When the UK’s biggest school debate competition told us to declare our gender pronouns, I knew my team had lost the contest before it had even begun. Hundreds of children are told to do this every year.
Things were already uncomfortable. When I took part in regional rounds for this competition in 2018, run by the prestigious Oxford Union, there was only one other pair of state school students in the room. We weren’t as polished, and didn’t sound as impressive. It’s not easy at that age when you’ve had no proper training and you’ve come from somewhere that doesn’t really teach you public speaking.
After being asked to declare his pronouns, in a brief display of defiance, one of the boys at the competition answered ‘you can call me “he, she, it” – whatever you want’. He was met with frowns and disapproval. We ended up complying with the surprising pronoun request. In 2018, these ideas were not being questioned as much in the mainstream.
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