Germaine Greer has given an expletive laden defence of her claims that transgender women "can't be women" after being accused of misogyny.
Greer announced she would not be attending a planned lecture on Women & Power: The Lessons of the 20th Century at Cardiff University after a petition calling for her to be barred was launched.
The academic, 76, reiterated her belief that a post-operative transgender woman “can’t be a woman” but insisted the issue was not a focus for her.
“I’m not saying that people should not be allowed to go through that procedure, all I’m saying is that it doesn’t make them a woman,” she told Newsnight on Friday, prompting a furious backlash.
On Monday, Greer responded to the outrage in a statement given to the VictoriaLIVE show, where she suggested trans people who undergo sex change surgery are “inflicting an extraordinary act of violence on himself”.
She said: “Just because you lop off your d**k and then wear a dress doesn't make you a ******* woman. I’ve asked my doctor to give me long ears and liver spots and I’m going to wear a brown coat but that won’t turn me into a ******* cocker spaniel.
“I do understand that some people are born intersex and they deserve support in coming to terms with their gender but it’s not the same thing. A man who gets his d**k chopped off is actually inflicting an extraordinary act of violence on himself.”
Her comments were branded “absurd” and “grossly offensive” by Rebecca Root, a transgender actress and comedian.
Root told Victoria Derbyshire: “This is something that I would equate with the worst of the gutter press, not from somebody of such an academic standing; a woman who should know better.
“On the one hand it’s tempting to ignore her, and not to give her a greater platform, but at the same time if we didn’t stand up to bullies then they would just continue bullying. […] [“Her comments are] grossly offensive, quite ludicrous and very very out of date.”
