WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:03.520 Are you ready for a wild trip through the ups and downs of a girl 2 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:09.720 empowerment business at a homeschool conferences? Picture this a dynamic duo teaching girls about 3 00:00:09.720 --> 00:00:14.919 their worth and potential using the stories of legendary women an old boy. Do 4 00:00:15.039 --> 00:00:20.079 they face some interesting encounters from a mom worried about being woke in a way 5 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:25.120 she might not even understand, to a guy giving an impropetuy really bad history 6 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:29.640 lesson on Rosie the Riveter. From a nice mansplaining point of view, this 7 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:35.280 journey is a menagerie of curious encounters and an unexpected push up contest for boys. 8 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:39.560 It's really a wild homeschooling ride. But there's a twist in this tale. 9 00:00:39.640 --> 00:00:44.119 Despite the anxiety and occasional upset stomach, our real hero, Heather, 10 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:49.960 is determined to change the conversation about feminism and unexpected places. So get ready 11 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:54.520 for a homeschool adventure like no other. This article is by Heather Stark and 12 00:00:54.640 --> 00:00:58.679 was published by huff Post on October twenty ninth, twenty twenty three. And 13 00:00:58.759 --> 00:01:03.039 I happen to know that our very own Jimmy Junior has actually been in contact 14 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:04.640 with Heather. So Jimmy, I want you to take the segment off. 15 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:10.519 Oh all right, thank you, Yeah, I yeah. This dichotomy, 16 00:01:10.640 --> 00:01:15.599 the dichotomy in this story is a little upsetting because it's it's great. Feminism 17 00:01:15.799 --> 00:01:19.879 is a wonderful thing, and we really need to voice that more, especially 18 00:01:19.959 --> 00:01:26.719 in these religious circles that teach kind of the inferiorization of women. Two men 19 00:01:26.040 --> 00:01:30.760 and I particularly love the subtitle of this article. I'm twenty minutes into the 20 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:34.319 presentation when a woman interrupts me. When are you going to talk about God 21 00:01:34.359 --> 00:01:38.359 and all of this? She asks? And that right there tells you everything 22 00:01:38.359 --> 00:01:42.840 that you need to know about this article. It's full of anecdotes that really 23 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:49.640 portray the way that religion is kind of opposite feminism. And so the article 24 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:53.920 centers on an organization called Grays and Grit that is managed by the two individuals 25 00:01:53.959 --> 00:02:00.280 that you spoke of, Kelly and looking at their website, they characterize their 26 00:02:00.359 --> 00:02:05.920 curriculum kit as stories of notable women in history that are used to teach girls 27 00:02:05.959 --> 00:02:09.080 about their worth and potential. So these conferences they attend are homeschool conferences. 28 00:02:09.159 --> 00:02:16.319 They offer an alternative learning style by having a curriculum that is geared specifically toward 29 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:22.680 notable historic women and as a young girl, Heather, the author of this 30 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:27.879 article, think that she needed to conform to culture standards, our culture standards 31 00:02:27.919 --> 00:02:30.240 of what a girl should be perfect body, perfect emotions, perfect face. 32 00:02:30.319 --> 00:02:32.719 And I'm taking that, of course from their website as well. And while 33 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:38.199 she does face this kind of thing at these conventions that she attends, it's 34 00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:44.520 not only what she's encountering, because this isn't religion. Just doesn't stop there 35 00:02:44.639 --> 00:02:46.919 with the way that maybe a woman should look or how they should act. 36 00:02:47.080 --> 00:02:54.439 They advertise they encourage defining gender roles in a way where a woman should behave 37 00:02:54.919 --> 00:03:02.000 inferior and these lessons kind of men in a position of dominance over women. 38 00:03:02.120 --> 00:03:06.719 So Heather tried to be neutral through these things, put the business first. 39 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:09.800 And the article actually leaves off with her partner suggesting that they shouldn't hold back 40 00:03:09.800 --> 00:03:14.479 anymore, right, they should no longer be so compliant in the future, 41 00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:16.639 and she responds by joking, well, we'll get canceled if we do that. 42 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:21.840 So ironically, that's exactly what they did. So I reached out to 43 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:24.039 Heather actually and I said, hey, whatever happened? Did you guys decide 44 00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:30.120 to be you know, more outspoken more, I guess feminist in your approach. 45 00:03:30.360 --> 00:03:35.000 And the update she gave me was that in less than forty eight hours 46 00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:38.800 after she wrote this article, Grays and GrITT received an email from the organization 47 00:03:38.879 --> 00:03:44.360 that hosts these events to inform them they're no longer welcome. And so I 48 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:47.280 told her that we would be discussing her article. She was thrilled that we'd 49 00:03:47.319 --> 00:03:52.560 be mentioning it and that we would be joining her in our voice for feminism, 50 00:03:52.599 --> 00:03:55.280 because she says that feminism needs every voice that it can get. And 51 00:03:55.319 --> 00:03:59.000 I asked her, you know, is there anything else that you'd like me 52 00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:01.759 to relay, and she just wanted to let everybody know she's going to continue 53 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:05.280 with her mission. They've launched their own podcast, they will be attending a 54 00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:11.319 variety of secular events that they've been invited to, and they'll not only use 55 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:14.879 the podcast and the attendance at these events to continue to advocate for women, 56 00:04:15.400 --> 00:04:18.759 but they have their newsletter as well. And so that's how my correspondence tied 57 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:24.399 into my analysis of this article. And I just think the whole story is 58 00:04:24.439 --> 00:04:27.600 great, Cidy, what do you think you know? Joheneral Iver did a 59 00:04:27.639 --> 00:04:30.800 piece on homeschooling a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if you If 60 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:34.279 you guys saw it, and it was basically as you would expect, a 61 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:40.639 corp system with no regulation, allowing for all the worst people to take advantage 62 00:04:40.680 --> 00:04:45.079 of it. And that's basically what we see in the article. You mentioned 63 00:04:45.560 --> 00:04:50.399 religion, but there was also politics talked about in the article. So from 64 00:04:50.519 --> 00:04:57.600 outside the US, you can't imagine how frustrating it is to see that almost 65 00:04:57.639 --> 00:05:02.839 half of the US still fighting for this unregulated ultra capitalism, while at the 66 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:09.439 same time seeing so many including those same people, suffering from it. We 67 00:05:09.439 --> 00:05:15.199 were talking about self inflicted wounds in the previous episode, Well that's basically the 68 00:05:15.240 --> 00:05:19.120 same, but on steroids. Because it's so ingrained in the mentality of the 69 00:05:19.240 --> 00:05:25.839 right that regulations are bad. But yeah, regulations are. They exist for 70 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:30.639 a reason, and the European Union we have a lot of regulations and we 71 00:05:30.680 --> 00:05:36.199 are protected from this kind of behavior. I have to say reading this article 72 00:05:36.439 --> 00:05:43.519 was very very much unnerving, and especially one of them. One of the 73 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:48.639 events that she mentions and it says, so I am in Texas, my 74 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:53.600 home state. Mom wanders in, picks up a journal and reads about Kate 75 00:05:53.680 --> 00:05:57.959 Warne, the first woman detective. Where do you do your research? She 76 00:05:58.040 --> 00:06:01.360 asks? I give her several sites. That's good, she says, Now 77 00:06:01.399 --> 00:06:05.639 then what is your slant? My slant? Which way do you lean? 78 00:06:06.120 --> 00:06:10.639 Well, historical facts? I tell her. Okay, but listen, I 79 00:06:10.680 --> 00:06:14.120 need you to do something for me. She reaches out and takes my hand. 80 00:06:14.360 --> 00:06:17.639 Apparently we are best friends. Now. Right about biblical characters, she 81 00:06:17.720 --> 00:06:21.199 said, we need that, especially the men. I tilt my head to 82 00:06:21.240 --> 00:06:26.000 the side. Well, we focus on actual women from history. I say, 83 00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:29.199 wrong, answer, Well, I will have to think about this, 84 00:06:29.319 --> 00:06:31.759 and she drops my hand and the friendship is over. And I thought that 85 00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:40.600 this interaction is exactly what you see and what you expect from Christian in the 86 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:44.839 US, because the woman there, She's actually right. The Bible is not 87 00:06:44.920 --> 00:06:48.279 exactly a book you can go to if you want to show girl empowerment, 88 00:06:48.360 --> 00:06:54.160 which is exactly what the author is strength to achieve. Because between Eve being 89 00:06:54.199 --> 00:06:59.680 a Pandora like character responsible for bringing evil to the entire mind kind for all 90 00:06:59.720 --> 00:07:04.560 general rations, lots of daughters giving their father drinks so they can sleep with 91 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:11.319 him, Abrahm's wife being used as bait to help him get riched Mary raped 92 00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:15.519 by an invisible gun and many others. It's no wonder why you'd go to 93 00:07:15.800 --> 00:07:19.240 men figures when looking looking into the Bible. But the fact that they put 94 00:07:19.240 --> 00:07:25.720 so much effort into infiltrating the educational system should scare the ship out of people, 95 00:07:25.959 --> 00:07:29.480 not just US cities in Eron. So people believe that the Bible is 96 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:32.639 the ultimate moral authority, but those people haven't actually studied the Bible, because 97 00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:38.240 not only do the morals that actually but some of the morals that actionally spouses 98 00:07:38.360 --> 00:07:42.519 are just plain bad and evil. But the examples that the characters in the 99 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:45.680 Bible set and the things that God commands are not moral, you know, 100 00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:53.079 commanding condoning slavery not moral, Commanding genocide not moral. Commanding women to keep 101 00:07:53.120 --> 00:07:55.800 their mouth shut, that's not moral. That's not good. Those are good 102 00:07:55.839 --> 00:08:00.319 things. And I challenge anybody that's that's listening the things the Bible is the 103 00:08:00.519 --> 00:08:03.040 ultimate moral authority to go and actually read and study the Bible, because you'll 104 00:08:03.079 --> 00:08:07.360 find there's some good things, but there are some really really bad things. 105 00:08:07.399 --> 00:08:11.639 It's not absolutely a good book in all ways. And I think you mentioned 106 00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:15.879 something else about regulation. Regulations have to exist because they're bad people in the 107 00:08:15.920 --> 00:08:18.040 world. They're bad people. They are going to take advantage of people. 108 00:08:18.199 --> 00:08:20.120 There are businesses, they're going to take advantage of people that pollute, that 109 00:08:20.680 --> 00:08:26.120 sell narcotics in a non ethical way and get people hooked on it. There's 110 00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:30.240 all sorts of people that are just out for themselves. They're out for money, 111 00:08:30.360 --> 00:08:33.600 and that's one of the reasons government exists is to help protect us from 112 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:37.879 people like that and to help protect the common good. And so a regulation 113 00:08:37.960 --> 00:08:41.960 is really important, and unfortunately the homeschooling area is not regulated. It's very 114 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:46.399 very poorly regulated. Last week tonight with John Oliver, they did a show 115 00:08:46.600 --> 00:08:50.320 in early October, on October eighth about homeschooling. They did it. They 116 00:08:50.320 --> 00:08:54.399 had a segment on that, and I guess the homeschooling is led by some 117 00:08:54.440 --> 00:08:58.080 really powerful lobbying groups. One in particular is called the homeschool Legal Defense Association, 118 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:03.720 and they fight again any and all regulations around homeschooling. You would be 119 00:09:03.720 --> 00:09:05.320 surprised to know that in some states you don't even parents don't even need to 120 00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:11.080 notify the schools that they're homeschooling, and like a third of the states they 121 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:15.639 just have to notify them once but there's no there's no regulation on meeting standards. 122 00:09:15.799 --> 00:09:20.320 There's no regulation on what's being taught. So people can teach that dinosaurs 123 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:24.440 coincided with man, that at the Bible teaches that evolution is or that the 124 00:09:24.440 --> 00:09:28.320 Bible the evolution is not scientific, and that the scientific community doesn't believe in 125 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:33.879 evolution. All these terrible things that are just against our educational standards. I'm 126 00:09:33.960 --> 00:09:37.279 all four home. I support homeschooling. If parents want to pull their kids 127 00:09:37.320 --> 00:09:39.840 out and it's homeschool them, thumbs up, go do that. But there 128 00:09:39.879 --> 00:09:43.519 needs to be standards. If I go to school, there are standards that 129 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:46.960 that those schools have to adhere to and their standards those students get tested on. 130 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:50.320 And if you're going to be a homeschooling parent, you should have to 131 00:09:50.360 --> 00:09:54.480 meet those same standards. And I just have this one final thing before is 132 00:09:54.559 --> 00:09:56.320 that I have to I have to really I'm really proud of this team, 133 00:09:56.360 --> 00:10:01.759 of this organization, of this company because they're they're doing amazing things. They're 134 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:07.279 in a very difficult place around people that don't don't like them. And uh, 135 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:09.320 I think her partner said that your thing, your thing is changing the 136 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:13.360 conversation, changing the conversation on beauty culture, changing the conversation on how we 137 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:18.279 raise empowered girls. How about we changed the conversation about feminism at these events. 138 00:10:18.440 --> 00:10:22.320 I'm really sad to hear that they got they got the boot from these 139 00:10:22.039 --> 00:10:26.759 these shows, because their curriculum is really awesome. When my daughter was younger, 140 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:33.399 they I found a book series called good Night Stories for Rebel Girls where 141 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:37.759 there were one page stories on legendary and amazing women from history, and for 142 00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:39.840 a few months, we would read out of that every night and we would 143 00:10:39.879 --> 00:10:43.919 share. I would share her stories of amazing women and the things that they've 144 00:10:43.919 --> 00:10:46.000 done, because women have done amazing things, and that's all feminism is. 145 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:50.240 It's all about making women equal to everybody else and giving them the same rights 146 00:10:50.279 --> 00:10:56.879 and opportunities that men have. And that's Kelly. You know, there was 147 00:10:56.879 --> 00:11:00.799 a cook. One of the things that really bothered me about this story was 148 00:11:00.919 --> 00:11:05.480 Heather's description of the red isle at the conferences, and I found that really 149 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:11.679 alarming that here was all these far right political organizations at an educational rally, 150 00:11:11.919 --> 00:11:16.519 and it's not difficult to jump to the idea of the Hitler youth from there, 151 00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:18.840 And I know, I just broke Godwin's law. I know I just 152 00:11:18.919 --> 00:11:22.639 did, but I think most of us can agree that a lot of the 153 00:11:22.759 --> 00:11:28.399 right wing philosophy in the USA right now, as Cindy had mentioned earlier, 154 00:11:28.679 --> 00:11:33.600 is that it's bordering on fascism. And why is there an isle of right 155 00:11:33.639 --> 00:11:39.200 wing political philosophy at a homeschool convention. Isn't politics an adult thing. You 156 00:11:39.240 --> 00:11:41.720 can't vote while you're in school, So what's going on here? It aget 157 00:11:41.799 --> 00:11:48.080 it. It has shades of indoctrinating children, the very thing that homeschoolers are 158 00:11:48.519 --> 00:11:52.000 accusing public schools of doing. It's not enough that these religious people have to 159 00:11:52.039 --> 00:11:56.519 get their claws into the kids, but now these far right political ideologues are 160 00:11:56.559 --> 00:12:01.759 doing it too, and they can infiltrate the public schools with their nonsense. 161 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:07.360 So now they've targeted homeschooling instead, effectively nearly taking it over. I was 162 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:11.440 wondering if anyone on the panel at any ideas how this type of indoctrinate and 163 00:12:11.480 --> 00:12:13.799 in nation might play out in the future. But I know everybody else has 164 00:12:15.519 --> 00:12:16.960 few things they want to say. I know Jimmy Junior has some more, 165 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:20.279 so while pass it to him, Oh, I appreciate that. Yeah, 166 00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:26.320 man, so much to unpack here. When you start considering what the goals 167 00:12:26.360 --> 00:12:31.759 of maybe the far right in politics and the religious kind of footprint in this 168 00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:35.840 country have in common, right, they tend to align and adopt the same 169 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:41.600 goals, and I think that they are finding that they really can generate a 170 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:46.879 lot of support by keeping people uneducated. And that is how Christianity has survived. 171 00:12:46.919 --> 00:12:50.440 That's how religions tend to survive. If you look through kind of the 172 00:12:50.519 --> 00:12:56.200 historical timeline of ruling churches and popes and how Christianity was able to climb to 173 00:12:56.240 --> 00:13:00.960 where it was, it was because the masses didn't get the same kind of 174 00:13:01.080 --> 00:13:03.960 education, uh that maybe the rich, elite elites got to. Instead, 175 00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:09.360 they were kind of subjugated and forced to attend church with Bibles that were not 176 00:13:09.639 --> 00:13:15.600 you know, around in their or or available in their own language. They're 177 00:13:15.639 --> 00:13:20.039 still we're still seeing that today where uh, legislation is kind of forcing the 178 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:24.879 removal of books, you know, the removal of historical principles. We want 179 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:28.440 to keep people ignorant, and uh, I think that that is something that's 180 00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:33.200 pretty common in our education system today. And that's kind of my thought there 181 00:13:33.240 --> 00:13:37.360 on that on that aspect, on how that those two groups have something in 182 00:13:37.399 --> 00:13:43.840 common. But yeah, going through these anecdotes all throughout this article, you 183 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:46.799 know there's all kinds this is this is all propaganda. You know, this 184 00:13:46.960 --> 00:13:50.720 is being used to target children, Uh, get them while they're young, 185 00:13:50.759 --> 00:13:54.200 while they're vulnerable, and turn them into people who will grow up and support 186 00:13:54.200 --> 00:13:58.960 them. And so I think those are really the the points I had on 187 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:03.840 that. One last thing, know, to Cidy's point that you know, 188 00:14:03.879 --> 00:14:09.960 the right is typically the party or the ideology that frowns upon regulations. That's 189 00:14:09.080 --> 00:14:13.759 true until the regulation works in their favor. And then they want to see 190 00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:20.039 books removed, they want to see it illegal for teachers to call students by 191 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:24.919 a name other than their government name, or they want to see laws removed 192 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:33.759 that give teachers and mental health counselors in schools that kind of patient doctor confidentiality. 193 00:14:33.879 --> 00:14:37.600 Instead they're required to report now to the students' families. And we've seen 194 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:41.440 that in a variety of places. And so yeah, sure, regulation's bad 195 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:45.720 unless they work for us, and we see that across the right as well. 196 00:14:45.799 --> 00:14:48.480 So sidey, what do you have to say about that? Yeah, 197 00:14:48.519 --> 00:14:52.399 I completely agree with what you just said. It's It's one of the many 198 00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:58.399 hypocritical aspects of the GOP right now, is they they claim they are for 199 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:05.279 small government until they want to actually impose their views on people, and then 200 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:11.840 they are pro government. So yeah, that's that's one of the scary parts 201 00:15:11.879 --> 00:15:16.360 of the GOP today. And yeah, I really don't know how to how 202 00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:22.480 to fight this because when when Row was overturned last year, a lot of 203 00:15:22.519 --> 00:15:26.919 commentators, including us on on the non profits, we said that the right 204 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:35.360 has been working on this for fifty years. They've been infiltrating every little place 205 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:41.840 they could, like school boards, like every state level, city level councils, 206 00:15:43.080 --> 00:15:48.559 everywhere, and they're doing it again here and there's there's no blue isle 207 00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:52.600 in this in these meetings, only red ales. And that's that's a big 208 00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:58.799 problem. They need to be fought everywhere everywhere, and we can outpen they 209 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:03.279 be allowed though that's the part get booty just like Heather did. That's the 210 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:06.960 problem, right, Yeah, Aaron, you want to get a last forward 211 00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:11.240 in Yeah, just be careful of people that come along spouting ideologies that want 212 00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:15.080 you to follow them, because especially from politicians, because when politicians try to 213 00:16:15.080 --> 00:16:18.879 get you to identify with their with their ideologies instead of their policies. What 214 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:22.720 they're really trying to do is to get you to accept and obey obey them, 215 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:26.519 because when you follow their ideologies instead of their policies, they don't have 216 00:16:26.519 --> 00:16:30.279 any consequences anymore, and they can do whatever they want while in office and 217 00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:34.440 you'll still vote for them because their ideology matches yours. Well. I think 218 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:37.840 if you really needed the first hand account of how the religious right and the 219 00:16:37.879 --> 00:16:42.200 war on woke are having a negative impact on education, look no further than 220 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:48.000 this article. I thoroughly recommend reading it. There's a link below. This 221 00:16:48.039 --> 00:16:51.480 has been going on for years. I have a close family that were at 222 00:16:51.480 --> 00:16:56.240 that homeschooled their kids. I looked at the fifth grade level biology book and 223 00:16:56.279 --> 00:16:59.879 it was basically how great God was, and then you put all these animals 224 00:16:59.879 --> 00:17:02.679 and plants on the earth for us to use, and it just went through 225 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:04.519 a general list of animals and plants. You know, Look, this was 226 00:17:04.519 --> 00:17:07.559 a tree. I felt like I was reading the script to a comedy show 227 00:17:07.799 --> 00:17:12.920 number four the Large. But I think this was a good conversation And if 228 00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:18.319 you want to continue this conversation, check out our fan run facebook groups and discord server