Material Girl: Why Trans Rights Is Class Struggle | Provocations 2023

This Provocations 2023 forum was called “Material Girl: Why trans rights is class struggle,” which was a talk and discussion led by Sophie Cotton. Sophie Cotton is a National Tertiary Education Union representative at Sydney Uni and is on the Queer committee. She’s been a staunch activist in the fight for trans rights and gender affirmation leave.

Cotton argues that class struggle is an avenue to winning trans rights, and that gender and trans experiences are a material fact in response to Kathleen Stocks’s transphobic book titled “Material Girls.” She recounts her experience in the NTEU and Sydney Uni bargaining campaign—fighting for gender affirmation leave.