Re: “Oklahoma instructor removed from teaching for failing a Bible-based gender essay” (Dec. 23, Nation):
Center college is usually the place children first really feel actual stress to “act” like a boy or a woman, and analysis reveals these expectations can form all the pieces from recognition to bullying.
Research discover that college students — particularly boys — who strongly conform to conventional gender norms usually tend to bully friends who don’t match these norms. Bullying turns into a method to implement what the group sees as acceptable masculinity or femininity, and children who step outdoors these traces typically pay the social worth.
This isn’t about what number of genders exist; it’s about how youngsters deal with each other after they imagine there is just one “proper” method to be a boy or a woman.
Some group members could maintain a honest biblical perception that God created solely two genders. That theological view speaks to identification and religion, to not the social dynamics unfolding in school rooms and hallways. No matter one’s beliefs, the proof is obvious: inflexible gender expectations can gasoline bullying, and college students who don’t conform are at better threat of hurt.
We will honor private religion whereas nonetheless acknowledging the duty to create colleges the place each baby — conforming or not — is handled with dignity.
Michael J. Dooley, Olympia
