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Academics' letter in Guardian

118 replies

Velella · 16/10/2018 20:34

www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/16/academics-are-being-harassed-over-their-research-into-transgender-issues

OP posts:
TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 16/10/2018 20:43

clicky link

FermatsTheorem · 16/10/2018 20:50

Wow! What a list of names. I am in awe of them - both for speaking out publicly, and for the sheer intellectual clout they wield collectively.

littlbrowndog · 16/10/2018 20:52

Jeez it comes to something when academics have to write letters to papers to say they are being harrassed and no5 allowed to speak
How did we get here

boatyardblues · 16/10/2018 20:52

It was quite something have to keep scrolling down & still the list kept coming. Interesting to seesuch a diverse range of disciplines and institutions represented. 👍

TransposersArePosers · 16/10/2018 20:52

In the Guardian

What's happened?

lenaperkins · 16/10/2018 20:52

Interesting, and brave of the academics.

RepealtheGRA · 16/10/2018 20:54

LOJ have any comment?

Is the letter good enough for me to get over my refusal to click on guardian links?

BillStickersIsInnocent · 16/10/2018 20:55

Yes! So pleased to see this in the guardian

KatherinaMinola · 16/10/2018 20:56

One of my former lecturers on that list Smile

heresyandwitchcraft · 16/10/2018 21:02

Oh how wonderful to see this letter. Thank you to all the signatories. Star

whereisthatpenguinfrom · 16/10/2018 21:03

Yes Star Star Star so pleased to see an academic from my Uni on the list. Brave inspirational woman.

OvaHere · 16/10/2018 21:03

That's an impressive list of names. Glad to hear they are networking, hopefully much needed studies will commence sooner rather than later.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 16/10/2018 21:05

So pleased to see someone I knew as a postgraduate on the list.

Props to all of them for being brave enough to put their names out there.

silentcrow · 16/10/2018 21:06

Sad to see only one from either of my alma maters, both of which have cropped up as kool-aid drinkers. Great to see it in the Guardian, though, what on earth has changed their position?

vicviking · 16/10/2018 21:06

Great letter. I want to see all their senior management stand behind them and protect them or they are not worth their salt.

NotBadConsidering · 16/10/2018 21:13

I think it’s excellent that letter and the letter the other day have been sent to the Guardian/Observer. If they’d refused to publish it would have been an emphatic statement that they are in the #nodebate camp, proving the points of the letter. By publishing, it’s a win for the letter authors; being published by a paper like the Times would have just led to “another right wing transphobic rag” attacks.

WSPU · 16/10/2018 21:28

So heartening and brave. I’m an academic and I know what it’s taken for them to sign, especially as so many of them are alone in their departments and even universities. I can tell you that there are many, many other academics, male and female, who agree with them.

GCAcademic · 16/10/2018 22:10

Have name changed for this. Am one of the signatories and this is the first time I’ve gone public. I’ve been on FWR for a long time talking to all of you. I started a thread many months ago about feeling alienated and unable to speak up at work. Through that, I was contacted by a member of this new academic network. I wasn’t ready to speak out back then, but biting my tongue has been more and more difficult in recent weeks.

One of the things that prompted me to raise my head above the parapet was the recent realisation that an awful lot of students don’t believe TWAW, and that many of them are quite angry about this ideology but don’t feel able to speak out. But the main thing has been the bravery of women like Kathleen Stock, Rosa Freedman and Selina Todd. They are more senior than me, and I hope they realise what strong role models they are for more junior female academics. They have been horribly targeted by some students and colleagues.

I am fully expecting some crap at work, but my head of department is supportive, and I actually feel relieved to have spoken out. I only wish I had managed to find my voice earlier.

rightreckoner · 16/10/2018 22:12

God well done GC. You are doing something great for women. And for freedom of speech and thought.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 16/10/2018 22:13

Thank you for signing x
The secrecy with which GC women have to find each other is just absurd. It's like the Resistance.

FermatsTheorem · 16/10/2018 22:13

Thank you GC.

I am immensely grateful to you and the other signatories.

Luglio · 16/10/2018 22:16

Well done GC. You're in good - illustrious - company, and should be proud. Thank you.

WSPU · 16/10/2018 22:17

Thanks GC. You are a star.

Annasgirl · 16/10/2018 22:20

Well done to you GCAAcademic.

I am a junior academic - mature student so not young just junior, and I am looking to more senior people to speak out. I am coauthor on a project with people from one of the named universities, but I looked in vain for my mentor on your list.