Sometimes I hate being at university

[LastMichaelmas]

And really hate the fact I don't have a Sharpie, or the bravery to scribble out a W and an O.

But then, that would be hate speech 🙄

It's just everywhere, constantly, reminding me of my isolation, because none of the gay spaces I'd been hoping I could make use of before I came here would welcome a bigot like me who thinks transwomen are transwomen, different from women, but no less valuable as human beings, and that insisting transwomen are women implies there's something wrong with being a transwoman.

every document put out by the administration or student union - even student marks - now begins with a declaration that we recognise we are unceded indigenous territory.

What is the purpose of this? It is so tedious.

That narrows you down to half a dozen unis one of which is mine. Totally. Counselling Services have to respond and take on board feedback as it's hard to elicit high rates of response when surveying students. So feeding this back is a great idea. We have had students note the exclusionary nature of rainbow lanyards and the more people who do this, the better. One problem is that Students Union reps represent a small proportion of students and are terribly narrow-minded. Student voices increasingly carry great away in the market of HE so go for it. I'd love some dissent where I am.

But if you were feeling brave, you could also feedback to the student counselling service, via your counsellor maybe? That the focus on trans to the exclusion of other groups is just that - excluding.

Our staff survey has just opened and I'm planning on making a big point about this. The so-called "Equality and Diversity" is, in practice, prioritisation of, and exclusive focus on, a single group.

Though at least they aren't asking what gender I identify as this time. Last time I told my Head of Department I was unable to complete the survey as I don't have a gender identity, and pointed out that this was exclusionary. He passed that on to senior management. Anyway, there is no mention of gender or sex at all now.

every document put out by the administration or student union - even student marks - now begins with a declaration that we recognise we are unceded indigenous territory.*

"We say this but it means nothing. We don't have to do anything actually helpful. We just say this all woke-like"

thought when I started at university it would be nice to be able to join a ready-made gay community, but the organisations centre trans and non-binary issues to the extent that these groups don't seem relevant to me.

This is something I feel very sad about. My daughter has just started at uni and it would be lovely if there were some lesbian meet-ups or similar that were not inclusive of males, but I’m guessing that other than by private arrangement, such events are probably no longer allowed.

I hope that a way will be found through the over-the-top concentration on those groups to the detriment of others and homosexual rights will be acceptable again.

Moral terfitude love it!

Mm. I just looked at the term card for the LGBT+ society for last term, to see if it was any better than I remembered, and the events on the schedule were:

General LGBT+: 24
Trans & NB (incl. welfare appointments and Day of Remembrance): 10
Ace/aro: 8 (plus asexuality awareness week)
Women: 5
Bi & pan: 1

Presumably LGBT+ doesn't include homosexuals these days :-/

God, LastMichaelmas, I hear your frustration. I recall my LGB society at uni was total shit and mostly blokes anyway, and this was 20 years ago. I watched the scene local to me dwindle away from the vibrancy of my late teens into a homogenous indistinct culture of nothingness with everyone calling themselves queer. I actually did a search the other day for lesbian groups in my area, thinking that with the advent of the internet, it must surely be easier to find things than when I was trying to sneak looks in the Pink pages or phone the Lesbian and Gay Switchboard.

Nothing. Lots of groups for T and T's parents and assorted letters in the alphabet soup, some stuff for G, but not a thing for Lesbians. I feel like I might as well slide quietly to the back of the closet again.

What is the purpose of this? It is so tedious.

The usual reason given is that it is to raise awareness of systemic privilege and where it resides.

I think the reality is closer to what someone said upthread, it's virtue signalling that requires no real action, and I'd add to that it requires no relevant relation where it appears. It's a statement totally unrelated to student marks, for example.

When I am feeling particularly cynical I think it's actually meant to be an assertion of power, like the ones at Evergreen.

I have to keep reminding myself what a fad this is. Our most recent crop of students includes a lot of kids w blue hair who appear to be just boring old strait boys and girls but make up the majority of the queer student union due to using “they” pronouns.

Sadly a lot of them appear to be on hormones (female body with slight moustache, Adam’s apple with gynomastia) which i find sad as they are likely to be sterilizing themselves needlessly. Given they are 18 it’s all informed consent at this point.

I guess I just feel sad that these quirky, nerdy kids who 10 years ago would have been playing D and D or 20 years ago would have gone goth have come to the conclusion that their bodies are wrong and need to be modified because mainstream gender roles suck.

When I am feeling particularly cynical I think it's actually meant to be an assertion of power, like the ones at Evergreen

Funny you should say that. When I read your first post I immediately thought your university sounded like Evergreen.

Funny you should say that. When I read your first post I immediately thought your university sounded like Evergreen.

It's not even just the university though. It's in the school announcements at my kids' state run school, it's at the beginning of political rallies, it's at meetings in public spaces like libraries, it's at government events.

I find it very worrying. What pisses me off about the university is there is no real room to think about it and be critical, not in any department.

I just looked back at my first post and realised I didn't actually say where it was! It's a notice board in our common room, where everybody is welcome to go and chill out.

Political things aren't displayed in the common room, beyond I suppose energy-saving/green stuff, if you count that as political. No idea if that's an actual rule, as such — I doubt it — but people just don't. The two posters on the noticeboard I blocked out were for a university event and a play that's on locally, so probably not things anyone would disagree with.

I just don't think it's the place for it. There are lots of other places to put social justice campaign stuff, or things for particular groups, or political statements. Not in a place where everybody is supposed to be comfortable. I wouldn't put feminist stuff up, for example, because I know that there will be many others using the room who aren't feminists, and much as I may disagree with some of their opinions I feel they should be able to relax in their common room without messages on the walls they disagree with.

What I don't understand is the total lack of celebration of WHO trans people are. We have a black history month, we have international women's day both to celebrate achievements and acknowledge the past. There are other events Deafest, DaDa etc.

It's as if trans people don't have a story or a history. I find that really sad, a group of people so bent on stealing the achievements and history of others they can't celebrate them selves.

I get all the 'brave and stunning' stuff but it's so hollow.
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none of them would be black or indigenous women

That did make me snort a little bit - I'm sure some of them would have been indigenous - to the UK - but I presume they mean indigenous to other countries (generally those the UK invaded).

Mine isn't bad to be fair. They're ridiculously strict on unauthorised posters which cuts the general crap down to social media feeds, and so it's only really the SU who go on about introducing themselves with their pronouns and begging everyone to go collect their free pronouns badges and the like. I was quite impressed with a lecturer who taught a session on the psychology of gender roles and managed to toe the line precisely while getting across very clearly that they thought it was all bollocks really.