I Don’t Object…

…To legitimate research, but I oppose hatchet jobs that is called “research” like Brown University researcher Lisa Littman study on to “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria” which was shoddy research (you can read it here and here).

Academics are being harassed over their research into transgender issuesIt is not transphobic to investigate this area from a range of critical perspectives, say 54 academics who are also concerned about proposed changes to the Gender Recognition ActThe Guardian
Letters
16 Oct 2018

We represent a newly formed network of over 100 academics, most of whom are currently employed in UK universities. We are concerned, from a range of academic perspectives, about proposed governmental reforms to the Gender Recognition Act, and their interaction with the Equality Act.

Our subject areas include: sociology, philosophy, law, criminology, evidence-informed policy, medicine, psychology, education, history, English, social work, computer science, cognitive science, anthropology, political science, economics, and history of art. This week, following an opportunity offered to us by Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, we have submitted to the consultation a number of letters, outlining, as individuals, concerns about the introduction of self-ID for gender reassignment.

We are also concerned about the suppression of proper academic analysis and discussion of the social phenomenon of transgenderism, and its multiple causes and effects. Members of our group have experienced campus protests, calls for dismissal in the press, harassment, foiled plots to bring about dismissal, no-platforming, and attempts to censor academic research and publications. Such attacks are out of line with the ordinary reception of critical ideas in the academy, where it is normally accepted that disagreement is reasonable and even productive.

“It is not transphobic to investigate this area from a range of critical perspectives” they are right. We should not object to legitimate research but we should always speak out against flawed research.

I don’t know about any of the researchers who signed the letter, I don’t know their politics or their biases, however, if legitimate research is being stifled that is wrong. However we have a duty to speak up about junk science.

We maintain that it is not transphobic to investigate and analyse this area from a range of critical academic perspectives. We think this research is sorely needed, and urge the government to take the lead in protecting any such research from ideologically driven attack.

So do I.

But the purpose of peer reviewed papers is a critical review of the research. It is the duty of researchers to insure integrity in their profession. It is also the function of the Institute Review Boards (IRB) is to make sure of the safety of human subjects it is not a review on the method or topic of the research.