03 juillet 2020
8:00 - 13:00
Holly Lawford-Smith, Senior Lecturer (Philosophy, University of Melbourne)
Feminists today seem to think feminism is for social equality, that anyone can be a feminist, that the sex industry is in need of defending, that self-objectification is empowering, and that anyone who identifies as a woman is a woman. Feminist groups have rebranded as being for 'gender minorities', women's studies has become 'gender studies', lesbians are rebranding as 'queer', and women who think feminism must surely have something to do with female people are being accused of exclusion and hatred. With the help of confused ideas about 'intersectionality', mainstream feminism has become something akin to a generalised global justice movement. This creates a vacuum where feminism used to be. Gender critical feminism, an evolution of radical feminism, is a growing theory and movement that fills this vacuum. In this book I explain the disagreement between liberal feminism and radical feminism, the relation between radical feminism and gender critical feminism, and defend a gender critical position on three of the biggest points of disagreement between liberal and radical feminists. These are the commitment to intersectionality, and their respective positions on the sex industry and transgender issues. I also try to explain why radical and gender critical feminism have been so vilified, and argue that much of the disagreement between the two feminist tribes comes down to a disagreement over political feasibility.
SHEDULE
Each chapter (45’)
Introducion by Holly LawfordSmith (10’)
Discussant + replies (15’)
Debate with everyone (20’)
08:00 – 08:05
Welcome
08:05 – 08:50
Introduction – Gender Critical Feminism (Chapter 1)
Discussant : Anca Gheaus (Pompeu Fabra University)
08 :50 – 09 :35
Major Faultline : Choices (Chapter 4)
Discussant : Siba Harb (KULeuven)
09 :35 – 09 :55
Coffee Break
09:55 – 10:40
Radical Feminism (Chapter 5)
Discussant : Marie Bastin (Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne)
10 :40 – 11 :25
The Sex Industry (Chapter 8)
Discussant : Eric Boot (UCLouvain)
11 :25 – 11 :45
Coffee Break
11:45 – 12:35
Trans/Gender (Chapter 9)
Discussant : Axel Gosseries (UCLouvain)
12:35 – 12:50
Concluding Remarks – Holly Lawford-Smith