How Life of Brian became real
WE are living in the Life of Brian. Who could have predicted that Monty Python’s 1979 masterpiece would be prophetic in foreseeing society’s gender neutral folly? In one scene, characters played by Eric Idle and John Cleese discuss the injustice of men not being able to carry babies: Stan: I want to have babies. Reg: You want to have babies?!? Stan: It’s every man’s right to have babies if he wants them. Reg: But … you can’t HAVE babies! Stan: Don’t you oppress me! Reg: I’m not oppressing you, Stan. You haven’t got a womb! Where’s the foetus going to gestate? You gonna keep it in a box? (Stan starts crying) At that point the others in the group decide to “fight the oppressors” for Stan’s “right” to have babies even though he lacks a womb. What was once considered high farce is now being taught at schools and those who resist are condemned as bigots lacking compassion. We learned this week that a city council in Britain has issued guidelines to teachers requiring them to tell children as young as eight that boys can menstruate as well as urging schools to provide sanitary disposal bins in both boys and girls toilets.
The Brighton & Hove City Council report stated: “Trans boys and men and non-binary people may have periods” and that “menstruation must be inclusive of all genders”. It’s all part of a “gender-inclusive” push in the UK that is evident from biological men with functional penises who identify as women being sent to female prisons, to campaigns to rename “feminine hygiene” aisles in supermarkets. Even the once sensible BBC is using the word “menstruator” instead of women in order to be more inclusive.
This latest development in “progressive” indoctrination has not gone unnoticed by people sick of the spread of woke madness. A host of prominent people from sportsmen to women’s rights campaigners have commented on the loopy plan:
Feminist and co-founder of Justice for Women Julie Bindel said: “To tell impressionable children that boys can also menstruate sidelines girls who should be getting support when they start their periods.”
Basketballer Andrew Bogut tweeted: “Better talk to my sons & stock up on tampons.” Satirical tweeter Lisa @godblesstoto posted: “My son hasn’t had his period yet. Could he be pregnant?”
Stephanie Davies-Arai, founder of Transgender Trend, said: “Girls going through puberty are already having a difficult time. What they should be given is clear language to be able to talk about their bodies and their female biological functions without couching it in politically correct terms.”
Conservative MP David Davies wrote: “Latest example of barking mad trans-activism comes from Brighton (surprise surprise) where 8year-old pupils will be told ‘boys can have periods too’ under new sex education guidelines.”
This year Davies was threatened with police action because he held a meeting to discuss transgender concerns with the Fair Play for Women group which is concerned that girls’ and women’s rights are being undermined “in the rush to reform transgender laws”.
In many ways the UK has become an example of what to avoid if you want to create a healthy, cohesive society free of the excesses and ills of PC culture. In recent years we’ve learned of the shameful grooming gangs across the country that saw thousands of vulnerable girls abused and raped by men who operated with impunity because authorities were too concerned about cultural sensibilities to make arrests.
There is the growing knife crime that in February and March saw London’s murder rate overtake New York’s. Meanwhile, the thin blue line in the UK is devoting significant resources to policing hurtful online posts that include new-age offences such as “deadnaming” and “misgendering”.
You may guffaw at such outlandish nonsense but a council in the UK instructing educators to tell children boys can have periods is no laughing matter.
It’s naive — given all we know of the radical gender theories that underpin much of the misnamed Safe Schools program — to think we don’t have educators with similar ideas. Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist