Preschool fights gender bias

**joz** · 06-27-2011, 08:23 PM

"Society expects girls to be girlie, nice and pretty and boys to be manly, rough and outgoing," says Jenny Johnsson, a 31-year-old teacher. "Egalia gives them a fantastic opportunity to be whoever they want to be."

No 'him' or 'her'; preschool fights gender bias - Yahoo! News

**Dudebro** · 06-27-2011, 08:51 PM

Sounds pretty stupid to me.

Quote:

At the "Egalia" preschool, staff avoid using words like "him" or "her" and address the 33 kids as "friends" rather than girls and boys.

**Slime Slayer** · 06-27-2011, 09:03 PM

Sounds like kool aid level of weirdness.

**Dudebro** · 06-27-2011, 09:30 PM

Well it is Sweden, they sound pretty weird in general.

**psimaster** · 06-27-2011, 09:35 PM

WHAT IS THIS WORLD COMING TO?! I AM SICK OF LISTENING TO ALL THIS SOCIETY AND GOVERNMENTAL CRAP!!!!!! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE 80's AND 90's?!

**Dudebro** · 06-27-2011, 10:19 PM

Quote:

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE 80's AND 90's?!

They're gone and time marches on.

You seem a little too emotional about this(or you just like caps lock). This is in Sweden and even there not everyone agrees, some people think it's crazy. It's in the news because it's so unusual, it's not like people are accepting it or encouraging it.

**Kong** · 06-28-2011, 12:17 AM

Calling a 4 year old a friend instead of a girl and expecting it to have a significant impact on her life is absurd.

Gender roles are not caused by pronouns.

**joz** · 06-28-2011, 08:56 AM

I believe everyone is already hard wired to be a certain way. Some are born leaders, others prefer to follow. Some are born a bit more aggressive and others more passive. Society does play a big impact due to the constant reminder that pots and pans are for girls and power tools are for boys. Get them while they're young, and the possibilities are endless.

**dman** · 06-28-2011, 10:14 AM

Is this why all Swedish young men now preen themselves like women? I mean seriously, have you seen it in Sweden lately? They seem a little confused.

Just google "Sweden then and Sweden now" and you will see exactly what I mean!

**Dudebro** · 06-28-2011, 06:31 PM

That would make sense if they're actively trying to break down gender roles. If there's no stigma about how a man should look then anything goes really.

**RU Joe** · 06-28-2011, 08:52 PM

Psimaster, watch the documentary 'Happiness Machines: A Century of Self' to understand what's happening to us.
I call it 'Bernaysian social programming', and a comical look at the real - life situation was seen in the live - action movie 'Josie and the Pussycats', where the PC's come up against a global brainwashing syndicate operating through the entertainment industry.

Sadly this is very much true in real life; entertainment as we know it has always been intended as a mass - conditioning tool first and to entertain or inform second.

To give you one quick example of Bernaysian social conditioning, I remember my grandmother telling me how, back in the 1920's, the color blue was for girls, and pink was for boys.
Then 'they' changed it for some reason.
My thinking is that it was an early social experiment to see if simple ideas like the swapping traditional baby colors would work .. watch the documentary to understand what I'm getting at.
Basically, we act, speak, and dress the way we do because that's how they've {Corporate media and entertainment} conditioned us to be, for the most part.

Concerning gender roles: I beleive that we Humans have evolved socially and technologically to a point where traditional family roles, and some values, have become obsolete.
Since it seems that many of those traditional roles stemmed from practical necessity as demanded by the natural world, and that we have since conquered those difficulties through technology, the need for this structure is no longer there.
I hope that makes sense.

**dman** · 06-30-2011, 06:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeGrotowski

Psimaster, watch the documentary 'Happiness Machines: A Century of Self' to understand what's happening to us.
I call it 'Bernaysian social programming', and a comical look at the real - life situation was seen in the live - action movie 'Josie and the Pussycats', where the PC's come up against a global brainwashing syndicate operating through the entertainment industry.

Sadly this is very much true in real life; entertainment as we know it has always been intended as a mass - conditioning tool first and to entertain or inform second.

To give you one quick example of Bernaysian social conditioning, I remember my grandmother telling me how, back in the 1920's, the color blue was for girls, and pink was for boys.
Then 'they' changed it for some reason.
My thinking is that it was an early social experiment to see if simple ideas like the swapping traditional baby colors would work .. watch the documentary to understand what I'm getting at.
Basically, we act, speak, and dress the way we do because that's how they've {Corporate media and entertainment} conditioned us to be, for the most part.

Concerning gender roles: I beleive that we Humans have evolved socially and technologically to a point where traditional family roles, and some values, have become obsolete.
Since it seems that many of those traditional roles stemmed from practical necessity as demanded by the natural world, and that we have since conquered those difficulties through technology, the need for this structure is no longer there.
I hope that makes sense.

Perfect sense, and I couldn't agree more with the mass conditioning.

But I still believe that men should be men and women should be women, to an extent. I don't want to marry a woman that acts, or looks like a man!

**joz** · 06-30-2011, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dman

But I still believe that men should be men and women should be women

Could you elaborate on that comment?

**dman** · 06-30-2011, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jozman3000

Could you elaborate on that comment?

I don't want to marry, or date, a woman who is macho and butch. Thats a big turn off for me as I'm sure some very feminine men are a big turn off for some women. So for me, to an extent, men should be men and women should be women.

Each to their own, of course.

And just to clear any grey areas up, my "men should be men and women should be women" comments have nothing to do with ironing or watching sports.

**joz** · 06-30-2011, 01:30 PM

You just basically repeated what you had already said. You just changed the wording. Thanks anyways.

**Dudebro** · 06-30-2011, 05:24 PM

I think he means he wants men to be the traditionally male stereotype and women to be theirs. It's not really a bad thing as long as it's just his personal taste and he doesn't push it onto others. I prefer feminine women myself so I can understand that.

**Kong** · 06-30-2011, 07:53 PM

I think the way they are going about this is incredibly stupid.

I think their goal is not to make women butch and guys feminine. I think they just want to give them a chance at equal opportunities and eliminate/reduce the impact of society and culture on their personalities. I think what they have in mind is more along the lines of ironing and watching sports.

I don't think there is anything wrong with the end goal just in how they plan to get there.

**Demon-Mask** · 07-01-2011, 03:16 PM

You know how the kids are referred to as "friends", why not go 1984 style and call everyone "comrades"?