Alison Phipps

[mintkoala]

So Alison Phipps cropped up on another thread recently, making frankly batshit remarks about race and trans rights.

So I looked into her a bit and I found this
genderate.wordpress.com/2021/02/05/seven-lessons/
(hope the link works, not sure I did it right.) And I found myself agreeing with her!

It's about dealing with sexual assault in universities and she makes some wise and interesting points. For instance, talking about how universities just shunt abusers on to other institutions so the problem appears to be solved but women are not protected. Or the way you can run a media campaign for the problem but end up providing sexy clickbait.

She somehow fits this into an overarching ideology about capitalism and race and how we therefore shouldn't have prisons or separate toilets. I really don't see how she fits it together like this and wondered what other people thought?

I think talking about the KKK is a bit of a read herring as they clearly did not care about women being raped and were just using it to justify their own violence. It is like that friend of Tommy Robison who was a pedophile when he was talking all that nonsense about grooming gangs. Everyone knows he does really care about abuse and that actual abuse victims don’t have any power but violent and abusive men do have all the power.

White men have also used rape as a way of enforcing power against black women and she does not fully understand this or she would not be spouting all the guff about community justice. If most communities were given community justice there would be more lynchings.

It is also massively offensive to compare genuine (black) victims of abuse to women who make false allegations of abuse to justify lyniching black people as she did in that article about Southhall Black Sisters.

She argues against using your institutional power but she is the first to use her own when she is in trouble. I didn’t say anything offensive you just didn’t understand what I had written because you are not a professor like me.

She should acknowledge that what she has written is offensive to many people but she has the right to say it because of academic freedom. If only she had colleagues at her university who believed in standing up for people with controversial views.

She argues against using your institutional power but she is the first to use her own when she is in trouble. I didn’t say anything offensive you just didn’t understand what I had written because you are not a professor like me. She should acknowledge that what she has written is offensive to many people but she has the right to say it because of academic freedom.

God, yes, absolutely.

The community justice thing also makes me think of my ex who said I can only love you when you are suffering. He was only happy when I was unhappy what can you do with someone like that.

I don’t want punishment or revenge or for him to be harmed in any way I just want him not to be able to harm me or my child, or any other women and children.

With Harvey Weinstein the only thing you could do is put him in prison because he has so much power he would continue to hurt more women.

Her whole argument combines maximum nastiness with maximum stupidity. The idea that somehow white women are unreasonably making a fuss about sexual violence and then using it for dubious political ends is simultaneously nonsensical and offensive. Then equating women protesting about sexual violence with supposedly anti-sex worker and anti-trans political movements is massively insulting to all the black women who are victims of sexual violence or have been trafficked into prostitution. Not to mention all those brave women of colour who are leading the fight against attacks on single-sex spaces, such as Allison Bailey, Lucy Masoud, Linda Bellos and Raquel Rosario Sanchez.

She really is a deeply unpleasant and dimwitted woman.

She ought to write her sententious crap on Lipstick Alley.

Not to mention all those brave women of colour who are leading the fight against attacks on single-sex spaces, such as Allison Bailey, Lucy Masoud, Linda Bellos and Raquel Rosario Sanchez.

• Keira Bell, Sonia Appleby.

In the actual legal battles, I'd say black women are over-represented.

Whereas I can't actually think of any notable black women on the other side. (Assuming we're limiting to the UK). I've been trying for a few minutes and Munroe Bergdorf is as far as I can get, but I'm sure there must be some. Help me out?

She ought to write her sententious crap on Lipstick Alley.

Snort.

Whereas I can't actually think of any notable black women on the other side.

Jameela Jamil? Not sure she is black, but BAME.

In the actual legal battles, I'd say black women are over-represented.

And yes. It's funny that Phipps would probably consider this in the same way as "carceral feminism" as it was about using the legal system.

Sally Hines has weighed in on the debate with predictable results:

1. Despite being an academic in receipt of quantities of public funds, cannot argue self out of paper bag.
2. Resort to patronising insults & "ok Karen" condescension.
3. Say "I've had enough of this" and run away.
4. Have mutual complain session with Phipps about nasty bullying feministy women.

Sally Hines has weighed in on the debate with predictable results

For those who can manage to read/view Hines in debate with, well, anyone, without wanting to die of vicarious embarrassment, here she faces Cátia Freitas:

twitter.com/Mocha_Soul/status/1359129121343877123

@Ereshkigalangcleg

In the actual legal battles, I'd say black women are over-represented.

And yes. It's funny that Phipps would probably consider this in the same way as "carceral feminism" as it was about using the legal system.

The irony is is that the reason these cases are being brought and ‘carceral’ feminists are campaigning for rape to be taken more seriously in the criminal justice system is because those bringing the cases don’t have that much power and they are trying to redress the power in-balance.

NecessaryScene1 Sally is cringeworthy, my toes literally curl up when I see her flailing about trying to justify her absolute tosspottery (like when she was on Woman's Hour with Kathleen Stock). You almost feel sorry for her. Not Phipps though, her writings are absolutely despicable

Catia Freitas is fab.

She's lovely.

Don't forget to drop a little line to Phipps' bosses at University of Sussex to let them know how their professor's article made you feel as a survivor of sexual assault and how you think you might feel as a young white female survivor of sexual assault being taught by Phipps... I think it's important that they know.

www.sussex.ac.uk/lps/internal/people

And whilst you're at it, maybe the journal editors would like to know how its peer-reviewed paper is being received?

www.city.ac.uk/people/academics/jo-littler

www.uva.nl/en/profile/h/e/j.c.hermes/j.c.hermes.html?cb

[quote ForenameSurname]Don't forget to drop a little line to Phipps' bosses at University of Sussex to let them know how their professor's article made you feel as a survivor of sexual assault and how you think you might feel as a young white female survivor of sexual assault being taught by Phipps... I think it's important that they know.

www.sussex.ac.uk/lps/internal/people

And whilst you're at it, maybe the journal editors would like to know how its peer-reviewed paper is being received?

www.city.ac.uk/people/academics/jo-littler

www.uva.nl/en/profile/h/e/j.c.hermes/j.c.hermes.html?cb[/quote]
I actually don’t think this is a good idea. It will play into her narrative that she is the victim rather than an academic with offensive views.

I think that she deserves to be criticised for her views but these are the tactics that bullies use and I don’t think we should do that.

Also why only white victims of sexual assault?

I wish academics would write in accessible language

Good academics do. The only reason to obscure what you are trying to say using inaccessible language is either a lack of confidence in what you are writing (see undergrad dissertations etc which are often dressed up with uneccessarily flowery language), or that you are trying to disguise the face that you argument is very poor.

I actually don’t think this is a good idea. It will play into her narrative that she is the victim rather than an academic with offensive views.

I think that she deserves to be criticised for her views but these are the tactics that bullies use and I don’t think we should do that.

I agree with this. I have no problem with academics holding views that I don't agree with. It's important, especially in academia, to be open to persuasive arguments. If Phipps's work is poor, then it should be dealt with in an academic manner, by devastatingly polite journal articles are academic blogs.

I'm not saying she should have her paper retracted or that anyone should call for her losing her job. I think any correspondence should make that perfectly clear, as I agree those are not appropriate tactics to use in a liberal democracy.

I'm just saying that people might want to share their concerns with Faculty staff about white female sexual violence survivors being taught by someone who dismisses them as "white" "bourgeois" "damsels in distress" who contrive to use their "white tears" simply to enrage men into protecting them. I'd feel very uncomfortable knowing my daughter was being taught by this person who is clearly a racist and misogynist, and who views "reactionary feminists" (i.e. gender critical) with an alarming amount of disdain. I'd want reassurance that this attitude isn't being taught as dogma.

It also strikes me that journal editors should face the real world consequences of the stuff they publish. When they accepted the paper, did they consider how insulting and hateful it is? If they did, fine. I'm not saying pull it. I'm saying people might want to tell those same editors how such an article makes real sexual assault survivors feel - as opposed to the imaginary ones Phipps has dreamt up as a straw man.

I do totally take your point, though. We don't want to be appealing to 'safetyism' where people are mollycoddled and protected from things they don't like. However, I do also think that, if this stuff goes unchallenged, faculty heads do not realise what kind of research is being pumped out under their university's name, and journal editors sit righteously sniffing their own inclusive farts.

More attacks on white women. How original. These people are pathetic. How come black men aren't accused of "weaponizing" their trauma when they're out protesting? I know why. These male aligned people are a joke.

Her views are also offensive to black women and all other victims of abuse because she is victim blaming and as black and Asian women are much more likely to die as victims of abuse they would be in more danger if her policies were implemented. She has also accused all black survivors of abuse who disagree with her of political whiteness.

No one knows how to weaponise whiteness better than her. When she is legitimately criticised for racism she turns it around and argues that she may be white but is not politically white but we are.

I think specifically mentioning that her comments are offensive to white survivors of sexual abuse but not non-white survivors is a bit offensive to be honest.

Agree that writing to the uni or others is not a good tactic. If anything, I would possibly write to Alison Phipps herself. I think it may be reasonable to let her know the impact her words have on women who have survived rape/abuse.

Wanting rapists punished is a bad thing now? Wow, these wokesters are even worse than I thought they were. So white women are never raped by black men...what a load of nonsense. A female prime minister getting upset is apparently criminal. I'm glad this is getting plenty of backlash.

Sorry, I didn't clarify that bit about the white survivors of sexual assault. I just meant to point out that those are the 'group' towards whom she directs particular ire throughout the whole paper. I absolutely agree with you that her remarks towards black survivors of sexual assault are equally disgraceful, albeit less frequent throughout the paper which uses the word "white" about 120 times.

Also agree that writing to Phipps herself is of utmost importance, but I didn't mentioned that as it seemed too... obvious?

Anyway, people can feel free to write nothing at all to anyone should they choose. I'm just suggesting a few people who might like to hear from us, tis all.

@ArabellaScott

Detached from reality, deliberately obscure, lost in theory ...

too much of this type of thing in academia.

I hope that one benefit of Covid might be that students baulk at paying fees for the claptrap courses Phipps and Hines teach.