Petition to ban Germaine Greer from upcoming lecture

MakeEmLaugh · 23-10-2015 09:34PM #1

Well-known feminist academic and writer Germaine Greer is set to give a lecture at Cardiff University in Wales. However, the Women's Officer at the university's Student Union, Rachael Melhuish, has started a petition with Change.org asking for for Greer to be banned from speaking at the university.

It is because, according to Melhuish, Greer has “demonstrated misogynistic views towards trans women, including continually misgendering trans women and denying the existence of transphobia altogether”.

As of 9:34pm UK/Ireland time on 23rd October 2015, the petition has been signed 369 times. However, it should be noted that there are 30,000 students enrolled in Cardiff University, and that it cannot be proven that the 369 signatures are comprised of students from that university, at whom Greer's upcoming lecture is aimed.

Greer has been dismissive of both the petition and the university, who said the lecture will go ahead.

I just don’t think that surgery turns a man into a woman. A perfectly permissable view. I mean, an un-man is not necessarily a woman. We don’t really know what women are and I think that a lot of women are female impersonators, because our notion of who we are is not authentic, and so I am not surprised men are better at impersonating women than women are. Not a surprise, but it’s not something I welcome.

What they are saying is that because I don’t think surgery will turn a man into a woman I should not be allowed to speak anywhere.

If the University of Cardiff cannot guarantee that I will not have things thrown at me then I won’t go there. I can’t be bothered.

What are your thoughts? Should she be allowed to go ahead with her lecture, or are the people behind this petition right?

DEFTLEFTHAND · 23-10-2015 09:38PM

Universities are supposed to be places of free speech, learning and debate, banning speakers and shutting down debate flies in the face of all that. No matter who the guest is.

Fukuyama · 23-10-2015 09:46PM

"Womens Officer"

Stopped there.

SeanW · 23-10-2015 09:51PM

A catfight between two hate filled, psycho assholes.

Colour me bored.

DrumSteve · 23-10-2015 10:18PM

I wish I could find words to accurately explain the apathy I feel towards both of these people.

Also, whilst I couldnt give a singular fook what greer has to say, she has the right to her opiniin and just because you don't like someone's opinion, doesn't mean you have a right to shut them up.

justchecked · 23-10-2015 10:22PM

So she joins the list of those who fight against free speech.

Put her in there with mao, stalin, hitler.
They would approve.

Meanwhile the likes of Gandhi would probably disagee.

KungPao · 23-10-2015 10:26PM

Phew. Though that said German Beer. That would be terrible for the students.

Day Lewin · 23-10-2015 10:26PM

Germaine Greer is not stupid, uninformed or irrelevant: she played a pivotal role in forming modern feminist opinion and helped to drive some serious changes in popular opinion. She is also a serious academic.

Whether you agree with her views or not, she has as much right to express them as anyone else, and a better right than many to be heard with attention on topics that touch on sexuality and identity.

Poor showing for that "women's officer" who can't bear to even hear a view she may disagree with. (Ah, a long, tough road lies ahead of her!)

Links234 · 23-10-2015 10:28PM

Greer is a vile hate-filled person, and a very nasty piece of work indeed. That said, I think calling for her to be banned from speaking at the university is counterproductive, it just draws more attention to her.

lazybones32 · 23-10-2015 10:32PM

I agree with Greer being banned from Public speaking but I don't agree with why the nutjob's trying to ban her.

I think they should be set adrift in the Ocean. 2 birds, 1 stone, etc;.

the evasion_kid · 23-10-2015 10:33PM

Were do I sign....

Eugene Norman · 23-10-2015 10:36PM

I like Germaine.

I think we should just give up on modern day universities as places of free thinking. Invite "controversial" speakers to pubs or theatres across the road from the universities and advertise within.

RWCNT · 23-10-2015 11:10PM

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Universities are supposed to be places of free speech, learning and debate, banning speakers and shutting down debate flies in the face of all that. No matter who the guest is.

How does this shut down debate exactly? Nobody was debating anything, some dickhead was just going to talk in a room for a bit.

play it again · 23-10-2015 11:24PM

Links234 wrote: »

Greer is a vile hate-filled person, and a very nasty piece of work indeed. That said, I think calling for her to be banned from speaking at the university is counterproductive, it just draws more attention to her.

Why ? Is it solely because she has a different opinion on transgender than you , or is it something specific she has said or done in the past

Eugene Norman · 23-10-2015 11:35PM

RWCNT wrote: »

How does this shut down debate exactly? Nobody was debating anything, some dickhead was just going to talk in a room for a bit.

"Dickheads" talking and other "dickheads"disagreeing in a public forum is a debate.

hatrickpatrick · 23-10-2015 11:38PM

Germaine Greer is an absolutely horrible person but I will defend her right to say whatever the hell she wants to say.

What the f*ck is with all these university debates about banning this and that lately? Are they the new SJW battleground now that they have unequivocally lost their battle to have rules imposed on the internet?

fedor.2. · 23-10-2015 11:51PM

Links234 wrote: »

Greer is a vile hate-filled person, and a very nasty piece of work indeed. That said, I think calling for her to be banned from speaking at the university is counterproductive, it just draws more attention to her.

Well there's a surprise

frostyjacks · 24-10-2015 12:02AM

It's not a question of "Should she be allowed" to give her lecture. She already is allowed, it's just that the thought-police can't bear the idea of someone calling them out on their mumbo-jumbo. They always play the victim card.

Geuze · 24-10-2015 12:07AM

Links234 wrote: »

Greer is a vile hate-filled person, and a very nasty piece of work indeed.

I disagree, she seems fairly sound to me, from what I've read about her, and seen her on TV.

I don't think you'd be that successful if you were "vile hate-filled".

c_man · 24-10-2015 12:08AM

Ah she was a good laugh on Grumpy old women.

BlaasForRafa · 24-10-2015 12:17AM

Germaine Greer is a rotten old misandrist but I wouldn't want to see her banned from speaking.

RWCNT · 24-10-2015 12:23AM

Eugene Norman wrote: »

"Dickheads" talking and other "dickheads"disagreeing in a public forum is a debate.

Yeah, that is a debate. This Greer character wasn't coming to debate, it was a talk or lecture.

Edit : Read the statement from the guy at the Uni saying all views would be challenged and debated. If they let the student body have a go at her there & then, fair enough. Debating with someone who's whole line is "Its my opinion - I don't care if people get offended"' probably won't actually be a real debate though.

alcaline · 24-10-2015 12:30AM

Greer is correct in her view, its about time someone with a bit of clout came out and said it.

MakeEmLaugh · 24-10-2015 12:55AM

Greer was on BBC Newsnight shortly after this story emerged, speaking to Kirsty Wark about the situation.

Here are extracts of the interview.

Kirsty Wark: But surely if a man who feels that he would actually like gender reassignment to make him/her feel more comfortable in her body, then that's what should be done? They should be allowed to do that.

Germaine Greer: I'm not saying that people should not be allowed to go through that procedure, what I'm saying is that it doesn't make them a woman. It happens to be an opinion. It's not a prohibition...

You don't have to say everything that's in your mind. You do use tact in the usual way. I would, for example, when someone who wished to be known as female use female speech forms, as a courtesy...

Kirsty Wark: So, someone like Caitlyn Jenner, for example, who has been on the front of lots of magazines and is apparently, I think I'm right in saying, getting an award for being Glamour Woman of the Year. What do you think about that?

Germaine Greer: I think it's misogynist. I think misogyny plays a really big part in all of this. That a man who goes to these lengths will be a better woman than someone who is just born a woman...

It seems to me that what was going on there is that he/she wanted the limelight that the other female members of the family were enjoying, and has conquered it just like that...

Kirsty Wark: If a man has his gender reassigned outwardly and he feels inwardly is a woman, in your view, can he be a woman or not?

Germaine Greer: No

Kirsty Wark: Do you understand how people feel that's insulting?

Germaine Greer: I don't care. People get insulted all the time.

alcaline · 24-10-2015 12:58AM

MakeEmLaugh wrote: »

Greer was on BBC Newsnight shortly after this story emerged, speaking to Kirsty Wark about the situation.

Here are extracts of the interview.

Good for her, someone speaking what everyone is thinking.

Very Bored · 24-10-2015 01:23AM

MakeEmLaugh wrote: »

Greer was on BBC Newsnight shortly after this story emerged, speaking to Kirsty Wark about the situation.

Here are extracts of the interview.

I really don't have any issue with what she said in that interview. What's she's said, for the most part, is absolutely true. I don't know enough about her to judge her as a person. I would question what her overall view of people like me, in other words men, is. However, I don't have any problem with the overall theme of what she said here.

BunkMoreland · 24-10-2015 01:28AM

DrumSteve wrote:

she has the right to her opiniin and just because you don't like someone's opinion, doesn't mean you have a right to shut them up.

Except for boards.ie, they censor and ban opinion all the time.

The Randy Riverbeast · 24-10-2015 01:33AM

KungPao wrote: »

Phew. Though that said German Beer. That would be terrible for the students.

I was wondering what Germaine beer was.

Could we at least wait for it to become a bit more than less than 400 people with internet connection signed petition?

Very Bored · 24-10-2015 01:46AM

Echoing Germaine Greer, in this issue at least, for me, a man is someone who is born with a penis. A woman is someone who is born with a vagina. Simple as that. If someone wants to have an operation which changes their sexual organs from one sex to the other, then that is their choice and who am I to stand in the way of that? I wish them well and hope it brings them happiness. However, for me, they remain the sex they were born. I also refuse to use he for a person who was born she and she for a person who was born he. That does not mean I disrespect the manner in which someone chooses to live their life, I wish them every success, I just don't see any reason why their choice should supercede mine. You can define me as a bigot if you so wish but I'm not for changing on this one.

In terms of dating, I am a very happily married man and, as such, wish to remain with my wife until my last days. However, should life throw a spanner in the works and return me to the dating game, which touch wood will not happen, I have to admit that if I was seeking a new partner, that partner would have to be someone who was born female. Furthermore, if there was someone who was transgender who was convincingly female, and there are transgender males who do look very much like women, I would expect them to be honest from the outset because, in the end, it would only cause heartache on both sides. Finally, I know many will want to jump on me and say how so many would be honest, but there are a devious few in every group and so it is not beyond the realms of belief that someone could trick a person. That said, if they are honest and find someone with a different mentality then I wish them every future happiness.

bur · 24-10-2015 01:47AM

Philosophically i can see where shes coming from.

PressRun · 24-10-2015 01:57AM

University is supposed to be a place of dialogue. If you just ban people whose opinions you disagree with, then there's no debate to be had. If they oppose Germaine Greer's position on this, then get it out in the open and have a lively discussion about it. Banning her because they don't like her opinion just makes it seem like they're afraid to debate her.

Petition to ban Germaine Greer from upcoming lecture

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