Kathleen Stock

Kathleen Mary Linn Stock OBE is a British philosopher and writer. She was a professor of philosophy at the University of Sussex until 2021. She has published academic work on aesthetics, fiction, imagination, sexual objectification, and sexual orientation.

Her views on transgender rights and gender identity have become a contentious issue. In December 2020, she was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of services to higher education, a decision which was subsequently criticised by a group of over 600 academic philosophers who argued that Stock's "harmful rhetoric" contributed to the marginalisation of transgender people. In October 2021, she resigned from the University of Sussex after a student campaign took place calling for her dismissal and the university trade union accused the university of "institutional transphobia." A group of over 200 academic philosophers from the UK signed an open letter in support of Stock's academic freedom.

Quotes

 * Did you know, for instance, that, in an attempt to give an account of “woman” inclusive of males, the UN describes women as "multifaceted, intergenerational, international ... limitless, formless"? That, according to Amnesty UK, Pharaoh Hatshepsut was a trans man? That in 2017, the American Civil Liberties Union produced a film proselytising the transition of a feminine-acting four-year-old boy to a "girl" by his evangelical Christian parents – thereby making his later medical sterilisation quite likely – and that the film then won an Emmy? That a lesbian survivor of the 1999 nail bomb that targeted a gay pub in Soho was banned from dating app Hinge for stating on her profile that she only wanted to meet females? That the crafting forum Ravelry has a crochet pattern for a "Bitty Bug", a minute "bump" designed to put between female toddlers' legs to simulate possession of a penis? And that male rapists – complete with their non-simulated girldicks – are now inmates in female prisons in many countries, including the UK? At this point, I wouldn’t blame you for checking what was in your morning cup of tea.
 * "Toddlers transitioning, male rapists in women's prisons: this is the book you need to read about trans activism" The Telegraph (18 July 2021)
 * From a review of Trans by Helen Joyce.


 * Two weeks ago, I resigned my post as philosophy professor at Sussex University. For three years, I've faced bullying and harassment for my views on sex and gender. More recently, this intensified into a full-blown campaign. Posters and graffiti went up denouncing me. Masked students held protests, set off flares and gave interviews saying they felt unsafe with me around. The problems all started when I began making such controversial statements as: "there are only two sexes" and "it's wrong to put male rapists in women's prisons".
 * "How to be a heretic", The Spectator (13 November 2021).


 * The whole point of a university is to contest group think or received wisdom maybe that contestation will only serve to reinforce the group think, but at least it would have been tested. And it has to be tested because there are so many instances from history of where group think can go wrong, severely wrong, either empirically or ethically. So academics should have a central role in the culture of testing received wisdom and introducing controversial ideas in order that they may be rationally and empirically discussed.
 * "Chapter 5: The Tweets" (at 7m56s and 9m42s), The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling (14 March 2023).


 * Graham [Linehan] and I have clashed in the past, [...] and we probably aren't each other's favourite people. But I think it's fair to say he's genuinely committed to fighting what he believes is a woman-harming and child-harming ideology (and I agree with him on that); and he talks to some demographics — particularly ordinary blokes, who don't really care so much about niceties of language and aren't put off by his sometimes bludgeoning style — that others don't necessarily reach.
 * Interviewed for a profile of Linehan in The Times (17 March 2023)

About Kathleen Stock
University should be an environment where debate is supported, not stifled. We mustn’t allow a small but vocal few to shut down discussion. Kathleen Stock's invitation to the Oxford Union should stand. Agree or disagree with her, Professor Stock is an important figure in this argument. Students should be allowed to hear and debate her views. A tolerant society is one which allows us to understand those we disagree with, and nowhere is that more important than within our great universities.
 * A free society requires free debate. We should all be encouraged to engage respectfully with the ideas of others.
 * Prime Minister Rishi Sunak quoted in "Rishi Sunak backs Kathleen Stock after trans uproar over Oxford invite" The Telegraph (29 May 2023)
 * Before a debate involving Stock at the Oxford Union on 30 May, the Student's Union indicated the Union would be barred from freshers' fair in future. After Oxford University reminded the SU of the university's free speech policy, the proposal was dropped.