‘I was sacked for suggesting that drag acts were a gross caricature of femininity’: Music academy lecturer who lost her job in latest transgender controversy is taking legal action
- Cathy Boardman claims she was sacked for asking if ‘womanface’ is demeaning
- She said a group of students were ‘out to get her’ and is pursuing a legal battle
- Ms Boardman, who is a lesbian, claims she was also told she was homophobic
- Ex-employer says she failed probation and key facts are missing from account
A lecturer at a prominent music academy says she has been forced out of her job after she suggested drag acts could be viewed as sexist.
Cathy Boardman, a lecturer in cultural studies, had asked her class to reflect on ‘womanface’ – a critical term for female impersonation – and whether or not it was demeaning.
But bosses at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music (BIMM), which has outposts around the country and links with Sussex University, told her this was a ‘deeply sensitive’ subject and that transgender students had been left upset.
Ms Boardman was then dismissed from her post. The lecturer, who is now taking legal action for unfair dismissal, said she had already been warned by the college principal that a small group of students were ‘out to get her’.
‘I could lose everything,’ she told The Mail on Sunday. ‘I’ve been in insecure work for my whole life – but this salaried job gave me hope that I could get a mortgage and provide a better future for my boys.’
Ms Boardman is claiming that she is the victim of discrimination on the basis of her sex and her ‘gender-critical’ belief that birth sex is immutable.
Cathy Boardman says she was forced out of her lecturing job after encouraging students to discuss whether womanface (a derogatory term for female impersonation) was demeaning
She is among a growing number of academics and professionals to be attacked for challenging – or appearing to challenge – transgender orthodoxy.
Last year, philosophy professor and feminist Kathleen Stock was effectively forced out of her job at Sussex University after stating that people cannot change their biological sex.
Professor Stock wrote movingly in The Mail on Sunday after she was targeted with demonstrations and graffiti after some students started a campaign.
Tax expert Maya Forstater lost her job at a global development think tank for expressing a similar view, while barrister Allison Bailey said she was branded a ‘transphobe’ by colleagues over her belief that a person’s biological sex cannot be changed.
Ms Boardman said: ‘Essentially, I’ve been fired for doing my job. We are supposed to look at things from different perspectives. If we don’t, what is the point of university? Educational institutions – and this is not just BIMM – are doing students a disservice by claiming they are not capable of critical thought or being challenged. The sad fact is there is now a climate of fear on our campuses.’
She fears the legal dispute marks a bitter end to a five-year career. She began lecturing in cultural studies at BIMM on a freelance basis in 2017 after completing a degree in social anthropology.
The college, which offers degrees in music and events management, is actually located in Manchester – one of a number of outposts which carry the BIMM name. In October 2021, Ms Boardman was given a permanent job at the college.
She said that, for the most part, she was respected by her colleagues and had good relations with students, describing her role teaching about cultural ideas as a ‘dream job’. However, in November 2020, she found herself the subject of student complaints after giving a Zoom lecture on the theme of sex, sexuality and gender.
Ms Boardman says she sought to start a debate by showing an archive image of a white performer appearing in ‘blackface’ alongside a picture of a contemporary drag queen, accompanied by the caption: ‘What about womanface?’
She wanted students to question whether a parody of women could be deemed offensive and criticised, in the same way that a parody of black people can be criticised.
It was a whole year later, she says, before she was told complaints had been received from students and a member of staff.
‘I was not suggesting that drag and blackface are the same – because they are not,’ she said.
‘Blackface has always just been racist. Drag is a grotesque caricature of femininity, but it started off as a liberating form of entertainment for gay men ostracised for being effeminate. I was simply trying to draw parallels with members of more powerful groups in society parodying members of other groups for entertainment.
‘I wasn’t pushing an agenda – I just thought it was a really interesting thing to think about.’
Ms Boardman fell into new difficulties in March 2021 after another lecture on sex and gender. She says she decided to focus on the mistreatment of women because her presentation fell in the same week as the vigil for Sarah Everard, who had been raped and murdered by a Metropolitan Police officer.
But this led to accusations of ‘transphobia’ from a small number of the 400 students she addressed because her hour-long lecture omitted to mention transgender people – an omission they felt was hurtful. ‘When a student asked me why we hadn’t talked about transgender issues, I said we hadn’t the time to do it justice,’ Ms Boardman said.’
She then invited the student to focus on trans matters in their essay. A third incident took place in the staff room in November 2021. Ms Boardman said: ‘Someone asked me if I’d seen [American drag queen] RuPaul.
‘Then there was talk about us all going to a drag show and they asked if I would go. I responded, “Oh, god, no – I don’t want to see a drag show. I hate drag!” A lot of the humour associated with drag is about being edgy and offensive, which is fine – but I find it sexist.
‘No one at the time commented on what I said. However, a month later, a colleague complained.’
Ms Boardman had been employed as a culture lecturer at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music (BIMM), which has outposts around the country and links with Sussex University
Ms Boardman said she was summoned in December to meet the principal to discuss what were deemed her ‘trans-exclusionary’ views. It was at this meeting she says that the principal told her some students were ‘out to get’ her.
Ms Boardman said she was told she had demonstrated ‘poor academic practice’ for having presented a ‘provocative’ idea to students at a lecture without forewarning, or giving them a chance to discuss the issue beforehand.
She was later told she had failed to follow the institute’s policy in a student welfare matter – a complaint she believes is unjustified. By the end of the session, she was left fearing for her job and her safety.
‘I didn’t know the extent of what it means when students are out to get you,’ said Ms Boardman. ‘So I was terrified all over the Christmas holidays. But no one enquired after my welfare.’
She said matters came to a head when the same student group who attended her sex, sexuality and gender lecture used an evaluation survey to criticise her teaching.
‘They even said I was homophobic – even though I’m a lesbian.’
In May this year, she was invited to another meeting with her managers in which they informed her she had been ‘unsuccessful’ in completing her probationary period as deputy course leader. A subsequent letter said she had failed to achieve the professional standards of her role by her ‘inappropriate’ expression of views, among other points.
In the wake of the decision to dismiss her, she was told there was no need to return to work to complete her notice, and discovered she had been locked out of her email account. She tried to appeal against her termination, but in June was told the original decision to let her go had been upheld. ‘I fear I won’t get another job in lecturing now,’ she said. ‘Yet they’ve done this to me in the name of inclusion.’
A college spokesman said: ‘BIMM fully supports and defends freedom of speech, academic freedom and equality, and has rigorous policies in place to ensure staff and students are treated fairly and in full accordance with these principles. It would not be appropriate for us to comment on the specifics of this case at this stage, given the ongoing litigation, save to say that allegations of discrimination are strongly denied.’
He said that important facts surrounding Ms Boardman’s unsuccessful probation period were missing from her account.
Ms Boardman is fundraising for her campaign here.
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