September 25, 2023, my fellow panelists and I received a letter from the American Anthropological Association (AAA) and the Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA) informing us that our conference panel, “Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby: Why biological sex remains a necessary analytic category in anthropology”, which had been accepted, is being removed from the program due to the “harm” it will cause the “Trans and LGBTQI community”. We’ve responded to their accusation. Below is our response, the AAA/CASCA letter, our panel submission, and the AAA/CASCA response to journalists (that came out two or three days later). Finally, I have included a link to FIRE’s open letter to the AAA and CASCA. Feel free to quote any of these materials in whole or in part.
In the days following the cancellation, journalists from around the world covered the story. The story appeared on Fox News, in the New York Times, on NewsMax, and many other places. Some of my favorites include Lawrence Krauss’s in Quillette, Colin Wright’s in City Journal, and Kathleen Lowrey’s in Compact Magazine.
I’ve also talked about this cancellation on the Dissidents Podcast and on Restoring the Science Podcast. And, on November 8, 2023, Heterodox Academy hosted the panel as an uncancelled webinar event, which was livestreamed. There were over 400 viewers and within a day the number of viewers passed a thousand. Here’s the YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/live/_i5gHhuLBpw?si=hpyIr2sQb8rHMD_B
AAA/CASCA Response to Journalists: https://americananthro.org/news/no-place-for-transphobia-in-anthropology-session-pulled-from-annual-meeting-program/
And, a letter supporting the AAA and CASCA’s Decision: https://americananthro.org/news/letter-of-support-for-aaas-withdrawal-of-session-from-the-annual-meeting/
Sign FIRE’s Open Letter: https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/open-letter-american-anthropological-association-and-canadian-anthropology-society
Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship’s letter against the AAA and CASCA decision: https://t.co/4NGgg9hjud
Elizabeth Weiss, PhD 