WHY?

Ford Motor Company Is Sponsoring Known TERF Kathleen Stock’s New Documentary

Ford Motor Company has supported LGBTQ+ rights in the past, but they have some explaining to do on why they’re sponsoring a documentary created by known TERF Kathleen Stock.

On Tuesday, Channel 4, a British public broadcast television channel, released their new documentary called Gender Wars and on the film’s landing page lies a Ford Motor Company logo. The documentary follows former University of Sussex professor Kathleen Stock, as she attempts to create a “dialogue” on transgender rights in the U.K. The documentary has been heavily criticized by audiences for focusing on Stock, a cisgender lesbian, and relegating trans contributors within the documentary to the wayside. Additionally, some of the film’s contributors have called out Stock for being misled about the film’s true nature, 

“Absolutely, it is a Kathleen Stock rehab show,” said documentary contributor and trans activist Dr. Stephen Whittle in an interview. “This is not about us. We are there without any context to anything that we say.”

What the documentary also fails to do is explore Stock’s own anti-trans rhetoric and views, which were released in a statement to UK Parliament.

“I have written extensively, in both academic and public settings, about the relation between sex and gender identity, arguing among other things that: womanhood and manhood reflect biological sex, not gender or gender identity,” wrote Stock. “The claim “transwomen are women” is a fiction, not literally true.”

Additionally, in 2021 she published Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism, doubling down on her anti-trans rhetoric. The publishing of Material Girls led to protests by University of Sussex students, consequently prompting her exit from the university in the same year. 

So, it’s interesting (and alarming) that Ford Motor Company is sponsoring the film. The previous photo shows that the automobile company is sponsoring the film. Their logo has since been removed from the Channel 4 streaming site, but the question still remains: why is Ford supporting this TERF-y documentary?

INTO attempted to reach out to Ford for comment, but were unable to before time of publication.

While Ford has used advertising, commercials, and funds to support LGBTQ+ rights, they’ve also been on the opposing side. In 2005, Ford pulled its ads for Jaguar and Land Rover luxury brands from gay publications after facing a boycott from anti-LGBTQ+ group American Family Association. In 2007, it was reported that Ford also slashed donations to groups that supported same-sex marriage, attributing the change to lagging sales. Additionally, in 2014, Ford was the only major corporate sponsor not to pull out of New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade after parade organizers banned LGBTQ+ groups from openly participating in the festivities. 

The jury is still out on why Ford, a corporation that has done plenty to promote LGBTQ+ inclusion, would support Stock’s documentary, but we do know it’s not a good look. 

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