Teaching sex and gender at university

[generaljake]

Hi all. I have posted before under a different name - frequent name changer I am afraid. I am an academic teaching a course on workplace inequalities. One session I am taking is on sex and gender and I intend to teach that sex is binary and gender is constructed. Do you think in the current climate I would be advised to check I have the support of management in this approach or is that a bit melodramatic? There is also a session on sexuality at work, though that will be taken by a colleague who I believe does not share my gender critical views. I'd be really interested from views including from other academics teaching on similar subjects. Thanks in advance.

I still teach exactly that. No issues so far.

That's good @catabogus. Perhaps I am worrying too much.

You are teaching scientific facts.
It is gobsmacking that we apparently now have regressed centuries, to the position of Galileo being hounded for heresy to the prevailing dogma, where a senior academic can be pilloried for stating the self evident truth that sex is binary.
Stick to your guns, OP. The tide is already beginning to turn against the reality denial of gender ideology.

I agree with you completely however just to make sure you do not have further consequences you should probably check in with management just to make sure you won't lose your job or something.

@BlueBerrySnek

I agree with you completely however just to make sure you do not have further consequences you should probably check in with management just to make sure you won't lose your job or something.

On the contrary. Why ask for permission to speak fact? If you don't ask, you cannot be told not to. And if a stuck kicks up after the event, firstly the separation of gender and sex is a protected belief, and secondly the trans dogma is becoming less and less accepted by the day. The university would have to defend and justify any action they took against you.

If a stink kicks up...

You could avoid any legal / HR difficulties by sticking to statutory definitions so far as you can. Eg Equality Act definition of woman and man EHRC guidance etc. Anything that moves away from legal definitions should be prefaced by appropriate disclaimers/explanations to ensure that you can demonstrate a neutral non partisan approach. Of course even this may not protect you from complaints but if you do the foregoing then I’d think you’d be bulletproof at an official level.

I am in the exact same boat, currently putting the lecture material together. I want to represent GC views rather than pretend they don't exist but realise the potential for fallout. I am planning on approaching it like "this is a contemporary debate, one side says x, the other says y, and the people who argue X believe this will be the fallout and the people who argue y believe this will be the fallout and it's a debate to be aware of and follow as it's important legally and morally. But I will not commit to saying which side is more legal or moral. I may run it past a superior too just so I have an email trail to support it if anything goes badly as I think it's hard to predict. I will also be talking about 'contraversies' such as critical race theory too.

I think the saying "it's easier to ask forgiveness than get permission" still applies.

Anyone who would make a fuss would still do so even if you had permission, so you'd just be giving yourself extra hoops to jump over.

Just make sure you're solid on what you're talking about, stick to the law and solid facts, and be prepared to answer queries and reassure if you do have to respond to higher-ups.

You're probably more knowledgeable than anyone you'd be asking permission from, and they probably wouldn't want to really get into it unless an issue occurs, so the "permission" wouldn't mean much anyway.

I think the problem is seeing so many women getting absolutely torn apart as a result of saying perfectly reasonable and factual things. It's such a sensitive issue I think getting a senior to sign off isn't necessarily a bad idea for your own sake, even if doing so is a bit like asking if you can teach whether the earth is round.

I respect those uni staff who are still holding onto biology sooo much. I've got a lecture next week on sex and gender and feminism (it's a bit of a mish mash discussion one) and I'm considering just not attending - I won't be able to keep my gob shut, the lecturer thinks "cis" and pronoun badges are an amazingly helpful idea, and there's another student on the course who is now defining as non-binary and collecting pronoun pin badges like they're Pokemon or something... I'm likely to end up myself in trouble - and if it comes down to it - the uni would hang an older Autistic student out to dry in order to air their woke credentials.

@CoffeeWithCheese the lecturer might not actually agree with it though. I have 'pronouned' because if I don't I'd be outing myself and risk my job.

I teach in an area that includes women’s history I teach exactly sex= biology and gender roles = socially and historically constructed roles and stereotypes. And have done for several years.

I talk about the blurry bit between sex and gender roles and how that gap is where feminists can do interesting analysis.

There’s something to be said for working on dead people

The complaints about my”transphobia” didn’t come from the undergrads I taught. Or even students who knew me. I think that says something about how ignorant student complainers are in this matter (thinking of those harassers of ProfStock).

I am planning on approaching it like "this is a contemporary debate, one side says x, the other says y, and the people who argue X believe this will be the fallout and the people who argue y believe this will be the fallout and it's a debate to be aware of and follow as it's important legally and morally.

At the risk of telling you how to do your job, can you avoid suggesting that there are 2 distinct and opposing positions -black and white - and that it’s possible to consider one position to be wholly right and one position to be wholly wrong?

What I see generally in student work at the moment is this desire for things to be either/or, rather than either/and. They need to think more about the grey bits, the blurring of ideological positions, and what J S Mill talks about in his Bentham and Coleridge essays as “partial truths”.

And that it’s through understanding each other’s ideas and positions that we get to new knowledge.

Oh of course, I just meant that I will be just presenting what the arguments are out there. I won't be making any assertions or personal opinions about which may be sane. The implications of the viewpoints for my discipline is where I'll pick up on the grey bits. But overall I'm not planning on spending too much time on it, I'd love to have a heated debate but it's too dangerous where I am to do that. I cannot risk being labelled a transphobe, but I'm reasonably sure that they won't be aware of the GC perspective so at least I may be opening their eyes a touch, even if I am a coward!