- I am ‘transphobic’. I did not recognise my persistent, irrational fear of any group of people nor a compelling desire to avoid them, but I am transphobic.
2. I am a ‘bigot’. I did not hitherto notice that I am utterly intolerant of transgender people. I thought I saw transgender people just as a subset of people who are different to me in some critical respect. Like women, small children, Trinidadians, geniuses, paraplegics, gay men, Muslims, Chinese folk and so on. ie most other non-white, English-speaking, middle-aged males who were born in the 1960s. I was mistaken, though, because I am a bigot.
3. Trans rights are human rights. I thought this meant that transgender people should be treated with respect and enjoy the same rights as all humans. Also, that they suffer a disproportionate amount of abuse and discrimination, so we should actively promote their rights to a life unhindered by oppression. But I have an uncomfortable sense that I’m wrong and that it means something more. I get this from reading articles and papers that I have to confess I don’t understand. That may be due to my transphobic bigotry.
4. Trans women ARE women.
5. This is not the definition of ‘female’.
6. I have learned that there is a class of healthy, intact females who in fact do not have two X chromosomes, a uterus, a vagina or ovaries and never have, but actually do have testicles and a penis. If you thought a person with testicles and a penis, who is biologically incapable of carrying a human foetus, is a man, you are wrong.
7. The statement ‘women don’t have penises’ is hate speech. Interpreting the dictionary definitions of ‘woman’ and ‘female’ at face value is transphobic and bigoted.
8. The best way to address the concerns of feminists who suggest that people with penises might not have the right of access to women-only spaces is to say they are transphobic bigots.
9. Feminists should not express concerns around people with male genitalia having identical rights to all women because transgender people are subject to violent assault and abuse at a higher rate than conventional women.
10. It’s OK for a man who wants to identify as a woman to demand for herself exactly the same status in every respect as a woman who identifies as a woman and was also born as a biological woman, even if the woman who was already a woman has misgivings about the woman who wasn’t previously a woman and chooses to retain their testicles and penis being in a space previously reserved exclusively for people who were born with two x chromosomes, uterus, ovaries and vagina or someone who was born with a penis but chose to undergo surgery to reassign themselves physically to match as closely as possible to the biological status they sense in themselves.
Note: not all people who question these assertions are pale middle-aged heterosexual men like me. Nor are they always Daily Mail types. We don’t all believe that transgenderism is nonsense and that transgender people do not exist and should not be recognised as such. Here’s one who isn’t and doesn’t. His take seems calm and reasonable, so I recommend reading it for newcomers to this issue. ‘What Happened To Our Movement’? by Connor Kelly
