GC Academic/ Professional Services support thread

[VictoriaLucas102]

I’ve noticed quite a few university colleagues pop up on different threads so thought it might be worthwhile having a dedicated support thread.

I work/ teach in a university in the north of England. I was pretty active on Twitter (professionally but also posting GC stuff) until I had an anonymous complaint (which was ridiculous and ignored by my HoD) and then a senior colleague unfollowed me after I tweeted that biology was real (and that really freaked me out). Consequently I ‘shut up’ and left twitter and have since felt like a coward for doing so. It wasn’t so much about the impact to my own career, but I work in collaboration with colleagues who I truly like and respect and the thought of their work being tainted by my beliefs/actions was just too much for me to cope with.

I know of 3 or 4 male colleagues and a couple of female colleagues who have voiced concerns but otherwise I feel so utterly isolated. Even my closest colleagues, who I would also consider friends, I just cannot even broach this with them.

I know I am not alone but it often feels like I am. I am still very much an ‘early career’ academic (despite my age and professional experience) but then I see what happens to female professors and it makes me even more terrified to put my head over the parapet, and it is not in my nature to ‘keep my mouth shut’ on issues I’m passionate about.

Sorry for the ramble! TLDR; any other GC university folk here who want to chat about stuff ☺️

" It’s the isolation that is difficult and it’s not an issue that I can just put to one side and forget about (I’ve tried!)."

Yes, this ^^

I've become radically alienated by this ideology, I've tried to find the missing pieces of this puzzle and work out why my thoughts are so at odds with the prevailing culture and all its done is make me extremely angry and less able to accept compromise on these issues.

But I have to - I'm a student and I've already suffered sleepless night's over hinting that I might have GC views, which I thought long and hard about - there are goady comments from activists on my course and I had to very gently push back. Never again, I'm not made of strong enough stuff. I feel bad at the prospect of making the lovely lecturers uncomfortable and I'm terrified that anything I said could be twisted as targeting gnc students. So I'm staying in the box. The thing that makes it so hard is how empowered the activists feel. It's so unfair. And dangerous. There is a lot of feminism coming up and I'm utterly dreading it, it feels like such a spectacular waste of time.

Never again, I'm not made of strong enough stuff. I feel bad at the prospect of making the lovely lecturers uncomfortable and I'm terrified that anything I said could be twisted as targeting gnc students. So I'm staying in the box. The thing that makes it so hard is how empowered the activists feel. It's so unfair. And dangerous. There is a lot of feminism coming up and I'm utterly dreading it, it feels like such a spectacular waste of time.

I'm sorry to hear that. You need to go to town on the module evaluation form. It's anonymous, and it's so important that your experiences and the failings of the module are made clear to the department.

My NB colleague now considers himself an authority on all things equality and inclusion and wouldn't tolerate a prize that only some NBs would be eligible for.

Maybe you could gently persuade him to "educate himself" on this "intersectionality" thing people go on about.

(I'm sure there are already plenty of other prizes that only some NBs are eligible for. Sex-based ones would not be an outlier).

It's anonymous, and it's so important that your experiences and the failings of the module are made clear to the department.

But if your beef is with other students, not the teaching staff, please make this clear. Perhaps along the lines of - other students (not the tutor) made you feel that you couldn’t discuss your ideas.

Oh, and @Mimmymum if you're still reading - could you identify any transphobia in this thread? Several of us have actually articulated very clearly that we are supportive of our trans students.

This doesn't and shouldn't stop us from discussing the broader theoretical, philosphical, and ideological issues, and their policy implications.

NC for this. I’m PS in a RG University. I’ve not been asked to add pronouns yet but can see it coming. Coming out quietly to a few colleagues and had one broach the subject with me as she thought I might be GC but it took a lot of nerve for her to ask. Feels like we are part of a forbidden society so it’s good to know we are not alone.

Hi everyone, I would like an answer from Mumsnet about why I can't post about my book on Mumsnet on topics where people are asking info about books, or GC resources, feminism for teens, etc. How does that violate rules? If users are asking for tips on books, I cannot suggest a book I wrote? Or the problem is that I am being reported because the book is about radical feminism?

@Mimmymum, we are so quiet about this because open discussion would likely be shut down. I imagine all of us on this thread would be delighted to have open discussions. I know I would. Debating how we can best support all our students, male and female, however they identify, and how we can collect clear, informative and consistent research data, is in all our interests. Sadly, we have been told repeatedly "no debate".

A depressing thread that demonstrates the extent that an unrepresentative group have been given the power to trample over the freedom of others to express legitimate fact and science based views. When a lecturer is too timid to even discuss issues relating to women's rights and child safeguarding because they're too "delicate" it shows what a mess we're all in and how potentially dangerous this is for children and the vulnerable.
I am however optimistic that since #nodebate has been effectively challenged, people now see the harm happening to children and are instinctively insisting on the right to discuss competing rights and issues relating to children - even if higher education is resistant to the truth.

Your last sentence persistent says the thread isn't so depressing after all I'm finding this a really good thread. Lots of us who are not in academia are visiting

Hi @AndyNob. I wasn't sure what you were referring to, so I've just found you on another thread, discovered this is highly relevant (your book sounds very interesting) and have followed you on Twitter as a result. I've no idea about the Mumsnet rules, but for anyone else who wasn't sure what this post was about, see this Twitter account: @ariana_erbon

Thanks for starting this thread. I am an SL at a UK university in a social science subject. My university is a Stonewall Champion and has cancelled events due to protest from students who say the speaker is a TERF.

I know that there are others out there who have GC views but for me it seems that every day someone I respect retweets some rubbish about GC feminists being fascists or putting their pronouns in their bios. I’ve seen colleagues like tweets that say GC women are unwelcome in academia and that they will make every effort to get them out.

It might be due to lockdown too but I just feel so alone. I can’t change how I think though. I have tried, like a PP describes above, to interrogate the assertion that I am a bigot and I know that I am not and that I am coming from a place of reason and concern for women. Despite this, I know it’s not safe for me to be open about my views. It really gets me down because I worked hard for my career and I feel I have a lot to add. I feel like I’m going mad when educated people tell me sex is a social construct and that a male can be a woman.

In my teaching, I try to be neutral and non-committal. I know I would be vulnerable to complaints otherwise. If any student wanted to talk to me about GC issues, I would be delighted to do so but I’d never take the initiative myself. I’d also be somewhat worried about it being a trap to expose me (this sounds very paranoid but I’ve heard it happen). So if a student with pronouns in their email signature were to start asking questions about whether I was GC, I’d clam up pretty sharpish.

Name changed as rather paranoid. PS in northern uni which is currently preoccupied by BLM/BAME recruitment and bad press on diversity, so trans issues somewhat down the agenda. Keep my mouth firmly shut but have several equally GC colleagues whom I trust and talk to. I correct sex/gender and alter wording where I can, mention public sector duty of freedom of speech when I can, and complain to the uni when they use wrong terminology or do things like stick up laminated gender neutral toilet signs without due impact assessment process. In those cases I contact the uni under another name. This thread is great. I only wish there was a safe way to network in real life.

That’s heart-breaking, Reality. I sometimes think we need a high-profile court case to reassert academic freedom.

But I also think that there is a lot of ass-covering in academia, and a pronoun in an email signature or twitter bio can seem like a small price to pay for a quiet life. Anecdotally, more women do this than men (wonder why?). The really powerful alpha males, unless they are full-on TRAs, know that pronouns make you look submissive, so they don’t bother. Look at all the senior men in your department and see how many play the pronoun game.

I once told a student that the idea that intersex conditions represented a third sex was just wrong. And nothing happened.

Thanks for the support AidaMG - I hope my tutors feel the same as you and welcome debate - you sound great!

VictoriaLucas123 - logically I agree - I know teaching staff are bound by strict marking protocols. However, it's difficult to feel confident expressing, not just a controversial opinion, but views that are actually deemed hateful by many students and some university staff without fear of consequences. I think this is compounded by the fact it's a distance learning degree which makes the student/personal tutor relationship even more important as they're the main point of contact for the entire module and you really need them onside!

However, it won't stop me throwing in a few 'awkward' questions whenever relevant!

Hi all, some of you might be interested in signing this open letter in support of Kathleen Stock, details here:

twitter.com/ElectricAgora/status/1346525599842627585?s=20

Please continue to send me your DMs if you wish to sign an open letter supporting
@Docstockk
and condemning the dogpiling culture taking over our profession. All academics welcome, not just philosophers. At the end of the day, I will communicate with everyone about how to proceed

@Jamclag

Thanks for the support AidaMG - I hope my tutors feel the same as you and welcome debate - you sound great!

VictoriaLucas123 - logically I agree - I know teaching staff are bound by strict marking protocols. However, it's difficult to feel confident expressing, not just a controversial opinion, but views that are actually deemed hateful by many students and some university staff without fear of consequences. I think this is compounded by the fact it's a distance learning degree which makes the student/personal tutor relationship even more important as they're the main point of contact for the entire module and you really need them onside!

However, it won't stop me throwing in a few 'awkward' questions whenever relevant!

(VictoriaLucas here .. have had problems with my account so changed my name)

Completely understand Jamclag. It’s exactly like the university saying (on paper) they will support my FoS but then the months and subsequent it would take to sort out a student/colleague/complete random off the Internet complaint .. it’s the thought of that I can’t stomach.

*subsequent stress ..

@AidaMG

Hi all, some of you might be interested in signing this open letter in support of Kathleen Stock, details here:

twitter.com/ElectricAgora/status/1346525599842627585?s=20

Please continue to send me your DMs if you wish to sign an open letter supporting
@Docstockk
and condemning the dogpiling culture taking over our profession. All academics welcome, not just philosophers. At the end of the day, I will communicate with everyone about how to proceed

Eugh I just spent half an hour on twitter looking at that shit show ... the way some male academics present themselves on social media is toe curling.

One thing the letters do is flag people in your institution who are with you/ against you. I spotted a couple from the uni I work in who have signed the ‘anti-Kathleen’ letter .. the fact they have already had to offer a correction after people have signed .. 🙄

I feel just the same. I'm a PhD student at a northern England uni. I basically feel like this issue is impacting everything - what I can research, and how, and how my career might or might not work out. It's very isolating. I was quite actively involved in UCU but I've had to step back from that cos I can't bear the assumptions made about how we all feel and think, and the no debate culture. Thanks for starting the thread

I left UCU a long time ago. Paying nearly £20 a month to an organisation where the GS blocked me on twitter (using a ‘terf’ blocker list) and some particularly toxic and prolific UCU colleagues tweeting about TERFs .. didn’t really think they’d ever have my interests at heart if anything did happen.

If PhD students do want to set up a network it might be worth emailing Raquel Sanchez at Bristol University as (I think) she has managed to set up a female only feminist group at the university. There may be scope to set up a wider network but probably this needs to be done through personal associations/word of mouth so you know people are trusted.

There is also @satiricole (Nicole Jones) on twitter who is (or recently was) a student up in Scotland who has been very vocal and set up mobile.twitter.com/XXFeministNet

I am a humanities researcher who isn't especially GC, but a resolute no-platformer and generally holding a very high threshold for #NoDebate (e.g. incitement to physical violence).

It's a real "if you're not with us, you're against us" culture in my circles - even arguing against no-platforming in general is enough to get you a raised eyebrow. I've been heavily criticised by a colleague for even coming onto Mumsnet because FWR exists.

God curledup - what a git saying you shouldn't even come on mumsnet. Who do these people think they are?