My gender identity ideology explainer
Since transwoman Lia Thomas won the women's swimming, people are beginning to question whether this is really fair to women , so here's a new piece.
Here’s a brief explainer on the very basic issues as I see them:-
“Transwomen are women” is the mantra of *gender identity ideology*, which can be roughly summarised as follows:-
1. “Sex is not binary - male & female, but a spectrum.”
2. “Binary sex classifications of male and female are arbitrarily and not always correctly assigned at birth”.
3. “The true determination of personhood = gender identity, an innate essence - it can be man, woman, non binary, or any one of hundreds (by some accounts millions) of genders”.
4. “Therefore, trans people should be allowed access to all the spaces, services and provisions of the opposite sex”.
Because women - female people - face entrenched systemic, endemic sex-based discrimination and violence, female people - through their own hard work, through the hard fights of the suffragettes and the women’s rights movement - have won a few sex-based rights and protections against the violence and discrimination they suffer - historically, globally, on an ongoing and endemic basis.
These rights and protections include:-
The right to female-only rape crisis services.
The right to female-only domestic abuse services.
The right to female-only sports.
The right to single sex female-only toilets, changing rooms and accommodation.
The right to single sex female-only prisons.*
*Worth noting here that most female prisoners have been victims of male sexual violence and/or domestic abuse, and that 84% have had a head trauma as a result of domestic violence.
As said before, women fought hard for these rights and protections, and won other rights for their sisters, including the right to refuse rape in marriage (which was made illegal in the UK in 1991) and another example - it wasn’t until 1982 that women in the UK were allowed to spend their money in English pubs without being refused service.
Thus, women don’t want to give up these rights and protections, and want to keep female-only spaces/services/provision for females only.
Very many women also don’t take kindly to being redefined, not as a sex, but as a “gender identity”.
Because our experiences are very different from those of transwomen (male people whose gender identity = *woman*), in many instances, organisations, media and authorities wishing to “include” transwomen in the category “woman” have had to go to some lengths to address the people they actually wish to talk to.
For example, women’s cancer charities now address “uterus havers”, campaigners against period poverty and stigma call us “menstruators” (or just bleeders), and sex guides tell “vulva-owners” how to reach orgasm.
The word “mother” has been erased from much of the literature of pregnancy and birthing orgs, and - in the Irish legislature for example - seven pieces of legislation recently passed which, although they addressed issues explicitly concerning female people, entirely excluded the word “woman” from every document in order to avoid offending (male) transwomen.
It’s not hugely surprising that women don’t like being written out of their own vocabulary, or being referred to in terms of their bodily parts and bodily functions.
Nevertheless, any objections put forth are routinely denounced by the media, by all political parties, by the major charities and by many people who consider themselves on “the right side of history” - as “bigoted/transphobic/hate speech/fascist/Nazi” etc.
I’m tired now, having typed this all on an iPad with one finger after a long day battling mud rain and crushed under the weight of the current Ballardian simulation in which we all seem to have been incarnated.
So I’m off.
People can make their own minds up about it.
I do hope, though, that everyone will do some research before they form a conclusion, and not just nod along with the prevailing narrative, as that’s not very anti-establishment.
There’s a ton of info out there. I’d recommend for starters:
https://womansplaceuk.org
https://www.filia.org.uk
https://fairplayforwomen.com
Loads of excellent Spanish and Irish sites too.
And you can follow me on Twitter @hogotheforsaken
I have lots of lists on there and follows, including transwomen, transmen and detransitioners, people who are really worth listening to.
Hope my TED talk has been useful. Sorry for lack of citations etc. I am not a paid researcher or campaigner. I have a busy life working and doing childcare.
But there is a ton of useful info out there for anyone who wants to look for it. You do have to look though, as its being suppressed.