By Samantha Jones-
There was uproar at Cambridge university on Tuesday forcing Faculty bosses to issue an apology to students for ‘distressing’ them by inviting them to a ‘harmful’ debate on gender ideology by a feminist journalist – after dozens of masked trans activists tried to boycott the event.
The debate at Gonville and Caius college arranged by professor of philosophy Arif Ahmed sparked outrage among students accusing Dr Joyce of being a Terf (trans exclusionary radical feminist
Cambridge Student Union’s LGBT+ campaign expressed disappointment in a statement that said it was “shocked and highly disappointed” at the decision to host Joyce, saying: “Trans rights are not an issue of ideology, nor is the existence of trans people a hypothetical, philosophical debate. ”Professor Arif Ahmed, who is organising the event, said.
Arif emphasised that half of the time allocated for the event was set aside for debate, “comments and objections”, adding that “Free speech is not negotiable.
The talk entitled “Criticising gender-identity ideology: what happens when speech is silenced” was hosted by outspoken writer Helen Joyce, who last year released a book entitled Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality.
The book explores the topic of gender identity, taking a critical outlook on the theoretical issues that allegedly causes gender dysphoria and leads some individuals into ”body denialism’. Making reference to research, Ms Joyce highlights a number individuals suffer from gender dysphoria, attributing those prone to cross sex feelings as being prone to social contagions. Joyce says people who suffer distress from their sex are ill-served by being told they can change it, and says what inspired her to write her gripping and controversial book was ”meeting some of gender ideology’s most poignant victims, that is detransitioners- those who underwent surgical steps towards surgery, ”only to later realise they made a catastrophic mistake”
Her book makes reference to experimental drugs and surgeries, which she says was the result of manipulation and deception from adults. She refers to the ideology as ”incoherent and mentally shifting” and says ”the idea of gender self-identification is that children are being manipulated and damaged”.
Ms Joyce insists that men and women are distinct and immutable, and that those who experience cross sex yearnings, are often secretly gay. These yearnings, she says, have ”opened a new chapter in the multidecade reconceptualization of sex as blurred and mutable, rather than fixed and binary”.
Deep and analytical, its contents are offensive to transgender and gay students, many of whom boycotted the event.
Protest
Cambridge’s LGBT network condemned the talk and Cambridge Students’ Union called for it to be scrapped – while the college ran a ‘welfare event’ tearoom on campus for ‘distressed’ students, held at the same time as the debate.
A Cambridge University spokesperson said: ‘The Department circulated a notice notifying students about the talk. The head of the Department later received complaints from some students opposed to the views of the speaker.
‘An email was subsequently sent out to make it clear that the Department was neither actively endorsing or promoting the contents of the talk. There was never any attempt to either persuade or dissuade people from attending.’
Prof Rogerson and Dr Spencer insisted they wholeheartedly support the principle of freedom of expression but will not attend, according to the Varsity student newspaper.
The LGBT+ campaign response said that “trans people, […] including students at this university, are an extremely vulnerable minority”. The statement cited a recent report by the Home Office which found transphobic hate crimes have increased 56 per cent on the previous year, alongside a 2018 Stonewall survey that found that 36 per cent of trans university students had faced “negative comments or behaviour” in the year prior.
The Murray Edwards College Feminist Society also described “outrage” at the upcoming talk, writing: “Caius should not provide a platform for individuals” such as Joyce, whose words they say “can have a manifest impact on the student body of the college and broader group of people with a marginalised identity.”
The Student Union LGBT+ campaign organised an “alternative event” that will run simultaneously during the same evening, in which organisers say they will be “celebrating and educating about trans identities”.The controversy made national papers in the days since the Master (Dr Pippa Rogerson) and Senior Tutor (Dr Andrew Spencer) of Gonville and Caius announced their intention not to attend the event in an email addressed to all students of the college.
The statement was followed by Joyce with an open letter, posted on her Twitter page. The journalist argued that it is the job of people such as Rogerson and Spencer to “be brave” in holding open “a space for free speech”, criticised the pair for choosing to skip the talk and called for them to meet her to discuss her work and views.
A Gonville & Caius College spokesperson said: “Gonville & Caius College prides itself on being a welcoming and inclusive community. The event on October 25 is an external event hosted by Professor Arif Ahmed, a Caius Fellow. It is not a College event. We support free speech and would encourage those within the College community and wider society to challenge views they find reprehensible through debate and to celebrate our diversity.”
Helen Joyce was contacted for comment