Attendees of a recent transgender conference at Roehampton
University in London were provided with “traffic
light safe space badges” to indicate whether they were willing to engage in
conversations with others, the Sunday Times reported. The green, amber
and red lanyards were dispensed to scholars present at the “Thinking Beyond:
Transversal Transfeminisms” symposium, a one-day event purportedly organized in
response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s reinstatement of the ban on
transgenders in his nation’s military, the “rampant transphobia in U.K.
feminist circles,” and other perceived slights.
If an
attendee sported a green badge, it meant he or she they were open to speaking with other
delegates and welcomed being approached. A yellow badge meant, “I will approach
you if I wish to speak.” A red one
signified, “I do not wish to speak with other delegates.” And also that, “I am
a pussy who can’t tolerate hearing other people’s opinions because I can’t
defend my own.”
Not all
the academics in attendance were comfortable with the badges they were
instructed to wear, with at least one noting: “To have this kind of
traffic-light system simply encourages fragility.”
His comment surely prompted many of his fellow
eggheads to frantically display their red badges.
“Conference” and “symposium” are
synonyms for “discussion.” How does letting attendees flash yellow or red lights
facilitate discussion? How did we become so quick to take offense, so
easily traumatized? What if past gatherings had utilized this same “technique?”
What if, for example, delegates at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 had
been instructed to use these same traffic-light safe space badges? What if
delegates from smaller states, attempting to protect their state’s rights,
approached those of the larger states and found them all sporting red
badges and plugging their ears with their index fingers? Well, so much for the
Connecticut Compromise of proportional representation in the House, and two representatives
of each state in the Senate. Oh, well. What if those who believed there was no
need for a Bill of Rights flashed their red badges and ran for their safe
spaces when in the proximity of those who proposed one?
On second thought, if I was at the
Roehampton conference and someone wished to speak to me about “Transversal
Transfeminisms,” I know what color I’d flash.
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