Kathleen Stock: Difference between revisions

Kathleen Mary Linn Stock OBE (born November 1972) is a professor of philosophy at the University of Sussex.^[1] She has published academic work on aesthetics, fiction, imagination, sexual objectification, and sexual orientation.^[2] Her opposition to gender self-identification has become a contentious issue.^[3][4][5][6] In December 2020, she was appointed Officer of the Civil Division, Order of the British Empire (OBE), in recognition of services to higher education,^[7][8] and was subsequently criticised in a letter signed by an "international cohort" of 600 academic philosophers expressing "dismay" that the government chose to honour her.^[9] In October 2021, a student campaign calling for her dismissal prompted both criticism and support of Stock,^[10][11] leading to a group of over 200 academic philosophers from the UK signing an open letter in support of Stock's academic freedom.^[12][13]

Stock was raised in Montrose, the child of a philosophy lecturer and a newspaper proofreader.^[3] She was an undergraduate at Exeter College, Oxford, and studied for an MA at St Andrews, and a PhD at Leeds.^[3]

Stock has written one monograph as well as articles in peer-reviewed academic journals, and has contributed several chapters to edited volumes. She edited Philosophers on Music: Experience, Meaning, and Work (first edition 2007), and together with Katherine Thomson-Jones, she edited New Waves in Aesthetics (2008).^[2] In her monograph Only Imagine: Fiction, Interpretation and Imagination (2017), she argues for authorial intentionalism.^[14][15]

Until 2020, Stock was the vice-president of the British Society of Aesthetics.^[16] She has given lectures at the University of York,^[17] the Aristotelian Society,^[18] the London Aesthetics Forum,^[19] the University of Wolverhampton,^[20] the American Society for Aesthetics.^[21]

Stock is acknowledged as a prominent "gender-critical" feminist.^[22][23]

She has opposed transgender self-identification in regards to proposed reforms to the 2004 UK Gender Recognition Act.^[24][25][26] She has said that many trans women are "still males with male genitalia, many are sexually attracted to females, and they should not be in places where females undress or sleep in a completely unrestricted way." She has denied opposing trans rights, saying, "I gladly and vocally assert the rights of trans people to live their lives free from fear, violence, harassment or any discrimination" and "I think that discussing female rights is compatible with defending these trans rights".^[27]

Students and academics began to criticise Stock's views in 2018, when she spoke against proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act; the changes would have allowed people of all ages to legally self-identify as a particular gender without the requirement of a psychological or medicalised diagnosis. She received death threats as a result of her position.^[28] In 2019, Stock signed the "Declaration on Women's Sex-Based Rights" from the Women's Human Rights Campaign (WHRC).^[29] In June of 2019, Stock was invited to speak at the Aristotelian Society about her views on gender identity. The organization Minorities and Philosophy (MAP) UK and their international counterpart released a joint statement against Stock speaking at the event, saying "Not every item of personal and ideological obsession is worthy of philosophical debate. In particular, scepticism about the rights of marginalised groups and individuals, where issues of life and death are at stake, are not up for debate.”^[30] In 2020, she testified before the Women and Equalities Committee of the House of Commons, and gave oral evidence in response to the reform of the Gender Recognition Act.^[31]

Journalist Janice Turner wrote in The Times that Stock "teaches trans students, respecting their pronouns, and has written repeatedly in support of their human rights".^[32]

In 2021, Stock made a submission to the proposed Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill, highlighting what she described as harassment and a culture of fear and self-censorship in British universities in relation to her gender critical views concerning "transactivist demands to recognise and prioritise gender identity".^[33]

Her 2021 book, Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism, offers a critical discussion of gender identity theory.^[22][34] Her thesis, according to reviewer Christina Patterson, is that there is "a new orthodoxy, one in which sex gives way to feeling, and feeling trumps facts".^[35] In it, Stock supports protective laws for trans people,^[36] but opposes, according to The Guardian, "the institutionalisation of the idea that gender identity is all that matters – that how you identify automatically confers all the entitlements of that sex".^[37] She describes the law that gives trans people the right to change gender as a legal fiction, a kind of "useful untruth".^[38]

In May 2021, Stock was appointed as a trustee of the LGB Alliance.^[39]

In October 2021, a group of LGBT+ University of Sussex students began a campaign for Stock to be fired, stating that she was "espousing a bastardised version of radical feminism that excludes and endangers trans people".^[40][41][42] The group, Anti Terf Sussex, said Stock was a danger to transgender people and that "We're not up for debate. We cannot be reasoned out of existence".^[43] A statement on Instagram said it was from "an anonymous, unaffiliated group of queer, trans and non-binary students who will not allow our community to be slandered and harmed by someone who's [sic] salary comes from our pockets".^[42] Police advised Stock to take precautions for her safety, including installing CCTV at her home and using bodyguards on campus.^[28][44]

Stock herself said: "Universities aren't places where students should just expect to hear their own thoughts reflected back at them. Arguments should be met by arguments and evidence by evidence, not intimidation or aggression".^[43] She said that months previously, she had complained to the University of Sussex, alleging it had failed to protect her and to safeguard her academic freedom.^[28]

Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch, barrister Allison Bailey, and writer Julie Bindel spoke in Stock's defence and University of Sussex vice-chancellor Adam Tickell condemned the campaign as a threat to academic freedom. Announcing an investigation into the protests,^{[40][41][45][28]} the vice-chancellor stated "I'm really concerned that we have masked protesters putting up posters calling for the sacking of somebody for exercising her right to articulate her views".^[42] and that the institution had "legal and moral duties to ensure people can speak freely".

A group of over 200 academic philosophers from the UK signed an open letter in support of Stock's academic freedom, and her ability to engage "in open and scholarly debate without fear of harassment."^[12][13]

The Sussex branch of the University and College Union (UCU) strongly criticized the vice-chancellor over his statement, saying that Tickell had not upheld the dignity and respect of trans students and staff.^[10] The union said that it stands in solidarity with the students and their right to protest, and that "we urge our management to take a clear and strong stance against transphobia at Sussex."^[10] It also called for an investigation into "institutional transphobia" at the University of Sussex. However, it added "we do not endorse the call for any worker to be summarily sacked."^[10][11] Responding to the statement, Stock said that it had "effectively ended" her career at Sussex University.^[11] Kathleen Stock has not faced any disciplinary action and is still in her post at Sussex University, which has not agreed to UCU’s calls for an investigation.

The Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, Taiwo Owatemi, called UCU's statement "strong and principled" and said she was "greatly concerned by [Stock's] work as a trustee for the LGB Alliance group" which she said should be "rejected by all those who believe in equality."^[46]

Shortly after releasing the statement, members of the UCU Sussex branch executive said they had received personal threats, and had their contact details released. A spokesperson on behalf of the UCU's national organisation condemned this and said "these matters are being raised immediately with leadership at the university."^[11]

The Times reported that the head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Baroness Falkner of Margravine, "called the attacks on Professor Kathleen Stock disgraceful and said that tougher regulation was needed to protect people from abuse."^[43] She said: "The rights of trans people must of course be protected, but the attempt to silence academic freedom of expression is the opposite of what university life is about".^[43] Minister for women and equalities Liz Truss gave Falkner's letter her "full support".^[47] Oxford historian Selina Todd described Tickell's statement as paying "lip service to academic freedom while assuring students of the university's 'inclusivity'" and criticised the Universities and Colleges Union for their silence.^[43] The Times published a letter in support of Stock from a group of trans people, saying that they were "appalled that trans rights ... are being used to excuse an unprincipled campaign of harassment and abuse."^[48][49][50]

A statement of solidarity signed by hundreds of "academics, retired academics, students, alumni and university/college employees" circulated by the GC Academia Network,^[51] a group that describes itself as gender-critical, expressed concerns "about the ongoing erosion of women's sex-based rights in law, policy and practice" and condemns the recent escalation of intimidation by a small group.^[52]

Stock was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to higher education.^[53] In response, over 600 academics signed a letter criticising the government's decision and expressing concern about a "tendency to mistake transphobic fear mongering for valuable scholarship, and attacks on already marginalised people for courageous exercises of free speech".^[45][40] Stock responded that the content of the letter was ridiculous, saying "they accused me of completely wild things like supporting patriarchy and preventing transgender people from accessing medical care, even though I have not said anything about it except when it comes to children".^[38] A counter letter defending her was signed by more than 400.^[23]

Stock is openly lesbian, writing in Material Girls: “As a lesbian and as a sex-nonconforming woman I too have skin in this game”.^[54] Janice Turner in The Times described her, amongst other terms, as a "left-wing lesbian".^[32]

• Philosophers on Music: Experience, Meaning, and Work (Oxford University Press, 2007), ed.
• New Waves in Aesthetics, edited with Katherine Thomson-Jones (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2008).
• Fantasy, imagination, and film. British Journal of Aesthetics, 2009. 49 (4): 357–369.
• Fictive Utterance and Imagining. Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume. 2011, 85 (1): 145–161.
• Some Reflections on Seeing-as, Metaphor-Grasping and Imagining. Aisthesis: Pratiche, Linguaggi E Saperi Dell'Estetico. 2013, 6 (1): 201–213.
• Imagining and Fiction: Some Issues. Philosophy Compass. 2013, 8 (10): 887–896.
• Sexual Objectification. Analysis, 2015, 75 (2): 191–195.
• Learning from fiction and theories of fictional content. Teorema: International Journal of Philosophy, 2016, (3): 69–83.
• Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism (Fleet, 2021).^[35]

• Official website
• University of Sussex bio