Universities will be the last bastion of gender ideology and the denial of women's rights

I teach at one of the most Gender woo UK Universities - a high rank Stonewall approved employer. Politically our institution is very happy to continue to break the law on women's spaces and remain dangerously inclusive in the student sporting teams

Its exhausting a lot of the time, we also had a "Sex worker" support group at the freshers fair a couple of years ago and no one seemed to realise how problematic is was until it made the nation news cycle - but I'm starting see bits of push back. Partially in new students rolling their eyes from time to time.

In last couple of years I've had to deal with a couple of evil and unhinged students, the kind that give staff nightmares and anxiety, they have all been trans identified... Which sort of undermines the "be kind" narrative... Especially when students use their "transness" as a way to bully people up....some recent incidents in my dept have shaken even the most staunch trans allies.

Ah, but you gave added context ❤

Sorry @Mmmnotsure - I mised your earlier post on this thread. Too shocked to think straight!

Flagging this up from another thread (posted thanks @VictorianPlum ) becauwe it seems very relevant.

Michael Foran has been one of the most influential academic legal brains in the UK. His opinion is referenced by the Supreme Court in FWS. He made the case that self-id in Scottish broke the Equality Act 2010 and could be challenged by a Section 35 order. He was recently recruited from Glasgow University by Oxford. Oxford University know who he is.

So now he has been trying to give a short seminar series on "Sex, Gender Identity and the Law". His specialism. I'd have thought students would want to know what the law says especially if they want to change it. Wrong.

Michael Foran on Twitter.

"Due to escalating disruptive protests, I have decided to cancel the remainder of these lectures. This is deeply lamentable, but the disruption has undermined the academic nature of this series. Students shouldn't face bullying or harassment when attending academic events."
https://x.com/michaelpforan/status/2063577885928013833

I am flabbergasted. Academic freedom at University of Oxford? My arse.

Sorry to disappoint you, but Bath has already sent out an email to staff saying they won't be implementing the FWS ruling; the EHRC guidance is all too complicated for them and they'll be putting their trans colleagues first and they can use the loos that align with their gender.

Well, why go to the bother of being a police state yourself when you can just sit back and let self-appointed ideologues bully anyone they disagree with, unchecked?

Or have the university now stepped up and dealt with the disruptors in the situation described at 12.48 on this thread?

The debating society at Cambridge managed a civilised debate on gender issues not long ago. Both sides had their say. Nobody screamed and intimidated. That's how it should be.

This is so sad, but was infinitely foreseeable. The people who weren't damaged or sacrificed will happily move forward with their full, adult lives.

It will be the parents (who these children are told are bigots who don't understand/hate them) who will be left to deal with the fallout and carry the grief and devastation of their blighted futures.

I'm very sorry to read this.

I have said many times that some of the biggest victims of this ideology/social contagion are the vulnerable people who thought that identifying as trans and altering their body would solve all their problems, as if it were some kind of universal panacea.

Universities will be the last bastion of gender ideology and the affirmation of women's rights

There, fixed that for you. I certainly hope we will be. Ultimately though it's up to individual students and tutors to believe what they want to believe. Academia is not a police state, happily

And I suspect that a lot of my (lovely) female students are pretty terfy - without realising it.

I work as an academic - it's all I've ever wanted to do since I was about 14. I'm also a good feminist and teach stuff based on 2nd wave feminism. There are a few of us about, quietly working under the radar. I'm not going to give up.

I'm friends with a woman whose daughter was in the first cohort to get swept up in this as a young teen (she's 27 now) usual story clever, thoughtful, autistic, lonely went from discord to GIDS.
Had a very supportive network at University, all young women & as her mum tells it was seemingly happy for a long time.
She's living back at home now & working part time not really making use of her very good degree from a very good Uni. Had her breasts removed & testosterone has left her balding with urinary/gynae problems.
She was invited to a wedding in London of a University friend. My friend dropped her off - they've all moved on these young women, marriage, one is expecting a child, one has a dream job abroad - my friend rightly or wrongly is angry - her daughter is stuck, unhappy & in failing health whilst all her University group who cheered her transistion on have packed up the progress pride flags & grown up.

I have a friend who has a trans daughter at Oxford. She (the daughter) has always had anxiety and other mental health problems. Especially at uni she presents as male, uses a male name and pronouns. Her social group is 100% affirming. Apparently this helped to start with, but her anxiety is now worse than ever. I hope that, eventually, the university will notice that it’s affirming approach isn’t helping anyone - not sure how that message gets through though….

Agree. I have a dd at Oxford and she hardly ever talks about this with any of her friends. It came up with one female friend, who brought it up as she’d had a disagreement with her boyfriend on trans issues (friend is GC like dd). I think that’s the only time she has ever discussed her opinion at university.

This approach is just so illogical, the absolute opposite of what universities are meant to teach - critical thinking!

I seriously cannot understand their position, at all.

Edited for clarity

The doors say one thing - I'd be very interested to know what happened if a young female student reported an obvious male in the 'actually single sex' Ladies, though.

Supported, ignored or shamed?

You’re probably right OP.

And I imagine universities which are unionised and who feed into the entertainment, music, arts industries will be there at the bitter end.

I wouldn’t despair of your daughter’s reaction, she seems entirely pragmatic. However it’s people like her who may be able to quietly dampen down the whole situation simply by not whooping it up. I was watching something on TV, can’t remember what it was, but about Henry 8 and the Catholic/church of England. And I thought, no, I wouldn’t be tortured and then burnt at the stake for my beliefs. I sort of thought I would. It’s changed the way I deal with the issues, slightly!

Those stats say 60% for the UK, and a lot higher than many comparable nations.

It’s about a third of 18 year olds that go to uni - way way way less than other comparable nations, embarrassingly less: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1227272/share-of-people-with-tertiary-education-in-oecd-countries-by-country/?srsltid=AfmBOooa6AIA-1JRtb3a9iQExQVogvQpRU1ftjj5OPO5Dc8cRR2FIVjz

I too am glad OP no longer works in the sector given their disdain and lack of knowledge of it.

Whist the government continue to peddle the lie that everyone should have a degree, the Uni's have a guaranteed pipeline of young people to educate in mickey mouse subjects.

Not even Blair at his most enthusiastic called for everyone to have a degree. In 1999 he said"Today I set a target of 50 per cent of young adults going into higher education in the next century."

This higher education was supposed to include university degrees, HNDs & apprenticeships. In fact we have ended up with 50% attending university & little emphasis on HNDs & apprenticeships.