There is an equitable solution
Iain Macwhirter at The Herald Scotland:
WHEN I started writing about the trans self-identification issue nearly two years ago it was with the utmost trepidation. Questioning, or even discussing, the proposal that men should be able legally to become women merely by making a declaration of such, was regarded as transphobia, homophobia, bigotry.
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Cultural and health bodies, and even the Scottish Government, were ceasing to use the very word “woman” in case it offended male-bodied transwomen. Bizarre substitutes like “womxn”, “menstruators” and “ciswomen” were being deployed in the cause of inclusivity.
Which – to belabor the obvious – is a very warped way to use the word “inclusivity.” The word should mean not excluding people from public events and institutions and the like for no good reason: a public quarantine during an epidemic is a good reason; misogyny and xenophobia and racism are bad reasons. The word should not mean including white people in the category “black people” or bosses in the category “workers” or gentiles in the category “Jews” or men in the category “women.”
Inclusivity used to mean including all women in the category women, and more specifically doing the work to include all women, by reaching out and recruiting and making room. It did not mean including men, and it didn’t give a rat’s ass how men “identified.” But that was then.
Nicola Sturgeon evidently regarded Self-ID as the new frontier of progressive legislation. With the minimum of public discussion, she committed the Scottish Government to abolishing the very definition of woman as “adult human female”. (That phrase is regarded as hate speech by some police forces).
Well, times change. This issue is now out in the open. More and more women are speaking out against the undermining of sex-based rights.
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Influential figures in the SNP, like the former communications guru, Kevin Pringle, are now urging Nicola Sturgeon to follow the UK Government. But the Scottish Equalities Secretary, Shirley-Anne Somerville, apparently intends to press ahead with legislation to allow self-ID. Mr Pringle is speaking for many in the party who now realise that the growing backlash against Self-ID could threaten the SNP’s chances in next year’s Holyrood elections.
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It has been left to genuinely courageous women like Joan McAlpine MSP and Joanna Cherry, MP, to fight for reason. For doing so they have been the target of astonishing abuse on social media, and from the trans activists embedded in the SNP.
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But there is an equitable solution. Of course allow transwomen to identify as female without needless bureaucratic obstacles. But the Government should make clear in the legislation reforming the Gender Recognition Act that this does not mean abolishing the biological definition of sex or infringing women’s sex-based rights under the Equalities Act.
You’d think that a feminist like Nicola Sturgeon would regard that as self-evident. Perhaps she does. But if so she needs to say it loud and clear before half the voting population – women – turn against the SNP.
Here’s hoping.
Well, here’s walking a fine line indeed. Trans-Identified Males are officially deemed to be “females” — but we’re not abolishing the biological definition of sex OR infringing on women’s sex-based rights. Wouldn’t this be a contradiction? Or, perhaps, a sly TRA vocabulary-based tactic?
I do not know the proportion of TIMs who
1.) Admit they’re not women/female but prefer to live as if, while respecting reasonable sex-based boundaries.
2.) Believe they’re women/female but are fine with keeping out of women’s sex-based safe spaces, sports, etc.
3.) Believe they’re women/female and therefore no way in hell they’ll accept their “exclusion” from what is rightfully theirs.
I’m guessing that middle group is the smallest, though.
TIM’s and TIF’s are entitled to be free to present themselves in any way they wish. They are free to organise and create their own organisations. They can, if they think it necessary, arrange for their own safe spaces and agitate to have the legal right to create organisations exclusive to their needs, where they get to determine who does and doesn’t qualify for membership. They must be free from discrimination in the workplace and in the provision of goods and services. They should also campaign for their own category in sports, where they can compete with like for like without being forced to take drugs to raise or reduce hormones.
They are equal to, but not a part of, the Women’s movement. They are equal to, but not a part of, the gay/lesbian movements.
With all of that, I can be an ally. But wanting to be the centre of attention in all things at all times is beyond the pale. That is something up with which I will not put. (See, I can mangle language, too.).