Selina Todd, threats, security, wrong side of history my arse

Nick Ferrari on LBC just after 9am this morning talked about this (available now on catch up on the app).

Sarah Ditum interviewed, points out the people making these threats seem to suffer no consequences. She was very good.
Followed by Jane Fae who says they been consulted on security for three trans academic events because they have been subject to threats of violence and heckling. Accuses Sarah of being involved with groups who support violence.
Sarah points out this is not true, Jane says there are threats made on both sides.
Nick points out there is intolerance, Sarah asks for an apology, Jane grudgingly does so. Jane says she gets regular threats, Sarah points out they are not coming from feminists.
Jane complains the newspapers only ever reports threats from one side, Nick asks for an example of threats to academics coming the other way; Jane insists it is happening, Nick is sceptical, Jane mentions a Bristol conference?
Sarah points out women being physically threatened by men in masks is slightly more worrying than some women peacefully protesting (I think Jane may be in the realms of ‘literal violence here).
Jane then alleges someone laughed at a trans woman at a meeting when they said they had been raped.
Well worth a listen.
I know who I believe.

It tells us that if we speak out on gender issues in a way which goes against trans orthodoxy, we will incur threats of physical violence and require bodyguard

Exactly GC. It's deliberate, targeted bullying of women. The aim is submission and compliance. Pour encourager les autres This environment is hostile to academic freedom. Because the architects of this environment don't believe in academic freedom There couldn't be a more explicit example of the totalitarianism which has colonised many universities

Very clear they think that 'safe spaces' only apply to them.

Some animals are more equal than others.

a historian who specialises in the lives of women and the working class

So, shining a light on people whose stories have traditionally been ignored because of their sex and class? Good for you, Prof Todd.

Some of these students appear to have no real idea what it means to be a "marginalised person", either now or in the past.

A hostile work environment perpetrated by the sort of baby fascists who bleat about "safe spaces" no less. Universities are expected to guarantee their "safety" from rational ideas, while allowing them to threaten violence to non-conformists.

IANAL, but isn't the uni on fairly dodgy employment law ground if they don't use available disciplinary measures or seek police help over credible threats to an employee?

This. We need some lawyers to take on cases like this. Talk about a bloody hostile work environment.

Shame on you Oxford University.

Yeah may. A woman having to have security to go to work

Is she a member of the most oppressed minority ever “?

Women having to have security guards to go to work as professors at university, because they are feminists... Let that sink in, anyone who has any doubts about who is being oppressed here. As far as I'm aware, no trans academics have had to have security guards to protect them from feminists (or anybody).

UCU's General Secretary has spoken out only to condemn gender critical academics. Some local branches have been involved in bullying and hounding members with gender critical views. Several of us on here have left the union - I refuse to pay them £30 a month to be bullied, and to know that if I found myself needing legal advice, they would do everything they could to hinder my case.

GC it's just absolutely appalling. At some point in the future, the architects and proponents of this zealotry will be indicted by history's judgement

From the article:

^She said that the history faculty have been hugely supportive of her, including referring her for counselling to help deal with the stress.

But Prof Todd urged the university to take a stronger stance in disciplining students who are making threats and malicious complaints against her. “It would be far more helpful if the university could take robust action against the people making these threats in the first place,” she said^

So who is speaking out about this? Senior academics? The University and College Union? Senior Labour and Conservative politicians? Guardian columnists?

The UCU's General Secretary has spoken out only to condemn gender critical academics. Some local branches have been involved in bullying and hounding members with gender critical views. Several of us on here have left the union - I refuse to pay them £30 a month to be bullied, and to know that if I found myself needing legal advice, they would do everything they could to hinder my case.

There was and I assume is a healthy debate about Ancient Greek homosexuality and the extent to which these people can today be described as 'gay.' It's a classic CEM Joad "It all depends what you mean by..." argument.

This debate has always been calm and reasonable with all toys remaining in the pram.

There is more from The Telegraph article here

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3803848-Oxford-feminist-historian-needs-protection

I didn't realise this thread was here before I posted on this. It is absolutely appalling that a female historian requires security because trans activists threaten her safety. As PP point out, threatening an academic because you don't like her feminist analysis or research conclusions? That is an existential threat to academic freedom. This is happening in one of the world's premier universities in the 21st century. On the anniversary of George Orwell's death

So who is speaking out about this? Senior academics? The University and College Union? Senior Labour and Conservative politicians? Guardian columnists?

The silence is deafening.

Think about that: at Britain's oldest and most renowned university, a professor is having to be accompanied to her own lectures by security guards.

And no one has the fucking guts to speak out about it. Utterly shameful. And yes, Owen Jones and your spiteful cohort of misogynists, history will judge you for this. Be absolutely assured of that.

Aesopfable

The university should be taking a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to any student threatening or abusing staff!

That's unbelievable.i can't read the whole article. So it's students that go to the university that are threatening her? Not outside TRAs?

Mumsnet street violence wing.

This is a thing.

You must have seen their recipes for ninja star biscuits.

I absolutely agree with you in principle Babdoc but I can understand why, in the current climate, women may not want to report for fear of feeling unsupported by the police / wider criminal justice system. It adds another layer of stress in an already stressful situation.

If the university believes these are serious threats - serious enough to require year long security protection - then surely the threats are criminal and require reporting to the police?
I know PPs have commented that the police would just side with the criminals and accuse the professor of transphobia, but the crimes should be reported nonetheless. You can’t second guess the police response, and if it is woke and ineffective it can be publicly complained about, in the media and to the professor’s MP.
Otherwise the criminals making the threats are getting away with it, and will be emboldened to go further.

IANAL, but isn't the uni on fairly dodgy employment law ground if they don't use available disciplinary measures or seek police help over credible threats to an employee?

I don't understand how the university thinks the threats are credible enough to require Selina to have security, but not serious enough to discipline the students making them
This!

Todd was really excellent at WPUK last May, giving a clear analysis of feminism and the problems coming from post-modern queer theory.

Yes that was a brilliant speech. I had never come across her before seeing her there but based on that and also our much missed LangCleg's recommendation I bought her book about the working class for my friend, and hoping to read it myself soon.

Well, this sends out a very clear warning to female academics (and it is female academics being targeted, because there are male academics at Oxford who have spoken out on trans issues and have not been subject to this level of threat).

It tells us that if we speak out on gender issues in a way which goes against trans orthodoxy, we will incur threats of physical violence and require bodyguards. And that those issuing those threats are untouchable. Universities have decided that it causes too much trouble to try to deal with violent transactivists in their institutions - Oxford has followed Bristol's lead on this, where a trans student was allowed to threaten and intimidate Raquel Rosario-Sanchez with impunity, and the disciplinary case against them was mysteriously dropped.

But Prof Todd urged the university to take a stronger stance in disciplining students who are making threats and malicious complaints against her. “It would be far more helpful if the university could take robust action against the people making these threats in the first place,” she said.

Wtf. The university should be taking a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to any student threatening or abusing staff!

I did think, Spartacus, that if Selina had liked a limerick they'd have been there already... Can third parties report?