Germaine Greer

[IamTheWhoreofBabylon]

i never post here but I'm watching Germaine Greer on newsnight
Crazy, the woman is not allowed to discuss feminist issues without being forced to discuss transgender issues
Disclaimer- I really like GG
Am I reading this correctly? Why does she have to fight for a different groups issues

[NiNoKuni]

There's been an awful lot of that no-platforming going on. Silencing uppity women. And you are kind of forced to take some kind of stance on transgenderism if you want anything to do with feminism these days, in my experience.

But I did laugh so hard when she went 'Bugger it!' - sheer brilliance

[IamTheWhoreofBabylon]

But why should it not be acceptable for her to concentrate her energies on those born female and socialised as women
Surely issues facing transgender women are very different

[whatdoIget]

I haven't seen the interview but I agree that feminism does seem robe all about trans women now. I see them as being a subset of men, not of women, so I find it hard to see how their issues are seemingly so relevant to feminism tbh.

[whatdoIget]

That should be 'to be'not 'robe'

[PlaysWellWithOthers]

This is about a bunch of uni students who believe that, because Germaine has said some things that make some people feel sad inside, which apparently means she's never allowed to talk about anything else either. Because that's what university is supposed to do for young people, close their minds and never expose them to anything or anyone controversial.

I am really bloody cross about this whole no platforming thing now. The Uni that no platformed Julie Bindel for the same reason as Cardiff students want to no platform Greer, were quite happy to allow one of the most hateful men on the planet speak, until they were shown recent tweets where he slags off the very people who wanted Bindel and Greer no platformed. Unlike them, he's never apologised.

It's ridiculous. I don't agree with about 1/3 of what Greer says, but she should be allowed to say it, especially as this had zero to do with TG issues in any way.

I suspect I'm just going to be called hateful and mean again though, so.... meh.

(and welcome to FWR, we're actually pretty nice here)

[PlaysWellWithOthers]

She's not been asked to speak about TG issues though. She's there to speak about feminism and women.

[EnthusiasmDisturbed]

She is questioned constantly about her views on trans women

It is just one more way of not being able to discuss issues that are for women and girls

Once again we have to consider others first ffs

[grumpyuncleR]

I'm sure she has enough to do regarding women's issues. I don't see why she should be expected to take on the issues of men who are a bit confused about their own biology.

[grumpyuncleR]

The interview on BBC is not available outside the UK, but it is on Youtube-

[BubsandMoo]

I think she's quite brilliant in that interview! And I'm not always a big fan of hers.

I feel quite conflicted on the issue if whether transwomen are 'real women' or not, but I do really, really object to how transwomen's issues are taking over any debate regarding women and feminism in general, and to (seemingly more frequent) occasions when the needs and feelings of transwomen are put ahead and above those of born women, and anyone querying it is labelled transphobic. It does smack of misogyny, GG is right there.

[FreshwaterSelkie]

Aaaaaaaarghhhh! I was just reading this on the Grauniad this morning, and am chuntering away to myself before I'm even on my second cup of coffee, which is not how I care to start the day. Glad there's already a thread on this.

I'm not Greer's biggest fan, by any means, but this is bonkers. Do these people not even hear what they're saying? "While debate in a university should be encouraged, hosting a speaker with such problematic and hateful views towards marginalised and vulnerable groups is dangerous" - eh?? Or in other words, "we welcome debate, as long as it's only stuff that we agree with". Then they end up throwing things at her to demonstrate that it's her words that are violent and troubling. What. The. Fuck? We are truly lost down the rabbithole now.

Oh crack on Cardiff Uni, crack on. Maybe once you've finished silencing everyone who disagrees with you, you can borrow a few more tools from totalitarian regimes and just airbrush them out of history entirely. That always works well. This is NOT what people should be going to university for - this article in The Atlandtic is brilliant on why this trend is so very dangerous.

[FreshwaterSelkie]

I just watched that video - she is fantastic in it! Brava, Germaine.

[WhenSheWasBadSheWasHorrid]

She absolutely should be allowed to speak at Cardiff.

I just listened to that BBC interview and found her pretty unpleasant but she should still be allowed a platform.

[EmpressKnowsWhereHerTowelIs]

Brava is right!

[TendonQueen]

I was quite heartened by the number of comments criticising this petition on the Guardian article. Plus they pointed out that only 300 people have signed it so it's had a lot of negative publicity for a crappy response. Cardiff come out of this looking very silly.

[limitedperiodonly]

Thank you for posting that grumpy. I agree with everything she said and I liked the way she said it.

[TheXxed]

SOAS uni is the undisputed heavy weight champions of special snowflake politics I doubt anyone would even invite her.

There was a really good Al Jazeera The Stream episode about 'trigger warnings' which touched on how universities are expected to handle difficult topics i.e not at all.

[CallaLilli]

That interview is brilliant, she is extremely frank and candid in the face of Kirsty Wark's at times disingenuous questioning. Greer is not talking about people being "allowed" to be transgender, she is merely stating her opinion.

I do disagree with one point that the OP makes. Greer isn't constantly questioned about her views on trans people, she is questioned about trans women, who I find to be a far more vocal lobby than transmen. In fact I've met transmen who say that trans women get all the attention because they've been born men and are used to dominating conversations and not having their views challenged.

[DoreenLethal]

Totally Germanine. Just totally.

[lionheart]

Yes, 'no platforming', 'safe spaces' and 'trigger warnings' are all the rage at the moment.

[MultiShirking]

I'm a huge fan. Don't always agree with Dr Greer's views, but she is a pioneer whom we dismiss to our own detriment. People should read The Female Eunuch - it's revolutionary.

On this morning's Today programme, she simply said that she had nothing against peole transitioning from one gender to another, but that to say that men became women was nonsense. And it is at the level of sex (as opposed to gender). She's right - apart from physiologically intersex people, most of us are largely (not completely) biologically one or the other sex.

But gender - the social construction of identity and power hierarchies consequent on that - derived from ideologically-formed views of what is appropriate identity for each biological sex - Gender is something else.

Over all of this, I can't help feeling that if we stopped seeing gender roles as fixed (femininity, masculinuity etc) then the issue wouldn't arise. If a biological man prefers to express his identity via traditionally "feminine" behaviours, activities, dress etc - well, really what IS the problem?

Men in dresses? Meh. Men who have sex with men? Completely normal. Men who wear make up? Normal in the 18th century so why a problem now? Aggressive men demanding access to women-only spaces: get off my patch.