Beautiful differences

THE story “School adopts ‘neutral’ uniform” ( Mercury, June 7) led me to think of the reason why there is a fascination among Australians with being seen to be gender neutral. It is only a subtle change the school is adopting; however I believe it has larger implications. We are now teaching our young people (and not so young) that it’s not cool to be proud to be male or proud to female, but rather to drift into an obscure ‘neutral’ state, just in case someone may be offended. What happened to celebrating the wonderful and beautiful differences between the male and female gender, on an intellectual, emotional and physical level. Are we not willing to acknowledge there are some major and fundamental differences between the male and female sexes. Generally both have their good and not-so-good points. Isn’t that one of the joys and challenges in life – to learn and discover who is good at which particular task, not through stereotyping, but through a fair go, demonstrable ability and working together.

There will necessarily always be male and female in this world, as well as it seems a psychological spectrum in between. Why are we then trying to place everyone in the same box of mediocrity? Is it not possible to allow the majority to rejoice in their sexuality, instead of them being silenced and stifled by the vocal minority? only providing beds for those who need treatment, we can see an end to ambulance ramping. The acceptance of ramping as the norm shows how far we have slipped. The Government needs to make funding available to get all the people sleeping rough into shelters like underused halls, with support and security personnel. Then we need it to address how we could work towards more people happily sharing their lives with others under the same roof. The trend of so many dwellings occupied by one or two people has a huge effect on accommodation availability. We need to make it against the law to sleep rough because there should always be a place at a hall or shelter. The current situation has the potential to get a lot worse. us who understand the dangers don’t have to breathe noxious fumes. How many smokers have been prosecuted for smoking in their cars while children are passengers? How many have been prosecuted for smoking in no-smoking zones? The former is a form of child abuse given cigarette smoke contains 4000 chemicals including arsenic hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide and formaldehyde. As a former health worker, I’ve seen the result and suffering this addiction can cause. All power to you who are actively trying to kick the habit.