Conor Friedersdorf

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@MelanieMoore "He thinks 7 year olds would be better able to comprehend a rejection of the gender binary as society constructs it." "Fuck him up!" — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@MelanieMoore Fuck me up for wondering if 4 is too young to comprehend the concept of non-binary and maybe thinking that concept would be better introduced sometime after pre-k? Seems like a rather harsh response to an anodyne opinion! — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ThisIsEricsTrip @PNWSelina @brooklynmarie Eric, I do not feel and have not once expressed outrage in any of my tweets on this subject, nor have I suggested that kids shouldn't be taught about these subjects. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

Fewer plugs for laptops, throttling wifi to very low speeds, and piping in Top 40 music would disrupt my personal joy. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

A good thread with a lesson for rail enthusiasts: as someone who likes to take trains, I urge you to refocus part of your energy on *how to bring down costs* because absent that your vision is not viable. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@Sassycpr @rwlesq @TArchiving some strong arguments for and some strong arguments against that proposition and am actively seeking out more. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@Sassycpr @rwlesq @TArchiving my education philosophy for older kids prizes viewpoint diversity, so as long as there are people who identify as non-binary, I think kids should learn about it. A question I'm still thinking about is whether or not *non-binary* implicitly reinforces gender stereotypes. I see — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@Sassycpr @rwlesq @TArchiving Throughout this thread I have not claimed it will harm them, I have only expressed doubt that pre-kindergarteners are old enough to understand that concept. I do not think that particular lesson will harm them. As a more general matter, — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

TIL that sometimes the protest and the counter-protest are the same protest. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@r0shnir Thanks, Roshni. Just FYI, "non-binary" was the only part of that I thought 4 year olds wouldn't understand, not families with (e.g.) same sex parents. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

Tip: If you're not yet reading the cultural writer @sophieGG you should be! https://t.co/qeDIexarea — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@Sassycpr @rwlesq @TArchiving I am emphatically supportive of letting kids be themselves and be happy. I am less sure about whether the path to happiness is giving them labels and acculturating them to self-definition, on one hand, or on the other, telling them there's no need to define at all — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@Sassycpr @rwlesq @TArchiving Another way of putting this is that absent labels, young kids can decide how they feel about themselves relative to others without also trying to understand the taxonomies older people developed — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@Sassycpr @rwlesq @TArchiving when older people use nonbinary, it is often a statement of a complex identity arrived at in part by relative understanding of their place in social groups. But very young kids presumably won't have the same understanding of those social groups and their relation to one another. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@Sassycpr @rwlesq @TArchiving When you write that "labels are better than behaviors as identity is very complex based in part on our understanding of our place in our social groups," you're getting at part of why my instinct was that some labels won't make sense to 4 year olds--that is to say — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@DadandBuried In this Tweet I did not express concern that kids are being indoctrinated or argue that it is impossible to indoctrinate kids, so I am confused by your question! — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@eric_knowles @roderickgraham My answer is that I want to know about both the substance and the politics of this matter. So I am, indeed, doing reporting other than this. But I also want to know what people want taught and what the factional fissures are. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@Sassycpr @rwlesq @TArchiving I wonder––I don't know and am still thinking about this––whether eschewing labels in favor of showing or describing behaviors is an even less limiting method of early childhood education than a new set of labels, albeit more expansive ones. Do you have thoughts? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@Sassycpr @rwlesq @TArchiving I'm not sure if you saw or were in the relevant thread, but earlier I pointed people to the book Julian Is a Mermaid https://t.co/67WQ4Nhbg8 To me, it is an example of exploring difference and complexity beyond the gender binary in a way that eschews labels. And — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

Reading my email inbox, as compared to social media, reassures me that America is a country with many thoughtful citizens diligently working through matters of public controversy arriving at nuanced and thoughtful perspectives in tension w/ each other https://t.co/CHl8Kfk5e7 — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@GaryWinstanley I may be wrong about any particular thing a typical pre-k kid can and can't understand but I find it really weird that so many people are arguing as if there are no such concepts at all — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@GaryWinstanley The counterpoint is that lots of things are normal and too complex for kids to understand before a certain age. If I told a 2-year-old, "I am cisgender" or "grandma has Type 1 diabetes" or "Larry is a gambling addict" or "Maria experiences synesthesia" he wouldn't understand — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@brookeOB1 Yeah, I'm baffled by both that and the *it's terrible if a teacher ever utters a word about their non-school life* people — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@PennyRed Eager to read all that you write about it! — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@GaryWinstanley Gary, if you're saying the reality of gay people should be discussed openly around kids, I agree. But look again at the particular question I asked. Are you saying that it's "essential" to teach two year olds the concept of nonbinary? That doing it at 6 would be bad? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@Sassycpr @rwlesq @TArchiving Dr. Sassy, do you see non-binary as a rejection of a a socially-constructed falsehood of binary gender, or do you see it as one of three genders that humans feel apart from any particular society or socialization, or something else? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

A defense attorney's concerns about the ACLU. (I share them.) https://t.co/I9Pyl3bvt2 https://t.co/lmHg9xrKoo — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@emily_rj @hanorahann @tarahaelle @oneunderscore__ First, I got the screenshot from the school district website. Second, this person posted a screenshot of the kindergarten material, not the pre-k material Third, I provided all the context that was needed for the question I was asking, and happily linked the original when asked — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@LouisatheLast So I have no objection to nonbinary people being around kids from birth, and no objections to kids understanding what it means to them to be nonbinary as young as they are able to. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@LouisatheLast This is a very weird line of questioning. Being too young to learn a concept doesn't imply one shouldn't be around a person. Two year olds do t understand the term "cisgender" or "sapiosexual." That doesn't mean I think cisgender/sapiosexual people shouldn't be around them. — PolitiTweet.org