So a wee while ago I saw a post about a guy from Norwich, UK who insisted that the ‘tampon tax’ proposed bill in the UK was ridiculous, because women should ‘hold their bladders’. He drew the analogy that if he didn’t insist on tax free diapers, because he could wait to go to the toilet.
Understandably, this drew a lot of ire on social media. There were many calls for him to go ‘back to school’ (ironically, he is currently studying in some kind of tertiary institution) and many more, let’s just say, more dire calls to his health.
Then I saw this post on TheTab. I did what I normally do, I checked who “The Tab” was, turns out it is some kind of feminist blogging platform… so far, not too bad, but the disclaimer is that I have no idea whether this is real or not. The point is though, it seems too nuanced to not be real. It’s not ridiculous enough to be a parody… it’s just kinda sad.
He doesn’t seem to genuinely understand the difference between a bladder/urethra and a womb/vagina. He thinks that it is one and the same. When the interviewer tries to explain, he complains that it has ‘become too graphic’.
If this is true, then this is one that strikes close to my heart. My son goes to a regular state school. He is currently in Year 4. Earlier this year, he was, as I assumed his entire class was, involved in what they call “health class”. During “health class”, they get taught some basic hygiene things, and then the boys and girls are separated to learn about their own bits. I mean, don’t get me started, firstly, on the gender binary and how this establishes that one must be one or the other… just assuming that the gender binary is set in stone for now, it is still dangerous.
When I protested about this… I was told all the usual things:
You’re making too much of a big deal. What’s the problem, I don’t want my 7 year old learning about *gasp* vaginas, that would be horrible. It’s fine, i’m sure they will teach em later.
One can only assume that the young gentleman at the center of this controversy had also been through a similar system. One that equates the learning of biology with some seriously archaic misguided sense of morality. A so-called sense of morality that shouldn’t exist in a secular scientific community.
In fact, given that this young man resides in the UK, and this petition ran (albeit unsuccessfully) at the beginning of this year, i’m guessing that the sex education curriculum leaves a bit to be desired… and given some of the young man’s comments, i’m guessing my guess is quite accurate.
Vivian Chandra 