August 23, 2019

"Along with traditional camp pastimes like talent shows and archery... every cabin participates in programs designed to build self esteem and challenge misogyny, transphobia and other prejudices..."

"... whether it be writing love letters to their own bodies or cross-dressing to understand how clothes reinforce socially acceptable gender norms.... ... Zypher Wildera, a 12-year-old cisgender boy from Santa Cruz ... chose the all-gender cabin partly to get away from his brother, but more so because he thought it would be a really cool group of people. Although he is friends with some L.G.B.T.Q. children at his school, adjusting to his cabinmates’ various gender identities and pronouns took a little time, he said. 'I call everyone "dude" and some people in the cabin don’t like that term, so I try to be very conscientious,' Zypher said. 'In boys’ bunks, and with my male friends back home, we’ll jokingly insult each other. But in this cabin, everyone tries to be as kind and generous as possible. It’s made me more accepting and I feel better about myself, too.'"

From "In an All-Gender Cabin, Summer Campers ‘Don’t Have to Hide’/For gender-nonconforming campers, a new all-gender cabin at Camp Tawonga was a rare respite from the outside world, where bullying and the feeling of not fitting in can make growing up difficult" (NYT).

It strikes me as good for children to learn how to operate within a group where the culture is to "jokingly insult each other" and in one where that's not the etiquette at all. Understanding social cues and adapting and getting along — these are good skills!

79 comments:

David Begley said...

Crazy. And the parents send the kids to the camp.

12?

Known Unknown said...

Insert Robert Downey Jr. eyeroll GIF here.

PB said...

Cisgender boy? How about pure boy?

Usage of the word cisgender is hate speech.

rehajm said...

That’s some scummy looking water. Giardia won’t care what genders tou are.

Known Unknown said...

How many of the cis-gendered kids feel as if they don't fit in?

I'm in my 40s and I still don't feel like I fit in anywhere.

BarrySanders20 said...

I suppose the counselors discourage that rowdy camp pastime from yesteryear called Smear the Queer.

Darrell said...

Lovely.

iowan2 said...

It strikes me as good for children to learn how to operate within a group where the culture is to "jokingly insult each other" and in one where that's not the etiquette at all. Understanding social cues and adapting and getting along — these are good skills!

It's been going on for over 100 years. It's called the Boy Scouts. Amazing how the SJW are so willingly ignorant of history. Human relationships have been happening since, well...humans.

traditionalguy said...

The push for creating Eunuchs from boys is not really that progressive. It is Imperial slavery redux.

Beasts of England said...

Bobby: Hey Billy, what’d you do at camp this summer?

Billy: Oh, man - we built a bonfire, shot .22s, went canoeing and everything!! It was awesome! How about you?

Bobby: I learned about transgenders and got a virtue signaling merit badge.

Billy: Sucks to be you, man.

Bobby: Don’t assume my gender pronouns!!

Billy: Fuck off, loser...

Lewis Wetzel said...

Althouse wrote: "Understanding social cues and adapting and getting along — these are good skills!"
They are learning to suppress their individuality and conform to group thought and expression.
No thought seems to given to the bullying involved in forcing people to use meaningless pronouns.

Temujin said...

I'm begging you. Please quit reading and interpreting the NY Times for us.

Virgil Hilts said...

I can understand why in animal world it makes sense for the cubs/kittens to grow up with each other and for parents to not waste too much time when survival of each baby is iffy.
But for humans... will this model continue to make sense as life becomes less cheap. Always intrigued by someone like Jean-Paul Sartre who (as I understood it) grew up entirely around adults/tutors until maybe 19. What did he lose out on by never having his gut punched or his face pounded into the dirt by an overweight bully.

Bob said...

This is the craziest thing I've heard today, but it's still early... alas.

Anonymous said...

Understanding social cues and adapting and getting along — these are good skills!

There are tried and true ways to do this without fucking up the children in the process.

Which makes me think that fucking up the children is a feature, not a bug for these people.

Nice troll, though.

JML said...

The Chinese are so going to kick our ass someday in the not too distant future...

Darrell said...

They need to start this in the hospital's nursery. Twelve might be too late.

Ann Althouse said...

"That’s some scummy looking water. Giardia won’t care what genders tou are."

I clicked on the image of the kids in the water. It becomes video. I honestly could not figure out whether the kids got ugly lake mud/algae on their back or whether they had big ugly tattoos!

It can't be tattoos, can it? It's a Jewish camp, and religious Jews have a ban on tattoos.

Ann Althouse said...

And who lets their children get tattoos?!

Dan from Madison said...

Darrell at 7.10am sums it up for me.

JAORE said...

The march towards equality continues.

Like the equality of vanilla pudding.

Screw equality.

Anonymous said...

rehajm: Giardia won’t care what genders tou are.

One fears that the woker the camp counselors are, the less kids learn useful oppressive cishet patriarchal stuff like, say, how to avoid a nice debilitating round of Giardia.

pious agnostic said...

So...there were girls in his cabin?

Daniel Jackson said...

Nothing about cooking, dishwashing, or boxing?

It would seem the last is especially important if you are facing a person who doesn't give a shit about PC and wants to beat you silly.

Anonymous said...

Temujin: I'm begging you. Please quit reading and interpreting the NY Times for us.

There are occasionally worthwhile articles in the NYT. But they're on topics that don't interest Althouse, and she wouldn't have any fun trolling us with them.

Josephbleau said...

When I was 12, I would have opted for the opposite gender cabin.

RNB said...

"It can't be tattoos, can it? It's a Jewish camp, and religious Jews have a ban on tattoos." Attended a Jewish funeral a few years ago where some of the mourners got to comparing tattoos. Can't say how 'religious' they were, though. Maybe it's a 'No True Scotsman' thing.

Heartless Aztec said...

No. Just no.

Beth B said...

Oh, look! A silver lining to the enforcement of rigid conformity, all in the name of conspicuous non-conformity!

Not an oldster. said...

Is there a class for not challenging moving elevators and trying to get out while a machine is moving? How about some nature skills so you return ready to take the stairs when the elevators are malfuctioing?

You know. External threats vs hurt feelz.

Parents should pay for life skills at camp.

Howard said...

He's just quite comfortable in his male cis hetero sliding scale... and you people embarrassed by your discomfort on where you land.

Not an oldster. said...

This (cis) boy likes tranny girls, pretty girls with hidden penii.


He will be a Zeta Beta Tau, and throw the best parties in campus, one day. nttawwt

Shouting Thomas said...

Dear lefties:

Everybody gets called names and bullied in junior and senior high school.

It's an illusion on your part that it only happened to you.

Masscon said...

Eloi training

Sebastian said...

"Understanding social cues and adapting and getting along — these are good skills!"

Translation: submitting to prog dictates, keeping your head down, and avoiding leftist shaming rituals -- these are good skills!

Eleanor said...

Where, or if, to send your kids to summer camp is entirely up to parents. Only parents who are already indoctrinating their kids in this nonsense will choose a camp like this unless it's free, of course. Which is why "free child care" is so important to the progs.

Sebastian said...

"who lets their children get tattoos?!"

What do you mean? If kids can get abortions without parental consent, surely they can get tattoos without anyone "letting" them.

MadisonMan said...

Dude, what is the difference between being offended by someone not calling you your preferred pronoun vs. being offended by someone calling everyone by the same pronoun?

Craig Howard said...

And who lets their children get tattoos?!

Parents who let their children determine their own gender, I suppose.

gilbar said...

Our Professor Althouse asks... And who lets their children get tattoos?!
WHO would name their (cis gender) boy Zypher Wildera?

Can we ASSUME that these parents didn't vote for trump?
Also, don't forget Henna tattoos

Saint Croix said...

"Along with traditional camp pastimes like talent shows and archery... every cabin participates in programs designed to build self esteem and challenge misogyny, transphobia and other prejudices..."

"... whether it be writing love letters to their own bodies or cross-dressing to understand how clothes reinforce socially acceptable gender norms."


It's a secular cult.

I was reading more about Anne Hamilton-Byrne.

Having all your "children" dye their hair blonde and dress the same way is bad. And yet it's far more horrifying to have their genitals chopped off and "re-assigned."

The children who are abused in these systems are severely damaged emotionally and psychologically. And high suicide rates in both cases.

President-Mom-Jeans said...

"And who lets their children get tattoos?!"

The same retarded shitty lefty parents who cheerlead for the promotion of mental illness and use terms like cisgender. New York Times readers.

alanc709 said...

Ann Althouse said...
And who lets their children get tattoos?!

Who lets their children decide which gender they should be today?

jaydub said...

"And who lets their children get tattoos?!"

The parents who send their children to these kinds of "camps."

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

What a drag. So to speak...

Fernandinande said...

Hello Muddah, hello Faddah
Here I am at Camp Tawonga
Camp is gender non-conforming
So I walk around with my dick out every morning.

Dude1394 said...

Child abuse.

Rob said...

For a New York Times story, there's a regrettable lack of information on how the legacy of enslavement has affected this all-gender cabin. And not a single mention of white supremacism. The 1619 Project is clearly a work in progress.

Maillard Reactionary said...

I was disappointed-- the title of the article started so promising, so I assumed that the program included some pistol and rifle training with workshops where you learn to strip and clean the things. Alas.

The mindset behind this operation reflects a misunderstanding of human nature which might well be deliberate.

Rick.T. said...

I thought of trying a "Hello Muddah, hello Faddah" parody but Fernandistein beat me to it with his excellent one. Well done!

Laslo Spatula said...

This would be a great setting for a 'Friday the 13th' sequel.

I am Laslo.

buwaya said...

The normal male mode is competition through constant challenge.
I think that this is hard wired as it is present in every human society.
The likely advantage is to create resilience and, indeed, the ability to adjust, and tolerate social adversity, and moreover to lay the foundation for teamwork and spontaneous organization.

There are many ways in which "Lord of the Flies" misses the plot on human nature.

Kids learn from each other more than from their parents - there is a huge literature on "peer effects".

This cultural adjustment being forced here, for the sake of a very tiny maladjusted minority seems unnatural, and is likely to have negative consequences.

Kevin said...

every cabin participates in programs designed to build self esteem and challenge misogyny, transphobia and other prejudices

I think this is where the left is falling apart: self-esteem is built on prejudice, the prejudice that you are unique and thus have something to offer the world.

"Nobody is special and we're all the same" leaves people with the idea they don't matter, they don't count, and the world would be fine if they just took a bunch of pills and exited stage left.

So all the Left can grab a hold of is that some people think they're special and we're better than them because we don't. It's the last pillar of self-esteem available - that not believing in yourself makes you the in-group.

Religion was a positive force in this regard: "we're all God's children and thus are unique individuals" had it right. We're all unique, but so is everyone else. Leave them alone and do your thing.

That's what's being destroyed in this culture -- it's become taboo to say or believe anything good about yourself.

And the left's solution to the inevitable drug and suicide issues is to hold self-esteem camps based on making discussion of differences a serious no-no.

Kevin said...

This would be a great setting for a 'Friday the 13th' sequel.

Yes, but only the cis, white kids can be killed or it's sending the wrong message.

Kevin said...

And who lets their children get tattoos?!

Tattoos now = conformity.

Pretty soon hospitals will be offering tribal arm bands along with circumcision.

buwaya said...

Humanity evolved in body and mind, including in things like behavioral tendencies, and the details of group dynamics. This is the outcome of millions of years and a million generations. Civilization has been just a blip on that scale of time, and moreover has changed the social environment so rapidly that I doubt the human animal has had time to adjust though the evolutionary mechanism of survival of the fittest.

We do know that this stuff is hard coded in animals, so there is no reason to think that humans are exempt. I don't think we have even scratched the surface of what is hard coded in the brain. It's curious that the cultural-intellectual default is a "blank slate", as Pinker put it, and not observed behavior.

The Godfather said...

Just my luck: I sign up for an “all genders” cabin, and all the girls are lesbians.

rcocean said...

"L.G.B.T.Q. children" ?

How does a Child know they are Gay?

rcocean said...

We're now up to L.B.G.T.Q - what's the next letter to added?

we need a vowel in their somewhere. What about L-BUG-TQ, "U" for unosex? For unfortunate people who just have sex with themselves?

eric said...

I used to think Hillary was crazy with her "it takes a village" crap. Let parents raise their kids however they want and the government needs to stay out of it!

No longer. If we are going to save this nation we're going to have to become totalitarian for awhile. Remove these children from their parents homes for their own good. Teach boys how to be boys and girls how to be girls.

Michael K said...

He wants to stay away from his brother because the brother keeps grabbing his pussy,.

PM said...

Yeah, all that - but great talent shows!!

James K said...

“It can't be tattoos, can it? It's a Jewish camp, and religious Jews have a ban on tattoos.”

Religious Jews also have a ban on transgendering—the surgery at least. Something tells me it’s not a religious camp.

Daniel Jackson said...

I steeled myself and read the article.

My first response is "This is California, what else is new."

But, I find the entire vibe, at first disturbing, sad. I guess the idea of the Torah taken out for a camp fire sing in is even more disturbing than the lack of modesty.

At least until recently, one of the pillars of Judaism has been Tradition, and not in the Broadway/Film version. Respect for that Tradition does not mean blind faith, but respect in the Aretha Franklin sense.

What I feel here is a Country Club approach that ignores a chance to instill some of the greatest values of that Tradition: study, questions (LOTS of questions), and respect for others regardless of their values, approaches, or personal praxis.

Do not return to Mitzraim, the Torah and the Prophets repeat. It would seem that this is so in California.

Shabbat Shalom

Known Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
n.n said...

Sex, gender, transgender, progressive confusion, and projected phobias.

n.n said...

Usage of the word cisgender is hate speech.

It really is. #TooManyLabels #WarlockTrials #ProjectedPhobias

Sex: male, female. Gender: masculine, feminine. And a transgender/transversal spectrum of physical and/or mental attributes.

n.n said...

Misogyny is a principle and practice of diversity or color (i.e. low information attribute) judgment, where "color" is not a relevant feature.

n.n said...

L.B.G.T.Q

#TooManyLetters/Labels. It's the transgender/transversal spectrum of physical and/or mental attributes.

Jeff said...

Just my luck: I sign up for an “all genders” cabin, and all the girls are lesbians.

No problem. Just tell them you're a lesbian trapped in a male body.

FullMoon said...

"...a 12-year-old cisgender boy from Santa Cruz"

Yeah, I attended a high school graduation in Santa Cruz. The lez principal (or vice, not certain) was positively giddy because they had won some local LGBBQ award. Parents kinda moaned, for the most part.

Now, imagine how teenagers attending or graduating from that school are labeled by other kids in the area.



FullMoon said...

......and, right down the road is Watsonville. Known for agriculture and drive bys, not particularly woke.

Skippy Tisdale said...

""L.G.B.T.Q. children" ?

How does a Child know they are Gay?"

As a five-year-old boy, I knew that I very much wanted to see my cute, female classmates naked. At about the age of eight, I was under a tent-like structure with a seven-year-old girl and told her I'd show her mine if she showed me hers. She did and instantly, without even thinking, I bent down and kissed her vulva. So if I knew at that early of an age that I was hardwired to be heterosexual, there is no reason not to think that an eight-year-old boy isn't getting signals that he is gay.

Jim at said...

Twelve years old.
They're being flooded with this LBGTQXYZWTFBBQ bullshit at this age.
Twelve.

Know what I was doing at 12? Not this crap.

Gospace said...

Didn't see anything in the Althouse synopsis or in a brief skim over the article about useful life skills.

Such as:

Swimming
Lifesaving
Cooking
Emergency Preparedness
Personal Fitness
Personal Management

All Scout merit badges that my children earned- some at Summer Camp, some at meetings.

They also participated in archery- and received the Archery merit badge, in which not only shoot arrows, but:
***************
Do the following:
a. State and explain the Range Safety Rules.
1. Three safety rules when on the shooting line.
2. Three safety rules when retrieving arrows.
3. The four whistle commands used on a range and their related verbal commands.
b. State and explain the general safety rules for archery. Demonstrate how to safely carry arrows in your hands.
c. Tell about your local and state laws for owning and using archery equipment.
Do the following:
a. Name and point out the parts of an arrow.
b. Describe three or more different types of arrows.
c. Name the four principle materials for making arrow shafts.
d. Do the following:
1. Make a complete arrow from a bare shaft using appropriate equipment available to you.
OR
2. To demonstrate arrow repair, inspect the shafts and prepare and replace at least three vanes, one point, and one nock. You may use as many arrows as necessary to accomplish this. The repairs can be done on wood, fiberglass, or aluminum arrows.
e. Explain how to properly care for and store arrows.
Do the following:
a. Explain the proper use, care, and storage of, as well as the reasons for using tabs, arm guards, shooting gloves, and quivers.
b. Explain the following terms: cast, draw weight, string height, aiming, spine, mechanical release, and barebow.
c. Make a bowstring using appropriate materials.
Explain the following:
a. The importance of obedience to a range officer or other person in charge of a range.
b. The difference between an end and a round.
c. The differences among field, target, and 3-D archery.
d. How the five-color World Archery Federation target is scored.
e. How the National Field Archery Association (NFAA) black-and-white field targets and blue indoor targets are scored.
Do ONE of the following options:
Option A - Using a Recurve Bow or Longbow
a. Name and Point to the parts of the recurve bow or longbow you are shooting.
b. Explain how to properly care for and store recurve bows and longbows.
c. Show the ten steps of good shooting for the bow you are shooting.
d. Demonstrate the proper way to string a recurve bow or longbow.
e. Using a bow square, locate and mark with dental floss, crimp-on, or other method, the nocking point on the bowstring of the bow you are using.
f. Do ONE of the following:
1. Using a recurve bow or longbow and arrows with a finger release, shoot a single round of one of the following BSA, USA Archery, or NFAA rounds:
a. An NFAA field round of 14 targets and make a score of 60 points.
b. A BSA Scout field round of 14 targets and make a score of 80 points.
c. A Junior 900 round and make a score of 180 points.
d. A World Archery/USA Archery indoor round I and make a score of 80 points.
e. An NFAA indoor round and make a score of 50 points.
(The indoor rounds may be shot outdoors if this is more convenient.)
OR
2. Shooting 30 arrows in five-arrow ends at an 80-centimeter (32-inch) five-color target at 10 yards and using the 10 scoring regions, make a score of 150.
OR
3. As a member of the USA Archery Junior Olympic Archery Development program (JOAD), earn your indoor or outdoor green, purple, and gray achievement award pins using a recurve bow or longbow.
OR

...and more
*****************
So, have your kid hang out with a bunch of other kids taking turns shooting arrows just for fun- or, have your kid learn how and why to safely shoot an arrow, what the different kinds of bows are, and demonstrate skill at it. Take your pick.

Gunner said...

If we could contain the virtue signalling energy coming from the NY Times commenters to this story, we could power 50 Death Stars.

Matt said...

That's great. Similarly, I'm teaching my kids to celebrate and fully express their naturally hard-wired revulsion to men buttsexing other men, women strap-oning other women, and mutilating physically healthy bodies cuz the owner of the body's mind is messed up.

Where is my NYT write-up?

bagoh20 said...

OMG, that camp sounds absolutley horrible. I'd rather do just about anything else as a young boy. It's really cruelty, irresponsible, and damaging long term. It will not be reparable to those it ruins, young men who will have their rare potential shoved back inside them like traditional Chinese women's feet in tiny shoes, but they will look so tender and adorable.

n.n said...

It's a cult that, ironically, includes transhumanists, abortionists (i.e. human sacrificial rites), diversists (e.g. racists, sexists), transphobists (i.e. projections, medical and psychological corruption) who are indoctrinating adolescent and prepubescent children.