Gender Critical Feminism and the Transgender TERF War: A Conversation with Holly Lawford-Smith

In this episode, political philosopher and gender critical feminist Holly Lawford-Smith talks to Jonathan about sex, gender and the conflict between the radical feminist movement and transgender activists. They cover gender critical feminism, the conflation of sex and gender, the impact of subjective gender identity on women and the law, biology versus identity, non-binary gender identity, the relationship between LGB and T in LGBT, the transgender movement and why our culture has proved so receptive to gender identity at the expense of sex. Holly also talks about how she came to be banned (for life) on Twitter and efforts to get her fired from her academic job at the University of Melbourne. 

Holly Lawford-Smith is an Associate Professor in Political Philosophy in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne. She works in social, moral, and political philosophy, with a particular interest in feminism, climate ethics, and collective action. Most of her current research is centered on the conflict of interests between gender identity activism, on the one hand, and both women’s rights, and lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) rights, on the other hand. Her research can be accessed at https://hollylawford-smith.org. 

The Political Animals is hosted by Jonathan Cole, an academic, writer, speaker and translator who specialises in political theology: the intersetion of religion and politics. He is currently Assistant Director of the Centre for Public and Contextual Theology at Charles Sturt University. Previously, he worked as a Senior Terrorism Analyst at Australian intelligence agency The Office of National Assessments. You can follow Jonathan and the show on Twitter and Facebook.