Several parents in Finnmark are reacting to the content of the textbooks. In the following two posts, Truls Olufsen-Mehus explains why this is not a conspiracy theory:
«"No, Mayor, this is not a conspiracy theory"»
This reader post was first published in iFinnmark.
If you live in Porsanger and do not believe that gender flows like water in an unfiltered pond, you are labeled as having bad attitudes and being “dangerous,” according to elected politicians, write Truls Olufsen-Mehus and Peter Risholm.
The factual basis for the case presentation on Minsak.no, which was recently voted down by the municipal council in Porsanger, is neither a hoax nor a conspiracy theory. From 3rd–4th grade, children learn that they should feel inside themselves what gender they may have.
Children learn - when it comes to gender - that what they feel is what they feeling. All school textbook publishers are thereby disregarding biology. Biological sex is subordinated to a new perception of reality based on the student's subjectively experienced "gender identity". The concept of "gender identity" is new in schools and originates from quite radical theories, such as those developed by sexologists in the 50s and 60s.
Gender is not a feeling
Biological sex and subjective experience of gender are not two separate things. First, gender is not a feeling, but a biological mechanism for reproduction. Whether you become female or male is genetically determined at fertilization. You can of course have feelings or experiences associated with the gender you are, but it is impossible to define oneself away from it.
It is therefore not a fact that if a man defines himself as a woman, then the man has become a woman. But this is what the municipal council in Porsanger bases its understanding of reality and children's education on.
Politicians who shame concerned residents
The mayor and the municipal council representatives call it "bad attitudes" that parents and grandparents do not want their children to be taught a completely new view of gender. A view that can lead to children starting irreversible medical treatment to alter their healthy bodies.
We are the editors of the website skeivteori.no to which the citizens' initiative refers. We believe that the mayor and municipal council representatives in Porsanger municipality owe their residents an apology. Because it is not a conspiracy theory that all textbooks after 2021 from 3rd-4th grade from the publishers Aschehoug, Cappelen Damm and Gyldendal disregard biology as the basis for gender.
What is actually in children's school textbooks?
It is not a conspiracy theory that the teacher's guides convey to teachers that children should be taught that they can be any gender they want. In the teacher's guide to the science textbook Solaris 3–4 from Aschehoug, the following is stated in the chapter on gender and gender identity:
«The purpose of this poster is for students to gain an understanding that our gender identity can be something other than the gender we were born with. The poster is an introduction to the work of ensuring that students know that they can be whatever they want and that there are many alternatives.»
When it comes to gender, students can choose to be whatever they want from many options. This has been debunked as a conspiracy theory, and according to The Great Norwegian Encyclopedia this is queer theory. How has it come about that gender in textbooks has become optional, that children should feel free to express themselves and make a decision about their own gender identity?
Yes, the curriculum reform allows for one of the competence goals in science after the 4th grade to be that the student should be able to: discuss gender identity. It is a fairly open competency goal that the publishers themselves have interpreted and produced "professionalism" for. The result is this new view of gender that is shocking parents across the country.
In the digital textbook at Aunivers, Solaris 3-4, the following formulation is found in the chapter on Human – He, she, they: In this learning process, the student should think about what it is like to feel like a boy or a girl, or neither, or both.
It is not just other children's experiences of gender identity that the student learns to talk about. The students are also encouraged to reflect on a new view of gender, and in addition, the individual is invited to think about, feel and explore their own gender identity.
Cappelen Dam science for 4th grade also has a chapter about gender identity:
«"Gender identity is about the correspondence between biological sex and what we feel like. Whether we feel like a girl, a boy, both, or neither. We use he for boys, she for girls, and hen for people who feel like both a girl and a boy or neither."» (p. 86).
After reading, according to the teacher's guide, students should discuss the following:
«"What makes you feel like a boy, a girl, or neither?"
This implies that gender is a feeling rather than a biological reality.
Speak the truth about gender – take parents seriously
Speaking the truth about gender is important, many believe. Parents have the right to react to what is perceived as a gradual introduction of a new radical understanding of gender in schools. And politicians should take parents who react seriously. They do not do so in Porsanger.
Porsanger politicians struggle between facts and emotions
This reader post was first published in iFinnmark.
Politicians in Porsanger have now read what is actually written in school books for 8-9 year olds, that children should learn that gender is an emotion and that they can choose between many options. The same politicians who shouted conspiracy theories in the municipal council, Vetle Langedal (H) and deputy mayor Mariell Haugli (AP), have now change the wording in their readers' posts to a disclaimer that is worth highlighting.
Although the teaching profession instructs children to learn that they can themselves feel like a boy, a girl, both, something in between or something completely different, the Porsanger politicians conclude that they feel do schoolbooks try to teach something completely different.
So, the Porsanger politicians believe that gender is an emotion, while at the same time using their own emotions to interpret the school books to not contain what is specifically written there. Parents who read straight from the science textbook, Langedahl believes that"read the schoolbook like the devil reads the Bible" This is a disrespectful claim. The content is there for everyone to see for themselves.
The science books state that «Students should know that they can be whatever they want and that there are many options." when it comes to gender. And politicians interpret and feel that this means «"What children learn is respect and understanding for other people." This is completely wrong. Is it so difficult for politicians to admit that the content is exactly what it is?
Interest groups are driving the changes
Furthermore, Langedal claims that it is a conspiracy theory that Foreningen Fri has influenced or infiltrated the textbooks with queer theory. But this is also a fact, taken directly from Foreningen Fri's own annual report. On page 24 of the report it says "Throughout 2020 we have provided professional feedback on teaching materials from Cappelen Damm, as well as on two teaching materials from Gyldendal". To top it all off, Guro Sibeko is the former deputy head of Fri, and now the author of Aschehougs science book for grades 3–4, which is arguably the most radical among the publishers.
Would you now consider apologizing to the parents and residents of Porsanger, Langedal? You can see with your own eyes that the factual basis for the citizens' initiative that you ridiculed is entirely real. Or do you feel that the annual report of the Fri Association means something completely different?
The Free Association was decisive in the Conservative Party introducing gender identity into the curriculum in 2019. Minister of Education Sanner (H) did not dare to resist the pressure after a reader's post by the Free Association together with Save the Children and the Norwegian Trade Union Confederation. They wrote in Dagbladetthat «We cannot have a curriculum in 2020 that does not ensure students receive good education about (…) gender identity and gender expression. The consequences are too dramatic.»
Acknowledge the facts and take parents seriously
Dear Porsanger politicians, given the content of the new textbooks, you should take parents seriously instead of trying to explain it away. These books are truly conveying a new radical teaching about gender, and then those you represent must be able to expect to be taken seriously when this is experienced as problematic.
The parents who signed the initiative are absolutely right that the textbooks do not contain factual teaching about gender.
Yes, a small number of people struggle with their experience of gender and identity, and they need to get the right help. The solution is not that all children should learn that they can be whatever gender they want.
As the image from 3rd-4th grade science textbook shows, the view is summarized as gender being optional: «"Ivar wants to be a princess, Randi wants to be a prince, Mamo is gone. Who do you want to be?»
One must be able to show consideration for others while still referring to material reality as it is. Everyone agrees that all children should be cared for in Norwegian schools, and it would have been preferable if politicians had been willing to discuss the issue instead of making unfounded accusations.
What we disagree on is how gender is classified. In textbooks, biology should classify gender—not emotions.
The new textbooks are no longer able to explain what a boy is or what a girl is. Nor do the politicians in Porsanger seem able to do so. Both are problematic.
