Kathleen Stock

Kathleen Stock
OBE
Stock interviewed in 2021
Born
Kathleen Mary Linn Stock

1971 or 1972 (age 52–53)[1]
Aberdeen, Scotland, UK
Education
InstitutionsUniversity of Sussex
ThesisThe Nature and Value of Imaginative Responses to the Fiction Film (2001)
Main interests
Websitekathleenstock.com

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.[2]

Her views on transgender rights and gender identity have become a contentious issue.[3][4][5][6] In December 2020, she was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of services to higher education,[7][8] 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.[9][10] In October 2021, she resigned from the University of Sussex.[11] This came after a student campaign took place calling for her dismissal and the university trade union accused the university of "institutional transphobia."[12][13] A group of over 200 academic philosophers from the UK signed an open letter in support of Stock's academic freedom.

  1. ^ Woods, Judith (28 May 2023). "Kathleen Stock: 'No matter what I say, to trans people I'll always be a villain'". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference philpeople was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Moorhead, Joanna (22 May 2021). "Kathleen Stock: taboo around gender identity has chilling effect on academics". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 22 May 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2021. What she says she opposes, though, is the institutionalisation of the idea that gender identity is all that matters – that how you identify automatically confers all the entitlements of that sex.
  4. ^ Badshah, Nadeem (7 October 2021). "University defends 'academic freedoms' after calls to sack professor". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 7 October 2021. Retrieved 8 October 2021. A university has said it will not tolerate threats to "academic freedoms" after a professor faced calls to be sacked over her views on gender identification.
  5. ^ Lawrie, Eleanor (8 October 2021). "University of Sussex backs professor in free speech row". BBC News. Archived from the original on 8 October 2021. Retrieved 8 October 2021. The University of Sussex's vice chancellor has defended a professor after protesters tried to have her sacked for her views on gender identity.
  6. ^ Grove, Jack (7 January 2020). "Kathleen Stock: life on the front line of transgender rights debate". Times Higher Education (THE). London. Archived from the original on 7 January 2020. Retrieved 8 October 2021. "It is quite a strange situation to work somewhere where people make it clear that they loathe you," reflected Kathleen Stock, professor of philosophy at the University of Sussex, on the backlash she faced for her views on gender identification.
  7. ^ "Order of the British Empire". The London Gazette. 30 December 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  8. ^ "University of Sussex professor awarded OBE" (Press release). University of Sussex. 5 January 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  9. ^ Parsons, Vic (6 January 2021). "Outraged academics condemn government for handing anti-trans professor Kathleen Stock an OBE". PinkNews. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  10. ^ "Open Letter Concerning Transphobia in Philosophy". January 2021. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  11. ^ "Sussex professor resigns after transgender rights row". The Guardian. London. 28 October 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference ucu was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference guardian2021-10-12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).