A feminist academic who was subjected to “bullying and harassment” by students because of her views on transgender rights has resigned.

Professor Kathleen Stock, a philosopher at the University of Sussex, stepped down after protests in Brighton over accusations of “transphobia”.

Stock has argued against reform of the Gender Recognition Act to allow self-identification and believes biological women should be treated different compared with biological males who identify as women.

Announcing her resignation last week, she hit out at the protesters, saying that she and her family had been put through “an absolutely horrible time”. In recent weeks students in balaclavas have paraded banners through the city calling for her dismissal.

A government source said that Liz Truss, the foreign secretary and equalities minister, was “appalled” that Stock had “effectively been hounded and bullied out of a job for expressing an opinion. She thinks this sort of cancel culture is bad for our democracy and society.”

Students in Brighton welcomed Stock’s resignation but said they were disappointed that the University of Sussex had not responded to their petition to remove the academic earlier.

After protests began, the Sussex branch of the University and College Union called for an investigation into ‘transphobia’ at the university.

Stock said in a statement that she posted on Twitter yesterday that the union “seems to think it is OK” for gender-critical women to be bullied at work.