Honoured to have been given OBE for services to higher education. I want to use this opportunity to draw further attention to suppression of critical thought about gender identity ideology and trans activism in UK Universities - so here’s a thread. 1/

Most UK Universities are Stonewall Diversity Champions. Translation: effectively they’re now trans activist institutions. This significantly limits free thought and free speech of gender-critical academics. I describe how here https://t.co/IRtReFhtGC 2/
And yet academics and students in Universities urgently need to be able to discuss the social importance of biological sex, and to criticise gender identity ideology and trans activism. Both freedoms are of crucial importance given issues of pressing public interest such as.. 3/
/… rapid increases in trans-identifying kids; erosion of single-sex spaces; threats to women’s sport; medical ignorance about female bodies; effects on gay population; trans women - some, sex offenders - in female prisons; & failures of data collection on sex and its impacts. 4/
These anonymous testimonies I gathered in 2019 give flavour of Uni environment: e.g. disciplinary investigations for tweets/ letter-signing; removal from editorships; failure to act against student harassment; rejection of publications for "transphobia" https://t.co/a3Q8Kpk6Zt 5/
Elsewhere: at Oxford University (Stonewall Diversity Champion), feminist Professor Selina Todd needed security for her lectures https://t.co/dmc0ATYuJi 6/
At Essex University (Stonewall Diversity Champion) Professor Jo Phoenix’s talk on trans women in female prisons was cancelled after complaints https://t.co/56zM5lDNAM 7/
At the Open University (Stonewall Diversity Champion), a conference on prison reform was cancelled after an organiser’s gender-critical views drew threats https://t.co/knJTYSnM3c 8/
At Oxford Brookes (Stonewall Diversity Champion), feminist artist Rachel Ara was no-platformed for her gender-critical views https://t.co/LgD8ZOGX9U 9/
At Edinburgh University (Stonewall Diversity Champion), a conference on trans-identified kids in schools was cancelled as speakers’ safety could not be guaranteed: https://t.co/wxCLcUrTz1 10/
… and feminist speaker Julie Bindel was physically attacked at a campus meeting on sex-based rights https://t.co/Asg3sYC3Qw 11/
At Imperial University (Stonewall Diversity Champion), Professor Simone Buitendijk was forced to make “grovelling apology” for retweeting material defending women’s sex-based rights https://t.co/fhA2O19DZk 12/
At UCL (Stonewall Diversity Champion), signing a letter to the Guardian expressing concern about academic freedom and trans activism drew student complaints https://t.co/uhoHpH6cFc 13/
And at UEA (Stonewall Diversity Champion) my talk on womanhood was postponed by managers after complaints https://t.co/kai4mjr8mF 14/
(Aside: Observant readers will notice that nearly all the people described above have something in common. Hint: it’s not a shared gender identity. Further hint: it’s a thing that never makes difference, their critics say, and whose negligible effects shouldn't be tracked). 15/
Meanwhile, University managers pay lip service to goal of academic freedom but - looking with longing eyes at Stonewall Top 100 Employers Index - they continue to greenlight repressive trans policies such as those gathered on my blog here https://t.co/XfRFfAHMsB 16/
Highlights include: “Think of the person as being the gender that they want you to think of them as”(Edinburgh) and.. 17/
...”If a trans person informs a staff member that a word or phrasing is inappropriate or offensive, then that staff member should take their word for it, and adjust their phraseology accordingly” (UCL) 18/
Upshot: Stonewall doesn't belong in UK Universities (or schools, or gov departments, or local authorities, or judiciary, or police forces..) Once a great organisation, they’re now a threat to freedom of speech/ public understanding. Get them out https://t.co/dW0IUjGaST /End.

More from Society

This is a piece I've been thinking about for a long time. One of the most dominant policy ideas in Washington is that policy should, always and everywhere, move parents into paid labor. But what if that's wrong?

My reporting here convinced me that there's no large effect in either direction on labor force participation from child allowances. Canada has a bigger one than either Romney or Biden are considering, and more labor force participation among women.

But what if that wasn't true?

Forcing parents into low-wage, often exploitative, jobs by threatening them and their children with poverty may be counted as a success by some policymakers, but it’s a sign of a society that doesn’t value the most essential forms of labor.

The problem is in the very language we use. If I left my job as a New York Times columnist to care for my 2-year-old son, I’d be described as leaving the labor force. But as much as I adore him, there is no doubt I’d be working harder. I wouldn't have stopped working!

I tried to render conservative objections here fairly. I appreciate that @swinshi talked with me, and I'm sorry I couldn't include everything he said. I'll say I believe I used his strongest arguments, not more speculative ones, in the piece.

You May Also Like

#ஆதித்தியஹ்ருதயம் ஸ்தோத்திரம்
இது சூரிய குலத்தில் உதித்த இராமபிரானுக்கு தமிழ் முனிவர் அகத்தியர் உபதேசித்ததாக வால்மீகி இராமாயணத்தில் வருகிறது. ஆதித்ய ஹ்ருதயத்தைத் தினமும் ஓதினால் பெரும் பயன் பெறலாம் என மகான்களும் ஞானிகளும் காலம் காலமாகக் கூறி வருகின்றனர். ராம-ராவண யுத்தத்தை


தேவர்களுடன் சேர்ந்து பார்க்க வந்திருந்த அகத்தியர், அப்போது போரினால் களைத்து, கவலையுடன் காணப்பட்ட ராமபிரானை அணுகி, மனிதர்களிலேயே சிறந்தவனான ராமா போரில் எந்த மந்திரத்தைப் பாராயணம் செய்தால் எல்லா பகைவர்களையும் வெல்ல முடியுமோ அந்த ரகசிய மந்திரத்தை, வேதத்தில் சொல்லப்பட்டுள்ளதை உனக்கு

நான் உபதேசிக்கிறேன், கேள் என்று கூறி உபதேசித்தார். முதல் இரு சுலோகங்கள் சூழ்நிலையை விவரிக்கின்றன. மூன்றாவது சுலோகம் அகத்தியர் இராமபிரானை விளித்துக் கூறுவதாக அமைந்திருக்கிறது. நான்காவது சுலோகம் முதல் முப்பதாம் சுலோகம் வரை ஆதித்ய ஹ்ருதயம் என்னும் நூல். முப்பத்தி ஒன்றாம் சுலோகம்

இந்தத் துதியால் மகிழ்ந்த சூரியன் இராமனை வாழ்த்துவதைக் கூறுவதாக அமைந்திருக்கிறது.
ஐந்தாவது ஸ்லோகம்:
ஸர்வ மங்கள் மாங்கல்யம் ஸர்வ பாப ப்ரநாசனம்
சிந்தா சோக ப்ரசமனம் ஆயுர் வர்த்தனம் உத்தமம்
பொருள்: இந்த அதித்ய ஹ்ருதயம் என்ற துதி மங்களங்களில் சிறந்தது, பாவங்களையும் கவலைகளையும்


குழப்பங்களையும் நீக்குவது, வாழ்நாளை நீட்டிப்பது, மிகவும் சிறந்தது. இதயத்தில் வசிக்கும் பகவானுடைய அனுக்ரகத்தை அளிப்பதாகும்.
முழு ஸ்லோக லிங்க் பொருளுடன் இங்கே உள்ளது
https://t.co/Q3qm1TfPmk
சூரியன் உலக இயக்கத்திற்கு மிக முக்கியமானவர். சூரிய சக்தியால்தான் ஜீவராசிகள், பயிர்கள்