If you were not shocked enough yesterday to see prejudice as the topic of a neurodivergence, self-directed learning, and home ed blog, then welcome to part two of that topic – misogyny. Yes, the topic is highly relevant to home education.
First of all, it is important that this as well as all those other -isms and -phobias be addressed in education. Period.
Over the past weeks, I have often quoted:
Article 29 (goals of education)
UN-CRC
Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full.
But we should not forget the rest of Article 29:
It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures, and the environment.
UN-CRC, Article 29
On December 10, 1948 in Paris, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Among those:
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 3 UDHR
Yet, security of person is a basic human right that women around the world continue to struggle for. While we in the West are happy to point fingers at other countries and cultures, we are not above reproach.
This week has highlighted that.
A London Met police officer was arrested for murdering a woman.
This is not in Mumbai or Riyadh or Lagos. This was London. But it could have been New York, Washington, or Los Angeles.
It could have been me or @PanKwake. My older daughter, Mere-Mere, is that same age. And lived in London for years. She was even followed home by a man once. Right to her door.
And while, thankfully, she will never remember it, @PanKwake has already experienced her first assault. On the London Tube, a man just a couple of seats away from this young child had his penis out and was rubbing it. I turned her away as much as I could and kept her distracted until he left the train.
Before you comment on getting off the train, you should consider how challenging that can be for an autistic child. If we had, it might have be even more traumatic for @PanKwake, who thanks to me and Mere-Mere who got up from her seat and came to stand in front of her sister, blocking her view of the man and his of her, was totally unaware anything was happening.
Yes, I reported it. Transport for London police even had video. I went in for a traumatic interview. I signed that I would testify. Nothing happened. No arrest. No trial. Why?
And it is not just London. We live in Swansea, a relatively small city. Less than a month ago a man was arrested for exposing himself and fondling at least nine women, including two teenage girls in parks less than a mile from our home. When he appeared in court, do you know what he said… That he was not a risk of reoffending. He just wanted to make a political statement. That he targeted these women and girls because of the way they dressed.
The police officer who killed Sarah Everard had been reported for indecent exposure too.
Yes, misogyny is a home education issue. One that @PanKwake often discusses with me. Her YouTube videos often address the issue.
And yes, I raised four sons, who damned well know how to treat women too.
You remember that bully who tormented @PanKwake during her one year of school? He and his friends were male. It was already beginning – IN RECEPTION. Yet, his behavior was dismissed as ‘just the way things are’ by the school administrators.
It’s time. Past time. Our schools should be safe for all children. But they are not.
And yes, these injustices are a major focus of @PanKwake’s self-directed learning. She must get such things from her mother. Or perhaps she will never truly forget what it feels like to not feel safe on the playground…the Tube…walking on the streets after dark.
It should never matter what a woman wears. Or the fact that she walked alone. Or that she choose to have a glass of wine, or a whole damned bottle for that matter. Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights did not say you needed to wear certain clothes, abstain from alcohol, and could only walk on the streets after dark if your were a penis-possessor. It said…EVERYONE.
Schools may brush misogyny aside as ‘just the way things are’, but self-directed learning says…
They should NOT be.
Tonight was to have been protests around the country organized by Reclaim These Streets has been cancelled under pressure from police. Instead @PanKwake and I shall line the wall in front of our @HomeCrazzyHome with candles and light them in honor of Sarah and all the women around the world who just want the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Self-Directed Learning & Neurodiversity 