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Teacher, parents weigh in on nude-artwork incident
Lincoln Elementary School art teacher Mateo Rueda had no idea what was in store for his career when he wrapped up a lesson Dec. 4 by telling students to look through some art postcards in the classroom library for examples of color usage in notable paintings. The cards, which were part of an educational package called "The Art Box" produced by Phaidon publishing, were placed in the library before Rueda began working at the Hyrum school. He knew the set portrayed a wide variety of classic artworks, but he has since said he was not aware that three or four of the 100 pieces featured in the box showed nudity.
Before the week was out, Rueda would find himself at the center of a controversy at the school, would be contacted by police after someone filed a classroom pornography complaint against him, and would eventually be out of a job.
The situation came to light Wednesday when The Herald Journal published a letter from the mother of one of Rueda's students complaining about the art teacher's dismissal and praising his work with students. She also let her feelings be known on Facebook, where her posts gained wide circulation among local school parents and educators.
Cache County School District officials have declined comment on the matter, noting that this is "an ongoing personnel issue." However, one district official who asked not to be identified said that Rueda's termination had more to do with the teacher's interaction with students after the students noticed the nudes than it did with the actual pictures themselves.
Parent Venessa Rose Pixton said this was the nature of a complaint she lodged with the school after learning about events of that day from her 11-year-old son, who was in Rueda's class. "It wasn't the pictures so much that really bothered me; it was the method in which he went about it afterward," Pixton told The Herald Journal, though contending in the same interview that she thinks the teacher shirked his responsibility by not reviewing the pictures thoroughly before allowing children to access them. "My son felt that Mr. Mateo belittled them," Pixton said. "He said Mr. Mateo even told the class 'There's nothing wrong with female nipples. You guys need to grow up and be mature about this.'" Rueda flatly denies he said this or took such a tone. "No, that did not happen," he said this week. "I did say that when you grow up, you're going to find yourselves going to museums or to places where unavoidably there's going to be nudity."
This is The Art Box, containing 100 postcards. Also at Fox 13 Salt Lake City and Snopes.
(Score: -1, Troll) by kurenai.tsubasa on Sunday December 31 2017, @08:48PM (14 children)
Pretty typical. Replace this teacher with a radical feminist demonstrating how the female form is superior and berating half the class for not being lucky enough to be born with those body parts, and it's a-ok! Hell, why not throw in some extra credit opportunities where the teacher makes it explicit that any boys who attempt the extra credit will be given automatic zeros for lacking functional wombs.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 31 2017, @09:08PM (12 children)
I see why you hang around here, you resonate with certain aspects of the dominant culture.
(Score: 1) by kurenai.tsubasa on Sunday December 31 2017, @09:31PM (10 children)
So what are you trying to say? Double standards are absolutely fine as long as they're in the favor of womyn-born-womyn and against men?
Elementary schools have a huge problem with sexism and misandry.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday December 31 2017, @10:44PM (9 children)
So do you want to be a woman or not, Kurenai? Because if you hate us so bad, maybe you should keep your current shell. We don't need another self-hating woman in the ranks, thank you all the same. Unfuck your head before you complete transition, please.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1) by pr on Sunday December 31 2017, @11:02PM (4 children)
No sarcasm, straight from the heart : it seems like you guys are making some possibly interesting points. I just don't understand what you mean exactly. Can we improve the quality of the debate by being more explicit?
PR
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 01 2018, @12:23AM
Always, although I think you'd better be careful what you
expletive deletedask for youexpletive deletedexpletive deleted.(Score: 4, Interesting) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday January 01 2018, @03:56AM (2 children)
Kurenai is a little insane. She's an MtF whose transition has been stopped in the middle due to meddling and lack of funds, as far as I can tell, but there's also obviously some comorbid mental issues here. She was treated badly by a bunch of TERFs (trans-exclusive radical feminists, a.k.a. "complete fucking assholes" to you and I) and as a result has been so traumatized that she considers all feminists of all stripes to be evil and vicious and personally out to get her. She believes they are responsible for her inability to access certain medications necessary to continue transition, if I recall.
She also doesn't do her research and tends to post when emotionally agitated, which leaves us in the weird position of a transwoman who posts all the MRA talking points. I...don't know what to make of this. I'm not trans-exclusive by any means, but have only known one reasonably stable MtF out of nearly a dozen and am getting very tired of all the drama. I'm also getting tired of being attacked for no good reason, for things I did not and do not say, do, or believe. And this is going to make life as a fully-transitioned woman very difficult for her, because the assumptions she's making about how untouchable and privileged women are just is not true. Frankly, I think she's going to kill herself when that reality hits home.
And I'm rolling my eyes and cringing at her constant tantrums, not least because, as unfair as this is, it makes every single MtF out there look bad. This is because it's a long-standing rule that "$MINORITY does something bad" equates to "$MINORITY are all bad" in the eyes of far too many people. But she cannot or will not see this. I'm beginning to feel like a lifeguard trying to help a drowning person who insists on kicking her in the boobs.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1) by kurenai.tsubasa on Monday January 01 2018, @04:57PM (1 child)
Do you comprehend why I started attacking you and feminists in general again? Do you comprehend why I am purposefully ignoring everything you've ever said in the favor of trans women?
This is what it's like being on the receiving end of the misogynerd narrative. You are held accountable for the actions of others. Yes, even:
You've lost your patience? I've fucking lost mine, too!
As long as this Narrative goes on, I will continue doing this.
I do not know how else to make it clear how wrong the misogynerd narrative is. I'm going to tell you the exact same thing I've been told countless times when objecting to being held accountable for the actions of others. “If you don't like it, then do something about $problem we're holding you collectively and severally accountable for.”
Isn't it fucking frustrating? Doesn't it just drive you up the wall knowing that you're being held accountable for other people's actions, even when your own actions and words have explicitly been the very opposite?
Welcome to my reality with the misogynerd narrative.
And don't you think that it's a matter of time before men in tech adopt a similar position, if they haven't already? The misogynerd narrative is blowing through feminism's credibility like credibility is going out of style.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday January 01 2018, @08:03PM
Listen, asshole, I'm not one of the people who subscribes to that collective guilt bullshit, so you can quit applying it to me right the hell now. You are dangerously short on allies as it is; if someone outs you you could lose your job, your housing, and even your life. I have seen all of these happen, some to friends of mine. Your situation is precarious and brittle. Keep people offering to be on your side, on your side.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2, Informative) by kurenai.tsubasa on Monday January 01 2018, @03:10AM (3 children)
Why don't you feminists unfuck your heads? Sex trafficking is a hell of a charge to make collectively and severally, and you had better bet I'm unhappy about whatever horseshit you feminists have planned for 2018.
You write that as though you're giving me a choice. That's a laugh! My “shell”—what do you mean? Am I eligible for a new body or something? Should I expect a miracle to occur if I “unfuck” my head? Oh, if that's the case, then sure! Gladly!
If you're talking about solidarity…. Well then I cannot even. You women have been throwing bigotry at me for decades, making damned sure I understand that I'm a rapist (despite the fact that you cannot tell me whom I've raped) and accountable for the actions of others. Where on earth would I ever get the impression that I'm one of you in any durable sense?! Pronouns are neat, but I would rather be exempt from the class you're trying to hold collectively and severally accountable for…, and that wouldn't even make your bigoted shit right.
Regardless of miraculous dispositions, perhaps I should link to a few female schoolteachers who have been convicted of sex with a minor to demonstrate the problems with misandry and sexism that our school systems have.
But it's nearly midnight in my timezone, so I have better things to do.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday January 01 2018, @03:45AM (2 children)
Wait, so if I understand this right, you want to transition because you want what you perceive to be "female privilege?" What...the...actual...fuck. Are you actually transgender or just fucked in the head? Because let me tell you something, lady-in-training: it's not fun here. You'll find out after transition when you've been passing for a while, if what a couple of MtF friends of mine have told me is any indication. You'll see how women are actually treated...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday January 01 2018, @05:40AM
I read the comment about three times and your reply seems to misrepresent what kurenai said.
That line alone makes it pretty clear that kurenai does not expect to get any such "privilege".
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0, Redundant) by kurenai.tsubasa on Monday January 01 2018, @03:39PM
Let's clear this up since you seem to be concerned about it. I'm touched! My transition is as complete as it's going to get. I pass just fine, thank you. I can fool most people into thinking that I'm a cisgender woman, including womyn-born-womyn. If the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival were still a thing, I'll bet I could get in. I know how women are treated first hand, and it is better than what I experienced as a guy.
I would also like to confirm that my sex life is just great! I get plenty of sex. My only sexual failing (well, besides being unable to give the man of my dreams 2.5 kids, which every instinct within me screams out to do) is that I do not have sex with womyn-born-womyn. I have been molested by womyn-born-womyn before. I have never been molested by a man. Isn't that fucking peculiar?!
I think you posted once your height, and I'm shorter than you are. That means that if I misjudge a situation and allow myself to slip into condition white, I could have a very bad day. I see what you feminists are describing, and I live it every day. It's calling living in condition yellow. I am aware that there is danger all around me, but I have not identified a specific threat. That is every fucking day for me. So don't you fucking dare tell me what being a woman is or isn't like.
There's also another curious implication with my short stature. If I am gendered male, I am instantly a target for testosterone-abusing meatheads with Ford F-Teen Fifties. (Oh, btw, just between us girls, a Ford F-Teen Fifty is a good sign that you probably want to steer clear of a guy.) If I am gendered female, guess what happens? I become a Hunny to be protected. That is one of the things that drives me insane about you feminists. You are so fucking privileged that you cannot see how privileged you are! Literally. I know, and you cannot deceive me about it like your white knights, because I have a firsthand basis for comparison.
Here are some protips. Lock your doors as soon as you get in your car. Carry a weapon. Also having a good pair of sunglasses with a reflective coating is great for intimidation. It's amazing what sunglasses do. Stand up straight. Yes, that means you won't be hiding any boobs with poor posture. People will look at your boobs. Do you know which gender I catch staring at my boobs the most? You fucking womyn-born-womyn.
So yes, I know exactly what I'm getting in to, because I live it every day! I have over a decade of experience passing so well that even you womyn-born-womyn are fooled into thinking I'm one of you. You know that not every man is out to get you, right? There actually aren't rapists hiding around every corner, come to find out. Men actually are not poisonous mushrooms or in a quantum superposition of rapey states. I think you feminists knew damned well from the get-go that Schrödinger's Rapist was just a cute sci-fi adaptation of literal Nazi propaganda.
The only reason I am not in deep stealth, if you must know, is because I have to do this inconvenient thing called working a job. The way you get another job is with practical experience. And that means referencing a prior identity. That means you tend to wind up with chain of custody that points back to being assigned the male gender, especially if you want nice things like having a moderately capable gaming rig. In fact, if you must know, I pass so well that I would not be surprised if many people think I'm FtM, because there's only so much I can hide, and I really do not have enough fucks to give to infiltrate FtM forums to find crossdressing tips so that I can pass as a man! (Besides, that is their space. It's not somewhere for me to be infiltrating.)
I also support other people, you know? I faced the ethical conundrum that I could be selfish. I could tell these people who depend on me that they can go homeless for all I care. My problem is that I do care. You feminists have even made one of them unemployable because of your fucking bathroom hysteria. Don't think for a goddamned second that my anger is just about what's happened to me.
You were curious about my disposition with passing and questioned my efficacy as an infiltrator, so that's why the majority of this comment is about that.
As far your trans friends, I feel for them. Have they controlled for transphobia? You feminists have done a lot to foment transphobia. If somebody questions whether trans women are “real” women, guess what most people off the street will say? They will say that even feminists say that trans women are nothing more than bathroom rapists who are invading women. The medical evidence? You feminists say it's all fake news, and they take your word for it.
I am telling you, Azuma, that feminism has done more to damage trans people than fundamentalist Christianity, precisely because of the credibility people lend feminism on the matter.
You know what? If you don't believe my authentic experience as a woman with cisgender privilege (though mine, as Serano notes, is ever on loan) that's your problem.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday December 31 2017, @09:45PM
I think you need to look up the word "dominant". When you control nearly every form of media and education, you don't get to play the poor, downtrodden underdog anymore.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by Crash on Monday January 01 2018, @11:56PM
Does SN provide a mechanism to blacklist this tripe? As opposed to forcing us to constantly need to moderate it?
Not that I think all that highly of Ars these days, but at least there's a Usenet-Level PLONK.