Drawing on Sally’s past and current research on gender diversity, recognition and social change, the talk will consider both the gains and the losses in understandings and practices of gender fluidity in the contemporary UK. The talk speaks to the current tide in the UK of anti-transgender activism within some sections of feminism and aligned conservative movements, and critically unpacks the current wave of so-called ‘culture wars’. Moreover, the talk locates these UK-specific developments as part of a wider pushback against the rights of gender and sexual minorities at European and International levels and argues for the urgent need of a collective intersectional politics centred around social justice and the politics of difference. Despite worrying trends, the talk considers the many gains in understanding gender and sex as fluid and thus positions ‘anti gender’ thought as representative of a conservative panic in the face of significant social change. The talk argues that although vocal, this backlash is a minority position, which evidences desperate attempts to prop up the gender binary in the face of its inevitable collapse.
