Jewish School Removes Homosexual References From Textbooks

Humanists UK reported that a school in Hackney has been censoring textbooks to avoid exposing their female students to sexuality.

classroom in a school showing two textbooks

A state-funded Orthodox secondary school in London has been redacting sections of textbooks to remove mentions of homosexuals, examples of women socialising with men, and pictures of women’s shoulders and legs.

Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls’ School has been censoring copies of a history book entitled ‘Understanding the Modern World’.

This school was previously disciplined by the exam board for censoring exam questions and refusing to teach sex education.

Humanists UK who uncovered these new bizarre practices has described the school’s approach to education as “censorious, homophobic, and misogynistic” and has called on Ofsted to investigate immediately.

 

References to ‘homosexuals’ are removed from a section detailing Aryan superiority claims. The word ‘prostitute’ has also been redacted:

 

In a section on the position of women in modern American society, references to women smoking, drinking, and driving ‘with men’ are redacted, as is the sentence ‘They kissed in public’:

 

A number of images of women are censored to hide their chests, shoulders, arms, and legs above the knee:

 

A picture of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing (left) is covered completely:

 

A section on Roe v Wade, the US Supreme Court decision that made abortion a legal right, is redacted:

 

Humanists UK Education Campaigns Manager Jay Harman commented, “It is simply not acceptable for a state-funded school to take such a censorious, homophobic, and misogynistic approach to education. Nor is it acceptable for such a school to be rated “good”. Once again, the consequences of giving religion free reign over our education system are brought into sharp focus. Children deserve so much better than this, so we hope Ofsted will now investigate and take action immediately.”

A spokesperson for the school told the Guardian “This policy has nothing to do homophobia or misogyny, but is to protect our girls from sexualisation in line with our parents’ wishes and religious beliefs,”

A spokesperson for Ofsted (independent education inspectors in the UK) said “We will not hesitate to act where we have concerns that schools are failing to uphold these values,” they said. “Inspectors have recently visited the school and will publish their findings in due course.”

© 2018 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.

0 comments. Please sign in to comment.