.
In an April 20 letter sent to parents and “caregivers,” Essex Westford School District’s Founders Memorial School notes that the “science/health unit […] focused on puberty and the human reproductive systems” is coming up.
But “in an effort to align [the] curriculum” with the district’s equity policy, “teachers will be using gender-inclusive language throughout th[e] unit,” the letter states.
As such, the aforementioned terminology will not be used, nor the terms “assigned male/female at birth.”
—College Fix, April 26, 2023
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