Feminist Germaine Greer still pummelled for ‘misogynistic views toward transwomen’
By Yanan WangNovember 3
As the debate over free speech on university campuses rages on, it appears that even radical feminists aren’t safe from the fray.
Despite a petition with nearly 3,000 signatures from students and others calling for the cancellation of her talk, noted feminist writer Germaine Greer was still slated to speak at the U.K.’s Cardiff University in two weeks.
The university’s vice chancellor, Colin Riordan, said in a statement: “Our events include speakers with a range of views, all of which are rigorously challenged and debated.” Cardiff, then, had no plans to bar Greer from giving a lecture titled “Women & Power: The Lessons of the 20th Century.”
At the same time, she suggested she would be voluntarily ceding the platform.
Calling the petition a “put-up job,” Greer told BBC Newsnight, “I’m getting a bit old for this. I’m 76, I don’t want to go down there and be screamed at and have things thrown at me. Bugger it.”
The backlash against Greer has been brewing for some time in response to her stance on transgender women, which she first expressed in a 2009 column in which she called transgender women products of “a man’s delusion that he is female.” The piece raises the question, “What makes a woman?” and answers it by unequivocally excluding transgender people from the category.
At a talk during January of this year, the University of Cambridge’s student newspaper reports, Greer dismissed transphobia as a side issue and reiterated her belief that the desire of men to become women is a “delusion.”
Try as she might to brush the subject aside, however, Greer’s views on the identities of transgender women have become the focal point of discussions surrounding her today.
“Greer has demonstrated time and time again her misogynistic views toward transwomen,” the petition against her Cardiff appearance reads. “Trans-exclusionary views should have no place in feminism or society.”
Not one to back down from a stated opinion, Greer told BBC Newsnight that “a great many women” believe — but are too afraid to say — that “male to female transgender people” do not “look like, sound like or behave like women.”
But she expressed a sense of exhaustion that has rarely been seen in the relentless provocateur.
“I’m getting fed up with this,” she said. “I’ve had things thrown at me, I’ve been accused of things I’ve never done or said.”
More at link:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/11/03/feminist-germaine-greer-still-being-pummelled-for-misogynistic-views-toward-transwomen/?hpid=hp_no-name_morning-mix-story-d%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
I'm not sure what's funnier, the uber-radical being attacked by radicals, or Germaine Greer sounding like an old curmudgeon.
Wait, I figured it out. The funniest part is that this is all in Blackleaf's neck of the woods.
By Yanan WangNovember 3
As the debate over free speech on university campuses rages on, it appears that even radical feminists aren’t safe from the fray.
Despite a petition with nearly 3,000 signatures from students and others calling for the cancellation of her talk, noted feminist writer Germaine Greer was still slated to speak at the U.K.’s Cardiff University in two weeks.
The university’s vice chancellor, Colin Riordan, said in a statement: “Our events include speakers with a range of views, all of which are rigorously challenged and debated.” Cardiff, then, had no plans to bar Greer from giving a lecture titled “Women & Power: The Lessons of the 20th Century.”
At the same time, she suggested she would be voluntarily ceding the platform.
Calling the petition a “put-up job,” Greer told BBC Newsnight, “I’m getting a bit old for this. I’m 76, I don’t want to go down there and be screamed at and have things thrown at me. Bugger it.”
The backlash against Greer has been brewing for some time in response to her stance on transgender women, which she first expressed in a 2009 column in which she called transgender women products of “a man’s delusion that he is female.” The piece raises the question, “What makes a woman?” and answers it by unequivocally excluding transgender people from the category.
At a talk during January of this year, the University of Cambridge’s student newspaper reports, Greer dismissed transphobia as a side issue and reiterated her belief that the desire of men to become women is a “delusion.”
Try as she might to brush the subject aside, however, Greer’s views on the identities of transgender women have become the focal point of discussions surrounding her today.
“Greer has demonstrated time and time again her misogynistic views toward transwomen,” the petition against her Cardiff appearance reads. “Trans-exclusionary views should have no place in feminism or society.”
Not one to back down from a stated opinion, Greer told BBC Newsnight that “a great many women” believe — but are too afraid to say — that “male to female transgender people” do not “look like, sound like or behave like women.”
But she expressed a sense of exhaustion that has rarely been seen in the relentless provocateur.
“I’m getting fed up with this,” she said. “I’ve had things thrown at me, I’ve been accused of things I’ve never done or said.”
More at link:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/11/03/feminist-germaine-greer-still-being-pummelled-for-misogynistic-views-toward-transwomen/?hpid=hp_no-name_morning-mix-story-d%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
I'm not sure what's funnier, the uber-radical being attacked by radicals, or Germaine Greer sounding like an old curmudgeon.
Wait, I figured it out. The funniest part is that this is all in Blackleaf's neck of the woods.