Gender Wars, a new documentary that Channel 4 has announced plans for, is already causing controversy.
The programme will address the question “What is a woman? ” and include Professor Kathleen Stock, who left her position at the University of Sussex in 2021 as a result of student demonstrations and transphobia claims.
Kathleen, 51, said in 2018: ‘Many trans women are still males with male genitalia, many are sexually attracted to females, and they should not be in places where females undress or sleep in a completely unrestricted way.’
She also told The Argus: ‘This has nothing to do with any particular trans people – it is about a general structural issue in our society and how to deal with it.’
One person tweeted in response to the announcement: ‘Gender wars is the latest nonsense from Channel 4, featuring inevitably, Kathleen Stock, a woman so silenced she’s never off our screens.’
Journalist India Willoughby, who is transgender, asked for the Channel 4 Pride organisation to step in. She wrote: ‘Channel 4 Content Controller and husband of Mumsnet owner commissions show called ‘Gender Wars’ fronted by Kathleen Stock. Appreciate you are a small group within a big org @C4Pride but can you raise concerns about this? Seems a very skewed set-up.’
Many more echoed the same sentiment, with someone else adding: ‘Calling something ‘Gender Wars’ and using a person like Stock – there is no way that this can be good for trans people.’
Channel 4 responded to the backlash, and told us: ‘The programme will hear from a range of voices from both sides of the debate on this topic.
‘The aim is to create a respectful and inclusive look at what gender means in 2023, and is an opportunity for all sides to listen and find common ground.’
The description for the show also adds: ‘This film has unique access to philosopher and writer Kathleen Stock who was hounded out of her university job over her view on gender identification and now campaigns from a gender-critical viewpoint.’
Gender Wars airs on Channel 4 later this year.