Laurens Buijs (laurensbuijs.org) is a social scientist specialized in gender studies and in Science & Technology Studies (STS). He is one of the founders of the Amsterdam Gender Theory Research Team (gender-theory.org), aiming to create space for nuanced middle positions in an increasingly polarized academic and societal debate about gender.
For the past four years, he has been working on the concept of androgyny, which according to Laurens has the potential to provide a new interdisciplinary framework for gender studies and which can lead the way out of the gender wars. In his work, Laurens takes position as (moderately) ‘gender critical’, meaning that he critiques progressive and post-modern interpretations of gender as endlessly moldable.
Laurens has been employed by the University of Amsterdam since 2007. Next to gender theory, he works on themes like homophobic violence, the philosophies of Bruno Latour, sex work and urban renewal in Amsterdam’s Red Light District and the role of science and technology in modern society.
Over the past years, Laurens has experienced increasing pressure of both students and colleagues to withold certain critical positions around topics that are deemed ‘sensitive’ at the left-wing University of Amsterdam, like the role of Islam in homophobia, the risks of the mRNA vaccinations and the radicalization of the transgender movement.
Read the extensive backstory of the whistleblower case of Laurens Buijs in his blog:
How The Left Scapegoated Me As Whistleblower Of Woke Extremism At The University of Amsterdam
Two articles on his personal website in specific received a lot of criticism: one critiquing the mRNA vaccinations (in English), the other critiquing non-binary gender identity (in Dutch). Despite the fact that Laurens has always positioned himself explicitly on the progressive left himself, he started to experience more and more prejudice and exclusion from colleagues and students.
As he grew increasingly concerned about the rising wokism cancel culture at the University of Amsterdam, Laurens decided to file an official whistleblower complaint at the central board of the university, and wrote an opinion article for the university newspaper about his concerns.
Read the full opinion article by Laurens as published in the university newspaper Folia on 18 January 2023:
Woke culture threatens academic freedom in social sciences at the University of Amsterdam
The result was a serious rupture in the social sciences department of the University of Amsterdam. Laurens is currently fighting for an independent investigaton of the validity and seriousness of his whistleblower report. Next to that, he is currently involved in several lawsuits against the university, concerning whistleblower protection and his labour position.
Laurens is expected to leave the University of Amsterdam in the course of 2023. He will continue his work on gender theory through the Amsterdam Gender Theory Research Team (see gender-theory.org). Next to that, he is currently working on his book on androgyny in humans, called Androgynous Humanity (see androgynemens.com, in Dutch). Through his own business, he will continue to offer ‘woke proof’ courses on gender and diversity.