Read on Twitter
I’m proud to have several colleagues @OU_Philosophy with skin in different gender debates. As we support all of them & to ensure fair debate, we don’t take sides from our departmental account. I removed yesterday’s tweet in support & out of respect of all my esteemed colleagues.
I have been receiving much abuse over the last 24 hours, but also a few genuine requests to clarify my position. At the risk of making things worse, here’s a thread/1
I deleted a tweet posted (not by me) from our official @OU_Philosophy account. The tweet was well intended but sent at speed w/o consent of some colleagues directly implicated/2
Despite receiving many likes and 0 pressure from anyone, I judged it should have been sent from the person’s personal account, not the department’s/3
My deleting it has since been, wrongly, interpreted as withdrawing support & recognition for Kathleen Stock @Docstockk — I am not (not that she needs my or the departments’ support)/4
I congratulated Kathleen yesterday for her OBE, in a personal message. Does this mean that I agree with her on everything? Of course not (pls read on)/5
So why did I take the difficult decision to delete a well-liked tweet from our account, well aware of the likely consequences? Bc the tweet was not impartial, posted fast w/o consent & bc (pls cont)/6
@OU_philosophy is unique as we have both, a courageous philosopher & ethicist who is transgender & a courageous political philosopher who, among other things, investigates & challenges transgender inclusion in sports (certain not all)/7
I admire them both. They are out there, taking a stand, making a difference, in different debates. But as a department, I do not want us to take sides! — Here’s my own take why this is hard (pls cont)/8
We usually think in mutually exclusive alternatives. ‘It’s either us or them’ ‘sovereignty or slavery’ ‘gender or sex’ ‘decide, take sides!’ While at times useful (‘fight of flight’) these are false & less than useful alternatives/9
Reality is recalcitrant, and its parts, when real, don’t just go away because we don’t like them, disapprove of them, disregard, or worse, suppress them/10
History is full of attempts to ignore or suppress the other side. These cause immense harm, and usually, fortunately, fail in the long run/11
Supporting both women’s rights & transgender rights is (as many of us know) not mutually exclusive. We should & can support both. We should support neither side exclusively/12
I regard this habituated ways of thinking in crude alternatives as one of the greatest challenges for thought and action. It runs very deep in us. We like to—perhaps need to—take sides/13
To change it is hard! Impossible? We would have to engage with each other, stand our ground & yet, also, with empathy, take the other side into account. Lasting positions & mutually beneficial arrangements emerge this way/14
Anyone who would like to have a genuine exchange, email me. If you simply want to add to the abuse, call me a coward, a fascist, etc. just add it below. I promise never to delete it. Thank you for bearing with me/15
