Shut up about women, we have to talk about trans women whenever anyone tries to talk about women. It’s imperative.

Olivia Colman, Jameela Jamil and Paloma Faith have signed an open letter condemning “hostility and violence” against trans women, joining a chorus of voices to do so on International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls.

Right, because we can’t talk about women and girls any more, it’s not allowed, if we try we will be interrupted and told to talk about trans women instead. Shut up about women and instead talk about men who say they feel like women in their heads.

The letter, which pledges solidarity with trans women, who experience significantly higher levels of violence, was also signed by Labour MPs Nadia Whittome and Zarah Sultana.

But they don’t. They don’t experience significantly higher levels of violence. They experience lower levels of violence.

Two in five trans people (41 per cent) have experienced a hate crime or incident because of their gender identity in the last 12 months, Stonewall’s 2018 Trans Report found.

But “incident” covers a lot of territory…including failure to agree that men are women if they say they are. Also Stonewall is not known for its honesty on this subject.

The open letter says: “We are feminists and we write, on international day for the elimination of violence against women and girls, to express our solidarity with trans women, particularly trans women of colour, who experience violence and hostility so frequently it is almost a way of life.

“Trans women are more likely to be murdered, more likely to be victims of violent attacks in their own homes, and more likely to be homeless, again increasing the risk of violence, than their cis sisters.” 

Not true, and in any case, it’s a change of subject. Women have not suddenly become a privileged invincible set of people, let alone the sex with all the power, so we need to be able to talk about women without being constantly interrupted by shouts of “TRANS WOMEN.” Glosswitch says it sharply, as always.