Simply speechless

Terence Kealey, vice-chancellor of Buckingham University, says female students are a perk of the job for male university lecturers – though they should look, not touch.

In an article for the Times Higher Education magazine on lust, part of a feature on the seven deadly sins of universities, Kealey wrote: “Normal girls – more interested in abs than in labs, more interested in pecs than specs, more interested in triceps than tripos – will abjure their lecturers for the company of their peers, but nonetheless, most male lecturers know that, most years, there will be a girl in class who flashes her admiration and who asks for advice on her essays. What to do?

“Enjoy her! She’s a perk.”

For the rest of the story, see here.

(Thanks J-Bro and Kalbir!)

Consultation on REF

News for British philosophers – feminist and otherwise – HEFCE has published a consultation on the RAE’s replacement, the REF. You can read about it here.

Women on Waves

This news is a few months old, and I must apologise to readers AD and H who separately sent this in some time ago – none of us have had a chance to put this up. However, it’s well worth reporting. Not least because I hadn’t heard of Women on Waves until now, and they’re pretty cool. Women on Waves is a Dutch human rights organisation, whose aim is to bring reproductive choice to women in countries where it is illegal. They provide contraception, reproductive advice, and pills – which if taken in the earlier stages of pregnancy – induce a miscarriage. They operate from a boat that contains a mobile clinic. Interested women can board the boat, which then sails into international waters. The women are then bound by Dutch law, since they are aboard a Dutch vessel. The organisation was started by a Dutch doctor, Rebecca Gomperts, in 1999. You can read more about it here.

Sadly, the Dutch cabinet set new regulations earlier this year which mean Women on Waves can no longer carry on working. They ruled that the abortion pills can only be handed out at a registered clinic, and the boat is not registered. Dr. Gomperts blames fundamentalist elements in the Dutch government – “It is the result of the Christian government that has been in place now for some years. What we see in the Netherlands is a backlash on a lot of medical and ethical issues. Actually, there’s quite a fundamentalist Christian party [the Christian Union] taking part in the government now”. The recent Dutch ruling goes against World Health Organisation guidelines, which state that abortion pills can be provided by a doctor, nurse, or midwife, and no special clinic is needed – only a consultation room. The Radio Netherlands article is here.

Hypatia

Hypatia of Alexandria is a feminist icon. She taught Maths and Philosophy at the Platonist school in Alexandria in 400 AD, and was the first woman recorded in the history books as having made a substantial contribution to the development of Maths. The feminist philosophy journal, Hypatia is named after her. You can read more about Hypatia here.

A blog reader informs us that a film has recently been made about her. Although on closer inspection, it turns out the film is about one of her slaves, who in the film, falls in love with her. Oh well. It still seemed a good excuse to mention Hypatia. The film’s called Agora. Here’s a link to the trailer.

Thanks to PRB!