so feel for the trans student concerned. What messages have our university and students' union sent them about how to behave out in the world after they graduate? We've either set this person up to act inappropriately like this for a very long time, or we have set this person up for a very rude awakening at some point.
And one more:
Checking in from the University of Edinburgh. The postmodern thought and language police are very active in my subject area. Their latest is an instruction to check our course materials for 'cis-normative' assumptions and monitor ourselves, our students and each other for 'micro-invalidations'. We're supposed to use all the Stonewall-approved terminology, and talk about sex being assigned at birth and people having a true gender and so forth. I'm in a junior role and on a temporary contract, and my life wouldn't be worth living if I was to object out loud – there are people on my team who could do quite a lot of damage to my career prospects. Between the thought police, the authoritarian bullies of the Staff Pride Network and UCU branch, and the managers who nod approvingly from their rainbow-themed zoom backgrounds, it's all very unpleasant.
Of course, as these testimonies are (necessarily) anonymous, there are no checks possible on accuracy. You just have to take it in good faith.
But yes, as I said before, it's like reading Soviet-era samizdata smuggled out to the West.
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