Professor Michele Moore

[GCmiddle]

Hi, I just signed up to post this...I don't know if Michele is on here or if anyone here knows her, but I think she could do with a bit of support right now. TRAs are trying to get her sacked from her editorship of a well respected journal, Disability and Society. There is a petition circulating, signed by hundreds of academics and disability rights activists, mostly from US and Canada, but a few from the UK too. All day members of the journal's editorial board have been resigning their positions ie they are supporting the petition and demanding Michele's removal on the grounds of transphobia. it's a pile-on of the worst kind.
I am not on Twitter and don't know how else to contact Michele to offer support. She is not appearing on Northumbria University's website, so I don't know how to contact her...if anyone knows her, please do reach out to her...she is being treated shockingly. I'm really upset about it.

URGENT Michele is asking for messages of support to be sent to [email protected]
Before 10am TODAY

Here's a link to the letter attacking her and others
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSffvD647-ujyDwA9J7WaopjNDsBSZ1YxZIcrrlmZWDmq08Jnw/viewform

It isn't exaggerating to call this a witchhunt.

I'm using this quote

"Transphobic" has become a meaningless term thrown at absolutely anyone who doesn't 100% agree that a natal-male human is a woman in exactly the same way a female human is. No nuance permitted. No flagging of harmful consequences permitted. Nothing but total capitulation"

Please do email NOW!

It’s been signed by Sally Hines of course, who does not even work in disability studies. Also by a few English lit lecturers I know. They have zero idea of the subject matter- they just want a pile-on.

Thanks di, who is he? Is it the publication?

Bump

That is absolutely shocking. Academics should be free to express opinions and comment of matters of public interest. If academics are hounded out of editorial posts, it has the knock on effect of shaping what is published (or not). Surely that makes the quality of academic publishing poorer?

The problem is that this campaign extends not only to trying to get Moore removed, but refusing to review papers for the journal as long as she is there (at least as far as I have seen). It is hard enough to get peer reviews as they are done of goodwill and not paid - so to start suggesting that one should not review if one editor holds different views to you is a slippery slope. The only consideration when deciding to do a review (aside from if you can spare the time and most people accept as necessary for academic scholarship to be rigorous) should be if you are qualified in the field.

I am trying to think of a parallel where I would refuse to review for a journal because I disagreed with the politics of an editorial board member. I do not think it would cross my mind to check. Someone has gone out of their way to work how to damage Moore for speaking publicly on this topic, presuming that her university is supporting the right of its academics to freedom of thought and speech and trying to get her fired is not an option. It is very sinister.

She is so nice! I’ve watched her speeches and she is incredibly knowledgeable, articulate, respectful and accurate. I cannot believe the new lows that these awful activists are now going to. Utterly reprehensible.

Emailing now. This is reprehensible.

Have just re-watched this. So good.

At the recent Newcastle meeting, Michele described the suicide of a young person who believed they were trans and started to medically transition only to realise this wasn't the answer to their issues.

She also described how a young teen with anorexia met others at the clinic who identified as transgender and then she did herself. The clinic wouldn't then treat her saying that gender dysphoria was her main issue and so she's transitioning and has ongoing untreated anorexia. I dread to think the damage that is happening to her body and bones.

It is not transphobic to ask questions and explore other avenues of treatment and watchful waiting.

This is safeguarding 101.

Done

Done.
Also put another tenner in the pot for TT. The numpties linked to it in their petition so I obliged by following the link.

Email sent

Emailing now.

Someone should retweet to the Editor of Index on Censorship

twitter.com/IndexCensorship

Michele is at Essex University
Northumbria I believe.

Emailed from my university email address

I’ve written in support, even though I’m not an academic anymore.

I've emailed and made the point that not only is this campaign grossly unfair to Michele, it is a disaster for the journal and indeed academic publishing more widely. If Michele is sacked from her editorship, who will they her replace her with? These campaigners (many of whom are very far removed from disability studies) will be satisfied only when the journal is edited and controlled by someone who is prepared to say that they deny biological and material reality. Then they will lose readers, contributors and reviewers, as the reputation of the journal plummets. Then the campaigners will move onto the next journal and target someone else.

My focus was on the disproportionate number of children and young people transitioning who are on the autistic spectrum. That makes this a disability issue in my book. I also mentioned the importance of evidence-based practice in medicine and education. I didn't want to make it too long. Hope it does some good.

Hi, I am happy to write asap from my academic email address, but can't see in the link the petition referencing Michelle Moore or the journal.. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

I have sent an email from my institutional address.

I agree it's a disability issue; all the transgender young people at my workplace (college) are on the autistic spectrum.

There’s still time to support her @NeedsMoreSleep

Charley - the correct link is in LangCleg's post above, at 22.30 yesterday.

emailed, in a hurry, hope it makes a difference ...