JENNI RUSSELL HITS AN IMPORTANT SOCIAL NERVE WITH HER BETRAYAL OF WOMEN ARTICLE
On 14 November the Times included an article by Jenni Russell about the betrayal of women in favour of trans gender rights, particularly in the treatment of men self-identifying as women. She laments that all major parties have succumbed to the argument that trans rights override women’s rights (our paraphrase), almost with no public discussion.
It is bizarre that women are having to tolerate the presence in traditional female spaces of men who have decided that for that day they want to be women. She says there is a new orthodoxy imposed by stealth that physical sex-based identities are irrelevant and can be replaced by an individual’s choice of gender instead, while retaining the physical characteristics of their birth gender. Self- identification alone is a dangerous basis.
The unease felt by women and girls at the presence of a physical man who says he is really like a woman is being ignored. Does society as a whole, beyond a few zealots of gender anarchy, seriously think that this will not be abused in spades by men – from those who fancy a laugh or a titivation to those after something more sinister? Jenni is far more graphic in her examples.
Here is an example of an issue, Sherbhert is sure, where people are staying silent, not expressing their true thoughts and concerns, for fear of the outraged backlash from those who consider the treatment of trans – gender people a liberal defining issue.
Of course, trans- gender men, as all people, must be respected and treated with human kindness, without inappropriate discrimination. Equally, genuine trans-gender people must consider the sensitivities and concerns of others, particularly a large majority sector of the population.
Jenni points out however that the current approach is an act of national cowardice by our would- be leaders; that Nicola Sturgeon and Jeremy Corbyn are declared to back self-identification. Boris Johnson perhaps is silent on the issue, and, if he is, that is almost as bad. Jenni records that the Conservatives are the only party with faint reservations on the issue, acknowledging single sex spaces should be respected. They should.
There is always a balance to be struck between the conflicting wishes of sectors of the population. However, any genuine concerns of a significant majority group cannot be demoted below those of a small minority group without widespread considered debate, which seems to have been forgotten in this case. While the trans issues are not matters affecting the overall health of the UK, the current politically correct sanctity of minorities’ wishes is out of kilter with consideration for society as a whole and is undermining open discussion of difficult issues.
