Safe Schools needs to change. If not, it must go Kate Jones!

Australia has spoken, time and time again — Safe Schools needs to change, or go. It cannot continue to be implemented in its current form.

Many critics of the program fully support the notion of anti-bullying for vulnerable students. But in its current version, the program has proven itself incapable of meeting the expectations of too many parents and health professionals alike. These concerns can no longer be written off as old-fashioned, daft or simply bigoted.

The initial concerns over the Safe Schools program made reference to the sexualised and potentially age-inappropriate content. But the debate has snowballed much further. Today, there are endless petitions on both sides, street protests, MP’s offices have been vandalised for their criticisms and abuse is shared. Anti-bullying to boot.

Supporters of Safe Schools claim to be most concerned for vulnerable students. Presumably then, these supporters would have the strongest interest in evaluating the evidence-base of such content. Yet, this seems hardly the case.

While the program had shocked many with activities like role-playing the opposite sex and discussing sexual practices, there is far more beneath the surface of this content. These are the issues that the government’s fast-tracked “review” couldn’t address, but a more recent paper by Professor Parkinson takes up the challenge.

In essence, the program is founded upon a queer theory approach to gender. This theory, developed in the late 90s by radical philosopher Judith Butler, posits that gender is “performative”. This leads to gender being redefined as a continuum — a fluid ever-changing construct of one’s making. Such claims may be interesting philosophical fodder for academics, yet this theory was not designed to be taught in school.

Whether the queer approach is relevant — or even psychologically safe for children, is yet to be seen with empirical evidence.

Despite the lack of evidence, queer theory holds a kind of icon status in many tertiary institutions. “Queering identity” is the flavour of the month, or decade. Despite its pop culture status, the theory remains just that, a theory with no empirical basis and limited theoretical coherency.

For instance, “cisgender” people, according to queer theory, are people with alignment between their sex and gender. These so-called “cis” people are criticised as oppressive to gender-diverse people. Safe Schools takes aim at “cis” students with sarcastic posters. And yet, if gender is continually fluid and developing, then how could any person, let alone a child, be assumed to fit a definition of cisgender?

Safe Schools proponents claim that this queer theory content challenges harmful stereotypes and supports children to be themselves.

Yet far from challenging stereotypes, the program actually teaches children that dresscodes, behaviours and other forms of stereotype will define their gender. Those who “feel masculine or feminine” are told that they may be genderqueer, gender-fluid, agender, or any other of the proposed forms of gender described in the program.

Far from breaking stereotypes or deeming them irrelevant, this program is actually encoding gender stereotypes, albeit in a newer, complex form, containing 51 rather than two gender categories.

Instead of simply teaching kids that feeling or acting differently than their peers is OK, we are teaching kids that they are now “genderqueer” or “gender-fluid”. Is this psychologically safeguarding children against bullying, or simply setting them up for more typecasting and anxiety?

Rather than supporting children to develop their own perspectives to challenge stereotypes, this gender theory is being foisted out of sociological textbooks and onto children’s identities, enforced as another fact of life, another issue they must learn about and resolve.

It remains entirely unnecessary for children to be educated on this kind of theory in order to impart anti-bullying and diversity messaging.

Despite this, many MPs have taken for granted that this kind of theory is both suitable and effectual in childhood development, probably based on the fact they have never heard of it. Christopher Pyne stated in parliament “I took the view I shouldn’t bring my 48-year-old attitude to these materials.” Writing off critics as too old and ignorant is precisely what queer theorists rely upon.

In reality, the vast majority of the general population does not know (nor care) about queer theory. The majority of the population are working to put food on the table, rather than writing or reading sociological pseudoscience.

Whether one understands queer theory or not, there is nonetheless no evidence to back the idea that teaching children queer theory is helpful — or not harmful — to their psychosocial development.

Overseas, LGBTI anti-bullying programs have undergone comprehensive, successful evaluation. But these programs have no content on queer theory. Rather, overseas programs have simply offered counselling, support for concerned students and teacher training.

Why then, are Australian kids being told to worry about whether their feelings make them genderqueer, according to a dubious sociological theory?

When thousands of parents, professionals, and community groups are registering concern, there is impetus for this program to be reformed, improved or redeveloped in line with evidence and evaluation.



It is simply insufficient for this debate to be written off as bigotry or ignorance. This is a significant public health campaign that deals with some of the most vulnerable young people, it must start with evidence first.

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