A backlash against gender ideology is starting in universities
Academics are speaking up against the stifling of debate
HOURS BEFORE Jo Phoenix, a professor of criminology at Britain’s Open University, was due to give a talk at Essex University about placing transgender women in women’s prisons, students threatened to barricade the hall. They complained that Ms Phoenix was a “transphobe” likely to engage in “hate speech”. A flyer with an image of a gun and text reading “shut the fuck up, TERF” (trans-exclusionary radical feminist, a slur) was circulating. The university told Ms Phoenix it was postponing the event. Then the sociology department asked her for a copy of her talk. Days later it told her it had voted to rescind its invitation, and would issue no more. Ms Phoenix says she was “absolutely furious and deeply upset” about both the damage to her reputation and to academic freedom.
This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Let’s talk about sex”
More from International
Trump unmasks American selfishness, say cynics
But sceptics are wrong to call America First business as usual
Inside the Houthis’ moneymaking machine
After a ceasefire in Gaza, they may continue their Red Sea racket
Marco Rubio will find China is hard to beat in Latin America
China buys lithium, copper and bull semen, and doesn’t export its ideology
Donald Trump has a strong foreign-policy hand, but could blow it
Bullying foreigners can be sadly effective, but also a dangerous distraction
Women warriors and the war on woke
Trump’s Pentagon pick wants women off the battlefield
Young people are having less fun
Youthful excess continues to decline