Times article - Professors bullied into silence as students cry transphobia

[OvaHere]

Apols if this has been shared. I couldn't see it.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/professors-bullied-into-silence-as-students-cry-transphobia-b52t5gzz5?shareToken=b96ac887c301097e77782583e716feb4

I know right? But this sort of horrible aggression is apparently now to be applauded. Telling people they are garbage, to fuck off, to get in the bin, to fuck off out of academia, to get in the sea. All things I have seen on twitter this morning in response to people saying they don’t want to be harassed at work. The level of cognitive dissonance is amazing.

She seems like a deeply horrible person, as do so many of them. The level of aggression is astounding. And always always directed at women who disagree, never at men. Easy targets.

Thank you to everyone brace enough to stand up in public and fight this insanity!

I wish the times articles and other articles on side of academic freedom of speech would include actual quotes of what the TRA students found objectionable. It would demonstrate the absurdity of their demands to sack/censure much more clearly

FWR I read in Kathleen Stock’s piece that one student at a very large university said they felt unsafe if the academic in question was on the same campus as them. The student wasn’t even taught by or had had any interaction with the academic. It’s absolutely mind boggling that this sort of idiocy is taken seriously.

Jaysus, just looked at that Janega woman’s twitter feed, full of “get fucked” responses to women who politely challenge her. Deeply unpleasant person.

'Ironic that the person fuming in that twitter thread about supposed “dehumanisation” of trans students is the one calling gc academics “trash”. hmm I mean, does she even hear herself? What an idiot.'

This.
Twitter is a cesspit full of the most vile, aggressive behaviour. I hope this Eleanor Janega person has a better side to her personality than the one she is displaying here. I don't know how people who behave like this ever get jobs in academia - can you imagine reading this and then appointing her, even if you agreed with her politically?

TheCountess i think she only holds an hourly paid role at LSE but, no, I would never appoint someone who behaved like that, regardless of which worthy cause they claimed to be supporting. It demonstrates aggression, total lack of professionalism and instability. A total shitshow for want of a better word.

Thank you to all of you women who keep on keeping on in the face of this madness. It gives me hope to know that there are still rational thinkers within academia.

Pota, I do think in hers and some other posts there is resentment coming across for women who have permanent academic jobs.

The utter irony of TRAs claiming “safeguarding” risks around the thought-crime by lecturers of having gender critical views. whereas if you raise any actual safeguarding concerns about eg male bodied persons being in women’s prisons/youth hostel rooms/brownie camps you are a evil bigot.

On one side, a reasonable, respectfully delivered opinion. On the other side, this answer.

Thank you and to everyone who spoke to The Times. Solidarity for those facing/bracing for backlash.

I find I am blocked by the lovely Dr J, so she is probably using Terfblocker. Found a way to look at her tweets anyway. Oh dear.

Also bear in mind that the woman who has been told to get fucked is black, while the woman who said it bangs on self righteously about white feminism.

TheCountess I was going to say the same thing! I wondered if I was reading too much into it but it’s interesting that you thought the same. It’s definitely a pattern I have noticed.

Exactly, theCountess. Women's rights and the definition of woman are especially important for women in developing world. I was happy to peak trans one of my students, who said something about the High Commissioner for Human Rights not doing the right thing because he did not provide bathrooms for women in the refugee camps for the Rohingya. When I asked her why that would be a problem, as sex segregated bathrooms are a bad thing, you could literally see the penny drop for her.

I think what happens is (or rather what happened in my case) was that my expression of ideas, theories, questions about things such as - the foundational definition of what it is to be a woman - were [mis]understood as attacks on individuals. Or rather, the complainant argued that
because I expressed ideas, opinions, questions about transactivism and the extremists of that movement,

therefore

I would necessarily treat individual students in a discriminatory way.

The complainant had no complaint about my actual treatment of actual students. They couldn't have because I'd never taught them. I would not recognise the complainant if I fell over them.

They'd done a very fuzzy, invalid sort of reasoning.

"She doesn't agree with theoretical statements by transactivists, therefore a) she's erasing me and b) she hates me."

If any of you saw Jonny Best's scan of his complaint on Twitter, you'll see the same [il]logic.

Good work, Alessandra. The thing is that despite their analogies of white supremacism, it is the pro-trans movement that is incredibly white and western-centric. In less prosperous countries, the notion of identifying out of oppression is not even capable of being entertained. These countries also demonstrate the huge inequality between the sexes that still persists- child marriage, lack of access to menstrual products, FGM, female infanticide. To claim that it has nothing to do with the female sexed body is plainly ludicrous. But queer theory is firmly centred on cultures where this sort of navel-gazing can be indulged because we now live in a society where women have equal access to education for instance. This gives us the ability to pretend that it has always been this way and that being born female is neither here nor there.

Is dr. Janega trans themselves?

No, I don’t think she is. Just an ‘ally’.

I think what happens is (or rather what happened in my case) was that my expression of ideas, theories, questions about things such as - the foundational definition of what it is to be a woman - were [mis]understood as attacks on individuals.

I think a lot of people find it difficult NOT to do this. You see it in discussions here all the time, someone says something about stay at home moms or something and then all of a sudden six people are upset because somehow it supposedly reflects on them as working moms or homemakers and start arguing as if you somehow deliberately attacking individual women, or attacking them personally. "So you think I am supposed to...."

It's annoying enough on a message board but you'd think academics would have been trained out of that well before they managed to get hired.

Well done @MouthyHarpy and Louise you guys are truly brave and appreciated for being prepared to put yourselves on the line.

You and others on the FWR board have been inspirations to me. I've been able to challenge (timidly, but with growing confidence) organisational policy where I work and other places because of your example.

Shout out to Fair Play for Women and Woman's Place too. You have made a difference and continue to do so... dances off singing 'Sister Suffragette' from Mary Poppins

"So, cast off the shackles of yesterday!
Shoulder to shoulder into the fray!
Our daughters' daughters will adore us
And they'll sign in grateful chorus
"Well done! Well done!
Well done Sister Suffragette!"

I am on twitter a fair bit (always very polite) and never heard of/interacted with Eleanor Janega. So I looked them up and I am blocked. How deeply unimpressive of them to make sweeping assumptions of bad faith about people based on their lawful opinions regarding gender identity theory. And how contrary to the spirit of academic freedom and enquiry

I Also think I have heard Lang saying that this nonsense about feeling unsafe on a campus at a university is very classist. Not sure if classist is the correct word

Ordinary women working in jobs really sometimes have to worry about their safety and their maternity right and pay gap and it’s a real thing not some made up shite by a privileged person

It’s like identity politics just made up stuff yet it seems they can use i5 to bully women and people who they don’t agree with

Bullies and idiots that seem to take greAt delight in being bullies

Thank you for speaking out but fuck knows how we have got to the stage where this has to happen

This whole thing disgusts me. I am really glad I am not a student nowadays. I was gratified to see some names I know from my own subject in the comments; all rational and many GC. Thanks for the share token, OP.