<p>One of France's best-known universities found itself at the centre of a gender identity row Friday after reprimanding its ballroom dancing teacher over her insistence on male and female dance roles.</p>.<p>Sciences Po Paris said it had summoned the instructor, who has taught for eight years at the university, after complaints from students about her "discriminatory" language.</p>.<p>The 53-year-old teacher decided to quit, blasting the prestigious institution for wanting her to replace the words "men" and "women" with "leader" and "follower".</p>.<p>"I say women on one side and men on the other because in dance there is a role for the man and a role for the woman," Valerie, the teacher, told <em>AFP</em>, asking to be identified by her first name only.</p>.<p>"That's the reason that we separated," she said.</p>.<p>The incident has quickly become a debate-show topic and the latest incident in a bitter inter-generational culture war in France over questions of gender and racial identity.</p>.<p>Critics slammed Sciences Po for being "woke", but the university defended its policy in the name of being inclusive for people who do not conform to binary male-female gender roles.</p>.<p>"We received a complaint from a student... backed up by several of them, according to which this teacher made remarks during her class that were discriminatory in nature in terms of the role of men in dance," a spokesperson for the university told <em>AFP</em>.</p>.<p>"We asked her to desist from doing so and she did not wish to and decided not to continue with her classes."</p>.<p>Speaking to <em>Le Parisien </em>newspaper, a student who had taken Valerie's classes said she was seen as "old school" and had made the class "feel uneasy."</p>.<p>Valerie told the same paper that "there was a notion of seduction" in ballroom dancing between a couple and "honestly two women dancing together, I find it ugly."</p>.<p>"They're censoring me. I won't bow down to the dictatorship. Forget about being politically correct. What's next? Swan Lake with a hairy swan?"</p>
<p>One of France's best-known universities found itself at the centre of a gender identity row Friday after reprimanding its ballroom dancing teacher over her insistence on male and female dance roles.</p>.<p>Sciences Po Paris said it had summoned the instructor, who has taught for eight years at the university, after complaints from students about her "discriminatory" language.</p>.<p>The 53-year-old teacher decided to quit, blasting the prestigious institution for wanting her to replace the words "men" and "women" with "leader" and "follower".</p>.<p>"I say women on one side and men on the other because in dance there is a role for the man and a role for the woman," Valerie, the teacher, told <em>AFP</em>, asking to be identified by her first name only.</p>.<p>"That's the reason that we separated," she said.</p>.<p>The incident has quickly become a debate-show topic and the latest incident in a bitter inter-generational culture war in France over questions of gender and racial identity.</p>.<p>Critics slammed Sciences Po for being "woke", but the university defended its policy in the name of being inclusive for people who do not conform to binary male-female gender roles.</p>.<p>"We received a complaint from a student... backed up by several of them, according to which this teacher made remarks during her class that were discriminatory in nature in terms of the role of men in dance," a spokesperson for the university told <em>AFP</em>.</p>.<p>"We asked her to desist from doing so and she did not wish to and decided not to continue with her classes."</p>.<p>Speaking to <em>Le Parisien </em>newspaper, a student who had taken Valerie's classes said she was seen as "old school" and had made the class "feel uneasy."</p>.<p>Valerie told the same paper that "there was a notion of seduction" in ballroom dancing between a couple and "honestly two women dancing together, I find it ugly."</p>.<p>"They're censoring me. I won't bow down to the dictatorship. Forget about being politically correct. What's next? Swan Lake with a hairy swan?"</p>