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 ☺️

I think people are afraid but that there is more support for GC feminism than is apparent right now. I know this from the conversations I have had recently. There is certainly a lot of support for academic freedom and no 'no platforming', cancelling, censoring.

If I see pro-nouns, or someone I recognise on one of those letters I know to tread more carefully around them.

It's a shame that so many are afraid to speak out for fear of the consequences but that doesn't mean we can't operate under the radar, as women have always done.

exactly @lionheart.

PS in one of The wokest universities. Fortunately it manifests mostly around Black Lives Matter and decolonising the curriculum rather than gender politics at the moment.
Recently HR asked for response to a questionnaire from the gender soup community. On the basis that according to Stonewall I qualify as non-binary I took the opportunity to respond. I confess to having a lot of fun castigating them for including intersex (reminding them that the proper term is DSD) and waxing lyrical about Stonewall law, women's rights and the Equality Act.
I'm also in a silent sticker war with a TRA in the gender neutral toilets. They're single cubicle with washing facilities and unfortunately are the closest to my office. It causes much amusement amongst my colleagues and I know nobody knows it's me as I was asked to talk to a delegation of gender soup students because my boss didn't want to deal with them and thought I might be more sympathetic.

“I'm also in a silent sticker war with a TRA in the gender neutral toilets. They're single cubicle with washing facilities and unfortunately are the closest to my office. It causes much amusement amongst my colleagues and I know nobody knows it's me as I was asked to talk to a delegation of gender soup students because my boss didn't want to deal with them and thought I might be more sympathetic.“

LOL

@AlessandraAsteriti

So sorry to hear about you being banned from Twitter and all the hassle you've had. I hope your university are supporting you.

I am at a uni in Italy albeit not in an academic role and I thought we were lagging behind in wokeness but it seems to be gathering speed here too.

My uni in Germany are being total cowards about it.

I was happy to make a distinction between sex and gender but later realised that it could have got me into trouble.

I teach in a different area, but always emphasise the distinction between sex and gender roles/stereotypes (and also where these overlap ...). I say to the students that without making that distinction, we aren't able to articulate the or delineate aspects of patriarchy.

No challenges on this - my students are all really grateful for having an analytical tool - they are socialised to think it's just them (imposter syndrome & shame are conditioned into girls from a very young age still ), and I emphasise to the young men that this s about structures, not individuals, and encourage them to think about aspects of masculinity. I insist on terns such as femininity and masculinity so that the language makes visible the gender stereotypes.

I am also very clear about the distinction between sex and gender when teaching. In fact, the current madness has made me emphasise it all the more. I've never had complaints about it.

Apologies for DM link but it is what it is ...

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9123083/amp/Academics-slam-government-awarding-OBE-anti-trans-professor.html?__twitter_impression=true

Yes. GCAcademic - I even talk about the 'biological body' - we've discussed things like pregnancy!

@xxyzz

As someone who spent time in the DDR in the 1980s, this whole thread sounds like something out of East Germany under Communism.

Quite incredible that university academics, professionals and students should feel the need to be silent over biology, wonder who they can trust and only able to express bog-standard views secretly.

Anyone who supports No Debate or attacks gender critical women - you are on the same side as the Stasi in this, and will be remembered with similar affection. Your rule is going the same way.

Wow. Just wow.

I am really interested in this comment. I have no direct experience of the GDR, but so many aspects of the current situation remind me of it. e.g. the sense of being observed and the self-censorship of words and action as a result, and the gaslighting.

I read something about 6-7 years ago about how some citizens used the state ideology in subversive ways to get what they wanted, e.g. invoking the concept of "Heimat" to get funding to renovate a sports pavilion or similar, which might not actually have had much to do with the political objectives of the state. It feels like some feminists do something similar, e.g. when we decline to state pronouns on the grounds that it could harm trans people who are not yet out. I'm sure there are other examples. It's using the ideology against itself rather than challenging it directly.

Does that resonate with you?

Thinking about the GDR makes me uncomfortable, as I would have been one of the people who tried to keep their head down and get on with their private lives, rather than risking university places/good jobs for family. But I would definitely have swapped tips on that kind of subversion!

m.youtube.com/watch?v=TjLyg1wemag&t=282s

This resonated with me - Peter Pomerantsev talking about returning from Russia and finding the same propaganda here, where they were no longer trying to prove anything anymore, facts no longer mattered, instead they tried to make you doubt everything.

As far as a divide and conquer tactic goes, I don't think anybody could have imagined the wild success of gender extremism

And I never clap for Tinkerbell in Peter Pan GCAcademic

That’s really interesting HubertHerbert- thank you.

[quote lionheart]Apologies for DM link but it is what it is ...

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9123083/amp/Academics-slam-government-awarding-OBE-anti-trans-professor.html?__twitter_impression=true[/quote]
It's brilliant how much publicity these 600 letter-signers (hilariously happy to sign a letter which has acknowledged major inaccuracies) are giving to Prof Stock's very reasonable arguments. Dear Petulant 600 - please keep at it!!

(Reminds me of Douglas Adams: "You'll have a national philosophers' strike on your hands"...).

littleburn suggested putting a link on here to thread about Legal Feminist’s campaign to find out how much our public bodies are investing in time and money to be associated with Stonewall. She said The points made by Legal Feminist about the legal risks of creating policies using the Stonewall definition of trans (as opposed to the EA 2010 definition) is actually really useful in making the case for not continuing down the Stonewall route. Here’s the link:

#DontSubmitToStonewall - suggested quick action by Legal Feminist
http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4158554--DontSubmitToStonewall-suggested-quick-action-by-Legal-Feminist

Can I also share this site we have set up where people can share their experiences (well worth reading through the submissions):

gcacademianetwork.weebly.com/

People are working very hard to sabotage/ get it taken down.

I’ll also add that the site came about because of this thread. Apologies for not sharing it sooner - it’s been a crazy week.

I've only just seen this thread. Lots of the posts resonate with me, especially @RealityNotEssentialism. I'll add my experiences to the website you've set up, @SkeeterP and thank you for creating it.

I want to buck the trend and say something positive about UCU. Last year I needed casework support after I was targeted for my views on women's rights. There wasn't any point going to my branch who are woke as anything, so I went to my regional office. They allocated me a professional caseworker who gave me fantastic support. I don't underestimate how bad things are in UCU with JG and her merry men (and handmaids), and I don't blame anyone for leaving, I've been close to it myself. I haven't given up just yet, and I'm voting in the NEC elections for the only openly GC candidate, Shereen Benjamin. If there are any UCU members left here, please do the same, and don't vote for anyone on the UCU Commons slate - it's the Jo Grady faction.

Good blog here. www.afaf.org.uk/ucu-elections-2021-vote-benjamin-for-academic-freedom/

I’m no longer work at uni but much of what I read here sounds soo familiar. I have let opportunities pass me by because it invited ‘all women’ or ‘those identifying as women’. I didn’t have the energy to question as my uni was stonewalled and had some students on the media being high trans advocates.

I haven’t read the whole thread but I thought this site set up for academics might be of interest. They are recording experiences like those spoken here.

www.gcacademianetwork.org/

This is a really eye opening thread. Thank you all for your contributions. I have no connection to Higher Ed currently. It's nearly ten years since my eldest DD attended and I don't get the impression any of this was especially mainstream back then. My next two DS's have taken a vocational/trade route so are largely immune to it all.

However my youngest DS is very likely to go to university in about 4 years time. I'd be more worried if he was a girl but I still have a lot of concerns. Desperately hoping some of the current madness has passed by then.

I spent quite a bit of time yesterday reading the website Skeeter posted. It's a depressing read but these stories really need to be heard by a wider audience.

I've delurked after months reading threads on here and trying to assimilate the mind-fogging miasma of madness.

I'm an admin skivvy at a university that's more STEM-based, which I think reduces the level of woke. We have a high number of Chinese students who I think are just not interested in this; they're paying exorbitant overseas fees and are fully focussed on getting their degrees. No email pronouns yet, and I won a small victory recently with getting Sex rather than Gender on a form. A lot of people have worked seriously hard for the cause of greater female representation in STEM (slow progress in my Dept); to have these efforts trashed by middle aged males deciding they identify as women is outrageous.

It was the 50:50 representation thread that prompted me to register; hopefully it will be a tipping point for others too.

I don't know what shocked me most when I first started reading up on this:

-the concept of trans widows
-the ruin of women's sports
-the breathtaking arrogance of lesbians expected to find "women with willies" attractive

I'm no longer shocked, I'm now angry and ready to argue.