Anthropology Free-For-All His Pretty Nails Parenting Politics

Your Children Will Participate In My Psychodrama

March 7, 2022 by David 116 Comments

I as a student did NOT want to know about my teachers’ personal lives.

From the comments following this, in which Mr Jo Brassington, a teacher of small children, considers it “so important” to parade around the classroom, looking “cute,” in painted nails and make-up: 

His pretty nails.

Update, via the comments:

Mr Brassington is, he says – or they says, because pronouns, obviously – that he’s “working to make educational spaces more emotionally honest.” And so, we’re expected to believe that “queer” teachers everywhere are somehow being suppressed and robbed of their energy unless they can start cross-dressing at work and telling small children about how screamingly fabulous they are. Such are the struggles of the modern primary-school educator.

Readers will note that the exhibitionist tendency and self-preoccupation are presented as an identity, something to be affirmed and applauded. But it’s not clear to me how one might differentiate an identity of this kind from a kink, or a mental health issue. And when you’re talking about adults having influence and authority over small children, it’s not an entirely trivial matter.

When not cross-dressing in class, or telling us that “almost all ideas of professionalism are either sexist, homophobic, transphobic, fat-phobic, racist, etc.,” our totally self-effacing educator apparently expects to be “celebrated, not tolerated.” Which strikes me as an odd choice of words – and perhaps somewhat revealing. I mean, imagine going in to work every day and expecting to be celebrated – and not celebrated for anything remarkable that you’ve actually achieved – but simply for your professed identity tags. “Oh, isn’t he being gay so terribly well…?” Or, “See how cleverly brown he is!”

It's like expecting congratulations for having big feet.

Via Julia.

Also, open thread.




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