University staff given list of banned 'microinsults' they cannot say to trans people

I wanted to be a boy when I was 10 and had no interest whatsoever in girls toys or girly clothes. My best friends were boys and I asked for Mecano for Christmas. When I got given a doll, I was bemused as I’d no interest in it.

Thank god this was the 80s, not now. My poor niece was not so lucky and is on hormones and awaiting a mastectomy. That is criminal.

I think we can look to the hounding of Raquel Rosario Sanchez at Bristol to see what might happen to a student accused of one of the aggressions

Resource co-produced by Rayya Ghul

Why do I recognise that name?

But it is being excitedly policed by middle class lefties focussing on their "luxury beliefs". Self indulgent demands that have no care for the genuinely disadvantaged in society and are driven by some remarkably privileged individuals claiming to now be the most oppressed.

If a student is found to be "guilty" of a "micro aggression", what can the university do about it?

This is a fair point. Very little I would imagine. And if they did, then I am wondering how that would look in a court of law. (I suspect the outcomes could be different depending on where in the UK, of course.)

you and me both would be barred from Edinburgh uni for stating that fact

That's just utter nonsense.

I was thinking that it sounds like living in that TV program.

it says so at the bottom of each page

In Exeter transpeople are encouraged to say who they are happy to change in front of - but what of the choice of the other students:

Generally speaking, I think males are more comfortable revealing themselves to females than to other males. Females are just less threatening.

I think some men try to pretend that a desire for single-sex spaces is symmetrical. It definitely isn't.

If there's discomfort from a male about a mixed-sex situation, it's generally more about putting the woman in that position. Some men, of course, do not worry about that.

(In my opinion. Reminder - I'm male.)

Having looked at the micro aggression resources (not just this one) has no one bothered that their complete lack of accessibility makes them an aggression against people who use screen readers?

If a student is found to be "guilty" of a "micro aggression", what can the university do about it?
Excellent point.

Absolutely anything could be considered a microaggression in the right circumstances.
On a tangentially related note, a friend and I were discussing Eddie izzard recently, funnily all those years of knowing Eddie was a male made my friend constantly forget that Eddie is now a "girl" my friend said the wrong pronouns an awful lot. That conversation could presumably not happen in Edinburgh uni now.

This is interesting from the list of microaggressions above:

"Excess focus on anatomical sex markers, most usually reproductive organs"

How does that fit with all the "people with a cervix" and "vagina havers" stuff?

They do know that rooms are usually separated by sex don’t they?

It's not just Edinburgh. In Exeter transpeople are encouraged to say who they are happy to change in front of - but what of the choice of the other students:

"You are organising a residential trip, one of the students in the group identifies as non-binary and the accommodation is segregated by gender, what do you do?
Ask the student if they would prefer a separate,
non-gendered room and if so organise a separate
room for this student. If they are happy to
share a room ask them who they would be most
comfortable to share a room with, as they might
be happy changing in front of some course mates
but not others."

www.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/humanresources/edi/equalityanddiversity/equalityanddiversity/toolkitcontent/2018PS023_-_Trans_Inclusion_Booklet_st4.pdf

Academic freedom and a commitment to freedom of expression on campus are enshrined both in law and in University policy.

@blackwhiteandstripey mentioned The Coddling of the American Mind above.

Haven't got around to it myself, but here's a good lecture by the author Jonathan Haidt:

(Executive summary: they're going to have to choose between Truth and Social Justice, and one institution can't have both be sacred. In an ideal world, you would be able to have both types of university, because some would rather have Social Justice than Truth, and some would rather have Truth).

My sister wanted to be a boy.
Aren’t I allowed to make that remark any more?

I wish my hospital would ban patients from asking me what country I come from.

(Answer = UK)

Not really. I’ve figured out my own polite but firm comebacks.