Ok I'm still seeing lots of tweets about the PhD/title thing. So. I do think news media and in fact anyone we ask to call us Dr should do it. Naming people according to their wishes is important. And obv this is gendered as fuck. But my feelings re The Discourse are complicated

I'm seeing a lot of white women saying 'if you don't use your title that's undermining Black women and WoC.' Ye-es. Call me cynical but I'd like to know what those UK-based white women are actively doing to ensure they have Black colleagues in the first place

(btw I'm not here for anyone who liked that tweet by a white woman who used a gif from *Black Panther* to represent what seems like mostly white women getting annoyed about *titles* because... please, no)

Also, fun fact: when students called me 'Rebecca' about 10-20% gave me sexist and disrespectful feedback

One year I asked to be called 'Dr Harrison.' About 10-20% gave me sexist and disrespectful feedback

Now I used Becca. About 10-20% give me sexist and disrespectful feedback

'Dr' made no difference and actually made me uncomfortable. Working class + queer imposter syndrome? Who knows. Obv if using my first name is harmful to colleagues of colour I'll stop (fn is pretty standard in the UK hence my uncertainty. I'm not questioning the general argument)

And not that I haven't been angry at being called Ms! I've talked about it lots! But I've learned more about the people who don't even get to do PhDs, or are forced out by racism, transphobia, ableism, sexual violence, lack of jobs. Titles don't feel like 'the hill' anymore tbh

If everyone's going to pool energy to address inequalities in HE (many of the most marginalised academics already are, at huge personal cost) we could tackle the root causes, not the - let's be honest - symptoms of cishet white patriarchy that actually reinforce hierarchies

So we're clear, I'm really not criticising anyone who's frustrated by the misogyny displayed toward Biden or women academics more broadly. I just wish we could channel that anger into something more productive than this repeated conversation