Anyone else work at a Uni?

@DrBlackbird I was referring to the open letter which takes an example from a clinical context. Not a doctor, but if a male takes oestrogen and is in the hospital for treatment, of course this will have to be taken into account by medics treating him in a way that differs from a) males not taking it and b) a woman taking for example oral contraceptives. So yes, trans people are ‘special cases’ in that sense but they still haven’t changed sex.

A tribunal might change their minds.

They've gone all over the world for that tiny list, and they aren't all even life sciences specialists. There's a mathematician in there and two psychologists.

https://weizmann.org.au/research/6500-genes-expressed-differently-in-men-and-women/ 6500 genes are expressed differently between the two sexes. You couldn't have that finding if there weren't two clearly-distinguished sexes.

@Meanacademic why do males who take oestrogen need careful monitoring? Monitoring for what?

Edited to add that my uni is totally captured and nothing will change on the back of the SC ruling. Too far gone to backtrack.

Think we might have been in the same meeting, the details all fit.

I didn’t look at the questions during the meeting but if I had seen yours I would have given it the thumbs up too.

I’m so sick of the usual group of spoilt children peddling this crap. Expecting the University management to break the law! Idiots.

Mr Meddle's post from yesterday about the 'open letter', a device which is actually just a method of bullying, surprised me as it has a whole load of foreign signatories at the bottom, people with foreign names at foreign universities. The names lead me to believe they most likely aren't UK nationals simply working at a foreign uni, so why the hell do they think it's ok to poke their noses into our laws?

This interference in other countries' affairs is increasingly annoying me (and God knows, I'm easily annoyed these days), like that Ryan Castellucci, an American who wanted his 'non binary status' recognised now he's in the UK. No mate, if you don't like the way we do things, bugger off back to California.

That’s a fairly short list of signatories … phew! Also, what nonsense that sex only matters in reproduction and fertility, it matters in all areas of medicine and physical activity. Otherwise the example provided here about the TW and haemoglobin levels would not make sense … yes, males who take oestrogen need careful monitoring but you would not apply the same parameters as for females … so stupid.

I’m a graduate student and there’s been nothing from our university yet apart from an email from the college trans rep offering support, and inviting attendance at an anti-SC demo. Nothing from the Women’s rep - I’ll be interested if they continue to say that the Wonen’s rep represents women and those who ID as women…
Certainly not ready to put my head above the parapet yet - and in awe of those of you who are brave enough to do so!

Worry not, here’s the open letter from “biologists”!

I’m a bit surprised that I haven’t seen open letters from Gender Studies or Literature yet. Or, for that matter, Biology …

On a more serious note, I’m
quite worried about a big backlash against GC academics in the UK now. The rhetoric reminds me of the bad old days of a few years ago. Nobody here seems to have noticed that this about women’s rights, not trans rights!

("which idiot left the sample of lethal bacteria in the sink" sort of thing)

This made me laugh.

Is there anything to be said for another open letter? How about another one?

that’s three I’ve counted now

I'm in a STEM faculty. Nothing at all by email from On High. I actively avoid any staff networks except those related directly to my work ("which idiot left the sample of lethal bacteria in the sink" sort of thing), so I have no idea whether there is any weeping and wailing.

It's just scary how loud the trans and ally voice is and that there's no equivalent women (or biological sex matters) voice as we're all too scared of even outing ourselves to each other, let alone the wider community.

Thats the thing, they are bullish and aggressive in their behaviour but the more they behave like this, the more people are siding against them and want nothing to do with them

Yes I remember NH pretending that they had a co-author. I wonder if any of the places that published those articles ever apologised for their poor due diligence

Natacha Kennedy is on there (who has co-written articles with Mark Hellen, aka their original name)
https://www.gold.ac.uk/educational-studies/staff/kennedy-natasha/

Clue's in the username.

Mine put out a "we recognise that our community is scared" kind of post on Sharepoint that has had zero thumbs-ups and then has been very very quiet since.

I also found two that I know to be trans. So it's a bit strange to find them claiming to be non-trans.

Another runs an organisation which wants to bring " Light and Joy", and "to
bust down systemic barriers to spark tidal growth through “disruptive transition” frameworks; I work with big visionaries, helping to reflect the gems they bring through creative and illuminating storytelling"

We've had an all-staff email saying the ruling is very worrying for trans identified staff and students, but it will not require a change in the trans policy.

Even though it is clearly illegal

One of the names from a university in my city is also trans identified ( and autistic); a couple are from Sociology departments and are in their thirties - one of whom has an interest in fascism; one involved in counselling and psychotherapy; one involved in Irish and Celtic Studies; one who says they are a feminist researching into abortion protocols around the world; one is a disability rights campaigner.

Oh ffs, have just found a whole lot of people I have worked with with (and taught) - how utterly depressing that I failed to provide them with the tools to analyse boilerplate ill-considered crap like 'We want our feminism to be vibrant and intersectional' as the manipulative bollocks that it is.

Gosh this letter is a depressing read.

But yes, for something meant to be signed by feminist, non-trans academics, there are certainly a lot of signatories that are not feminist, not non-trans, and not academics!

I thought the letter explicitly said it was signed by non-trans academics? Are some of them reconsidering their trans identity now? Or did they not read the letter properly?

But ultimately, the function of these open letters is to discipline other academics into shutting up and to reassert common beliefs. That’s why they end with TWAW and TMAM. Under his eye …