Sex in the Census 2021 website launched; 3 part action plan

If the DCs were back in school here it would be worth getting some badges done with the hashtags on for conversations at the school gates. Trying to think of alternatives. The three actions on the website do seem a little tame, but I can see the issue. If we're complaining about undermining the integrity of the data we can't really suggest something that does just that - though I guess the TAs they consulted suggested that they would. As PPs have said we need to do something to get awareness of this campaign out there. That's the first step really.

Thank you for this, I have sent my thoughts on, hopefully each voice counts

I'm with you @oldstyle, me and a couple of friends are starting to plot. Possibly ribbons (suffragette colours of course! ) with written labels in local areas, nothing that can't be easily removed, send photos to local press, free sheets etc. I know it will absolutely infuriate the usual suspects, but will defo raise awareness. I just wish I had a suffragette costume lol.

That would explain the gentility of the campaign response Michelle / Nonny ... women are damned for even the smallest whisper of discontent.

I'm been noticing the proportion of times that those speaking up for women feel they have to preface their remarks with a statement of support for transpeople's rights compared to how often transpeople do the same for women's rights. It's running at 99% vs 0% at the moment.

Hoping the Resisters and/or other activist groups and individuals will find ways to assert the importance of #SexInTheCensus that will boost the main campaign. Come on the witches!

while there would probably be very little appetite for consequencing some groups for choosing a hyperbolic and dramatic boycott should they choose to make a point that way, there would be great enthusiasm and the full force of the law thrown at women for doing so.

Exactly. One rule for them and another for us. The other side can do no wrong while threatening violence or burning effigies, but make no mistake that women's orgs will be heavily penalised and badmouthed for even the tiniest step out of line.

Agree, it is important to behave like grown ups while no one else does, ONS included and to maintain credibility as Nonny says.

I don't want to encourage any women to face fines or worse, particularly at a time when the pandemic is very unequally impacting on them. Nor do I have the faintest doubt that while there would probably be very little appetite for consequencing some groups for choosing a hyperbolic and dramatic boycott should they choose to make a point that way, there would be great enthusiasm and the full force of the law thrown at women for doing so.

I must admit, I was hoping for something a with a bit more oomph, but I think you're right @NonnyMouse1337

Suggesting breaking the law by boycotting the census is not the way for an organisation like FPFW to go.

Not everyone is going to be keen to boycott the census and potentially face a £1000 fine. It is easier to persuade family and friends who are slowly becoming aware of these issues to participate in an action like this.

There's nothing to stop others from planning more radical forms of action.
It is part of the sort of political game playing that's needed - it wouldn't be a good look for an organisation like FPFW and others to be urging people to break the law. They are building up credibility with politicians, government departments, media etc so they can be taken more seriously and make progress via the available mechanisms.

There's always space for grassroots organising for more direct action. This has been severely hampered of course for the past year due to the pandemic.

"Will ONS respond to my letter?

The data protection officer who receives the letters has one calendar month to respond to your objection. If they decide to reject it, they have to explain why."

P.S to everyone - was this thread hidden (or moved from a different board) as I was looking out for something on it yesterday on this board and didn't see anything.

There's nothing stopping us doing something more creative/active alongside the letter-writing Stumbled.

I like your idea of writing to the local papers, anything to increase awareness. I'm buttonholing friends and family - even my unreconstituted brother thinks it's ridiculous and has agreed to take part in the campaign. He wouldn't have done so if it had been more 'out there' so that could work in our favour.

And a bunch of us are meeting to plot tonight.
Every little helps...

Sorry - I just dont understand what the point of this is!

Does anyone think they are going to go through and count who has added remarks beside the sex question - well I dont!

Any more than them cataloguing letters sent with returned paper census forms. They are propably deemed not part of the census and will be binned

And none of this deals with the totally objectional inclusion of the question on gender. The census does not normally include questions on passing fads.

It seems to me we should all get behind the Fair Play for women court action. I am looking forward to the Census being told they have got to re-run the whole census again because they didn't follow their brief, ie the collection of facts.

But somehow we need to get this situation into the public domain. Apparently the census facebook page has been deleting comments from anyone who points out that this census will not be factual.

But also the problem is (not surprisingly as we know the trans influence on the media) loads of people are discussing how progressive it is to have the quesiton on gender without mentioning it is opptional, but as those this is a tremendous victory for a more progressive society.

Whereas it will be like the GRA, the stepping stone to a time when the sex questions disappears and there is only the quesiton on gender.

More of us should be writing to local papers and pointing out that this census will:

1. Allow you to lie about your biological sex
2. Validate a perception of the world through the gender question that in fact is only the perspective of a tiny minority (NB to all Jedis - now is the time to claim you are being discriminated against)
3. By not having a valid quesiton on sex and a later optional one on whether you have transitioned the Census is not collecting valid stats that should be informing decisions on future planning. ie the optional question should have been: Have you transitioned from your birth sex: i Yes have had sex reassignment surgery ii Yes waiting for sex reassignment surgery iii Yes but will not be having sex reassignment surgery Do you have a GRC?

What Shadowy said.

It's all terribly naice and all, but it's not direct action.

It is unfortunate we are in a lockdown and can't easily emulate the actions of the suffragettes, but I was hoping for something a bit more than letter writing.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/apr/01/suffragettes-census-1911-boycott

Thank you OP. Would you suggest we personalise the letter or not?

Janina I emailed my MP about this issue. I did not question the inclusion of the gender ID question, I purely concentrated on the sex question and how it had to reflect biological reality. It's so annoying & frankly pathetic that the answer he's sent is for a different question! It's like he sent you someone else's reply. They get cut and paste text from HQ, so he (or assistant?) will have just pasted in the text for letters about this issue and the census.

I will be v interested to see the wording of the letter, but at first sight I think this is a good way of dealing with it. I didn't know that you could object to how your own data is stored, so if enough ppl write to the data controller & instruct that their answer to the sex question is stored as their sex registered at birth & require a response, and by law they have to comply, this will send a message. They were trying to avoid a boycott, instead they will get a court case to defend (hopefully) and this requirement for lots of people. I also think they will have taken into account feedback that indicated they would not have had a good take up of a boycott.

The gender identity question would give good data on the trans population, except that its voluntary. It will be possible to tell from the answers whether someone is mtf or ftm, & if their gi is something other than man or woman (or variations) their actual sex will be as for the sex question.

Anything that was actually radical or potentially disruptive was already being labelled as 'anti-trans' by women heavily involved in the groups who have co-ordinated this 'campaign'. It was never going to be hard hitting, radical, or in any way disruptive to the point of illustrating the collective strength women can have.

At the very least there should be legal action but it's heading into court with one hand tied behind its back when the 'collective action' is compliance with a strongly worded letter.

Boycott. Nothing less will have any real impact.

At what point does it become clearer that the loss of the integrity of the census is as serious as it gets in terms of how significant the impact across so many areas will be.

It's like there's simply no appetite to either get serious or show solidarity to make the prosecution of 1000's of women as difficult as possible.

But then, I'm not a 'leader' with a stake in monetising women's concerns am I? They'll happily take our cash, but not even contemplate disruption tactics when it gets to the crunch.

What do you suggest then

"Presumably the more people do this the more the message is heard."

The message has been getting hammered for quite some time & not had any impact. Action would, but this 'campaign' does not advocate any action, just 'fill the census' while writing (as demonstrated below) to MPs who easily/wilfully misinterpret or ignore those letters.

This census, once it goes ahead (especially with women filling it in as suggested) we won't get the integrity back. It'll open the floodgates across so many areas to completely disregard the PSED to gather data on sex & it makes any future campaigning 10 times harder because the 'gold standard' on data has by then confirmed that data on sex is superfluous & won't be collected for at least the next 10 years.

Faced with those consequences, I cannot believe that the big reveal on the 'co-ordinated action' is just 'fill the census in' and add a strongly worded letter that will be ignored/binned & nothing gained.

It also does nothing for any court case/JR being challenged by FPFW.

It's a toothless & empty gesture, not worth the dramatic build up. It's admitting defeat & trans activists will be pissing themselves at this.

there are currently no official figures for those who identify their gender as different from the sex registered at birth, so this approach will produce better quality data for equality monitoring and means that public services can be planned and provided better.

and tell him that it certainly won't produce better quality data because it won't record who identifies their gender as different from their birth sex as they are being directed to record their sex as how they identify from documents which can be changed - sometimes just on request. The only document they should consult really should be their original birth certificate. Now if they gave their sex as recorded at birth and then their gender id - that would produce more accurate figures.

I am part-way through drafting an email to my MP - I don't want to meet with her as suggested in the template letter, I just want to get my point across. Reading your MP's reply has helped me.

What if we ticked off the male and female box? If sex is irrelevant, let the ONS choose what it is??

The action isn't just 'fill.in the census.

There are instructions what to write next to the question on a paper copy of the form, and then to post it with a letter (proforma to be added to the website) which objects to the way they are handling your data. Presumably the more people do this the more the message is heard.

Have you replied Janina?