Transphobia at Edinburgh University ‘driving out staff’

[Igneococcus]

Times Scotland today, both sides vicious, yada yada.

"Katie Nicoll Baines, a geneticist who is a feminist activist and co-chairs Edinburgh’s Staff Pride Network, blamed gender-critical colleagues for what she called a “growing culture of hostility”.
She said: “I have worked at the University of Edinburgh since 2017 and in the past seven years have witnessed a growing culture of hostility towards trans and non-binary staff and students at this institution. Much of this hostility has been stoked by those who want to spread their ‘gender-critical’ ideology that is largely based on the premise that sex is binary and immutable, a premise I know to be incorrect, both scientifically [and] based on my academic expertise.
“While these gender-critical colleagues have been the ones to stoke this hostility, by inviting transphobic speakers on to campus, screening films that are filled with anti-trans misinformation and propaganda, etc, it is the failures of university management that have enabled this hostility to go unchecked and [often] it has been enabled by the structures of the university organisation that perpetuate discrimination against our trans and non-binary staff and students.”"

Are there physics departments with outspoken flatearthers? And if not, why not?

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/1cfa0aeb-ac6a-42e4-a667-829427f1f572?shareToken=5f5780ef3e0eabba2a85129ecdf3f08b

"inviting speakers", "screening films".

Golly.

To be fair, the article does also report one untraced anonymous social media message, so presumably not connected to the university at all.

But that's the entirety, as far as I can tell.

Glad they bought receipts - demonstrates just how small their grievances are.

Fun article, showing what happens if you try to do "balance" - despite the headline (which seems to be missing quotes on "transphobia"), the article actually still ends up showing them far more sinning than sinned against.

Operation "Let Them Speak" continues.

Well, sex is binary, and in humans immutable. How is she a geneticist?

She'll be able to tell us how men can carry babies and give birth then ( actual men, not the transgender gotcha). Great

Priorities are free speech and trans inclusion. Why is trans inclusion a priority over and above, say, disability inclusion? Given that there is nothing about claiming a special identity which objectively disadvantages you?

Some people are so up their own backsides it’s beyond belief!
Did this person’s parents never tell them no? Why do they think the world revolves around their feelings? They claim to be a feminist - so why are they not sticking up for actual females then? The genetic variety? Give me strength!!!

I did a quick Pubmed search, Katie has no publications other than one on LGBTQWHATEVER+ inclusion in STEM, so it's hard to judge her competence as a geneticist.

Rosie Russell, a transgender woman who formerly chaired the university Staff Pride Network, claimed to have been driven to quit by the tensions at Edinburgh in 2019.
.....
.....
Russell said she had not been asking university authorities to ban gender-critical events. “Human rights are messy. Balancing the rights of different groups always requires a certain amount of compromise,” she said. “We never wanted to compromise the freedom of speech of any group. All we wanted was a statement that we were valued and safe … the refusal to say that is one of the reasons I left.”

Ah.... So one of the first attempts at screening the Adult Human Female documentary - which the Staff Pride Network whipped up opposition to - and led to transactivists storming through the crowd and barricading the doors of the venue, screaming and spitting in our faces.... Was never about banning or compromising freedom of speech. They just wanted a wee letter saying how special they were 🤔🤔🤔

A geneticist? Good god. Her "academic expertise" tells her that humans can change sex? What kind of bloody weird genetics do they teach at Edinburgh?

its just remarkable what they have to reach for to claim violence and intimidation isn’t it? Speakers and films talking on a contemporary social issue. Golly.

Do you think these people are actually so desperate to be victimized that they have actually convinced themselves that they are experiencing violence and threat?

Or is it that they are so psychologically desperate to justify their hatred of us that they have to grab onto these bubbles in the water, and convince themselves they are threats and violence from us?

Just what are the psychological processes that mean people can publicly utter such statements and genuinely think they are sensible and legitimate?

A geneticist who thinks sex is not binary and immutable in humans, and indeed all mammals, should ask for a refund from any and all educational establishments said geneticist has attended.

Do the people paying to be taught by her know she is utterly incompetent and believes humans can change sex?
I wouldn’t be paying good money to be taught by a complete idiot with no credentials whatsoever.

Blimey Iggy! Thanks for this. I cannot wait to read it.

I should also look up this geneticist. Are they a geneticist specialising in clown fish? if they are specialists in human genetics, their lectures must be a thing of wonder. And I then wonder if this geneticist is going for a Nobel prize with their discoveries. Because I hope so if they have discovered something about humanity that has been theorised but not proven yet. That being that sex in humans can be now said to be mutable.

Thanks Ig!

Do you think these people are actually so desperate to be victimized that they have actually convinced themselves that they are experiencing violence and threat?

I think so. There's this fear of the nebulous "Other" - a mysterious sinister force that's going to corrupt their culture.

It's an age-old dynamic, it's just this time the "Other" is the "far right" or "transphobes" rather than, say, blacks or Jews or immigrants.

It's satisfying a certain tribal dynamic, as ever, but the environment means it's just arising in a sort of "mirror" form where the bigotry has to pretend to be anti-bigotry.

We never wanted to compromise the freedom of speech of any group. All we wanted was a statement that we were valued and safe …

But nothing had happened to suggest you were not safe. What you wanted was to manipulate a situation where your employer was coerced into publicly insinuating that the film was threatening and making you unsafe.

I have found a few papers by her on Google Scholar Her PhD thesis was on muscle genetics.

University of Edinburgh has a transphobia problem? What are they on!

They're a leading educator and employer of transactivists.

I think this is more a case of not women having the temerity to also want their viewpoint heard, rather than just rolling over and doing what the TRAs say

Katie is not a great advert for an Edinburgh genetics / biology degree.

Though I always wonder with people who self declare their ignorance whether they are self identified scientists and not actually qualified. Obviously self id-ing as having qualifications you don't is far less ridiculous than self identifying as the sex you are not (or a different age, race or as disabled when not etc)

Cross posted with theDudesmummy - well that is terrifying (crosses Edinburgh off the list of unis for dc)

Katie Nicoll Baines contributed to a chapter in a textbook of forensic anthropology, published in 2011. A quick skim of the chapter reveals that at that stage she appears to have understood that sex is immutable. There is, as it is a chapter on "Stature" in forensic anthropology, plenty of reference to sex. What happened to her since then?
https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=306ruTniZmcC&oi=fnd&pg=PA95&dq=info:DGjDkFsAanEJ:scholar.google.com/&ots=sZTObM2gtO&sig=90zezC-_LErGcI9GmYvEKA35N1Q&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

I don't think she is in the science department, she is listed as EDI manager in student services. PhD from Leeds it seems but I can't see what she actually researched there.

From looking at her linked in profile, Katie is actually a EDI professional, not a geneticist. She has never really built a scientific career but instead built a career in EDI. It’s rather misleading to publicly identify yourself by your historical degree rather than the career you built.

@Dumbledoreslemonsherbets it's scarier that she is a real academic with these beliefs than if she was only pretending to be one...

Oh. So not a lecturer? Ok. They still need to submit their work to the board for the Nobel prize so it can be recognized!

Sarah Liu, an American academic at Edinburgh who studies academic freedom as well as gender and politics, said some trans staff and their allies were likely to be more marginalised, particularly those on short-term contracts.

“The university might feel like it faces a dilemma of choosing either free speech or trans inclusion,” Liu said. “However, these two don’t have to be mutually exclusive as it is possible to prioritise the safety and wellbeing of trans folks and allies because freedom of speech does not and should not include hate speech and activities.”

The hypocrisy is astounding. Academic freedom my arse.

Katie's PhD

scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=katie+nicoll+baines&oq=katie+nicoll#d=gs_qabs&t=1713767128214&u=%23p%3DN8Cm7NXb_T0J