A game aimed at Welsh primary schools that uses mixed berry muffins to explain the concept of being gender fluid has caused some confusion online.
The Welsh government have been called out by the shadow education minister over the contents of a pamphlet that primary schools in the country have been encouraged to use.
The pamphlet was designed to help teachers have a better understanding of modern gender and sexuality concepts, and to make lessons for children aged 7 up to 18 more inclusive.
The section of the teaching guide that has caused confusion among some, and anger among others, was a game that the pamphlet dubbed the mixed-muffin gender berry challenge – here’s what it actually entailed.
How does the mixed-muffin gender berry challenge work?
According to reports, the mixed muffin game was actually aimed at teachers, as opposed to children, and proposed that the educators made three batches of muffins, with each type representing a specific gender identity.
The game suggested that blueberry muffins are to represent masculine identities, raspberry for femininity and mixed berry muffins are to represent fluid gender identities.
The idea behind the game was that teachers would open up their muffin, check whether it was blue, pink or mixed, and then stand beside a set of balloons that represented their muffin, or rather, their assigned gender identity.
The catch of the game is that there are only pink and blue balloons displayed – no mixed ones, and the point of the exercise was to explain to the teachers the feeling of not having your gender identity recognised.
The game does not suggest that children can, or should, identify as muffins – rather it simply used muffins as an analogy to explain the concept of gender fluidity to adults.
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Where did the game come from?
The mixed berry fluid muffins challenge came from a 170-page pamphlet that has reportedly been viewed by The Telegraph.
The pamphlet is said to have been commissioned by the Welsh Government and the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, and was created by a team of academics from Cardiff University.
The mixed berry fluid muffins challenge was just one example of various games and research tips that the pamphlet contained, all of which encouraged teachers to become better acquainted with modern-day schools of thought surrounding gender.
Welsh gov addresses muffin controversy after backlash
The report into the muffin challenge prompted complaints from Laura Anne Jones, the Conservative shadow education minister and Senedd representative for South Wales East.
Jones described the contents of the pamphlet as “highly inappropriate and not at all age-appropriate for our children”, before claiming that the Welsh Labour government “is determined to push gender ideology, against the wishes of the Welsh public”.
A spokesman for the government defended the pamphlet, telling The Telegraph: “Any resources that schools use must be in line with the legal requirements and they must be developmentally appropriate. It must also be factual and neutral.”
At the time of writing, it does not appear that the mixed berry muffins challenge has been played with children in schools in Wales.
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