Utah high school gives 'misogynistic' dating advice
(NEWSER) – When the mother of a 16-year-old high school student posted material from her daughter's school assignment to Facebook this week, she had to clarify to friends that it wasn't a hoax or prank.
Jenn Oxborrow tells the Salt Lake Tribune that in her daughter's adult roles and financial literacy class, which Utah requires students to take for high school graduation, the teacher handed out homework as part of the "Purposes of Dating" section.
The handouts — pulled from a state database that teachers can upload material to — instructed the Highland High School students to go on a $5 date, and offered a list of advice from the opposite sex that the handout noted students should "try and follow."
On the girls' sheet: "If you think you're too fat, keep it to yourself," and "eat the food you order; don't waste his money."
The boys, meanwhile, were told to "say what you’re going to order" at a restaurant "so she will have a guide in ordering."
A rep for the Utah Board of Education says all materials in the "Purposes of Dating" section have now been removed: "They're inappropriate."
Principal Chris Jenson acknowledges that there's "no doubt" there is gender bias in the materials, while Oxborrow, who the East Idaho News reports is a therapist, accused the state of "evidence-based misogyny" and says the material "puts our kids at risk" at a time when they're sorting out their identities.
Oxborrow's daughter, Lucy Mulligan, tells the Guardian she found the whole thing "so bizarre. The girls' assignment was essentially based around how to please boys."
(This Texas teacher's homework policy went viral in August.)
This story originally appeared on Newser:
Utah HS Assignment Instructs Girls Not to 'Waste His Money'
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