Kathleen Stock: The controversial feminist whose Oxford Union address is sparking protests

Philosopher has become a lightning rod for criticism over perceived trans-exclusionary attitudes since publication of her book Material Girls in 2021

Kathleen Stock, the controversial gender-critical feminist, is at the centre of a heated dispute at Oxford University over her planned appearance to address the Oxford Union on Tuesday evening.

Professor Stock, 51, left her position at the University of Sussex in October 2021 after the publication of her book Material Girls, in which she outlined views perceived by some as trans-exclusionary, drew an angry reaction from students and inspired vitriol online.

Her invitation to the Union, a private members’ club independent of the university and student union, has been opposed by LGBT+ rights activists on campus, with protests planned and security tightened, and sparked a row about freedom of speech at one of Britain’s oldest and most distinguished academic institutions.

On 16 May, a collective of over 40 academics and staff, Professor Richard Dawkins among them, wrote an open letter to The Daily Telegraph arguing that it was “indispensable” for universities to hear “contentious views” because they “exist, among other things, to promote free inquiry and the disinterested pursuit of the truth by means of reasoned argument”.

They added: “Professor Stock believes that biological sex in humans is real and socially salient, a view which until recently would have been so commonplace as to hardly merit asserting.

“Whether or not one agrees with Professor Stock’s views, there is no plausible and attractive ideal of academic freedom, or of free speech more generally, which would condemn their expression as outside the bounds of permissible discourse.”

On 27 May, an opposing faction of 100 Oxford lecturers and staff published their own letter, declaring: “We believe that trans students should not be made to debate their existence.

“Freedom of speech matters, but we shouldn’t forget the right to protest… debate is essential for a vibrant democracy and we champion it.”

Prime minister Rishi Sunak has since weighed in, also writing to The Telegraph to say: “A free society requires free debate. We should all be encouraged to engage respectfully with the ideas of others.

“University should be an environment where debate is supported, not stifled. We mustn’t allow a small but vocal few to shut down discussion. Kathleen Stock’s invitation to the Oxford Union should stand.

“Agree or disagree with her, Professor Stock is an important figure in this argument. Students should be allowed to hear and debate her views.”

He added: “A tolerant society is one which allows us to understand those we disagree with, and nowhere is that more important than within our great universities.”

Speaking for herself on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Monday, Professor Stock said: “We have to have freedom of speech, we have to be able to talk about this.

“Of course I am causing upset. The position I am fighting against causes a lot of upset: you’ve got male rapists in female prisons: that causes a lot of upset.

“You’ve got children transitioning, doing things to their bodies that they can’t take back: that causes upset to their parents. You’ve got huge numbers of women unable to talk about sex-based rights in their workplaces because they feel stifled: that causes upset.”

She said she remained “committed” to debating gender, adding: “We have to talk about the things that cause upset because they are precisely the points at which pressure groups and activists will try and steer the conversation in a particular direction.

“The world decided it the way evolution decided it. It’s crazy to think that just because I’m making some category distinctions that have been around for centuries, and in every natural language exists, I’m deciding who gets to be a woman. I’m not, I’m describing the world I see.

“I think we need words to describe the differences between males and females because they matter socially.”

Professor Stock was born in Aberdeen and raised in Montrose, Scotland, in the early 1970s, her father a philosophy lecturer at Aberdeen University and her mother a proofreader for a newspaper.

“I didn’t fit in,” she told The Telegraph of her childhood. “I was very tall very early on. My parents were English. I was a swot. I had blue National Health specs and I was unfashionably dressed with a terrible haircut. I was also very self-conscious and shy to the point of almost being mute.

“So I was bullied on an epic scale; in every class I would be called names. Objects would be hurled at my head and whenever I was paired with anyone for an activity everyone would laugh their heads off. I was a joke; it was pretty brutal.”

She went on to read French and philosophy at Exeter College, Oxford, before completing an MA at St Andrews and winning a scholarship to undertake a philosophy PhD at Leeds.

She subsequently taught at the University of Lancaster and the University of East Anglia before taking her position at Sussex in 2003.

Departing in 2021 after 18 years of being “quite boring” and engaging in “deeply academic discussions with other philosophers” in the wake of the Material Girls furore, she subsequently took up a fellowship at the University of Austin in Texas on a part-time, ambassadorial basis.

That same year, she was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours List for services to higher education, a gesture that attracted similar hostility, with 600 academics signing a protest letter accusing the government of mistaking “transphobic fear mongering for valuable scholarship”.

Professor Stock claimed she had been the victim of “wild” accusations wilfully misrepresenting her opinions and a letter signed by 400 supporters was circulated in her defence.

Having come out aged 40, leaving a husband, Gregor, with whom she remains on good terms and has two teenage sons, she joined tennis great Martina Navratilova and journalist Julie Bindel in founding The Lesbian Project in March 2023, a group intended to give a non-political voice to British women who are same-sex attracted, distinct from what Professor Stock has called the “rainbow soup” of the LGBT+ rights movement.

The initiative has been criticised by Pink News for its focus on the cisgender experience.

Professor Stock will also feature prominently in Channel 4’s new documentary Gender Wars, broadcast on Tuesday night at 10pm.