Jacob Breslow

Last updated
Jacob Breslow
NationalityAmerican
TitleAssociate Professor of Gender Studies
Academic background
Alma mater London School of Economics
Thesis The theory and practice of childhood: interrogating childhood as a technology of power  (2016)
Doctoral advisorClare Hemmings and Sadie Wearing
Website https://drjacobbreslow.wordpress.com

Jacob Breslow is an American academic and independent scholar. He was Associate Professor of Gender and Sexuality in the Department of Gender Studies at the London School of Economics (LSE) [1] until he resigned in July 2023, claiming harassment that he claimed was "part of a broader movement against the field of gender studies, and against trans rights and dignity". [2] In 2022, he resigned from the transgender charity Mermaids after it emerged that he had spoken at a conference B4U-ACT, an organization that provides support to paedophiles. [3] [4]

Contents

He completed his PhD at the LSE Gender Institute in 2016, and published his first monograph entitled Ambivalent Childhoods in 2021 through University of Minnesota Press, in which he analysed childhood in relation to blackness, transfeminism, queerness, and deportability. [5] He was previously an LSE Teaching Fellow in Transnational Sexuality and Gender. [6]

Research

Jacob Breslow participated in queer youth activism for almost a decade prior to beginning his PhD, which led him to study #MeToo, homonationalism, and incarceration. [7] Breslow soon became an expert on contemporary U.S. social justice movements, and the ways in which the idea of childhood operates within and against them, including Black Lives Matter, transfeminism, queer youth activism, and anti-deportation movements. [1] [6]

His PhD thesis analyses the category of childhood as a power structure, [8] an idea which is further developed in his book Ambivalent Childhoods. [5]

Breslow's research expertise also includes the analysis of transphobia in UK public discourse, [9] [10] where he developed a critique of the third conditional, "If I had grown up now, I would have been persuaded to transition", arguing that it is not only being used as a "fabricated straw man" to undermine trans healthcare, but that it could actually be used to support "solidarity between cis and trans" perspectives. [10]

Controversy

A former trustee of the transgender children's charity Mermaids, Breslow is an active critic of gender critical viewpoints, [9] [10] giving a January 2022 lecture at the University of Cambridge entitled ‘Sex is Real,’ and other Gender Critical Non Sequiturs: A TERF Grammar Book. [11] [12] He quit Mermaids a year later when gender-critical campaigners publicized that, as a graduate student, he had spoken at a conference in 2011 that was organized by B4U-ACT, an organisation founded in 2003 by Russell Dick, a clinical social worker, and Michael Melsheimer, a convicted child abuser, [13] which provides support to paedophiles. [3] [4]

In the abstract for that talk, [14] he argued in favour of recognising paedophilia as "a sexual or political identity":

Allowing for a form of non-diagnosable minor attraction is exciting, as it potentially creates a sexual or political identity by which activists, scholars and clinicians can begin to better understand minor-attracted persons (MAPs).

After an independent investigation by the LSE in 2022, [15] the School stated in January 2023 that, "The independent investigator found that there was no basis for the School to take action against the individual." [16]

Breslow released a statement on 6 October 2022 regarding his participation in the B4U-ACT conference when he was an early PhD student:

"I unequivocally condemn child sexual abuse. My work is about protecting marginalised children and young people, not exposing them to harm.

It was my understanding in 2011 that B4U-ACT was an organisation that promotes treatments to prevent offending by paedophiles. I believed at the time that the purpose of the conference was to enable better treatments and interventions that prevent harm to children. I would not have attended the symposium otherwise. I have not been affiliated with B4U-ACT since.

I decided to resign as a Trustee of Mermaids as I did not want to distract from the good work the charity is doing to help transgender and gender diverse children." [16] [17]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transphobia</span> Anti-transgender prejudice

Transphobia consists of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger towards people who do not conform to social gender roles. Transphobia is a type of prejudice and discrimination, similar to racism, sexism, or ableism, and it is closely associated with homophobia. People of color who are transgender experience discrimination above and beyond that which can be explained as a simple combination of transphobia and racism.

LGBTQ slang, LGBTQ speak, queer slang, or gay slang is a set of English slang lexicon used predominantly among LGBTQ+ people. It has been used in various languages since the early 20th century as a means by which members of the LGBTQ+ community identify themselves and speak in code with brevity and speed to others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transfeminism</span> Branch of feminism

Transfeminism, or trans feminism, is a branch of feminism focused on transgender women and informed by transgender studies. Transfeminism focuses on the effects of transmisogyny and patriarchy on trans women. It is related to the broader field of queer theory. The term was popularized by Emi Koyama in The Transfeminist Manifesto.

Sheila Jeffreys is a former professor of political science at the University of Melbourne, born in England. A lesbian feminist scholar, she analyses the history and politics of human sexuality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transgender</span> Gender identity other than sex assigned at birth

A transgender person is someone whose gender identity differs from that typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth.

Feminist views on transgender topics vary widely.

The Women's Liberation Front (WoLF) is an American self-described radical feminist advocacy organization that opposes transgender rights and related legislation. It has engaged in litigation on transgender topics, working against the Obama administration's Title IX directives which defined sex discrimination to include gender identity. WoLF describes itself as radical feminist, and according to its mission statement, it wishes to "abolish regressive gender roles and the epidemic of male violence using legal arguments, policy advocacy, and public education". It has been described by news sources including The Washington Post, The Advocate, and NBC as feminist, but progressive and feminist organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)and the National Organization for Women (NOW) challenge this characterization, with NOW describing WoLF, alongside Women's Declaration International, as "anti-trans bigots disguised as feminists".

The Swedish Women's Lobby is a Swedish gender-critical organization that claims to work for "sex-based rights."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TERF (acronym)</span> Acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist

TERF is an acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist. First recorded in 2008, the term TERF was originally used to distinguish transgender-inclusive feminists from a group of radical feminists who reject the position that trans women are women, reject the inclusion of trans women in women's spaces, and oppose transgender rights legislation. Trans-inclusive feminists assert that these ideas and positions are transphobic and discriminatory towards transgender people. The use of the term TERF has since broadened to include reference to people with trans-exclusionary views who are not necessarily involved with radical feminism. In the 2020s, the term "trans-exclusionary radical feminism" is used synonymously with or overlaps with "gender-critical feminism".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transgender rights in the United Kingdom</span>

Transgender rights in the United Kingdom have varied significantly over time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mermaids (charity)</span> British charity that supports transgender youth

Mermaids is a British charity and advocacy organisation that supports gender variant and transgender youth. It also provides inclusion and diversity training. Mermaids was founded in 1995 by a group of parents of gender nonconforming children and became a charitable incorporated organisation in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-gender movement</span> International movement opposed to the concept of gender identity

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The LGB Alliance is a British advocacy group and registered charity founded in 2019 in opposition to the policies of LGBT rights charity Stonewall on transgender issues. Its founders are Bev Jackson, Kate Harris, Allison Bailey, Malcolm Clark and Ann Sinnott. The LGB Alliance describes its objective as "asserting the right of lesbians, bisexuals and gay men to define themselves as same-sex attracted", and states that such a right is threatened by "attempts to introduce confusion between biological sex and the notion of gender". The group has opposed a ban on conversion therapy that includes trans people in the UK, opposed the use of puberty blockers for children, and opposed gender recognition reform.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">FiLiA</span> British gender-critical feminist charity

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References

  1. 1 2 "Jacob Breslow". London School of Economics and Political Science. Retrieved 2023-01-20.
  2. ↑ "Press Statements – Dr Jacob Breslow". 2023-07-27. Archived from the original on 2023-07-27. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
  3. 1 2 Beal, James; Bannerman, Lucy (4 October 2022). "Trustee of the transgender charity Mermaids quits after speech to paedophile aid group". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 2023-01-20.
  4. 1 2 "Mermaids trustee quits over paedophile-group links". BBC News. 2022-10-04. Retrieved 2023-01-20.
  5. 1 2 "Ambivalent Childhoods". University of Minnesota Press. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  6. 1 2 "Q&A with Jacob Breslow". London School of Economics and Political Science. Retrieved 2023-01-20.
  7. ↑ Science, London School of Economics and Political. "Q&A with Jacob Breslow". London School of Economics and Political Science. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  8. ↑ Breslow, Jacob (2016-08-30). The theory and practice of childhood: interrogating childhood as a technology of power (phd thesis). London School of Economics and Political Science.
  9. 1 2 May 14th; 2020|Anti-gender; Featured; Comments, Politics|0 (2020-05-14). "The Non-Essential Transphobia of Pandemic Disaster Politics". Engenderings. Retrieved 2023-06-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. 1 2 3 Breslow, Jacob (December 2022). "They would have transitioned me: third conditional TERF grammar of trans childhood". Feminist Theory. 23 (4): 575–593. doi: 10.1177/14647001211046442 . ISSN   1464-7001.
  11. ↑ "'Sex is Real,' and other Gender Critical Non Sequiturs: A TERF Grammar Book". Eventbrite. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  12. ↑ "Research Seminars Archive | University of Cambridge Centre for Gender Studies". 2023-05-09. Archived from the original on 2023-05-09. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  13. ↑ Bleyer, Jennifer (24 September 2012). "How Can We Stop Pedophiles?". Slate.
  14. ↑ Breslow, Jacob (17 August 2011). Sexual Alignment: Critiquing Sexual Orientation, The Pedophile, and the DSM (PDF). Pedophilia, Minor-Attracted Persons, and the DSM: Issues and Controversies. B4U-ACT.{{cite conference}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  15. ↑ Somerville, Ewan (2022-11-05). "Academics demand apology from LSE over 'hostile environment for gender-critical staff and students'". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 2023-01-20.
  16. 1 2 "Press Statements – Dr Jacob Breslow". 2023-05-09. Archived from the original on 2023-05-09. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  17. ↑ "The Beaver". 2022-10-26. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
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