Read on Twitter
Now more than ever it’s important to call in our colleagues, disciplines and sectors. A recent thread on sex in quantitative social science shouldn't define us - a [super long, sorry] thread 
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1/24
The conflation between sex and gender and the census and attacks on organisations such as Stonewall should be a serious concern in the academy. It imbues academic discussion with politics of exclusion and anti-LGBTQ sentiment 2/24
This framing hides behind ‘facticity’, without examining that evidence and those ‘fact’ (for example on facticity, see Chatterjee and Riley https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-94-024-1290-1_3) 3/24
It is disappointing to see so many mutuals like and RT a thread that amplified orgs that have produced harmful misinformation against LGBTQI folx 4/24
Many ant-trans / GC orgs have links (implicitly – e.g. through ideology / discourse, or explicitly, e.g. through funding) with supremacist orgs – see the work by @alisonphipps. Supporting colleagues who support orgs that work with anti-abortion lawyers is not good. 5/24
Criticsing Stonewall with weaponised misinformation about their GRA recommendations is disappointing. For a great outline of further, evidence-based amendments for GRA reform, see https://twitter.com/NotRightRuth/status/1349397796546179072 6/24
It implicitly reminds us that as much as these are presented as “scientific” debates in quant social science, they are intertwined with anti-trans movements that are linked to exclusionary and supremacist politics 7/24
Regardless of your place in this, I would ask colleagues not to support viewpoints that include the promotion of anti-trans orgs / discourse. Support debate that affirms and centre trans and non-binary rights. Would you RT someone who shared their platform with UKIP? 8/24
The ‘sex and gender in the census’ debate ( https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13645579.2020.1768343?src=recsys) is important but complex. It raises the question of whether data are to represent society, or society is to mould to fit data. I firmly believe in the former. 9/24
Sex as a predictor of many health and social outcomes, but we have yet to collect detailed gender data. It asks the question that if sex is ‘biological’ - a collection of chromosomes & gonads etc - how does it predict e.g. wages in a way that gender can’t? 10/24
This biological determinism is rooted in the same 'race-based' science that makes dangerous, simplified assumptions. We shouldn't support a debate that asserts decades old visions of sex that have been weaponised especially against Black womxn, poor womxn and LGBTQI womxn 11/24
Shout out to @Dr_Inna and her TikTok reminding us that sex and gender are concepts that are evolving and moving (check out her TikTok bio for linked bibliographies) https://tinyurl.com/y5z7klm7 12/24
For healthcare and policy planning, gender is essential. People of different genders have different needs. Check out the work of @clarewenham and colleagues to see how focusing solely on sex in policy and not gender has negative outcomes 13/24 https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/sep/30/panamas-trans-community-failed-by-gendered-lockdown-measures-report
Gender is also essential for contraception decision making and access - there different healthcare needs and considerations across genders - see the work of @juliavbailey at https://www.contraceptionchoices.org/ 14/24
And inclusivity in sexual and reproductive healthcare is critical, as pointed out by @IbisRH:
https://twitter.com/IbisRH/status/1349748571814428678
and Terrence Higgins Trust:
https://divamag.co.uk/2020/12/15/health-research-finds-that-the-sexual-health-needs-of-trans-and-non-binary-individuals-are-not-being-met/
15/24
https://twitter.com/IbisRH/status/1349748571814428678
and Terrence Higgins Trust:
https://divamag.co.uk/2020/12/15/health-research-finds-that-the-sexual-health-needs-of-trans-and-non-binary-individuals-are-not-being-met/
15/24
16/24 As well as in policies on the provision of menstrual healthcare: https://twitter.com/SRHMJournal/status/1350020184095023105
Shout out to the ECRs who push these conversations forward despite their precarity and have made me a better and more critically aware person. We can support debate without supporting hate. Mega shoutouts to @rishie_ and @DJROE95 (please add more names!) 17/24
Quant social scientists don’t inherently have the right to a seat at the table on this. Many arguments rely on dismissing other disciplines. This is bad practice: Interdisciplinary work strengthens us.
Here's to the many academics working in this area! Please add more! 18/24
Here's to the many academics working in this area! Please add more! 18/24
Dr Ruth Pearce - @NotRightRuth - Feminist sociologist. Author of "Understanding Trans Health"; co-editor of "The Emergence of Trans" and "TERF Wars" 19/24
Dr Andi Fugard - @InductiveStep – quantitative social science social scientist
Dr B Camminga - @Obsqueer – African Fellow at IASH researching “Trans at the Border: Hostility, Visibility and the Digital Diasporic Voices of Africa’s Transgender Refugees” 20/24
Dr B Camminga - @Obsqueer – African Fellow at IASH researching “Trans at the Border: Hostility, Visibility and the Digital Diasporic Voices of Africa’s Transgender Refugees” 20/24
Prof Sally Hines – @sally_hines - Chair of Sociology and Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Dr Jabulile Mavuso - @jMjmvuso1 - Research Associate for the Critical Studies in Sexualities and Reproduction research program at Rhodes University, South Africa 21/24
Dr Jabulile Mavuso - @jMjmvuso1 - Research Associate for the Critical Studies in Sexualities and Reproduction research program at Rhodes University, South Africa 21/24
Dr Ben Vincent - @GenderBen - Author of 'Transgender Health' + 'Non-Binary Genders'. Co-Edited 'Non-Binary Lives' and 'TERF Wars'. 22/24
Dr Alyosxa Tudor - @AlyosxaT - researcher and teacher @CGS_SOAS trans/gender studies, transnational and decolonial epistemologies, migration + diaspora studies 23/24
Prof Cicely Marston - @cicely - Research Associate for the Critical Studies in Sexualities and Reproduction research program at Rhodes University, South Africa 24/24
Ciao @threadreaderapp please unroll. Thank you!
