Trans Rights and Gender Identity with Kathleen Stock

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Published 2024-06-27
What happens when public policy meets the complex world of modern gender identity? Our guest today is Kathleen Stock, Ph.D., a former professor of philosophy at the University of Sussex, author of the critically-acclaimed "Material Girls," and an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) awardee. Kathleen joins host John Tomasi to navigate the often-tense intersection of trans rights, gender identity, and academic freedom. Despite facing protests, security threats, and professional challenges, Kathleen steadfastly advocates for open inquiry and reasoned debate.

Today, John and Kathleen discuss the controversial landscape of transgender issues. Kathleen criticizes the medicalization of gender questioning and the societal pressure it places on individuals. She explains how academic and societal frameworks have rapidly evolved with the influence of activism, particularly examining the ramifications for single-sex spaces and public policies.

In This Episode:
• Criticism of the medicalization of gender questioning
• The societal impact of Stonewall’s policy changes and the Gender Recognition Act
• Challenges faced by Kathleen in professional settings due to her views
• Debates over the inclusion of trans women in single-sex spaces and sports
• The role of free speech and reason in academic discourse
• Concerns for the future of universities and academic freedom

Follow Kathleen on X here: x.com/Docstockk
Check out her book Material Girls: a.co/d/02sKzGz9

About Kathleen:
Kathleen Stock is a contributing writer at UnHerd and a co-director of The Lesbian Project. She is the author of Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism (Little Brown 2021) and Only Imagine: Fiction, Interpretation and Imagination (Oxford University Press 2017). Until 2021, she was a Professor of Philosophy at Sussex University. In the last few years, she has written for UK national publications on a range of issues, especially on sex, gender, and women's rights. In 2024, she was highly commended for her UnHerd columns at the UK Press Awards; in 2022, she was voted World’s Top Thinker in Prospect Magazine. She was awarded an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to higher education in 2020.

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All Comments (21)
  • @bulldogklaus47
    Kathleen Stock and Helen Joyce have become my most inspirational thinkers.
  • @LeeGee
    A crying shame what Sussex did to this academic.
  • @annthomas8280
    I'm always struck by Dr Stock's calm and reason in the face of this relentless onslaught. Long may she prosper.
  • @galaxytrio
    She's very decent and likeable. Very sad to hear how the mob went after her.
  • @ewajustka
    Kathleen Stock is my hero. She gave me the strength to speak up against gender ideology in the arts. I paid the price, but it was worth it. Truth matters.
  • Thank you Kathleen, you were the first person I saw publicly speak on this topic at a time where it seemed taboo to do so, and you spoke so much sense it became the key to me waking up to this insanity that is the trans ideology. I applaud your candor and courage
  • I love love love this courageous, intelligent woman. Long may her voice be heard loud and clear. Shame on those who have tried to silence her.
  • @ApacheMagic
    Wonderful woman,sees clearly and speaks sense. Sussex ought to beg her forgiveness.
  • @mumtrader
    Kathleen epitomises beautifully reasoned discourse, she’s a real role model.
  • @aodhanofailain
    How about we don’t tell people, ‘You’re right to think you’re born in the wrong body, mutilate yourself with my blessing, and I’ll go along with the fiction that you’ve changed sex’? How about we say, ’You’re mistaken to think you’re born in the wrong body. Your body is you. You’re beautiful, good, and loveable just as you are. We’re glad that none of us can change sex, because we love you now as the whole person you are, body, mind, and spirit. You have a difficult condition called gender dysphoria, but people have recovered from this without self-harming and with our support so can you’?
  • Inspirational, courageous, an intellect I can only dream of and such a calm, polite persona. Her knowledge of this topic is exceptional. Such a role model for women! I attended Sussex University for 6 years in the 80s…..their treatment of her was appalling and that her colleagues failed to support her shameful. A great interview Thank you 🇬🇧 oh and great interviewer
  • @kpt002
    I am a Finnish woman born in 1970's and I was never a girly girl - hated skirts and dresses - and had always lots of boys as my friends. In 1980's-1990's Finland that was not a thing.. Like the whole sex and gender was not a thing at all. My mom (born in 1940's) never wore make up, always had a short hair, mostly used pants and worked full time outside home and none of that was a thing. I think most of my friends had mothers like that. Now suddenly a man who wears a dress and likes to put make up on his face has become the norm for a "woman" and a woman who doesn't do that is then labled as "non-binary" or maybe even a "trans".. Like WTF has happened?? This poisonous idelogy has invaded Finland too - and just like anywhere else the univerisites and all the places where leftists have ruling positions it is the oppinion everyone should have. All though I have never been a very feminine girl/woman - and I definitely did not like how my body developed through my teenage years getting breasts and wider hips - I still have never ever thought I was not a girl or that I was a boy.. I just felt like a boyish girl. And that was totally fine then. I really do not understand who really benefits of this "new world" other than some fanatic activists and men who want to invade women's spaces.
  • @judyrudin2968
    I'm all for Kathleen (and Helen) getting those knighthood. Superlative and clear-headed thinkers should never be out of style.
  • @user-op4ku3uh6f
    Keep speaking up Kathleen Stock- your voice,alongside JK Rowling,Kellie Jay Keen,Helen Joyce among others. We need your voices to keep reality alive and preserve children’s lives and their health. I really like the way you refer to society as ‘so-called progressive’, when in all actuality it is regressive,perpetuating misogyny. Keep on speaking up ❤🙏❤️
  • @SP-1414
    Solidarity with Kathleen Stock and others fighting for women and reality.
  • @ApacheMagic
    Something I’ve noticed about the detractors of Kathleen and others like JKR, is that they seemingly deliberately misconstrue their words. Any comment that starts with ‘I feel like she’s REALLY saying…’ Is a typical as a example. They turn everything into a dogwhistle that doesn’t actually exist.
  • @kashesan
    You are appreciated Professor Stock.
  • @RIANAVENTER
    Kathleen Stock, Helen Joyce, Maya Forstatter, Kelly Jay Keen (Posie Parker), Dr Hilary Cass, JK Rowling ... Thank you for courage to stand against the aggression, the vitriol and the malice of power grabbers. 🎀🏆
  • I'm just flabbergasted as a 56 year old gay man at the idea of this occuring! I think back to 1977, when me and two other girls were playing Charlie's Angels on the playground... in today's world, you know damn good and well that some well meaning, virtue signaling teacher would try to tell me I was trans because I was pretending to be Kate Jackson on the playground!
  • Wow! Never knew this inspirational woman was brought up in my birth town of Montrose. I am also classed as ‘English’ due to my Home Counties accent!