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Is it acceptable to ban men and white people from a student meeting?

(26 Posts)
TerriBull Fri 01-May-15 10:57:50

I have just listened to a discussion on Matthew Wright's show regarding a meeting held at Goldsmiths University where a female "Diversity Officer" requested that males and white people stay away from an equality event, no irony there! The general consensus of the panel that this was not on and Matthew Wright argued robustly with a listener who phoned in defending the exclusions. Whilst I can understand there would be issues that would only be pertinent to women where it would be justifiable for it to be a "women only event". Is it ever acceptable to ban people on grounds of race and sex, particularly from a meeting which I believe was supposed to be about diversity hmm

ninathenana Fri 01-May-15 11:09:12

is it ever acceptable No !!

POGS Fri 01-May-15 11:41:05

No, no and no again.

GillT57 Fri 01-May-15 11:44:01

Absolutely not!

TerriBull Fri 01-May-15 11:50:53

Is it even legal to ban people from a general meeting for the reasons stated?

Ana Fri 01-May-15 11:57:39

News Report

TerriBull Fri 01-May-15 12:12:25

Whilst I accept her name "Bahar Mustafa" suggests she is from a certain ethnicity, she looks pretty white to me. I only say THAT because she thinks it's OK to classify people along the lines of colour. The ranges of skin tones of the human race comprises of a wide spectrum. I thought banning people on such spurious grounds was known as apartheid!

vampirequeen Fri 01-May-15 12:21:30

Definitely not. Surely it breaks gender and race equality laws?

vampirequeen Fri 01-May-15 12:28:43

I'm glad the article explained what a non-binary person was because I was totally confused. Actually I'm still confused. I thought there were two genders....male and female. People I know with DID (multiple personality) have either all male, all female or mixed male and female personalities. What's the third gender? Or are their more than three genders?

I guess someone who is asexual could be the third but what about the others, if there are others?

Lapwing Fri 01-May-15 12:41:39

No, no, and no again. Just think what the reaction would have been if people from other ethnic groups had been excluded!!

nigglynellie Fri 01-May-15 12:41:49

Of course it's not!!!!

rosequartz Fri 01-May-15 13:00:30

Whoever organised this event has no sense of irony!
It would be a very unbalanced meeting about 'diversity' by the sounds of it.

I do accept that there are men only and women only groups such as Probus, WI., Townswomen's Guild etc but I am not sure if the opposite sex is actually banned from these groups. Certainly we have had one or two TWG OHs join us on trips.

rosequartz Fri 01-May-15 13:03:01

Yes, you're right Terribull she is operating a form of apartheid as well as sex discrimination.

TriciaF Fri 01-May-15 13:07:12

If she wants to keep it "select" she should arrange a private meeting, invitation only, and pay for the venue.

Eloethan Fri 01-May-15 14:26:21

It would be hilarious if it wasn't so outrageous. Perhaps this Diversity Officer needs to be given a dictionary.

vampirequeen Some people are born with indeterminate sexual organs. Some people who have male or female sexual organs and physical characteristics still feel very strongly that they are in the "wrong" body. Some people identify with neither gender and do not see themselves as sexual beings.

petra Fri 01-May-15 16:14:28

I remember seeing a programme about the 3rd gender. It was in the USA.
They recognised it as such.

rosesarered Fri 01-May-15 16:30:36

Completely and utterly ridiculous and certainly not diverse!

thatbags Fri 01-May-15 16:34:41

The irony is very good but no, it's not acceptable.

vampirequeen Fri 01-May-15 16:42:45

Thanks, Eloethan. I didn't think of trans-gender as different to male and female as they know what they are even though they're in the wrong body.

whitewave Fri 01-May-15 17:31:28

Mind you it is students and they are still "learning" and try all sorts of daft stuff.

FlicketyB Fri 01-May-15 19:50:10

No

Deedaa Fri 01-May-15 23:31:42

rosequartz our WI pantomimes would have been in a sorry state if we hadn't had several very masculine farmers joining in grin

Perhaps someone should send them a dictionary so they can look up the word Diversity!

rosequartz Sat 02-May-15 10:25:20

Deedaa I like the sound of your WI!

She seems unable to comprehend the meaning of her job title grin

Deedaa Sun 03-May-15 20:56:37

Back in the 70's our WI was a new one which we started because we were all living in a new village and had nothing to do. I think we may have been a little unconventional - but it was fun!

Wheniwasyourage Mon 04-May-15 10:18:32

You didn't do a famous calendar, did you? grin