The debate that happened (and four other stories)
Five stories about gender (in)equality and the backlash against feminism to start your weekend.
Good morning. Is it sunny where you are? Here it's beautiful outside and I am about to make my second cup of long Saturday morning coffee.
And now to the reads...
1) The philosopher, the protesters, and the rubicon
One of the biggest stories in the UK this week has been the appearance of gender-critical philosopher Kathleen Stock at the Oxford Union. The backlash from students (and others) who called for Stock’s participation at the event to be cancelled over her alleged transphobia was vociferous. The story made so much online noise that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak intervened (yes, really). Here is what he told the Telegraph:
“A free society requires free debate. We should all be encouraged to engage respectfully with the ideas of others. University should be an environment where debate is supported, not stifled. We mustn’t allow a small but vocal few to shut down discussion. Kathleen Stock’s invitation to the Oxford Union should stand. Agree or disagree with her, Professor Stock is an important figure in this argument. Students should be allowed to hear and debate her views. A tolerant society is one which allows us to understand those we disagree with, and nowhere is that more important than within our great universities.”
And on Tuesday, Stock did appear at the Oxford Union, along with a sizeable chunk of the UK’s media it seems and 200 or so protesters — one of whom glued their hand to the floor. (This coincided, by the way, with the release of a new Channel 4 documentary on the so-called trans rights debate called “Gender Wars”, which features Stock).
This week’s events were a number of things. First, they were the continuation of the trend of this argument being inflated as a matter of generational importance, as if it is this battle over gender which, if lost, will make or break the future for women and equality. This is not the first time Sunak has gotten involved in tackling “gender ideology”. And in many a political interview, leading British politicians are asked to declare whether or not a trans woman can be a woman.
This week’s events were also a mirroring, and deflating, of the online dynamics of this discourse, where people have demonised, dehumanised, and made enemies of each other to the detriment of progress in equality. After all the noise and the fuss, Stock got to make her points, and people disagreed and protested, as is their right. The big, consequential national story fizzled out.
Last month, Reem Alsalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, published a statement detailing her deep concern “at the escalation of intimidation and threats against women and girls” in the context of the trans rights debate. This is not the first time Alsalem has spoken out about this, on the “side” of gender-critical activists. It still seems astonishing that the acrimony has reached such heights. And it is depressing that, rather than come together to improve conditions for women, feminists — and feminism — have been coopted by the internet outrage machine.
P.S. One of the recurring themes of this argument is the alleged threat trans women pose in women’s prisons. Zoe Williams has written a useful piece on why we speak so little of trans rights in the context of that discussion.
2) Ama Ata Aidoo has died
The Ghanaian writer Ama Ata Aidoo, whose work focussed on “the modern African woman”, passed away this week, aged 81. LitHub has collected reactions to her death. As per the BBC:
A renowned feminist, she depicted and celebrated the condition of African women in works such as The Dilemma of a Ghost, Our Sister Killjoy and Changes.
She opposed what she described as a "Western perception that the African female is a downtrodden wretch".
3) Susan Sontag’s “On Women”
A collection of Susan Sontag’s essays and interviews on women and feminism has been published, to varying reviews. The On Photography author was writing during the second wave of feminism, but is not really identified as voice on women’s rights. Olivia Laing, in a fairly withering Guardian review, puts this down to the fact that Sontag wasn’t “very good at it”:
There’s no question that Sontag is right when she says “it is surely not treasonable to think that there are other goals than the depolarization of the two sexes, other wounds than sexual wounds”. Of course, she had a right to choose her subjects. Of course, not every argument need spool back to the dominance of men over women. And, of course, feminism had – has – its simple-minded solipsism, its groupthink and hatred of defectors. But the fact remains that she wasn’t very good at it anyway.
In the Washington Post, meanwhile, Becca Rothfeld, finds the volume “indispensable”:
Sontag is best known as a meticulous critic of high culture, but there is a reason I was so desperate for a copy of her bracing meditation on the “humiliating process of gradual sexual disqualification” that women undergo as they age. Her writing on modernist novels and foreign-language film is erudite, challenging and occasionally ponderous; her writing on women is crisp and cutting. Heretically, I prefer the latter.
4) Saudi feminist charged with “defaming the kingdom”
Manahel al-Otaibi, who was detained in November 2022 over social media posts challenging Saudi Arabia’s male guardianship laws and the legal requirement for women to wear an abaya, which covers the body, has been charged. As per the Council on Foreign Relations’ Women This Week blog:
Prosecutors have now accused al-Otaibi of “defaming the kingdom at home and abroad, calling for rebellion against public order and society’s traditions and customs, and challenging the judiciary and its justice.” Manahel’s sister, Fouz, is accused of similar charges but has left the kingdom. Speaking to AFP, Fouz criticized authorities for “targeting influential women demanding women’s rights in Saudi Arabia.”
Referring to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 reform programme, Fouz said it is “as if there are two states…A state with Vision 2030, and a state that still applies the old strict rules."
5) And if you can bear it
The BBC has interviewed the TikTok misogyneur (I think I made that up?) Andrew Tate, and it is an excruciating watch. Tate is defensive, unapologetic, and doesn’t fully respond to questions. On his manosphere newsletter,
says the BBC made a mistaken in conducting the interview, merely giving Tate the mainstream media platform he craves without managing to hold him to account (and he has a link to the full interview).Bonus for the Succession fans: The debate over whether Shiv Roy is a feminist icon rages on. Here are two fun pieces: Kylie Cheung on Jezebel writes that what you see in Shiv says more about your feminism than it does about her; Kathleen Walsh says Shiv is not your hero.
Thank you for reading, and if you have spotted anything else this week, please share it in the comments.