I’ve been writing about some examples of wokeness in Denmark and concluding that, although it’s infiltrating academia, it doesn’t yet pose a threat to liberal democracy. Another case in point is an initiative to bring it into the schools that has until now had a fairly long run. It’s a program called from an organization called Normstormers (Normstormerne) that may be similar to the one proposed in Florida that was subject to the infamous “Don’t Say Gay” bill, although it’s for older kids. It has come under attack lately, at first not for its content but because the content had been kept secret.

Knowledge and facilitation consultant Monir Mooghen. Photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix)

The Normstormers have a website (DK) that presents their values and objectives. They want to promote a critical examination of social norms in the interest of improving conditions for LGBTQ+ and other vulnerable youth. This includes exploring gender identity and sexual orientation, combatting bullying and discrimination, creating safe spaces, and generally cultivating a tolerance for diversity and deviance from oppressive social norms. It covers the usual DEI menu except it doesn’t give special attention to race. The government-funded organization offers its “teaching” modules for middle-school students and faculty in Copenhagen and Aarhus, the two municipalities with the largest populations and probably the most left-leaning city councils.

That doesn’t sound very threatening. The program doesn’t affect the youngest pupils (yet), and it might involve information that is already treated in sex education. It doesn’t come close to the situation in some American schools where teachers encourage “social transitioning” and conceal it from parents. But lately parents, politicians, and others have been asking what the Normstormers are actually telling and showing the kids, and the organization refused to disclose its teaching materials. Teachers are present during the sessions as observers who are not allowed to speak, but apparently none had revealed their content.

Sorry, that’s classified

When Normstormers spokesperson Monir Mooghen was asked why they are concealing information they wish to promote, she said that it constitutes trade secrets (DK) that they need to protect in order to maintain their competitiveness; others could copy it and offer rival services. Asked whether the organization had a political agenda, Mooghen said no, but that it is “ideologue-based” [sic].

When the Kristeligt Dagblade newspaper petitioned Copenhagen Municipality for access (DK) to the material, the request was rejected on the grounds that the information had financial significance for the organization. The program’s critics replied that it is publicly funded material used in public institutions and thus not subject to private market conditions.

Four right-wing parties on the Copenhagen City Council proposed that the Municipality’s schools be allowed to use only publicly accessible teaching material. The opponents of the measure argued, rather irrelevantly, that parents should trust teachers to choose the teaching material and that many LGBTQ+ kids have serious difficulties—suicidal thoughts, self-harm, and eating disorders. The parents still wanted to know whether the schools were being used to “market identity politics” and whether kids were being told that they can get puberty blockers and be any gender they feel like. The proposal was voted down 43 to 11.

Even woke info wants to be free

The debate became moot on August 8, when a Normstormers memo from 2019 describing the project was released or leaked (DK). Here’s a brief excerpt:

[T]o be white, Christian, a man, cis-gendered, heterosexual, to have a functional body, to be adult—are examples of privileges. . . . The module is intended to: Make visible that the binary sex structure (two sexes) is not exhaustive…. To make visible that very few people fit the norms of sex, including cis-persons.

One problem with the gender topic here is that in Danish the same word, køn, refers to both sex—that is, the sexes—and gender. It can therefore become even more difficult than usual to try to distinguish between two biological sexes and multiple gender expressions. The last point above is also puzzling: If very few “cis-persons” fit the sexual norm, then who does? And what is it?

Bullying to stop bullying

Aside from sloppy formulations, on the whole the material intended for the students consists of exercises that invite worthwhile discussion. They might sometimes imply politically correct responses and attitudes, but they don’t dictate them. If the young presenters, who describe themselves as “queer people,” can deliver them undogmatically, the sessions could have a positive overall effect. But they may not be able to.

Now that the issue has broken open, there are reports of angry Normstormers scolding pupils (DK) and even teachers for giving a “wrong” answer in the exercises. “These are methods that characterize totalitarian regimes” (DK), said Alex Ahrendtsen of the Danish People’s Party. Other politicians are questioning the legality (DK) of the process in which Normstormers was awarded a DKK 7 million ($1 million) grant.

So even if the secret material isn’t especially tendentious after all, the fears of some parents that it’s being used for questionable ideological activism, if not low-key struggle sessions, are reasonable. The future of the program may be in doubt as more information about its origins and concrete application is uncovered.