![]() ![]() I do not believe that most of those responsible for this schism are feminists-many are simply reactionary trolls like Milo Yiannopoulos and Graham Linehan some others are opportunistic centrist journalists like Helen Joyce and Jesse Singal and still others are conservative ideologues like Toby Young and Rob Liddle. In fact, no such conflicts exist, and the widespread attempt to diagnose them, however well-intentioned, has had the effect of weakening the women’s movement throughout the UK. I hope to offer an account of that conflict that differs from the mainstream account, with which everyone in this room is familiar: that by insisting on the axiom that “trans women are women,” LGBT activists have engendered a set of conflicts between the rights of women and trans rights. But I do delude myself that there is in this room some number-perhaps a sizable number-of people who are perturbed by the growing conflict between certain members of the LGBT community and certain feminist activists and organizations. I am of course aware that among the many attendees of this lecture-the largest attendance I’ve ever drawn-is largely composed of people who hold strong convictions on both sides this issue, and I do not delude myself that anything I say will change the mind of such people. The purpose of my lecture today will be to sketch the contours of that crisis as I see them, and to propose a couple of possible ways forward. The emergence of a liberal ideology of trans rights over the last two decades has precipitated a crisis in higher education. I am grateful to QUCL, and Xine Yao and Simon Lock especially, for their invitation to address their community, and for the extraordinary job they did hosting a controversial event in such a manner as to prioritize both the safety of all participants, and breadth of access and engagement. This piece was written for oral delivery, and the prose reflects the fact. I have left it essentially unchanged for the purposes of preserving the talk for citation. The following is the text of a lecture delivered at University College, London on Friday, March 18 th, 2022. ![]()
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