Katie Wood, a transgender algebra teacher, has long gone by ‘Ms Wood’ but the law required students to say ‘Teacher Wood’
Florida cannot prohibit a 10th-grade math teacher from asking her students to call her by her preferred pronouns, a federal judge has ruled.
The decision from Mark Walker, the US district judge, is a blow to an anti-LGBTQ law championed by Ron DeSantis, the state’s governor, which prohibits discussion of sexuality in public schools. A 2023 expansion of the measure, widely known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, prohibits teachers and students from using pronouns that align with their gender identity.
The Tuesday decision, a preliminary injunction, blocks Florida from enforcing the law against Katie Wood, a transgender 10th-grade algebra teacher in Hillsborough county. Wood has long gone by “Ms Wood” in school, but the law has made her require her students to call her “Teacher Wood” – a title no one else at the school uses.
Agreed. I don’t really understand the point of them. Similarly, I’ve never understood the point of gendered professions (actor/actress, waiter/waitress, etc). It seems like it only exists to divide.
Using gendered professions mostly fell out of style years ago. Waiter/waitress became server. Steward/stewardess became flight attendant. Actor/actress is still used but I hear “actor” used for all genders more frequently these days.
My favorite is the replacement of Chairman/chairwoman with either Chairperson or just “Chair” , like the sit-table object 🪑.
I prefer network administratrix, actually.
/s
Totally. I can understand preferring a specific gender for a doctor, but we don’t have gendered terms for that for some reason.
Why would that matter?
Some people feel more comfortable talking to or being touched by a person of a specific gender. Sometimes that’s for a bigoted reason but sometimes it’s not. For example, I’ve always had an easier time opening up about emotional stuff with women so I would prefer speaking to a female counselor or therapist. This isn’t because I dislike or distrust men, I just had more conversations like that with my female friends growing up so it feels more natural.
There’s doctrix and doctress, but wiktionary lists one as archaic and the other as obsolete.
Woah never heard of that haha. Sounds kinky.