Students of the University of Cape Town, boycotted an open lecture to be given by renowned author, speaker and feminist, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for being transphobic.
On July 28, Adichie was to present the second University of Cape Town (UCT) Vice-Chancellor’s Open Lecture titled The Idolatry of Theory: A Defense of Storytelling.
But the university’s Students’ Representative Council (SRC) held a parallel lecture to boycott Adichie and her lecture and accused her of transphobia.
The lecture was to be given alongside guest speaker Dr Anastacia Tomson who spoke on “the dangers of sectional feminism in the context of trans women”.
They boycotted Chimamanda Adichie’s lecture because of an interview with BBC in 2017, where she said “trans women are trans women” in response to a question about whether she considers trans women as real women. She however apologised after getting a backlash.
She was criticised by members of the LGBTQIA+ community for the comment, saying she is transphobic and her feminism is lacking intersectionality.
The SRC said, in a statement, that: “As an institution which actively promotes intersectional feminism through its curriculum, it is important for us to recognise that Ngozi Adichie enhanced the divide in the feminist community with her anti-trans remarks, instead of using her platform and influence to highlight how trans women also have a right to simply be recognised as who they are without having to defend their womanhood.”
“The argument that transwomen are different from cis (A cisgender person is a person whose gender identity matches their sex assigned at birth. For example, someone who identifies as a woman and was identified as female at birth is a cisgender woman. It is often abbreviated to “cis”.) women assumes that trans women did not experience any form of discrimination prior to transitioning,” the SRC tweeted.
In their parallel lecture which they called a “safe space”, the SRC clarified that the boycott was not about “cancel culture” but a call for institutions like UCT to support people like Ngozi Adichie who have anti-trans views and sideline affected people, PremiumTimes reports.
The request that the VC Mamokgethi Phakeng change her as the speaker in solidarity with transgender students and staff at the institution fell on deaf ears.
UCT viewed the lecture as an opportunity for debate and different perspectives on the same issue.
Even the VC has come under criticism on social media for having the rainbow flag as part of her Twitter bio, yet entertains people with anti-trans views.