Tessa Szsyszkowitz in conversation with Kathleen Stock: WHEN IS A WOMAN A WOMAN?

For several years Kathleen Stock has been in the centre of a
storm that is raging in Britain: Should gender be defined by
self-identification or birth? Is sex a biological fact or can it
be changed? For her point of view on the necessity for public
female spaces and for stating that transgender women can never be
women she drew heated criticism from the transgender
community. 


In the talk with Tessa Szyszkowitz Kathleen Stock will explain
the theory of her book Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for
Feminism. One of the central questions: Should discrimination law
prioritise protecting gender identity – crucial to trans people –
or biological sex, on which women’s rights have historically
depended? For Stock the answer is clear: Transgender women are a
legal fiction. But she also argues that both sides in this debate
– transgender activists and gender-critical feminists like her
should become more non-binary.  


Kathleen Stock is an author and writer. Her book
Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism offers a offers
a broad discussion of gender identity theory. She quit her
position as professor of philosophy at the University of Sussex
last October. She felt bullied by a campaign of transgender
activists.  


Tessa Szyszkowitz is a journalist, writer and
historian currently working for Falter, profil & Cicero. Her
last book was Echte Engländer, Britain & Brexit (2018). She
is also Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services
Institute in London.    


Material Girls, Warum die Wirklichkeit für den Feminismus
unerlässlich ist, erschien im April 2022 im Verlag edition TIAMAT
auf Deutsch.  


Recorded at Kreisky Forum, May 16, 2022