Is transphobia an academic critique?

By Jo Phoenix, The Critic:

The abhorrent treatment of Kathleen Stock by Sussex UCU is a loss for academic freedom.

Professor Kathleen Stock shared the below image of a statement issued by the local branch of the University and College Union — the trade union who is there to protect the interests of academics. This statement is not in any fashion a neutral statement aimed at supporting the rights of the union’s trans and gender non-binary community.

[…]  The statement suggests that “appeals to employment rights and academic freedom are often instrumentalised” in the context of devaluing the lives of trans and gender non-binary people and it then calls on the University of Sussex to launch a review of “institutionalised transphobia”.

There are only two comments I can make. First, the union might want to consider what it means by “appeal to employment rights and academic freedom”. Professor Stock, or any gender critical academic, does not need to “appeal” to these things. As employees we have employment rights. The University does not need to appeal to academic freedom; it has a legal responsibility to protect it. Employment rights and academic freedom already have a legal limit and it is my opinion that the constant cry of transphobia (without argument or evidence) sits outside those limits.

The question is this: is the accusation of transphobia an academic critique? The short answer is no, it is not.

Read here

Please right-click links to open in a new window.