Edinburgh Uni under pressure for hosting discussion on women's sex based rights

[GCatEdinburgh]

Scotsman article here

So far they have been firm re. protecting freedom of speech, but the pressure is escalating and will continue, and they will keep a close eye on the balance of negative/positive correspondence.

The event details are here.

If any of you could write in support of the event the key recipients would be the head of the School of Education Prof. Rowena Arshad ([email protected]) and the Principal Prof. Peter Mathieson ([email protected]).

But I just wanted to add here - yesterday I was feeling disappointed about the lack of police report - but now just look, what class and grace Julie has shown, getting her experience of the attack published and sharing her feelings openly, publicly, is such a simple, brilliant action to have taken.

Yes. I wasn't disappointed but I feel that the Times article kinda puts the issue to bed. The Scotsman article was very good too. It highlighted the record of violent threats and rhetoric from her assailant in such a way that Towntattle couldn't complain of unfair coverage but which was entirely damning.

It also included the vile things said to Julie, even if some of the words were censored. No reader could miss the hatred and misogyny contained.

Hi All.

First, it goes without saying that the attack on Julie was reprehensible, and I am appalled that some outlets have implied that 'misgendering' is the bigger crime. I have NEVER given an academic-y talk where we've all had to plan for disruption and encountered protests: it is absolutely insane. That said, I loved meeting some of you, and my last, rather hazy, memory is of being drunk at midnight with Joan McAlpine.

If anyone wants the text of my talk, it's here:

medium.com/@EverlastingGodstopper/thank-you-to-the-organisers-for-inviting-me-to-speak-and-for-all-their-hard-work-that-has-gone-3ff67d43b314

And apologies for the slightly pretentious username - it's only so you all know who I am!

Great, @DrLouiseMoody, thank you. 👍

Lovely to see you here, Louise!

Has it been confirmed anywhere if the police were involved.
Very irresponsible if not

I saw the incident. I wasn't at the meeting but happened to be passing. It was over pretty quickly. The security people dealt with it and Professor Freedman and Ms Bindel left in a taxi. That is not to minimise what happened but there were no police there and the incident would have been over and done with by the time a call was logged, far less actioned.

I'm not sure who you think is being irresponsible.

@LassOfFyvie
I think Bindel and the university are being irresponsible. If the security had not been there the outcome could have been different. They should had detained the person until police arrived) This person will be at the next GC meeting (and others at other meetings) and will be even more emboldened.
We should not have to wait for someone to get hurt.
The "anti trans" hysteria whips these people up into thinking threatening people is ok.

They should had detained the person until police arrived
That’s actually a reasonable point. I was detained by security once for feministing resisting being removed, and security forcibly detained me until police arrived, they have that statutory power in some places, don’t know about Edinburgh though.

I don’t think Julie Bindel is being irresponsible though, I think that criticism is unfair, she has pores light on and publicised the matter, no one is in any doubt as to what this man did.

@Cwenthryth
The idiots are using the lack of police that as justification for claiming it never happened
(The public confession from the alleged perpetrator is incidental)

*poured

Here is what security guards are legally entitled to do. Security guards do not have statutory powers any more than anyone else.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/what-security-guards-can-cant-870449.amp

www.inbrief.co.uk/employees/being-a-security-guard/

Everyone can see that they’re idiots though - they’d have a excuse or defence whatever happened. If he was prosecuted they’d scream transphobic victimisation.

This way it is all open, and everyone can see the facts of Julie’s experience and decide for themselves what they think - I don’t think the majority will conclude sympathetically to her attacker.

Ok sorry maybe not statutory powers, perhaps I was misled when I was detained, but that link does confirm that the security could have legally detained him (using reasonable force).

McAlpine is having none of it!

twitter.com/JoanMcAlpine/status/1137687879231184897

Well police are investigating now, after a witness reported the assault.

www.scotsman.com/news/politics/police-investigate-after-feminist-almost-punched-after-women-s-talk-in-edinburgh-1-4948212

Good. I see from Twitter that people don't appear to realise that the definition of an assault (in Scots law) does not mean someone has to have suffered a physical injury. It's about the INTENT to cause physical injury.

The fact they're not advocating for a third space means we really need to shelve this notion that the reason trans women need the women's loos is because they are worried about violence in the men's.

It's ( at best) a need for outside validation , from us, that they are indeed women. That's all it is. Basically about forcing us to "validate" them. I am so sick of the word validation. What kind of privilege you must have to think that women should expend their time and energy on you. It takes energy to use the wrong pronoun. It takes up energy smiling and nodding to a man who believes he's a woman. We're expected to lie to passify them and quench their endless thirst for validation. and they want us to do all this for free.
Men have traditionally gone to prostitutes to act out their fantasies. I'm against prostitution so I'm not suggesting this is what transwomen should do in order to be validated. I'm just saying that in a paid transaction I understand why a woman might be arsed to waste her scant time and energy validating a man's fantasies.

And my last comment about men traditionally going to prostitutes for validation has made me understand how utterly essential women are to transwomen. They simply cannot go about their day just being women like we do. Getting actual women to role play for them is essential - it's very parasitical

A very good point, twicemummy1. Another example of men wanting us to do the emotional labour for them.

Great points in your post twicemummy1

There was also a good article by jb in quilette about this. Worth looking up. But if you stray into the comments there's a lot of 'the feminists have brought it on themselves', the left eating itself etc etc...

When jb published her version of events I thought that probably meant she wasn't pressing charges. So it's good to see the police taking action.

@Manderleyagain
Women vote left because it's supposed to be about labor rights, abortion access and the working classes. It also had a record of providing benefits for young vulnerable single mothers, (but I've recently begun to believe that this was a farce to uphold the adoption industry, which is big business. )
The left has always been the best of a bad bunch, in other words.
But we see that porn and prostitution and trans ( which are all linked) have been heavily promoted and supported by the Left. Then we understood that the only reason the left supports abortion is because it doesn't want to lose access to women in the form of casual sex, one night stands, prostitution. Also, ironically, trans women- who are supported by the Left- are wealthy and middle class, which is just weird and shows that the Left has forgotten its obligation even to the male working classes. But maybe it's not so weird if you think about it. It just exposes the misogyny of the Left which was probably there all along but better hidden.
Like Dworkin said "The Left cannot have it's whores and it's politics too".