Menstruation data?! Good god, you Americans come up with the weirdest shit. It honestly baffles me how the US still functions sometimes. I'm presuming that's some sort of over-reaction to Trans-inclusion rather than an unhealthy interest with iron levels? Either way.... the discourse tends to float between the ultra-conservative 'let us see your tampons, ah ha! we caught you!' and the progressive 'we will brook no further questions after self-identification because discrimination causes death' when the reality is far more nuanced. Trans-women can compete in some sports with zero advantage due to their birth sex but have advantages in others - the science is still being done and the answers are far from obvious. So, in the meantime we wait and see. Fair-play in sports is a big thing for people who play sports (and whose children play sports) and inclusion is a big thing for progressives - it's going to take a while to square that circle. The trick is to De Santis to fuck off with his moon-chart but also not be defenestrated for being a transphobic-death monster by not immediately capitulating to whichever Trans-activist is holding the flag.

If you follow the link to the James Finn vs the Penguin story, you'll see we're in alignment on the teaching of sex education and the religious question. That's not what Mr Finn was arguing for though. For him the entire thing was about removing the choice of others and calling everyone a bigot for not immediately enacting his world view. That's not pluralistic liberalism.

A public education and public history should be exactly that. If something existed or something happened, then it should be taught. Knowing more stuff never hurt anyone. That said, I don't think Williams-Krenshaw intended for CRT to be used as a political hand grenade the way it currently is, I think she was highlighting how the institution of education itself was unbalanced. The pedagogic model was racist. That's what needs addressing.... but it needed to be done carefully and tactfully over a period of years. Instead the right seized any rogue teacher who started teaching white guilt or who can't separate historical fact from modern political posturing and used it as a weapon.

To get back to my general position on teaching... if you're pushing for 'Black History Month' then you've missed the point. That's an over-focus on identity. What we need is for Black History Month and the Eleven White History months to become, History Year. That's a pedagogic model worth supporting - but that does mean education experts rather than politically motivated idiots must involve themselves in the conversation. Ideally starting with the fact that not everyone in history is either a hero or a villain - most people are both and that's what makes history so fascinating.

Thanks for dropping by and sorry for the length of the reply. :o)