Study into abuse of feminist academics

THE equalities watchdog has launched a study into the sex versus gender row amid fears the abuse of feminist academics by trans activists is harming freedom of expression.

Research for the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) aims to find ways to “reduce distress” and “foster good relations and respect” between opposing sides of the debate.

It has awarded the £18,000 contract to London’s City University to carry out qualitative interviews with academics over the next two months.

The regulator has found itself at the centre of a vicious debate between those who believe biological sex cannot be changed, known as “gender-critical” views, and trans activists who argue men who identify as women should be legally recognised as female.

It comes after Prof Kathleen Stock quit Sussex University when students erected posters around campus calling for her to be fired, labelling her “transphobic” for arguing single-sex spaces, such as refuges and changing rooms, must be preserved for women.

Other disputes include one involving Jo Phoenix, a criminology professor who quit the Open University last year and began legal action over trans issues.

A barrister’s landmark report had found that she and Prof Rosa Freedman, a human rights expert at Reading University, had their right to free speech breached when they were no-platformed at Essex University.

The EHRC said that it “has a duty to review and collect evidence about the nine protected characteristics in the Equality Act”. These include biological sex and gender reassignment but not gender identity.