Alt-Left: Durham University student editor, Angelos Sofocleous, fired for tweeting that ‘women don’t have penises’
The student editor of a university’s philosophy journal has been fired for tweeting out “women don’t have penises.”
As reported by the Daily Mail last Friday, postgraduate philosophy student, Angelos Sofocleous, was fired last month from his role as an assistant editor at the university’s philosophy magazine, Critique, and removed as editor of magazine, The Bubble.
Sofocleous was also forced to resign as president of the university’s Humanist society.
The student created a firestorm after retweeting a Spectator story titled “Is it a crime to say women don’t have penises?”
He added the comment “RT if women don’t have penises.”
The tweet was deemed “transphobic” by his peers.
Former chair of the school’s LGBT Humanists Christopher Ward said Sofocleous’s tweet was “factually incorrect” and not “worthy of a debate.”
Philosophy Society president Ryan Lo informed him the organization had voted to fire him. Lo said Sofocleous’s tweets “belittle trans experiences.”
“Durham University Philosophy Society has a duty to act within the best interests of all of its members, therefore is committed to equality and diversity and to our democratic principles as a group of Durham Student’s Union,” Lo wrote. “We do not tolerate practices of racism, sexism, or trans-exclusionary sentiments.”
The Washington Examiner noted that “…the central issue here isn’t ultimately whether what Sofocleous said was right, but whether or not he had the right to say it. And I would suggest that Sofocleous comments are totally justifiable, especially in the context of philosophy.
The new editor-in-chief of Critique, Sebastián Sánchez-Schilling, tweeted saying he was “happy to announce” the publication would not be “tolerating trans-exclusionary radical feminists or bowing to their pressure.”
photo Josh Janssen via Flickr
