University facilitates ‘feminist parenting group’
The goal of the program is to "empower" parents to raise children who "challenge gender stereotypes," "support equity and social justice," "live authentically with vulnerability and empathy," and more.
The University of Kansas is facilitating a “feminist parenting group” to teach "strategies for raising intersectional feminist children.”
This fall, the University of Kansas will be facilitating a “feminist parenting group,” where participants will learn “strategies for raising intersectional feminist children.”
KU’s Emily Taylor Center for Women & Gender Equality will be hosting at least three meetings this fall meant to “support student-, staff-, and faculty-parents as well as other interested individuals in exploring strategies for raising intersectional feminist children.”
The Center explains its purpose as practicing “intersectional trans-inclusive feminism” in order to “challenge the status quo and promote gender equity by raising awareness of critical issues related to gender and sexism, providing opportunities to translate awareness into action, and empowering individuals to advocate for themselves and others” by approaching subjects “through a social justice lens.”
The Center also prides itself on providing “education, involvement opportunities, and tools” that “challenge stereotypical notions of gender and barriers that inhibit students’ academic success, persistence to graduation, and ability to thrive in the workplace.”
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The Feminist Parenting Group program seeks to “empower parents and caregivers to raise children who challenge gender stereotypes and kyriarchy; support equity and social justice; show compassion for themselves and others; respect diversity and difference; and live authentically with vulnerability and empathy,” the center explains, promising that “At each session, participants will learn of at least one new skill or resource useful for nurturing intersectional feminist youth.”
“Kyriarchy” is a term used in intersectional feminist theory in place of the traditional feminist use of “patriarchy.” According to Everyday Feminism Magazine, whereas “patriarchy” is a term focused on men’s power over women, “kyriarchy” is concerned with “the social order that privileges and oppresses people based on race, gender, language, class, sexual orientation, (dis)ability, culture, and so on.”
The publication further explains that “intersectional feminism tells us that oppression comes in many different forms. Someone is not simply oppressed or privileged: we can be simultaneously privileged and oppressed by different aspects of our identities.”
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The Center also facilitates a Facebook group surrounding “feminist parenting” as an auxiliary resource for the group to “explore strategies for nurturing intersectional feminist children.”
The Facebook group, which has existed for about eight months, showcases various images and infographics rejecting the validity of “the gender binary” when it comes to children, such as a flowchart titled, “How to tell if a toy is for boys or girls: a guide.”
“Do you operate the toy with your genitalia?” the chart asks, and concludes that if the answer is “no,” then the toy is “for either boys or girls.” If the answer is “yes,” it adds helpfully, then the toy in question “is not for children.”
Another featured image is a comic strip depicting a couple at a gender reveal party. Instead of the standard “It’s a boy” or “It’s a girl,” the couple learns that their child will be “however they identify!”
Campus Reform reached out to the Emily Taylor Center for elaboration on the concept of intersectional feminist parenting, but has not received a response.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @celinedryan
