Gender fluidity and “other left-wing superstitions”: problem representations in the inquiry report on the NSW Parental Rights Bill

Abstract

ABSTRACT Policies and other governance initiatives that attempt to limit or prohibit gender diversity inside (and outside of) schools are increasing in frequency. One core discourse that has been deployed to restrict curricular engagements and school policies around gender and sexuality diversity in schools is that of “parental rights”, which seeks to position any discussions of these matters as requiring consent of parents. This paper reviews an inquiry report into proposed legislation that sought to enshrine “parental rights” in education and prohibit the teaching of “gender fluidity” in schools in New South Wales, Australia. Produced in 2021, the inquiry report included inputs from advocacy groups, citizens, and lobbyists alongside substantial contributions from politicians, representing multiple constructions of gender, identity, young people, and schooling. Using Bacchi and Goodwin’s “What is the problem represented to be” framework, this paper analyses the conceptual logic and prominent discourses within the Report. Three key problem constructions dominated: “gender fluidity”, unsafe schools and radical teachers. We argue that the Report engaged in a moral panic of gender diversity as contagious, teachable, and dangerous. The logic of the Report depended upon the imagined but often cited crisis of teacher quality and a subscription to antiquated discourses that frame children as innocent, asexual, and cisgender. Findings demonstrate that the Report silenced the perspectives and experiences of transgender and gender diverse children and adults. Ultimately, the Report reproduced and amplified transphobic discourses that proliferate in international publics that seek to limit and admonish gender diversity and gender diverse young people.