Universities which are less ‘captured’ by gender ideology

[percypig]

Morning, this thread has been inspired by one about a survey in Leeds and by recent coverage of events at universities across the UK.

My eldest DC is starting to look at universities for 2024 and in my working life as a teacher I’m often talking to 6th formers about their Uni choices.

I’m wondering if anyone has experience of universities which are, as my title says, ‘less captured’ than others? Or conversely, others were being gender critical could make for a really unpleasant university experience.

Students and families weigh up all sorts of criteria from en-suites to job prospects, clubs and societies on offer to lab facilities. Given recent events I’d also like to know how open universities and their students are to gender critical beliefs.

*where, not were - sorry for the typo!

Apologies for not actually answering the question you've asked, but DD is heading to uni this year. She's opted for mixed sex accommodation and I realised that I'm much more comfortable with this than her going into "single gender" (as per the uni) I feel she's less likely to experience boundary erasure from the special type of lady who will insist on being in a female only space.
I'm really worried about how much gender ideology there is in further education. She believes TWAW etc but I try to keep her grounded (although I doubt she'd ever agree with me outwardly, I think she does get where the GC points come from) I worry that without me & DH in close proximity, she'll end up totally immersed in nonsense.

It will also depend on the type of course your dc is choosing. Some may be “riper” for capture than others.

dd is doing a social sciences course, but it so far hasn’t been a particular feature. With 30000 or more students there are plenty who just want to hang out get their course done and have fun without getting embroiled in any political activity.

most halls nowadays are comprised of flats with bedrooms with en-suites. Moreover, she’s probably more likely to come across transmen than transwomen. There are usually more teenage females at university than males so we know the stats in that age group. My own very woke child is at university doing humanities. It’s not intensified anything that she already believed. But, at the end of the day she’s an adult and her own person, and I’m not going to police what she thinks.

I think many universities are finding a more balanced approach to this topic now to be honest and with the free speech bill coming in, it may well be something that is less entrenched anyway.

Unlesz they are very politicised, most young people at Uni are just doing fairly standard thing, skivving lectures, partying, studying - the usual things I did. And yes, I work in one, in a support role so come across hundreds of Uni students a year.

Dd is at the University of Nottingham and hasn't mentioned anything that's concerned me. She's a farm girl and doesn't buy in to the gender nonsense.
Her course is Zoology though,which requires a knowledge of basic biology.

@Darhon thanks, that's reassuring. I think it's all too easy to believe that unis are a hotbed of TRAs rather than them being a vocal minority. I guess it never occurred to me that there are many students who don't really have any interest in genderwoo.

Some encouraging replies, thanks! I agree that it’s easy to read the news stories and get the impression the no debate views are widespread.

My son went to Southampton Uni finishing last year and didn’t come across much of it there but he did a stem subject.
(Southampton is where the recent Starbucks manager was fired for being aggressive towards a customer for ‘misgendering’ though).

Useful about Southampton, thankyou! Mine is steering clear of Loughborough, because although doing a STEM subject, is worried that they’ll get in trouble for voicing their very strong GC views

Dd went to Keele. I messaged a GC lecturer at the uni who follows me on twitter to ask about her experiences of being GC there. She was very reassuring, and it's been fine.

It's worth listening to whar Akua Reindorf says here about which unis are better and which worse in this area:
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/episode-31-akua-reindorf-kc-twisting-the-law/id1633485236?i=1000614997132

I know Edinburgh has been looking a bit nuts recently, but I actually found my humanities course quite balanced/ gender woo was easy to avoid. (I’m a recent graduate)

The University of Reading seems to be fairly sound - it offered a safe berth to Jo Phoenix after she felt hounded out of the Open University for establishing the Gender Critical Research Network (GCRN).

I wonder if at Oxford and Cambridge the differences are both between different colleges and different faculties (I'll be in Cambridge from the autumn so am becoming more interested/alarmed as the time approaches).

Goldsmiths is notorious.

Up north, LJMU acts as though only it trans/NB students matter.

Do NOT go to Sussex...

Yep, I was at Loughborough this week and would definitely steer clear. Progress flag zebra crossing and all, great for blind students 👏 🙄

UCL has strong gc representation among profs. Not sure what things are like for the student body.

Pay close attention to the SU societies being offered and that can say a lot eg I’d be worried about a Uni offering the SU Fetish Society.

In our recent open day visits Exeter was the only one that had mixed sex toilets

Great question, something I have been thinking about recently. Leicester uni had the guide to sex work I think. Warwick uni seems to have struggled to respond properly to sexual assaults.

If anyone reading this happens to know........... Id love to know what its like at Bournemouth Uni/Arts Uni Bournemouth re Gender woo.

I'd avoid York. My son did teacher training there and the obviously male tutors use gender pronouns. Particularly worrying that the biology tutor uses them. Not sure how he can confuse sex and gender. Massive red flag in my opinion.

Avoid University of Kent

Both the university itself and the SU are fully captured (eg the SU has organised womxn and non-binary gym sessions. FFS).

GC views are literal violence, trans people are the most marginalised, rainbow flags up all year, etc. A very vocal minority control the narrative. GC staff are too scared to challenge as job cuts are in the pipeline.

I'm sure some students just get on with their course and have a lovely time ignoring all this. But they'd struggle if they wanted to talk freely about their own or abstract GC views.

<nods vigorously>