Let's call Any Answers on R4 to debate GRA Tomorrow

[DJLippy]

R4's Any Questions talked about transwomen in women's spaces. Tomorrow is Any Questions. They usually respond to caller demand. Let's bombard them with calls. I am not the most informed but I am sure some of you have a lot to say. It starts at 2.30pm tomorrow

03700 100 444
To have your say on the issues discussed on Any Questions? Call: 03700 100 444 (Calls will cost no more than calls to 01 and 02 geographic landlines.

You can also send an email

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qmmy/contact

If anything it will show the producers how important this issue is.

Shaking it was great you asked the question and annoying that they kind of 'wrapped up' while you were still speaking at the end. Well done for talking about 'no male genitals' - it sounded to me like the audience took a moment to actually catch up with what that meant - the 'Stepford MP' position that Diane Abbott came out with gaslit the audience into thinking males are women so they had to do a 180 to make sense of what you said.

I was thinking about the DBS and risk recently. The amount of females who have been convicted of perpetrating sexual offences against children through their workplace is vanishingly small. In yet, all across the country, every female who wishes to volunteer in the vicinity of children has to go through the bureaucratic process of getting a DBS check. It often looks like taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut in yet we accept these checks because a blanket law is needed that takes account of that vanishingly small risk.

We have evidence already of males presenting as women (whether they are true trans or not matters not) to enter women's spaces to commit offences against females in yet we're not allowed to have blanket laws to mitigate against that risk because that offends the good guys.

More tumbleweed than clapping.

I suspect that most in the audience hadn't even thought about the issues before and were probably not at all well informed. So they probably assumed the issue is about traditional transsexuals who women have not had issue with as far as I can see, and not self id and transgender and girl guides and labour women's officers etc.

Nicola and Reuctant - You were brilliant! So proud - You really got the points home even though our side was getting so little time.
They read out my email .
Really surprised as I didn't think it had gone through.

Shaking, you were brilliant. You sounded poised and sensible. Your remarks about not wanting male genitals in women's safe spaces completely changed the perspective for the listener, from aw the poor discriminated against trans people to...Oh really? Well done and thank you.

So they probably assumed the issue is about traditional transsexuals who women have not had issue with as far as I can see, and not self id and transgender and girl guides and labour women's officers etc.

The bottom line is that most people think the vast majority of transpeople do fully transition and that those who haven't simply haven't reached that part of the journey yet.

It doesn't occur to people that the majority of TW intend to retain their male genitalia. Why would it? After all, the whole thing is predicated on the fact that these born men have rejected their maleness/masculinity in its entirity. In which case why would they want to keep the most male thing about them?

It just doesn't make sense to most people and, more than that, sounds like TERF propaganda.

I know that from a few of the conversations I have had.

What the TRAs have most on their side is the absurdity of the whole thing and, much like the mass googling of "what is the EU?" on 24th June 2016, most people won't seek to educate themselves until after this has gone through and they experience it first hand. At which point they will be asking why no one told them about this and how could it have been allowed to happen...

Shaking, may I ask are you blessed with a wonderful name or did you use a pseudonym? Even DH noticed it!

I am indeed blessed (through marriage).

You were all brilliant! Thank you for having the ovaries to speak.

I do think there's bias but I think chipping away is the only way to get our voices heard. Mermaids are definitely getting rattled and cross.

My very small ManFriday activity yesterday has attracted huge amounts of hate and bile. Apparently we're pseudo feminists :)

ShakingAfterAllThis you were terrific and there was definitely applause.

As others have said, I suspect most people have no idea about any of this.

In the phone in afterwards, it was very apparent that the pro-self ID were relating emotional personal stories while the women calling in were giving the facts.

ShakingAfterAllThis, you were very brave to ask that question in person. Thank you - you asking your question opened up an opportunity for others to speak too (terrifying as that was) - one things leads to another to another. One step at a time, that's how we'll turn this round.

And I'm normally pretty about any answers. I had to listen to 10 minutes of people fulminating about blue passports while I was on hold!

Bloody brilliant all those of you that asked questions, wrote in, called in. I think it's a huge step forward to get it on AQ and a welcome balance to the tv version with Paris Lees this week. Well done.

I waited but they didn't call back, despite having left a voicemail message to which I responded - possibly because I made a point about the iniquity of transitioning children.
And my ManFriday stunt in the changing rooms at M&S attracted precisely no attention. However I bought a nice diffuser in TK Maxx afterwards no not a wasted trip into town after all!

I was happy that a GC voice ended the radio segment.

Excellent work, Reluctant & Shaking.

I wondered if "Helen Don't call my child a rapist" (like anyone did that) was Mimmymum (of Mermaids fame) on twitter - she has a transboy doesn't she.

It is amazing to get some gender critical voices out there. Although there are 2 things that are really annoying:

1. People seem to wilfully misunderstand that we're not saying transchildren or even anyone trans is automatically a rapist - we're saying that this legislation could easily be abused by rapists/pervs/voyeurs.

1. When we talk of the silencing of women, or even the violence against women, this is denied. "Well you're talking about it now" seems to be the stock answer. With no reference to the women who have been thrown out of the Labour Party, banned from Twitter, had meetings cancelled, been violently attacked - and most worryingly, lost their jobs/funding. That is never acknowledged.

Thank you for answering my question, and for asking your question! Great name.

really great to hear the issues starting to be raised.

If women aren't being silenced then how come JK Rowling had to fall back on "as a menopausal woman, I have no clue what I'm doing" to avoid the shredding of her reputation by mobs on social media?

What, JKR capitulated?!

Just asked my very confused husband about what other things men do in public toilets. He insists it's an in and out operation with as little fuss or interaction as possible.

He could only name weeing, pooing and changing menstrual products as things which happen in female toilets. He only though about the menstrual products I think because I'm on my period right now and he's seen the evidence.

This might sour your evening hipsterfun:

www.indy100.com/article/jk-rowling-tweet-transphobic-men-dresses-harry-potter-8268111

writer and comedian Shon Faye

Comedian?! Can’t imagine Shon smiling, never mind doing comedy.

So had she unliked the tweet now?