Should I email my Uni Lecturer about this?

OP I have only read your posts

Just in case it's of interest, this has been set up

freespeechchampions.com/

She is entitled to her opinion, but I wonder if she has even properly encountered the alternatives? Really in these situations lecturers should acknowledge that other people hold different views on this

From what I see on Twitter, there are a lot of early career academics who block anyone who doesn't hold identical views to them. They behave tribally and seem to live in genuine oblivion that their views are not shared by 99% of academics and even the wider public. The stunned incredulity at the outcome of the 2019 general election was a sight to behold.

There needs to be a network for students who feel the way you do OP.

OP if your friend could use her anonymous feedback to say something too I'm sure that would be helpful.

The worrying thing is that the young lecturer has taken her own opinion on this controversial issue to be 'the true opinion' and is putting that forward as a fact. It is worrying whatever the politics. She is entitled to her opinion, but I wonder if she has even properly encountered the alternatives? Really in these situations lecturers should acknowledge that other people hold different views on this, like they do if there is ever a discussion about religious faith. Replying with a blog by mermaids (I think they put out an article on why jkr was wrong/transphobic that was assertions and no real substance so I'm guessing it was that) suggests lack of own thought. It's so counter to the skills you would expect an academic to have. View all the evidence, assess it, compare it, try & understand the context and different perspectives....

I hope you get a positive reply from the course head. You have established for them that some students at least are not board with this approach.

This will happen if we allow it to happen. If it is not challenged then we have no hope.

I really hope you use your anonymous feedback to set out why this was so counterproductive to the course.

Apologies to all the 50/60 year olds who I have inadvertently offended. I’ll just never forget the malicious smile on the face of one of them when he coaxed a young female lecturer into going on a rant about these evil terfs ... he was loving every second of it.

I am appalled by the lecturer's original statement and response. This isn't education - it's indoctrination.

By all means speak out and complain to the department. Marking should be anonymous and second marked. There should also be clear criteria for how a mark is achieved - if there isn't, ask why there isn't.

D) a not insignificant contingent of misogynist and possibly sexually problematic males in their 50s and 60s who are rubbing their hands with glee because those uppity women are finally getting what they deserve.

In my experience, the misogynist male academics tend to be in their 30s and 40s. The male professors in their 50s and 60s in my department are fully gender critical and not shy about saying so.

Hi OP, if you have not done so already, do forward the email you have received from your lecturer. (Well done for obtaining written evidence, btw.) There is no need for you to nail your colours to the mast - you can simply say that you have not made up your mind about this issue, as new evidence (such as the Keira Bell ruling) is constantly coming out, but you want to be able to think for yourself and not be indoctrinated.

In a way, it's good that this lecturer is a temporary fill-in for someone else because it won't bring up conflicts of loyalties, as in, how do you politely reprimand someone who is on a permanent contract, has worked in your department for ages, has done a lot for the institution and is unlikely to leave.

When I look at my department, I see a number of different camps:

A) the true believers (pronouns in bio, flags on office doors): a minority
B) the dissenters who have too much at stake to say anything, either because they don't have institutional power or because they have built their career on third wave feminism and are stuck now that it has gone off piste
C) the 'what the hell is this shit, I'm going to sit this out and swoop in as the voice of reason when it's all over' camp who are extremely pleased with themselves that they've never worked on gender and happily return to their research on medieval poetry/sociology of migration/food history/nuclear arms control. The bad news for this camp is that a) this isn't going away and b) if you question the existence of human sexual dimorphism you question the root of human existence itself, and this will leave few fields of research untouched.
D) a not insignificant contingent of misogynist and possibly sexually problematic males in their 50s and 60s who are rubbing their hands with glee because those uppity women are finally getting what they deserve.

You need to speak to B and C.

Oh I've just seen you emailed the head of the course-- not sure if that is the same lecturer but well done, I really hope it goes well for you.

I wouldn't email the lecturer directly as it could backfire on you-- I am sure you know what can happen to women who challenge the trans rhetoric. I'd hate for you to be targetted or downgraded.

What I would do is make a complaint about the lecturer through the proper channels and let them deal with it. The lecturer may be more likely to pay attention if it is official, rather than an email from a student

Well done! I'm also happy to speak up if there's anything on my course, I'm doing it more for personal development, there are few consequences for me. I've only just started so nothing's come up yet, but I'm expecting it will. In other situations I'm quite vulnerable because of family and income but here I might quite enjoy being able to be open...!

[quote JoodyBlue]@EdgeOfACoin did you hear the one Triggernometry did with Professor Hicks? It was a good analysis of where we are. Pretty chilling though.[/quote]
Hi JoodyBlue, I've watched a lot of Triggernometry but haven't seen that one - I'll check it out.

I think it's good that you politely challenged it ... but personally I wouldn't try to argue any further with that specific lecturer, as neither of you is likely to change your mind. I'd probably send a short polite reply thanking them for responding.

Whether you want to take it further via another route is up to you ...

There is no reasoning with zealots. Avoid pursuing any further now that you have a response to your initial email.

If you want, you can get in touch with this new project as they are looking to support free speech issues in schools and universities. Maybe they have some advice, but my view is to keep your head down for now.
freespeechchampions.com/get-advice/

A better course of action would be to try to find like-minded students at your university so you can form a trusted, secret support group / network and slowly build resistance that way. Be very careful who you reveal your views to. You may have to concede that you might find unlikely allies who don't necessarily share your political views i.e. they tend to be on the right, but still understand the value of liberal thought and freedom of expression.

Sign up for the newsletter for the Free Speech Champions project above so you are informed of upcoming events.

I would also recommend all young women at university who frequent this board to sign up to the following blog and try to get in touch with the young feminists behind it.
xxnetwork.co.uk/blog/

If you hadn't sent out that email to your lecturer, I would have suggested that you write an article for the XX blog about your university experience and clearly outline how this lecturer is pushing their politically motivated and ill informed agenda and bringing academia into disrepute.
Don't write any articles now though, as it would only expose you.

Your energy is better spent at the moment finding like-minded feminists and non-feminists who have the same concerns and building an underground network.

*finger.

@SkeeterP

A fabulous much needed idea...please get your ginger out

Where do I sign up ?

@TabbyStar

I agree, I’m a survivor of ACE and not long ago suffered a violent attack from a male stranger in the street.
My real experiences of fear and abuse are apparently not really interesting or of concern compared to the ‘feelings’ of the minority.
It pisses me off because it’s distracting from the very real work needed to be done to tackle the very real existence of male violence.
Our young women who are currently being groomed in this ideology, the internalised misogyny that they are eating up in order to be on the ‘right’ side... how many assaults is it going to take before they call the police?
I fear for their futures.

What a depressing state of affairs. I think I’m lucky in that the programmes I teach on attract a lot of international students and mature students so we do have a nice mix of perspectives and (mostly) mutual respect. Reassuringly, the assignments I’ve just read on gender constructs clearly indicate (1st year) students understand the difference between gender and biological sex, and that you can shift one but cannot change the other.

Myself and a colleague from another university are in the process of setting up a GC Academic Network which we hope will provide a space for people who work/study in HE to share their experiences (anonymously) and perhaps feel less isolated (this is one of the issues for me, personally). I just need to pull my finger out and get the website set up, but I’d welcome thoughts on whether this would be useful. If nothing else it could start to build a bank of evidence that staff AND students are being seriously impacted by this.

There’s your dissertation topic and 18 months to really explore the debate.