Mick Hartley

Hadley Freeman visits Newnham College Cambridge, where three undergraduates, in the face of :

When The Times broke the news last week that the Equality and Human Rights Commission submitted its guidance three months ago that single-sex spaces should be protected, and not breached by those of the opposite sex no matter no matter how they “identify”, and Labour has done sod all about implementing the guidance, two truths were confirmed. First, gender ideology is anti-gravity nonsense that only the desperate, the deluded and the double-dealing grifters still believe. And, second, too many alleged grown-ups in the room are still, unforgivably, too scared to say so.

Several such grown-ups can be found at Newnham College, Cambridge, co-founded in 1871 by Millicent Fawcett, who believed women must have access to education. Gender ideology, by contrast, believes so firmly in stereotypes — femininity means woman, masculinity means man — that its flag is pink and blue. Despite calling itself a women’s college, Newnham includes several men who identify as women among its students. The principal, Alison Rose, has defended the “trans inclusive” policy by arguing that Newnham was never, actually, single sex, because students’ boyfriends can stay over, an argument that manages to be even dumber than gender ideology.

Dumbness seems to be a feature now of our academic leaders. Well, perhaps not dumbness so much as cowardice. They didn’t get where they are today by speaking out against the latest fads.

It’s unsurprising that academia is the last garrison defending gender ideology, because that’s where the whole nonsense emerged, on “queer theory” courses taught by theoreticians like Judith Butler. While, in the wider world, the days of women being cancelled for stating scientific facts are ending, in universities they are still the norm. But I met three Cambridge students who are fighting to change that.

Maeve Halligan, 22, Serena Worley, 21, and Thea Sewell, 20, launched the Cambridge University Society of Women (CUSW) to advocate for women’s rights and single-sex spaces. When they posted their mission statement last month, other students were outraged. “You’re preaching vile hate … I’m JCR president of Homerton and Homerton JCR supports trans rights,” was a typical reply. There were scathing comments about the women’s appearances, particularly against Sewell and Worley, who are gay. “These people think they’re progressive but they always reveal their misogyny,” says Halligan.

The abuse is relentless.

The bullying is so bad that Sewell will only go through town if Worley or Halligan is with her, and the three form a tightknit support group.

The cruelty of gender activism is a feature, not a bug. The cause is so nonsensical, it can only survive in a climate of fear. CUSW held its first meeting last week and 15 young women attended but Halligan had to put black cloth over the windows to keep out jeering bullies. “Plus we have to deal with the arrogance of academia: professors don’t want to admit they were wrong,” says Halligan.

A professor told her: “As academics, we’ve been waiting for students to start a group like this.” And why didn’t the professors start their own women’s group? Because, allegedly, the university wouldn’t let them, out of fear it didn’t reflect the view of the students. This is what happens when universities see their students not as young people who need educating but paying customers.