Sex and gender recognition
Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2019 3:01 am
I had a letter in the post yesterday which started
I am currently trying to decide who to vote for in the coming election.
As a woman I am especially concerned to find out how your Party plans to ensure the safeguarding, rights and dignity of females, of all ages, are not removed in order to support an ideology based on mantras and falsehoods.
While not posting the remainder of the letter here, I'd quite like to discuss my reply. It's not an issue which has engaged my attention heretofore.
Thank you for inquiring about the position of The Common People regarding gender identification.
You say I will be aware that each of the following statements is true:
biological females (women and girls) are under attack by biological males who claim to identify as women
the majority of these males do not have gender dysphoria but have autogynephilia — a specifically male sexual fetish based on being validated as a woman
males who identify as women retain male pattern violence, male sexuality, male attitudes to women and male socialisation which ensures they expect prominence in any mixed sex situations
there is a growing number of males who identify as women who retain their male genitalia and insist it is transphobic to refer to women's biological body parts
the majority of males self-identifying as women are fully male in all respects
males self-identifying as women are demanding lesbians educate themselves to be open to having sex with them (rather rapey)
males who self-identify as women, including those in the Labour party, hold deeply misogynistic views of women
Two of your points reference “the majority†and one “a growing numberâ€. The other four points suggest all males within each category you bring up display the behavior indicated.
I am not aware that any of these claims are true though I have no doubt anecdotal evidence exists of instances of such behaviors. I am reluctant to regard instances as instructive, they seem far more likely to be outliers. Making any policy on the basis of extremes is, in my experience, both unwise and unjust.
If you would like to demonstrate support for any of your assertions in any peer-reviewed published academic paper relating to any specified fraction of people who fall into any of your categories, I shall be very interested to look it up, better inform myself and reconsider my position.
As it is, your arguments carry overtones advanced in earlier times in support of criminalizing and retaining penalties for homosexuality, with just as little excuse.
You ask specifically,
Do you agree there is a difference between biological sex and gender?
I am currently trying to decide who to vote for in the coming election.
As a woman I am especially concerned to find out how your Party plans to ensure the safeguarding, rights and dignity of females, of all ages, are not removed in order to support an ideology based on mantras and falsehoods.
While not posting the remainder of the letter here, I'd quite like to discuss my reply. It's not an issue which has engaged my attention heretofore.
Thank you for inquiring about the position of The Common People regarding gender identification.
You say I will be aware that each of the following statements is true:
biological females (women and girls) are under attack by biological males who claim to identify as women
the majority of these males do not have gender dysphoria but have autogynephilia — a specifically male sexual fetish based on being validated as a woman
males who identify as women retain male pattern violence, male sexuality, male attitudes to women and male socialisation which ensures they expect prominence in any mixed sex situations
there is a growing number of males who identify as women who retain their male genitalia and insist it is transphobic to refer to women's biological body parts
the majority of males self-identifying as women are fully male in all respects
males self-identifying as women are demanding lesbians educate themselves to be open to having sex with them (rather rapey)
males who self-identify as women, including those in the Labour party, hold deeply misogynistic views of women
Two of your points reference “the majority†and one “a growing numberâ€. The other four points suggest all males within each category you bring up display the behavior indicated.
I am not aware that any of these claims are true though I have no doubt anecdotal evidence exists of instances of such behaviors. I am reluctant to regard instances as instructive, they seem far more likely to be outliers. Making any policy on the basis of extremes is, in my experience, both unwise and unjust.
If you would like to demonstrate support for any of your assertions in any peer-reviewed published academic paper relating to any specified fraction of people who fall into any of your categories, I shall be very interested to look it up, better inform myself and reconsider my position.
As it is, your arguments carry overtones advanced in earlier times in support of criminalizing and retaining penalties for homosexuality, with just as little excuse.
You ask specifically,
Do you agree there is a difference between biological sex and gender?
- I am aware that in all populations there will be found a proportion of people whose biological sex is ambiguous regardless of genital expression, and as with many aspects of biology a spectrum exists where some people might prefer to see a binary value.
I may be mistaken as far as gender goes, not being an expert, and I would happily accept correction. It is a labeling issue, it is a recognition of category and as such can bear ideas like “assignmentâ€. It appears to me that some people treat gender as a collection of categories with fixed boundaries. If we take biological sex and gender to be two distinct areas for a moment, I have no doubt that biological sex can influence gender choice and that gender can influence the identification of biological sex. While for a proportion of people there is rarely if ever any question of who is what, for others there is rarely any certainty and the categories change over time.
Will you support female (women and girls) rights to single sex spaces?
- Your question just abandoned all of your previous vocabulary. “Gender†and “biological sex†swept out of sight while three new emotive terms have been introduced: female, women and girls. I am as protective of single sex spaces as I am of single sex golf courses, single sex masonic inductions or single sex restaurants. As for “girlsâ€, no school with an ounce of rational governance still operates communal changing rooms or showers, single sex or otherwise. It is a scandal that they ever did and led as you will be aware to appalling institutionalized abuse by adults.
Will you ensure 'sex' as a protected characteristic is retained in the Equality Act 2010?
Will you strengthen the Equality Act 2010 to ensure clear, robust, guidance is given to all organisations with regard to both the 'sex' and 'gender reassignment' characteristics?
- To both of the above questions, I have no doubt that the best course is to update the language of the act to reflect the debate which has developed since their provisions were enacted. When The Common People forms a majority government at Westminster I promise it will establish a committee to consider these questions in detail.
Will you ensure there is open, honest, debate around the impact on the safeguarding, privacy, dignity and rights of biological females (women and girls) when considering the wants of males who self-identify as women?
- Without doubt, yes.
Yours sincerely
- Without doubt, yes.
- To both of the above questions, I have no doubt that the best course is to update the language of the act to reflect the debate which has developed since their provisions were enacted. When The Common People forms a majority government at Westminster I promise it will establish a committee to consider these questions in detail.
- Your question just abandoned all of your previous vocabulary. “Gender†and “biological sex†swept out of sight while three new emotive terms have been introduced: female, women and girls. I am as protective of single sex spaces as I am of single sex golf courses, single sex masonic inductions or single sex restaurants. As for “girlsâ€, no school with an ounce of rational governance still operates communal changing rooms or showers, single sex or otherwise. It is a scandal that they ever did and led as you will be aware to appalling institutionalized abuse by adults.