email and reply from RSB

[sashh]

Do you remember the RSB tweet telling a biologist to take their transphobia out of the hash tag.

I got a reply to my email yesterday, it doesn't answer my questions but it sounds like whoever tweeted might be in a little trouble.

Email and reply here

Hi

I'd l;ike some clarification on a tweet sent on behalf of the RSB. I enclose a summary of the exchange here.

Today is #iamabiologist day - some would say, the BEST day in #BiologyWeek! We'll be showcasing some amazing biologists and the work they do, so make sure to share your selfies by tagging us and using the hashtag so we can share it too!

#iamabiologist who knows that sex is determined at conception, observed at or before birth and is immutable. I also know that #BiologyIsntBigotry and that women are #AdultHumanFemales.

Royal Society of Biology @RoyalSocBio Replying to @TriciaFrasman
Please take your transphobia out of our hashtag please. BYE

Please can you confirm whether the Royal Society of Biology believes it is abusive (transphobic) to state that in humans sex is determined in utero and that it is also bigotry? Or does the society believe adult human females are women?

At this point I'd like to take the opportunity to state that 'sex' is a protected characteristic in the Equality Act. The tweet replying to Tricia Frasman was not directed at me but was stated in a public forum, it is offensive to all women to call our existence 'transphobic'.

I look forward to hearing from you

Reply here - I have redacted my real name

Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention. They have been raised internally and we will take them forward.

The Royal Society of Biology is committed to supporting and promoting an environment in which the development and sharing of knowledge about the science of life is open to all. We work to ensure that the biological sciences are accessible to everyone regardless of age, disability, gender identity, sex, ethnicity or nationality, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or socio-economic background. Increasing the understanding of life can benefit all, with the complex areas of sex and gender remaining areas of active research in their fields.

Our #biosciencesforall programme advocates for, and invites, the inclusion of everyone with an interest in the biosciences, and aims to address challenges to access at all levels. We are actively collaborating with other organisations to help make science more accessible and are a signatory of the Science Council’s Declaration on Diversity, Equality and Inclusion.

Further detail of our work can be found on our website.

Best wishes

Laura

Dr Laura Bellingan FRSB

Director of Policy and Public Affairs

020 3925 3468

077 2059 2802

www.rsb.org.uk

Royal Society of Biology | 1 Naoroji Street | London | WC1X 0GB

Well done op - do you know if that tweet has been taken down yet?

Well Laura didn’t answer any of your question. But good to know there is lots of research going on into the biology of sex

Looks like full-strength damage limitation to me!

Good work, sashh.

What a load of long winded, non committal waffle that doesn't even answer the questions you asked.

Isn't it pathetic that the RSB are so fucking scared of hurting the feelings of a tiny number of science deniers that they'd rather pretend biological facts aren't necessary.

Increasing the understanding of life can benefit all, with the complex areas of sex and gender remaining areas of active research in their fields

Yep -
Looking forward to their peer-reviewed papers informing us of the elusive third ingredient that stops human sex being binary.

Embarrassing...

Reading that reply makes me think the RSB should stuff collaborating with anyone other than the Plain English Campaign.

Waffle waffle inclusive waffle not answering the actual question word salad bollocks.

The tweet is still there.

mobile.twitter.com/RoyalSocBio/status/1314556133051375618

It is a totally nothing and, therefore, in my view terrible. Are you going to go back to them?

I bizarrely got the exact same reply.

well done OP

wonder what They have been raised internally and we will take them forward. means in reality

You need a follow up as they haven't addressed your question. They've just churned out a pre-prepared statement about inclusion in biology.

Do they think biological sex has a basis in... erm... biology? Do they think it is transphobic simply to say that sex is based in biology?

I think it's a wishy-washy reply. I wonder if the people who reply to these sorts of emails ever feel embarrassed about their total non-answers.

I would reiterate your question about whether the RSB believes it is transphobic and bigoted to state that sex is determined in utero. The fact that the Tweet is still up suggests that the RSB do indeed believe that this statement is transphobic.

How does “ Our #biosciencesforall programme advocates for, and invites, the inclusion of everyone with an interest in the biosciences, and aims to address challenges to access at all levels.”

Sit comfortably with labelling “#iamabiologist who knows that sex is determined at conception, observed at or before birth and is immutable. I also know that #BiologyIsntBigotry and that women are #AdultHumanFemales” as transphobic.

Seems to me the second one does not address “challenges to access” but instead creates an access challenge.

What makes you think ‘Alice’ might be in trouble?

Bland non-reply. If the tweet is still there then they support it.

I have become increasingly cynical about declarations of diversity, but I note this one includes “Declaration extends to include social economic background and scientific opinion“ so at the very least they are failing to include pretty standard scientific opinion (in favour of twaddle).

At least the Science Council Declaration isn't entirely awful - they even get the list of protected characteristics correct, which is a refreshing change.

This whole saga has been so dissapointing from RSB. I am a biologist working in industry and there's no woke pronouns stuff in my company. When I see stuff like this I worry it'll filter in.

Uk science is such a melting pot of people from all over the world with a bunch of different cultures and traditions. I don't understand why RSB would come out with this given it's certainly not the position of most of their members.

It is such poor science communication too. In biology we know biological sex is real. I've never heard it questioned. They are basically shutting down the truth cause it isn't trendy.

As replies to a straight question go, that is the biggest load of pish I have seen in a while. And there's been a lot of pish around lately.

Shame on the RBS. Absolute shame.

The fact the tweet is still up on the official account means for all the mealy mouthed words, they endorse its content

Or they don’t know how tho press the right button and delete it...

Well that's a lot words nestling together that add up to precisely nothing op. I'm not a biologist but that reply makes me feel very nervous.

That doesn't answer any of the questions

Come on RSB. Do you believe In biological sex or not?

Do they also encourage people who believe the earth was created in seven days, and that dinosaur fossils were are all put there by The Devil to convince modern humans into the lies of Darwinism?

By not taking that tweet down they are condoning a member of their staff bullying a women on the basis of her sex.

I've reported the tweet for harassment, I know twitter won't do anything about it but suggest others on twitter also report it for harassment.

Hi all, I'm back.

Yes I will be getting back to them and I'm really disappointed that the tweet is still up.

Anyone who also wants to contact them, well you have the contact details.

OK email

Thank you for your reply.
In my earlier email I asked if the society's position is that it is abusive to state that human sex is determined in utero and if ths society also held the position that adult human females are women?
You have not answered these two simple questions.
I note the tweet has not been deleted so I can only assume the society supportscalling people bigots for stating biological facts and that you are happy to allow your official twitter feed to abuse a woman for stating biology.

I have to wonder why a scientific society thinks it has a place in sociology. researching gender, how can that help with the understanding of science?

I look forward to you answering my questions.