https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1215-7200
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ABSTRACT
Freedom of speech is a key way in which sexual and gender politics are contested. Heteroactivism names the ways that these discourses seek to open up space to push back against sexual and gender equalities,We focus on three different countries where distinctive framings about freedom of speech are deployed in diverse ways . Taking a transnational approach that explores interlinkages in discourses that touch down differently in each context, this paper looks at how freedom of speech claims are operative on university campuses in Canada, Australia and Great Britain. In Canada, Professor Jordan Peterson’s freedom of speech claims arguably enable transphobic, anti-feminist and anti-LGBT speech. In Australia, university academic Roz Ward’s ability to express controversial opinions was attacked because she runs an innovative Safe Schools programme seeking to protect LGBT students. In Great Britain, contesting ‘No Platforming’ through freedom of speech saw arguments that crossed left/right, progressive/conservative, eventually seeing Peter Tatchell defend discrimination against ideas, but not people. Heteroactivism offers an important frame to understand the pushbacks against sexual and gender rights which are integral to liberal democracies such as those in the UK, Canada and Australia.
RÉSUMÉ
La liberté d’expression est en phase de devenir un outil clef avec lequel les politiques de genre et de sexe sont contestées. L’hétéro-activisme désigne la manière dont ces discours ouvrent la voie à cette contestation pour repousser l’égalité de genre et de sexe, notamment en utilisant la liberté d’expression pour faire place à la discrimination. Nous nous concentrons ici sur trois pays où les conceptions de la liberté d’expression sont déployées différemment et dans des buts variés. En adoptant une approche transnationale afin d’explorer les liens d’interdépendance et les analogies entre des discours aux manifestations locales, cet article examine la façon dont les revendications pour la liberté d’expression sont articulées sur les campus universitaires au Canada, en Australie et en Grande-Bretagne. Au Canada, les revendications formulées par le Professeur Jordan Peterson en faveur de la liberté d’expression ont libéré un discours transphobe, antiféministe et anti-LGBT. En Australie, l’universistaire Roz Ward a été mise en cause dans sa capacité à exprimer des opinions polémiques en raison du programme innovant appelé « Safe School » qu’elle dirige et qui défend les droits des étudiants LGBT. En Grande-Bretagne, la contestation de « No Platforming » au nom de la liberté d’expression a provoqué le développement d’argumentaires traversant les clivages droite/gauche et progressiste/conservateur, et a abouti à la défense par Peter Tatchell de la discrimination envers des idées et non des personnes. L’hétéro-activisme présente ainsi un cadre de réflexion important pour comprendre les obstacles au développement des droits relatifs au sexe et au genre qui sont essentiels dans les démocraties libérales telles que le Royaume-Uni, le Canada et l’Australie.
RESUMEN
La libertad de expresión se está convirtiendo en una forma clave en la que se contestan las políticas sexuales y de género. El heteroactivismo nombra las formas en que estos discursos buscan abrir un espacio para hacer retroceder las desigualdades sexuales y de género, incluso mediante el uso de la libertad de expresión para abrir espacios para discriminar. Aquí nos centramos en tres países diferentes donde los marcos distintivos sobre la libertad de expresión se despliegan de diversas maneras y con fines variados. Tomando un enfoque transnacional que explora interconexiones y se superpone en los discursos que afectan de manera diferente en cada contexto, este artículo analiza cómo operan los reclamos de libertad de expresión en los campus universitarios de Canadá, Australia y Gran Bretaña. En Canadá, los reclamos de libertad de expresión del profesor Jordan Peterson habilitan al discurso transfóbico, anti-feminista y anti-LGBT. En Australia, la habilidad de la académica universitaria Roz Ward para expresar opiniones controversiales fue atacada porque ella dirige un programa innovador de Escuelas Seguras, que busca proteger a los estudiantes LGBT. En Gran Bretaña, al cuestionar ‘No-platforming’ a través de la libertad de expresión se vieron argumentos que cruzaron izquierda/derecha, progresivo/conservador, eventualmente viendo a Peter Tatchell defender la discriminación contra las ideas, pero no contra las personas. El heteroactivismo ofrece un marco importante para comprender los rechazos contra los derechos sexuales y de género que son parte integral de las democracias liberales, como las del Reino Unido, Canadá y Australia.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. The terms LGBT and queer denote gender and sexual minorities while understanding each element of these terms is highly contested. We generally use the term ‘LGBT’ as this is the term that those resisting LGBT equalities generally use.
2. These flashpoints represent significant public debates framed as freedom of speech questions but clearly within a context of LGBT equalities. We bring them together to show the ways in which these flashpoints sought to question the liberalizing of sexual and gendered norms. Because of the public nature of the debates, data collection for each case study was undertaken across a broad range of sources, and these varied by case study. Documents were coded based on the major themes that arose and the key elements of these heteroactivist free speech arguments are discussed here (Roth, Citation2005).
3. Data in all three cases was limited to 2016–2017 events or flashpoints. In all three cases, these flashpoints represent significant public debates framed as freedom of speech questions but clearly within a context of LGBT equalities. We bring them together to show the ways in which these flashpoints sought to question the liberalizing of sexual and gendered norms. Because of the public nature of the debates, data collection for each case study was undertaken across a broad range of sources, and these varied by case study. Documents were coded based on the major themes that arose and the key elements of these heteroactivist free speech arguments are discussed here.
4. Peterson has become a well-known public figure since his September 2016 statements. He is linked to men’s rights movements, claims about the need for ‘enforced monogamy’ (e.g. Bowes, Citation2018), and the publication of his book ‘12 Rules for Life’, a self-help guide seemingly aimed at white, millennial men (e.g. Barekat, Citation2018).
5. For a rebuttal to these arguments in the Canadian context specifically on the intersections of neoliberalism, education and freedom of speech, see Springer (Citation2018).
6. The new Ontario premier, Conservative Doug Ford, elected in June 2018, implemented a policy requiring post-secondary institutions in Ontario to develop free speech policies by January 2019 or potentially lose provincial funding – a move opposed by universities largely nevertheless complied (e.g. Davison, Citation2019). Both the UK and Australia have taken steps to review the state of freedom of speech, again initiated by conservative governments.
7. One reviewer asked if there was a longer history of overlap between queer-baiting and red-baiting in Australia as there was in the US. Historians of post-war gay rights in Australia have argued this was not the case, and that the Australian experience was different to the American one. As Graham Willett (Citation1997, p. 64) contends in a history of the gay movement and the left in Australia: ‘Unlike the US, where McCarthyism had been directed as much at the homosexual threat as at the communists, in Australia the response to homosexuality was to silence and repress.’