The headteacher has banned a list of ‘sexist’ phrases in school
A headteacher appeared on Good Morning Britain this morning to tell the show’s co-hosts that she has banned “sexist” language at the school.
Amongst the phrases that are banned at the primary school in Birmingham include: “grow a pair”, “man up” and “boys don’t cry”.
The headteacher of Anderton park primary, Sarah Hewitt-Clarkson, even went as far as to say that she has asked teachers not to say “good morning boys and girls”.
Hewitt-Clarkson, told GMB this morning: “We’ve seen in the last year the biggest ever rise in child abuse and grooming.”
“If our boys and girls grow up and in school we don’t challenge these kinds of sexist language and boys are told ‘man up’, ‘grow a pair’, ‘don’t cry’, ‘boys don’t cry’, it is very, very damaging for them.”
“Abusers later on, bullies, or people they walk past on the way home from school, will also use this fear, and fear is the biggest weapon that abusers have,” she added.
She expressed concern about where male pupils will be able to turn to if they are continually told ‘boys aren’t afraid’ and ‘boys don’t talk about their feelings’.
'It's absolutely ridiculous.'
Broadcaster Nana Akua says we shouldn't focus on the specific words but on the context. She says this policy creates 'a generation of wallflower kids who are listening for an offence.'#GMB pic.twitter.com/S2j68xle0G
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) April 29, 2021
Broadcaster Nana Akua, who appeared remotely on GMB, completely disagreed with Hewitt-Clarkson’s approach to banning ‘sexist’ language in schools.
She said said: “To be honest, I’d be very worried if this woman was teaching my kids.”
She added: “It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
The show’s co-host Ben Shephard, who has two children of his own, said that he thought some of the phrases she mentioned, including ‘man up’, had been phased out over time.
