It could undermine women’s rights
UK ministers have called on Nicola Sturgeon to scrap plans to let Scottish people “self-declare” as the opposite sex over fears it could lead to “legal chaos” and undermine women’s rights in England.
Of course it “could undermine women’s rights in England.” Of course it can and does and will continue to undermine women’s rights everywhere. It renders them nonsensical. If men can become women by saying so then what are women? Nothing; just another word for “people.” They don’t need women’s rights because they have people’s rights. Rape, childbirth, child care, differences in size and strength, are all irrelevant, because everyone is a person. Giving away women’s rights slightly more gradually than Scotland is still giving away women’s rights.
Senior UK government figures fear the move, which is not available to people in England, could allow biologically male Scottish prisoners in English jails to demand to be placed in female-only prisons.
So what’s the problem? Just because they’re a risk to the people formerly known as women is no reason to trample on their True Selves.
Currently anyone wanting to change their sex in the UK needs to apply for a gender recognition certificate. To be successful applicants need to have been medically diagnosed with gender dysphoria and been living in their affirmed gender for at least two years.
Blah blah blah. But what real difference does that make? It slows things down but that’s all. Slowing things down is better than speeding them up, to be sure, but it’s still bad for women to pretend that men can become women by “affirming” their “gender” for two years.
The Scottish move would remove the need for a medical diagnosis and reduce the time limit to six months. It would also allow under-18s to change their gender for the first time.
But it’s basically the same in both. The core claim is the same.
I have an idea. In order to get a GRC, you need to first submit an application, then “live as” the opposite sex for a hundred years, before you can get it approved. And you’re not allowed to submit an application until you turn eighteen. Yes, there are a very small number of people that live past 118, but I’d rather take that risk than the current system.
Yes, GW, and if someone applies and is choosing MTF, 30% of their pay is held in trust as the differential between men’s and women’s pay. If they decide at the end of the term to accept the GRC, the trust keeps the money but if they revert to being male then they receive it all back.
They shouldn’t have to be diagnosed with anything, or “live as” anything. Just produce the evidence that your chromosomes have changed to those of the opposite sex.
The core claim is the same, but the core claim isn’t the same throughout.
1.) Gender Identity is rooted in the brain, present at birth, and immutable. That’s why trans kids are insistent, persistent, and reliable.
2.) Gender is a social construct and Gender Identity can therefore be fluid and performative. There are no rules, we each follow our own.
3.) The only treatment for aligning body and mind is physical transition.
4.) Not all trans people feel uncomfortable with their bodies and whether they choose to transition is totally up to them.
5.) Trans people know they’re trans with a firm inner conviction.
6.) A lot of trans people have doubts that they’re really trans, it comes with the territory.
Just as there’s no wrong way to believe in God, there’s no wrong way to be trans. It means whatever you need it to mean to see it as a positive thing.
But every criticism comes from a prior decision to reject it.