Academics criticise traffic light 'safe space' badges at transgender conference

"Pupils, do not approach me, I'm having sensitive photocopier issues."

Found it. Susan Matthews attended and wrote an article on Medium.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3691664-University-implements-high-security-due-to-MN-feminists

"What is a woman?" (badge immediately changes to red)*

Academia stands or falls on informed debate. So sacred cows that cannot be questioned have no place in academic discussion, they are the cause of rot which stops progress of ideas

This is exactly it.

If you are espousing an ideology which topples at the merest hint of any challenge, even a basic question about terms (and your most important terms, at that), you have to employ some kind of mechanism to prevent it.

This is just the 'scholarly' version of NoDebate, no platforming, bomb threats, rape threats and doxxing.

It's not about them being fragile, it's about them having a dangerous, anti female ideology masquerading as progression.

Fortunately, it's human nature to keep digging when someone frantically tries to take away your spade.

Haven't found the other thread yet but here's one from January when the call for papers went out.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3468102-Thinking-Beyond-Transversal-Transfeminisms-conference?pg=1&order=

That will work well for colourblind people.

Inclusivity and diversity!

Yep, because safeguarding is all about not challenging people or their behaviour!

Safeguarding? . What, because words are ‘literal’ violence? Wtf??

Leaving side the fact that I think this was a conference where barely a dozen people turned up...

Presumably none of the speakers can give a talk/present a paper in case someone in the room has a red or yellow badge?

Isn’t one of the functions of attending a conference to talk to other delegates , exchange ideas and views , debate etc .

What a pile of shite. I've been to many conferences. You only engage in debate if you want to. But i guess that won't get anyone a special snowflake award!

statisticians all stare at their shoes at conference anyway so it will be popular with them.

I guess they'd need colour-coded shoelaces rather than lanyards.

There was a thread about this conference just after it took place. I think there were only about 16 delegates.

I work in this sector. This is my daily reality. Mind blowing stupidity being indulged and supposedly educated people refusing to think critically. Pray for me.

Coffee- Because they can't refute our arguments.

@Germ1360

"delegates were asked to wear the lanyards for safeguarding reasons" - more evidence that some people do not understand what safeguarding is.

My thoughts exactly!

But hey, let's open up sex segregated spaces and sports and mutilate kids and refute biology and as long as we stick a red sticker on it we can't be challenged - genius!

Why, yet again, are GC women being sold as so dangerous that an academic conference needs a security guard and badges that shut up debate?!

Just to say that I have my red badge on today, so I’m ordering HQ to remove all content from this web site because I feel triggered.

That will work well for colourblind people.

Is this the same conference where Kathleen Stock's writings were shown as an example of hate speech?

I have just had a disquieting thought. At the moment each attendee can choose the colour of their badge. What if in the future you are assigned a colour based on your level of 'threat'? It is already happening on Twitter where people can be banned (red), blocked (yellow) or free to post (green).

Query - "Earlier this year, Julie Bindel, a prominent feminist, claimed she was “lunged at” by a trans woman after an event at Edinburgh University."

Isn't there video footage of this? And eye witnesses? So it's not "claimed".

That's so funny.

We should all have those all day, every day. I can think of a fair few staff members and students I could flash a red card at.

They briefly covered this on BBC R4 yesterday morning just before 10am, where it was treated with levity. David Spiegenhalter (prof of statistics) said great, statisticians all stare at their shoes at conference anyway so it will be popular with them.

I can see, as a PP says above, it may be good for workshops with autistic people, but for academic conferences surely it's a worrying example of function creep.

Very glad this has been picked up by the media and glad that Michael Biggs has been quoted.

Running an event in this bizarre and sinister way is very much confusing an academic conference with an emotional support group of an unhealthily paranoid kind, (having security on the door ), or some kind of authoritarian political rally where anyone’s ideas can’t be safely and peacefully questioned. DARVO.

All universities already have security measures. So they can only logically have booked this extra security to protect any feminists that might turn up.

Because the only recorded assaults and aggressive threats between these two groups have been by male-born trans people aggressing on female-born feminist people. (Eg Look up Maria McLachlan being attacked at Speakers Corner- if you want to know more) this does not mean they are ‘both as bad as each other’ or ‘six of one and half a dozen of the other’. If that is Roehampton University’s response to Male on Female violence, to get security in to protect men, then we have something really shocking happening.

Academia stands or falls on informed debate. So sacred cows that cannot be questioned have no place in academic discussion, they are the cause of rot which stops progress of ideas, gathering of evidence and freedom of thought and expression, assembly and publication.

If academia stops being able to ask questions then it rots away and the whole of society will suffer for lack of progress.
All of society is then vulnerable to being led by authoritarian politics and superstition.

Already it’s as getting though in some academic disciplines on specific topics, students can’t be said to be being educated at all, just indoctrinated or inculcated. It’s very dangerous for all of us whether we are connected with universities or not at all.

Universities need to be much much tougher on enforcing freedom of speech for academics and students. Are they inspected against protecting freedom of speech and if not why not?

We won't die out due to climate change, most of us (the human race) will die off long before that point

I think it may be around the same time - 8-10 years. The climate crisis will have made it so hot we can't go outside (or so wet we can't stay inside) so getting hormones and/or surgery will prove difficult, and so will be divorcing your parents or putting any legal challenges through court.

If we can't talk to each other for risk from 'literal violence' whilst the planet burns we really do deserve everything we get.