Alison Phipps (sociologist)

British political sociologist, gender studies scholar

This article is about the sociologist and feminist. For the professor of refugee research, language and intercultural studies, see Alison Phipps (refugee researcher).

Alison Phipps

Born| Yorkshire
Alma mater|

* University of Cambridge
* University of Manchester
* Elmhurst Ballet School

Occupation| University teacher
Employer|

* Newcastle University (2021-)
* University of Sussex (2005-2021)

Website| https://phipps.space/

Alison Phipps is a British political sociologist, gender studies scholar and feminist theorist, who is a professor of sociology at Newcastle University's School of Geography, Politics and Sociology.

## Career

[edit]

Phipps was formerly director and professor of gender studies at the University of Sussex.[1] She was Chair of the Feminist and Women's Studies Association of the UK and Ireland from 2009 to 2012[2] and was one of the co-founders of Universities Against Gender-Based Violence.[3][4] She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.[5]

### Research and interests

[edit]

Phipps' research concerns feminist theory, sexual violence, reproduction, and institutional cultures.[6][7][8] According to Google Scholar her work has been cited over 2,500 times.[9] Her latest book Me, Not You is a critique of mainstream feminist activism against sexual violence, especially its reliance on criminal punishment, and puts forward the concept of 'political whiteness' in its analysis of how the movement operates.[10][11] The book has been endorsed by Mariame Kaba and Mona Eltahawy and critiqued by Julie Bindel.[12][13]

Phipps co-authored the 2013 National Union of Students report on 'lad culture' in UK universities and was subsequently a member of the NUS strategy group on this issue alongside Laura Bates and others.[14][15][16][17] With her project Changing University Cultures, she has led interventions at Imperial College London and Sussex University, amongst other institutions, designed to tackle inequalities and issues such as bullying, harassment and violence.[18][19][20][21] She worked closely with Universities UK on the issue of cultural change at universities to tackle sexual harassment and violence,[22] before withdrawing from this relationship during the 2018 pensions strikes in protest at Universities UK's involvement in and actions on this issue.[23]

Phipps has researched and has been active in debating the anti-gender movement and far-right attacks on LGBT rights. She is also a well-known opponent of carceral feminism and trans-exclusionary feminism, and is a supporter of sex workers' rights.[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] As Director of Gender Studies at Sussex University, she entered a collaborative partnership with the Sex Worker Advocacy and Resistance Movement (SWARM, then named the Sex Worker Open University) and supported a campaign led by the English Collective of Prostitutes to decriminalise the sex industry.[32]

Phipps has been subject to attacks from trans-exclusionary feminists, prompted particularly by her former Sussex colleague Kathleen Stock. Stock claimed to be the target of harassment after Phipps asked colleagues to display trans flags as a gesture of solidarity, following Donald Trump's proposal to roll back the Obama-era reforms and codify gender in law as binary and determined by biological sex.[33] Stock has described Phipps as a 'fervent transactivist' [34] and allies of Stock have accused Phipps of being partly responsible for Stock's resignation from Sussex University.[35]

Phipps has not spoken about this openly, but in September 2023 she told openDemocracy  that other academics in her field can give her a 'wide berth' due to her outspoken stance in support of trans rights.[36] In 2021, Phipps was interviewed by gal-dem magazine on transphobia in the VAWG (violence against women and girls) sector in the UK, and said that some members of this sector were 'living in the past', and the crusade against trans women was 'tragic.'[37] In 2023, Open Democracy reported that Phipps had been 'a vocal trans ally for the past decade.'[38] Phipps has linked transphobia in feminism to 'political whiteness', which is to do with privileging white, middle class and cisgender women as victims and seeing the political claims of other marginalised groups as a threat.[39]

### Recognition and media

[edit]

Phipps won the 2015 FWSA Book Prize from the Feminist Studies Association for the book The Politics of the Body.[40] Alongside her academic writing, she has been published in The Guardian,[41][42][43][44] openDemocracy,[45] the New Statesman,[46][47] and Times Higher Education.[48][49] She has been interviewed on Radio 4's Thinking Allowed[50] and Woman's Hour.[51]

## Books

[edit]

* Women in Science, Engineering and Technology: Three Decades of UK Initiatives (Trentham Books, 2008)
* The Politics of the Body: Gender in a Neoliberal and Neoconservative Age (Polity Press, 2014)
* Me, Not You: The Trouble with Mainstream Feminism (Manchester University Press, 2020)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Alison Phipps". University of Sussex. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
2. ^ "The Politics of the Body: Gender in a Neoliberal and Neoconservative Age | Wiley". Wiley.com. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
3. ^ "Universities against Gender Based Violence (UAGBV)". socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
4. ^ "UAGBV - Universities Against Gender Based Violence". UAGBV - Universities Against Gender Based Violence. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
5. ^ "Alison Phipps". profiles.sussex.ac.uk. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
6. ^ "Professor Alison Phipps". Newcastle University. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
7. ^ Chamberlen, Anastasia (2014). "Book Review: The Politics of the Body: Gender in a Neoliberal and Neoconservative Age by Alison Phipps". Gender & Society. 29 (5): 749–751. doi:10.1177/0891243214559519. S2CID 142992467.
8. ^ "The myth of choice: some ways of giving birth aren't "more feminist" than others". New Statesman. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
9. ^ "Alison Phipps". Google Scholar. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
10. ^ "The Trouble with Mainstream Feminism". tribunemag.co.uk. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
11. ^ "She Was Walking Home: How Sarah Everard's Murder Revealed Feminism's Fault Lines". Vanity Fair. 28 September 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
12. ^ "Manchester University Press - Me, not you". Manchester University Press. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
13. ^ Bindel, Julie (26 March 2020). "The latest gender studies literature is indistinguishable from satire". The Spectator. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
14. ^ "Thats What She Said - Full Report @ NUS Connect". www.nusconnect.org.uk. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
15. ^ "Strategy Advisory Panel @ NUS Connect". www.nusconnect.org.uk. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
16. ^ Williams, Sally (11 October 2014). "Campus nightmare: female students on the rise of sexual harassment". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
17. ^ Machell, Ben. "Lad culture on campus — should it end?". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
18. ^ "London university accused of 'ingrained misogyny' after female students 'humiliated' by sexist behaviour". The Independent. 14 December 2016. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
19. ^ Stirling, James (21 December 2016). "Imperial provost: we will confront our problems head on". Times Higher Education (THE). Retrieved 12 November 2021.
20. ^ "Bullying 'endemic' at Sussex, report warns". Times Higher Education (THE). 2 August 2018. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
21. ^ "Adam Tickell says 'dramatic change' is needed to tackle bullying on Sussex campus". University of Sussex. 3 March 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
22. ^ "Changing the culture". Universities UK. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
23. ^ Phipps, Alison; McDonnell, Liz (8 August 2021). "On (not) being the master's tools: five years of 'Changing University Cultures'". Gender and Education. 34 (5): 512–528. doi:10.1080/09540253.2021.1963420. ISSN 0954-0253. S2CID 238783494.
24. ^ "13 troubling problems with white feminism, according to a white feminist who's seen them firsthand". Pink News. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
25. ^ Schwoerer, Lili. "Book Review: Me, Not You: The Trouble with Mainstream Feminism by Alison Phipps". LSE. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
26. ^ Strudwick, Patrick. "These Women Are Making The Feminist Case For Trans Rights". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
27. ^ "What the 'grievance studies' hoax is really about". Times Higher Education (THE). 4 October 2018. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
28. ^ "TERF War: Transphobia In the British Media, Gender Critical Feminism and Its Effects on Trans Rights". www.vice.com. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
29. ^ "'If they sound like a man, hang up' – how transphobia became rife in the gender-based violence sector". gal-dem. 1 February 2021. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
30. ^ "The Carceral Feminism Of Linda Fairstein". The Appeal. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
31. ^ Strudwick, Patrick (29 May 2023). "Channel 4's Gender Wars fails both women and trans people – while missing the real story". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
32. ^ Prostitutes, English Collective of (3 August 2015). "Centre for Gender Studies backs campaign to decriminalise the sex industry". English Collective of Prostitutes. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
33. ^ Duffy, Nick (7 January 2020). "'Gender critical' academic claims she was personally victimised by transgender flags put up to protest Donald Trump". PinkNews. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
34. ^ Stock, Kathleen (11 April 2022). "Five rules for fighting transactivism". UnHerd. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
35. ^ Swerling, Gabriella (4 November 2021). "Kathleen Stock: Trans row professor 'forced out' by tweets". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
36. ^ "Trans-inclusive academics say they face abuse and censorship". openDemocracy. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
37. ^ "'If they sound like a man, hang up' – how transphobia became rife in the gender-based violence sector – gal-dem". gal-dem.com. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
38. ^ "Trans-inclusive academics say they face abuse and censorship". openDemocracy. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
39. ^ "'If they sound like a man, hang up' – how transphobia became rife in the gender-based violence sector – gal-dem". gal-dem.com. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
40. ^ "2015: Dr Alison Phipps for 'The Politics of the Body: Gender in a Neoliberal and Neoconservative Age'". Feminist Studies Association. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
41. ^ Phipps, Alison (13 December 2017). "Tackling sexual harassment on campus is about more than naming and shaming | Alison Phipps". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
42. ^ Phipps, Alison (24 June 2015). "Universities, don't conflate 'lad culture' with 'drink culture'". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
43. ^ Phipps, Alison (2 February 2015). "Universities are reluctant to tackle sexual violence for fear of PR fallout". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
44. ^ Phipps, Alison (15 October 2014). "Lad culture thrives in our neoliberal universities". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
45. ^ "'Disappearing' sex workers in the Amnesty International debate". openDemocracy. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
46. ^ "Why feminism needs trans people and sex workers". New Statesman. 9 June 2021. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
47. ^ "What's driving the new sexism?". New Statesman. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
48. ^ "What the 'grievance studies' hoax is really about". Times Higher Education (THE). 4 October 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
49. ^ "The dark side of the impact agenda". Times Higher Education (THE). 4 December 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
50. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - Thinking Allowed, 'Lad culture' in higher education - Fugitives from the law in Philadelphia". BBC. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
51. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Natural Childbirth Backlash, Gender-Neutral Clothing, Jill Leovy". BBC. Retrieved 26 March 2022.

## External links

[edit]

* Personal website
* Alison Phipps' Newcastle University profile
* Alison Phipps publications indexed by Google Scholar

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* 2
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States
* Israel

Academics|

* ORCID
* Google Scholar