He lives on his knees
A tweet of Maya’s alerted me to some more abject groveling.
Do you think the words “trans and non-binary” appear often enough in that short extract?
It’s Professor [and Vice-Chancellor] Anthony Forster on the University of Essex staff blog:
Our commitment to our trans and non-binary staff and students
That’s nice, but is there any commitment to your female students? Any at all?
I met with trans and non-binary students and staff last Friday and we discussed the Reindorf Review, the publication of the Report (.pdf) and the actions (.pdf) agreed by Senate and Council in response to the recommendations in the Review, and the impact they have had on both the trans and non-binary community and the wider Essex community. In the meeting we discussed how hurt people feel about the outcome and the very negative impact that this has had and continues to have on trans and non-binary staff and students.
What about women? What about the impact on women?
I am committed to ensuring that everyone is made to feel welcome at the University and we discussed a range of actions that we can take to ensure that this is the case.
I don’t think he’s committed to that at all. He seems much more committed to making women feel unwelcome…unless they slavishly submit to the trans dogma, and put “trans and non-binary students” first at all times and in all disputes.
My personal view is that the current law in the UK does not fully respect and protect the identities of trans and non-binary people. I understand that, in meeting our obligations to respect academic freedom and freedom of speech within the law, we have given the impression that we might not care about the lived reality of trans and non-binary people. As we revise our equality, diversity and inclusion policies and procedures we will continue to go beyond the minimum standards required by law, wherever we can, to ensure that we recognise, respect and protect the identities of trans and non-binary people. Listening to our trans and non-binary staff and students will be central to us understanding the changes that will have the most impact in creating a welcoming, supportive and inclusive environment – and ensuring the lived experience of our trans and non-binary staff and students is positive.
And ensuring that the lived experience of our female staff and students will be complete crap.
We have received other suggestions as to how the University can demonstrate its commitment to our trans and non-binary staff and students. These include: allocating greater funding and resources for mental health services; putting in place a trans and non-binary support group for students facilitated by a trans/non-binary member of staff; identifying a common room/space for trans and non-binary students; encouraging positive action to support and promote greater diversity within leadership and across the University; respecting personal pro-nouns; further developing support and training for staff in leadership positions and across the University; and creating a Working Group to combat transphobia on our campuses.
Women, meanwhile, can get in the sea.
I have been asked to provide a number of apologies including: to anyone who felt excluded from or affected by the process of contributing to the Review; for the manner in which the Reindorf Report was released, and in particular for the timing of the release at the start of the examination period and for how this has felt during Pride Month; that the Report and the actions agreed by Senate and Council have required considerable time from our students to address the impact on them and on other students and especially students in leadership roles, in a context in which some have not received appropriate training; the public scrutiny this has focused on some of our students; and for any harassment or bullying that has taken place and for anyone having been made to feel unsafe as a result of the Review. I am sincerely sorry for this. We have a zero-tolerance approach to harassment and bullying and I am committed to taking action when needed to ensure that we treat everyone in our community with dignity and respect. I have been asked to make apologies to three students and will do this today, and I will also send an apology to our trans and non-binary staff through the LGBTQ+ staff forum Chair.
But not women. Never women. Shut up about women. We do not care.
They need single-transandnonbinary spaces.
I am getting so sick of the use of “lived experience”. When it applied to the way PoC felt about being excluded and oppressed, it had value. But in this context, it is worthless, because “lived experience” translates to “delusions”. And it is used to tell women to STFU.
I’ve watched the erosion of rights for women with growing horror ever since the Reagan years, but I never thought they would find a way to turn white men into a “minority” group.
@1 I don’t see what the problem with that is, individual restrooms, or “one seaters” in the colloquial, are fairly common, the sign on the door being the only indication that there is any difference, and there are usually two (in my travels at least (the U.S.)). The presence or absence of urinals (generally for men and boys) would be easy to overlook until individual unisex spaces can be retrofitted. Urinals are not necessary, a simple toilet is perfectly functional. I have ignored the labels on individual restrooms on occasion, but it didn’t keep me from accomplishing my goal. Sorry if trans “women” find it uncomfortable to use a restroom with a urinal in it but, as the sewage plant workers say, “tough shit.” The signs should say ‘unisex and snowflakes’ so noone is (literally) left out in the cold. I have found generally, if one is desperate enough to do their business, being particular about the venue goes away pretty quickly.
Universities, if they are to be any good at all, have to foster critical thinking at all times and in all faculties. No exceptions. Any university which pretends that people are the sex they wish to be, despite physique and genitalia proclaiming the exact opposite, is turning itself into Fantasyland. Its zoologists on this basis can tell students that elephants are a special type of lobster, its astronomers can preach geocentrism, and in the wake of all the postmodernism which has softened-up the humanities, there may be general gravitation towards ‘anything goes’ wherever some academic fraudster sees an opportunity.
Most importantly, the distinction between religion and philosophy (which includes all science) will incline to blur. All emperors within its domains might as well go around stark naked, while pretending to be gloriously fitted out with the finest of clothing, and demanding that all agree.
Truth will become as divisible as a shovelful of sand from any old beach one might care to name.
I will add that, if there are places where people who are confused about what males and females are, then they should seek places that are not exclusive to people of either sex. Women’s spaces shoudl be exclusive to women, real women, natal women. Not males with ideas and feelings in their heads.
I just got an email celebrating the fact that US passports can now be marked X as a choice for sex. It was marked as a major step forward in respect for gender diversity.
No. It is a major step toward incoherent stupidity. X is not a sex.
Also renders the whole point of passports kind of irrelevant.
@iknklast #2
Also, voter suppression, police brutality, and redlining aren’t just feelings. They are imposed on minorities.
Colin Day, exactly. The way people feel about things that are really happening can be important information, but by itself can’t determine policy. There is no question that people of color are treated differently (and negatively) and that systemic racism exists (at least, there’s no question if you’re not a white supremacist).
But what the trans cultists are calling lived experience is just another way to say delusions. And the fact that it skews so strongly toward societal stereotypes shows their feelings are just another form of sexism.