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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

New website for GC university staff and students

27 replies

SkeeterP · 08/02/2021 09:14

Who are we?

We are a group of academics working in UK higher education. We are concerned about the ongoing erosion of women's sex-based rights in law, policy and practice, and the treatment of those - mainly women - who speak out. We are concerned that a 'no debate' culture in academia on this issue is harmful to academic freedom and is preventing an open and critical engagement with theories of sex and gender. Ultimately, we think an inability to talk about sex-based rights and discrimination is harmful to women and girls.

Your stories

We would like to hear stories from gender critical university staff (academic and professional services) and students. What is it like to take a gender critical position in HE? What are your experiences of speaking out or keeping quiet? We'd like to know what has happened to you, what you've witnessed, and how it has made you feel.

We want universities, policymakers and the wider public to understand the effect the current 'no debate' culture is having on those of us who work and study in Higher Education. We recognise the isolation that people face and want this to be a space where we can collate stories about our experiences and concerns, and for others to realise that we do not stand alone. Help us break the silence.

Submissions are sent using the form so no personal details are shared with us. Stories can be submitted anonymously or using a pseudonym. All entries are checked before being uploaded to the main site.

t.co/g6GjuuIDsb?amp=1

OP posts:
OhHolyJesus · 08/02/2021 10:03

This is fantastic OP, thanks for posting, will share. Good luck with it!

MerchedCymru · 08/02/2021 10:06

Excellent news OP. Hope that this shines some light and offers some solidarity.

Rockinmomma · 08/02/2021 10:35
Grin
JoodyBlue · 08/02/2021 14:14

Fantastic @SkeeterP

NonnyMouse1337 · 08/02/2021 15:26

This is great. Hope there are lots of submissions.

ThePankhurstConnection · 08/02/2021 16:00

This is fantastic, well done to you all for setting it up and I hope it goes well.

Stealhsquirrelnutkin · 08/02/2021 16:44

A much needed initiative. I will be watching with interest.

FWRLurker · 08/02/2021 18:15

This is great, as a US based academic (biology) I’ll refrain but am excited to see this being documented.

BTW for those of us on the US side of the pond, a great organization for protecting academic speech is FIRE. They’ve taken over where the ACLU has... uh... vacated. To say the least.

EightiesRobot · 08/02/2021 20:05

The submissions make depressing reading but great initiative!

Seventytwo · 08/02/2021 20:18

Excellent idea, thanks OP and best of luck with this.

DisappearingGirl · 08/02/2021 20:27

Wow, those submissions are eye opening.

BobbinThreadbare123 · 08/02/2021 20:31

That is some depressing reading. I am so glad I did my PhD a long while ago. I get the impression that my particular subject/dept is now rather captured, despite not being a discussion/essay one at all!

hamstersarse · 08/02/2021 20:31

I really like this. I hate to use such the term but I’d also encourage some more inclusion!

By that I mean, there are men in HE who also get penalised for speaking up and their stories of trashings / warnings / fines would be valid too.

SkeeterP · 08/02/2021 20:33

It’s not our intention to exclude men. It’s for all staff and students.

OP posts:
SkeeterP · 08/02/2021 20:34

I’m fact we have definitely had one man submit something.

OP posts:
SkeeterP · 08/02/2021 20:36

Thanks for all your supportive messages Star .. it’s getting some traction on Twitter after Kathleen Stock shared it this morning.

OP posts:
CousinKrispy · 08/02/2021 21:13

Those examples are shocking.

ArabellaScott · 08/02/2021 21:18

Fantastic. All the best with it!

LoungeLizardLhama · 09/02/2021 14:33

What a brilliant idea and what depressing reading! Hopefully the more traction gained, and more people join in, you will end up with enough strength to start pushing back. This is a such important work you’re doing here and I wish you the very best with it.

Manderleyagain · 09/02/2021 19:27

Some of the experiences are really depressing. The woman who might drop out of her PhD because she can't take the position she wants about what a lesbian is, and her supervisor told her there is no such thing as a homosexual. And many of the others too. Some if them sound like the university is fostering a hostile workplace for women who focus on women's rights.

aweegc · 09/02/2021 19:37

BRILLIANT!

SkeeterP · 09/02/2021 20:10

You wouldn’t believe the issue we have had with malicious comments .. probably close to 400 in 24 hours. Somebody had clearly written some kind of script at one point as they were coming in every minute.

It’s apparent (and not unexpected) that we cannot have even a tiny bit of the Internet for ourselves.

OP posts:
DisappearingGirl · 11/02/2021 10:34

I can totally believe that (unfortunately)

Collidascope · 11/02/2021 10:44

Possibly not the right place for this - I'm no longer a student - but just wanted to let off steam, and it didn't warrant a new thread. Had an email from Manchester uni yesterday with events for celebrating LGBT History Month. They're having a Zoom talk on 23rd Feb with five speakers. Surprising absolutely no one, I'm sure, four of those speakers are male, including Christine Burns who regularly calls women TERFs on Twitter. I'll hold my breath for the International Women's Day talk when I'm sure they'll be just as happy to accommodate female speakers who use offensive slurs about trans people.

Fernlake · 11/02/2021 10:49

Brilliant initiative OP.

Sheer volume of numbers is going to be very effective. The censorship tactic cannot survive that.

See the ridiculous attempt to smear hundreds of thousands of women on this very site as transphobic.