Tavistock staff and Foucault

[MNadactyl]

In the Telegraph. A whistleblower is also quoted:

“The identity politics that is colonising our public services is only causing further division and distrust which I cannot condone.”

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/03/05/nhs-child-gender-clinic-forced-u-turn-bombardment-wokery/

"Another series of emails last year saw the Tavistock’s LGBTQI+ staff network write a glowing profile of the French philosopher Michel Foucault, whose theories have underpinned woke ideologies but who posthumously faced allegations he abused boys in Tunisia in the 1960s.
Appearing to dismiss these claims, the Tavistock staff email said: “After his death, Foucault’s life and work were subject to a series of salacious attacks that focused on his sexual preferences."
Queer theory
The group also encouraged Tavistock staff to embrace “queer theory”, including studying identities “in which gender does not follow from sex and those in which the practices of desire do not ‘follow’ from either sex or gender”, as well as “anti-porn politics” and “butch-femme erotics”.
Another profile by the staff group cited the queer theorist Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s view that "‘many people have their richest mental/emotional involvement with sexual acts that they don't do, or even don't want to do”."

I believe that in Foucault's case the accusations concerned 9 year old boys. Very far from consenting teenagers.

Yes! For man who sought to learn and educate, theorise about power and sexuality he seems to have been oddly entranced by those who could offer him no intellectual debate whatsoever. Choosing instead those who lacked age, experience, a voice that could be heard. He chose those who were "primitive and exploitable" (much like Gaugin)..

Foucault was a writer on bloody colonialism and sexual exploitation, FFS! To even begin to try and pretend that shouldn't be acknowledged, to try and make it into something else is proof absolute that his theoretical observations were correct and presumably informed by his own experiences. Dehumanise them, exploit them, denigrate them and their 3rd world ways and nobody will care. Then stand back and watch others pick up on your dishonesty and peddle it themselves, all in the name of some greater good.

Nobody involved in the Tavistock should be spouting this crap. They are supposed to be educated in the ways of human relationships, communications, psyche etc.

@MangyInseam

Perhaps this 6-minute youtube: "Queer Theory (Paedophilia) Jeopardy" might be just the thing to whip out when encountering anyone who is convinced that any claim that someone from the lgbt+ community might be sexually inappropriate is a slur.

[quote DontLikeCrumpets]@MangyInseam

Perhaps this 6-minute youtube: "Queer Theory (Paedophilia) Jeopardy" might be just the thing to whip out when encountering anyone who is convinced that any claim that someone from the lgbt+ community might be sexually inappropriate is a slur.

[/quote] I suspect it wouldn't convince them. That's the way their thinking operates, they don't look at the information because they have accepted the idea that accusations like that are dog-whistles as a sort of first principle.

It's the same thinking that says, Oh, that person had a bad idea, you agree with that person about something else, therefore you are advocating the bad idea.

Leaving aside the Queer Theory (which just makes my head hurt) I just wanted to pick up something else in that Telegraph article about the Tavistock, which was the stuff about statements in email signatures. It seems absolutely barmy that someone would put a statement about Brexit being responsible for deaths in their work email signature. Imagine seeing that in an email from someone responsible for your medical care? But I suppose if everyone's been encouraged to put Black Lives Matter or Pride logos in their signature, (or pronouns for that matter, also a political statement) it probably seems quite reasonable.

Has anyone seen this elsewhere? Either 'organisationally sanctioned' political messages, or people making personal political statements like this?

It seems really, really odd and unprofessional to me.

@DomesticatedZombie

I believe that in Foucault's case the accusations concerned 9 year old boys. Very far from consenting teenagers.

I don't think the particular case really affects how people interpret it much. They aren't looking at specifics they are repeating a trope.

@foodfiend

Leaving aside the Queer Theory (which just makes my head hurt) I just wanted to pick up something else in that Telegraph article about the Tavistock, which was the stuff about statements in email signatures. It seems absolutely barmy that someone would put a statement about Brexit being responsible for deaths in their work email signature. Imagine seeing that in an email from someone responsible for your medical care? But I suppose if everyone's been encouraged to put Black Lives Matter or Pride logos in their signature, (or pronouns for that matter, also a political statement) it probably seems quite reasonable.

Has anyone seen this elsewhere? Either 'organisationally sanctioned' political messages, or people making personal political statements like this?

It seems really, really odd and unprofessional to me.

Yeah, I agee with this.

I haven't seen it in emails, but I work in a public library system, and there is a lot of inappropriate approaches to what are contentious or politically sensitive ideas and movements that are very one sided.

People don't connect that we are meant to be politically, socially and culturally neutral to support these things. Part of it is that like a lot of helping and service based workplaces, people tend to feel they need to be sensitive to the oppressed and they tend to live in a bit of a bubble.

For example in recommendations for African history month, there was lots of stuff on BLM and critical theory, anti-racism, and nothing from other perspectives by black writers. When I pointed this out there was no real understanding that there were other perspectives.

That's really interesting @MangyInseam It matches what I've seen in our local library service, and yes, I think it's the same issue - a well-intentioned, but ultimately harmful devaluing of neutrality and true tolerance.

Anyone else seen any of these super political email signatures in the wild? The more I think about it, the stranger it seems to me.

Well, kids are taught exceptionally partisan political ideas. I think this has long been the case - it may be harder to see beyond your own prejudices than people realise.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/02/17/classroom-impartiality-rules-will-curb-pupils-freedom-speech/

FWIW, I think the issue is with how these issues are presented and navigated - teachers should strive to be as neutral and even handed as possible.

For example in recommendations for African history month, there was lots of stuff on BLM and critical theory, anti-racism,

But surely that is North American history not African history?

@Lovelyricepudding

For example in recommendations for African history month, there was lots of stuff on BLM and critical theory, anti-racism,

But surely that is North American history not African history?

Yes, it actually is mainly about North American blacks, particularly those in my part of Canada.

It's gone through several name changes over the years as the trends have changed. When I was growing up it was Black History month. I think now it's actually African Heritage month, and it was African-Canadian month (or something similar) for a bit but I sometimes get it mixed up. It doesn't help that other parts of Canada don't always use quite the same name.