Media articles
I wrote…
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Defending Pornography: For The Third Time‘, Fairer Disputations, 26th April 2024.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Double Standards in the Gender Debate‘ [Review of Judith Butler’s Who’s Afraid of Gender?], Quillette, 12th April 2024.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Is G Flip A Woman?‘ Quillette, 20th March 2024.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Don’t Blame Radical Feminists For Transgenderism‘, Fairer Disputations, 8th March 2024.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Not Everyone Who Disagrees With You Is An Uncle Tom‘, Quillette, 4th March 2024.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Can debate ever do harm?‘ Eureka Street, 2nd February 2024.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Rehabilitating Biological Essentialism‘, Fairer Disputations, 2nd February 2024.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Is Sanity Returning To The Australian Gender Debate?‘ Quillette, 22nd Jan 2024.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘How Australian Law Pushes Vulnerable Women Towards Hiring Male Carers’, Quillette, 2nd Jan 2024.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘The Heckler’s Veto and the Right to Free Association‘, Quillette, 27th November 2023.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Was Phyllis Schlafly a Feminist?‘ Fairer Disputations, 20th October 2023.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Trans Identity and the Right To Exist‘, Quillette, 7th October 2023.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Feminists Don’t Have to Choose Christianity or Paganism‘, Fairer Disputations, 29th September 2023.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Sex Discrimination Without Sex‘, Quillette, 18th September 2023.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘On Political Hatred‘, Quillette, 24th August 2023.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Why I’m fighting ‘trans heterodoxy’ on campus‘, The Australian, 28th June 2023.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘What Even Is ‘Trans’?‘ Quillette, 27th June 2023.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Campus Speech and Compromised Safety‘, Quillette, 31st March 2023.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling Continue‘, Quillette, 26th April 2023.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Who is Feminism For?‘ The Philosopher’s Magazine, 18th April 2023.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Mobbed but Unbowed: An Interview with Kellie-Jay Keen‘, Quillette, 4th April 2023.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Let the new feminism speak‘, The Spectator, 26th March 2023.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Is There Such A Thing As A Good Academic-Activist?‘ Quillette, 21st March 2023.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘The Ethos of Female Prisons‘, Quillette, 16th February 2023.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Vices of Mainstream Feminism‘, Quillette, 18th January 2023.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Achieving a sex-equal workplace: how did we do it?’, in The Radical Notion 8 Autumn/Winter (2022). [Open access version posted here].
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Ending Discrimination By Twitter‘, Quillette, 29th November 2022.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘The Conflict Over Privilege and Disadvantage in Leftist Politics’, Rationale, 15th August 2022.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘How Automatic Gender ‘Affirmation’ Hurts Women and Girls’, Quillette, 13th July 2022.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Peddling rainbows‘, The Spectator Australia, 28th June 2022.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Australia is importing UK policy on ‘gender affirmation’’, The Spectator Australia, 18th December 2021.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Those birthing people, they’re women‘, O&G Magazine 23/4 (Summer 2021). (Note: the article has been removed due to complaints, so I have linked to an archived version instead. You can still find the article in the full version of the magazine).
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘The Redefinition of ‘gender’ harms women‘, Schweizer Monat, December 2021/January 2022. Also published in German as ‘Die Umdeutung von ‘Gender’ schadet den Frauen‘. (Both versions are online, the German version is in the print magazine. I’ve posted a version of the original text here).
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Why Vaccine Mandates Must Be A Last Resort‘, The Sydney Morning Herald, 27th September 2021. (Also published in The Age, 27th September 2021).
Tullock, Rebecca., & Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘The costs of the closure of playgrounds are mounting — and our kids are paying the price‘, ABC Religion & Ethics, 1st September 2021.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Why punch at all? Inciting out-group hatred is dangerous and immoral – “joke” or not’, ABC Religion & Ethics, 26th April 2021.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘A warning from Australia on the Transgender Debate‘, The Spectator, 13th February 2021.
Deves, Kath., & Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Gender Bill Risks Too Great‘, Herald Sun, 28th December 2020.
Deves, Kath., & Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘What is Victoria’s ban on ‘conversion therapy’ actually trying to achieve?‘ Crikey, 22nd December 2020.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘An Australian bill criminalizing ‘conversion therapy’ may harm kids deemed ‘trans’ as well as those who treat them’, Feminist Current, 18th December 2020.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘The Digital Deplatforming of a Gender-Critical Feminist‘, Areo, 23rd November 2020.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Troubled blood: gender, identity, and JK Rowling‘, BroadAgenda, 22nd October 2020.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘The end of gender… identity‘, Feminist Current, 17th September 2020.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Brave New World For Women, If Anyone Can Join‘, The Australian, 20th December 2019. (Reprinted at On Line Opinion, 23rd December 2019).
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Just How Bad Is It To Misgender Someone?‘ The Age, 1st October 2019. (Also printed in the Sydney Morning Herald, 1st October 2019).
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Misgivings about Racial and Religious Tolerance Amendment Bill’, The Age, 21st September 2019.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘How The Trans Rights Movement is Turning Philosophers Into Activists‘, Quillette, 20th September 2019.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Gender as Identity vs. Gender as Norms‘, Institute of Art and Ideas, 11th September 2019.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Why some feminists oppose allowing people to choose their sex on birth certificates’, The Conversation, 23rd August 2019.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. [Alongside other contributors, including Julie Bindel & Kathleen Stock]. ‘How can philosophy help us understand transgender experiences?’ Institute of Art and Ideas, 26th July 2019.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Implications of sex-change act amendment have not been fully explored‘, The Age, 7th July 2019.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Academic mobbing needs to be challenged, both inside and outside the university‘, Feminist Current, 26th June 2019.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘When hundreds of women are dying as a result of sex, it’s a sure sign men are doing something wrong’, The Article, 18th April 2019.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘If anyone can choose to be female, what happens to women’s rights?‘ The Australian, 28th February 2019.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Is it possible to change sex?‘ The Article, 19th February 2019.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. & Vicendese, Emily. ‘Does ‘Gender Identity’ Preclude Male Violence? Reply to Finlayson, Jenkins, and Worsdale’, Conatus News, 20th November 2018.
Chappell, Sophie-Grace., & Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Transgender: a dialogue’, Aeon, 15th November 2018.
Lawford-Smith, Holly., & Vicendese, Emily. ‘Penises don’t kill people, people with penises do’, Feminist Current, 16th August 2018.
Swearer, Stephen., Jessup, Brad., Lawford-Smith, Holly., Patterson, Jeannie., Bell, Simon., & Beer, Tania. ‘Why the plastic bag backflip is a bad idea’, Pursuit, 1st August 2018.
Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Speaking on behalf of…’ Aeon, July 11th 2018.
Barry, Christian. & Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Critics Pour Cold Water on Ice Bucket Challenge. Are They Right?‘ The Conversation, 27th August 2014.
I’m quoted in…
Byrne, Alex., & Lawford-Smith, Holly., & McLaughlin, John. ‘Gender-Critical Philosophy: A Defence‘, Areo, 12th September 2023.
Albrechtsen, Janet. ‘You’re not allowed to just talk about women anymore‘, The Australian, 8th July 2023.
Rivera, Tricia. ‘University of Melbourne and trans activists could get rid of me, Holly Lawford-Smith says‘, The Australian, 30th June 2023.
Neill, Rosemary. ‘Uni of Melbourne VC slams balaclava-wearing transgender activists over campus vandalism‘, 23rd June 2023.
Lehmann, Claire. ‘How our leaders have joined with radical activists to silence feminists‘, The Australian, 2nd June 2023.
Le Grand, Chip. ‘University closes book on lecturer transphobia complaints‘, The Age, 21st May 2023.
Ross, John. ‘Feminist scholar claims Melbourne dean ‘fuelled boycott campaign‘, Times Higher Education, 16th May 2023.
Le Grand, Chip. ‘Class warfare: Lecturer targeted by trans activists over rally role‘, The Age, 14th May 2023.
Le Grand, Chip. ‘Target of trans rights campaign launches claim against University of Melbourne‘, 14th May 2023.
Witherow, Tom., & Bhutani, Anvee. ‘Academic pulls book from Oxford University Press in transphobia row’, The Times, 12th May 2023.
Lever, Cindy. ‘EXCLUSIVE: Trans woman to make historic legal claim against the owner of a female-only chat app – after her membership was rejected because software said she was a man’, Daily Mail Australia, 26th February 2023.
Skatssoon, Judy. ‘Concerns raised about government relationship with LGBTQ group‘, Government News, 17th November 2022.
Neill, Rosemary. ‘‘Picnic’, ‘women’ on list of words deemed too offensive’, The Australian, 17th September 2022.
Neill, Rosemary. ‘Cancer charity omits ‘women’ for ‘body with a cervix’ in health information’, The Australian, 29th August 2022.
Deves, Katherine. ‘Erasing Women: Why Are Feminists Destroying Feminism?’, The Spectator Australia, 9th July 2022.
Nguyen, Nina. ‘Australia’s Health Chief Lambasted for Not Providing a ‘Single’ Definition for a Woman’, The Epoch Times, 27th June 2022.
Gerbert-Craig, Brooke. ‘78 words of ‘drivel’’, Herald Sun, 24th June 2022.
Smith, Joan. ‘The trans lobby tried to cancel my book – they don’t want people asking questions‘, The Telegraph, 13th May 2022.
Tuohy, Wendy. ‘Inclusive language risks ‘dehumanising women’, top researchers argue’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 29th January 2022.
Button, James. ‘Gender, sex and power: the debate dividing universities‘, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, and Brisbane Times, 21st November 2021.
Topsfield, Jewel., & Quinn, Karl. ‘Why single-sex spaces are a battleground for transgender rights’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 28th August 2021.
Showalter, Brandon. ‘Feminist academic targeted over advocacy for sex-segregated spaces, criticism of trans ideology’, The Christian Post, 23rd June 2021.
Nguyen, Nina. ‘Melbourne University’s New Gender Affirmation Policy a ‘Violation of Conscience’: Expert‘, The Epoch Times, 20th June 2021.
Carey, Adam. ‘Transgender debate a free speech stress test for Melbourne University‘, The Age, 18th June 2021.
MacPherson, James. ‘Melbourne University’s attack on freedom, on women – and itself‘, The Spectator, 17th June 2021.
Carey, Adam. ‘University head says free speech does not override transgender safety‘, The Age, 15th June 2021.
Ridge, Mian. ‘A backlash against gender ideology is starting in universities‘, The Economist, 5th June 2021.
Hoffman, Mimi. ‘Petition Calls For Review of “Transphobic” Melbourne University Subject‘, Farrago, 2nd June 2021.
Ross, John. ‘Melbourne revises free speech rules over transgender concerns’, Times Higher Education, 26th May 2021.
Imgrund, Sarah. ‘Australian feminist professor survives cancel culture attack over ‘transphobic’ website‘, The College Fix, 26th April 2021.
Dodd, Tim. ‘Two former university heads back new free speech journal‘, The Australian, 22nd April 2021.
Delibasic, Susan. ‘Uni protest ‘shocking’’, Herald Sun, 7th April 2021.
Zhang, Stevie. ‘Why Trans Students Don’t Feel Safe At The University of Melbourne‘, Junkee, 19th March 2021.
Bartosch, Jo. ‘The TERF war Down Under‘, Spiked, 3rd March 2021.
Quinn, Karl. ‘‘Now I use the men’s bathroom, but it’s still uncomfortable’‘, The Age, 27th February 2021. (Also published in the Sydney Morning Herald].
Kelly-Clark, Victoria., & Jom, Henry. ‘Australian Academic Says Women Are Afraid Of Being Labelled Transphobic For Standing Up For Themselves‘, The Epoch Times, 26th February 2021.
Power, John. ‘Women-only spaces under threat? Australian professor assailed for highlighting claims of encroachment by trans people‘, South China Morning Post, 26th February 2021.
Quinn, Karl. ‘‘Transphobic’ website puts Melbourne University academics at odds‘, Brisbane Times, 25th February 2021. [Also published in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, both 26th December 2021].
Crellin, Zac. ‘WTF: A Cis Uni Professor Has Set Up An Anonymous Tip Line To Collect Stories About Trans Women‘, pedestrian.tv, 24th February 2021.
Lane, Bernard. ‘Lifelong damage of a puberty blue‘, The Australian, 5th December 2020.
Saville, Margot. ‘JK Rowling and the curse of the trans character who wasn’t there‘, Crikey, 21st September 2020.
Lane, Bernard. ‘Free speech ‘in play’ over women’s sport‘, The Australian, 11th September 2020.
Barnjak, Kristijan. ‘UA philosophy professor abruptly resigns as editor-in-chief of international philosophy journal over ethics dispute’, The Daily Wildcat, 8th June 2020.
Saville, Margot. ‘What does self-ID mean for the rights of women?‘ Crikey, 14th February 2020.
Lane, Bernard. ‘Trans Therapy Law May Harm Child Patients‘, The Australian, 20th January 2020.
Johnson, Emily. & Zhang, Stephanie. ‘Petitions, Protests and Sex Based Events‘, Farrago, 24th September 2019.
Bolt, Andrew. ‘Honesty Carries a High Price’, Herald Sun, 23rd September 2019.
Akerman, Tessa. ‘Choice of sex on birth certificates becomes law in Victoria‘, The Australian, 29th August 2019.
Sorensen, Mie. ‘Feminists and transgender activists clash over gender law debate at Melbourne University‘, Mojo News, 12th August 2019.
Campbell, Murray. ‘Why women will be the losers from Victoria’s latest gender stunts‘, Spectator Australia, 2nd August 2019.
The Weekend Australian. ‘Not all oppression of the sisterhood is worthy of attention from our progressive organs‘, The Weekend Australian, 31st July 2019.
Lane, Bernard. ‘The balls now in feminists’ court‘, The Australian, 27th July 2019.
Lane, Bernard. ‘New Victorian sex law a gender headache‘, The Australian, 27th July 2019.
holly lawford-smith 