I think we would all do ourselves a massive favour by going back to the original position of gender being a set of competing theories which have been debated, tested, deconstructed & challenged since the 60s - with no consensus but complex arguments that need exploration.
I miss the days where we could write papers & teach students about the harms of gender roles, gender stereotyping & the concepts of gender as socially, culturally and historically situated norms which change constantly & geographically without someone claiming it’s in our brain.
So much excellent research and teaching was being done when gender was allowed to be interrogated as a system of oppression, control and stereotypes
It feels now that all of this work is lost to some extent - because we now have a prevailing theory (that’s all it is, it’s a theory, it will eventually change with time, as all theories do) that for some reason cannot be questioned - which is a strange place to be in academia
I can’t think of any other position in academia where critiquing or disagreeing with a current theory can have you sacked, accused of crimes or positioned as an abusive person.

All theories need to be interrogated & discussed at all levels, surely? That’s how we form knowledge.
If nothing else, it’s a huge loss to science, academic progress, critical thinking & feminism that we have somehow arrived at a position where a theory has been enshrined as ‘the truth’ in law, legislation and policy to the point where no one can even discuss alternative theories
I would like to believe that we have retained some level of science in this debate that we would engage with evidence and counter evidence, including a range of theories. This happens all the time in good science where key theories are suddenly shown to be inaccurate or useless
It worries me that academic rigour around the topic of gender is repositioned as hatred or oppression. No matter what consensus we one day may reach around this topic, how will we ever get there if no one is allowed to debate, discuss and consider different views and theories?
I find it exceptionally naive that anyone would believe that we have all the answers now, that the one truth has been found, we know everything there is to know and there is no need for any further discussion because discussion equals hatred.

Who really believes that? Really?
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