Samantha Fulnecky's Gender Essay Sparks Controversy After Trans Professor Gives Her a Zero

One of the nice things about college is that it’s a more mature setting where you can openly question, argue, and reflect on topics that would be too sensitive in grade school. So when an essay about societal expectations of gender lands on the agenda, it's not a big deal, or so we thought. Apparently, a student named Samantha Fulnecky, a University of Oklahoma student, was asked to write an essay about “how people are perceived based on societal expectations of gender,” per the New York Post.

Basically, the assignment was a 650-word reaction to an article, Turning Point USA University of Oklahoma chapter noted. Not only did her essay receive a zero, but she’s also getting tons of backlash (and some support) for the “support” she included in her essay, which centered around God and her belief that "He" only made two genders. Here’s why people are taking issue with Fulnecky’s essay, and how she gained Turning Point USA as an ally.

Samantha Fulnecky’s name is getting major attention after she failed an essay assignment that was supposed to address “how people are perceived based on societal expectations of gender.” Some points she could have covered might be how girls are expected to be feminine — hair and nails always done, makeup in pristine condition, in shape and active, outfits on point, and definitely not behaving like a tomboy.

As for men, she could have thrown in how society expects them to be strong, masculine, and able to handle any handy job thrown their way. Basically, she was supposed to break down the expectations society places on gender and how those expectations influence how people are perceived.

But Fulnecky decided to focus on how the Bible states God only made a man and a woman, and how she believes they’re supposed to conform to the societal norms set for them. In her intro, she even suggests that the “teasing” males and females do to one another (i.e., when someone isn’t “acting” like a male or female) isn’t a problem.

She heavily digresses into why she respects the Bible and “God’s original plan for humans,” and believes “it is perfectly normal for kids to follow gender ‘stereotypes’ because that is how God made us.” And then at one point, she contradicts herself, saying, “I do not want kids to be teased or bullied in school. However, pushing the lie that everyone has their own truth and everyone can do whatever they want and be whoever they want is not biblical whatsoever.”

Later in her essay, she writes, “Society pushing the lie that there are multiple genders and everyone should be whatever they want to be is demonic and severely harms American youth.” Toward the end of her essay, Fulnecky also states, “My prayer for the world and specifically for American society and youth is that they would not believe the lies being spread from Satan that make them believe they are better off as another gender than what God made them.”

While Fulnecky is certainly entitled to her opinion, she veered from the assignment, as her trans professor pointed out, along with another professor who graded the essay. Both agreed Fulnecky’s work lacked “empirical evidence.”

Had this been an opinion-based essay, she may have hit the mark. But she was given an article to react to, and instead of citing sources or actually answering the topic, she leaned entirely into her beliefs.

And while plenty are dragging Fulnecky for her “offensive” views, as her professor noted, others are showing up for her, unsurprisingly, Turning Point USA’s University of Oklahoma chapter among them.