@daimbars I've just done an online test and I am 1% more lib fem than rad fem! So can I answer! Does it count!
Are you saying the current Gender Recognition Act should be repealed?
No, but I think it should be clarified, to consider things like whether someone asking to be ‘a woman in law’ is actually a danger to women. Like a rapist in jail who may have ulterior motives for identifying.
Do you think a fully transitioned trans woman with a GRC to ‘prove’ she is a woman (eg Nadia from Big Brother) should use the men’s loos and be in a male prison / care home / hostel?
No, but then I don’t expect them to share with women automatically either.
This is tough because as far as I know there is not a way to distinguish who is ‘fully-transitioned’ and some trans women themselves would argue they are trans women and have always been women regardless of surgery, hormones or a GRC. I do remember Nadia. I liked her. I don’t mind sharing toilets with women who have a GRC. The big issue for me is prisons and other places like hospital wards rather than toilets. I’d like proper provisions for trans people in prisons and care homes etc. Some care homes still expect people to share bedrooms.
Do you think TRAs who say things on Twitter like ‘suck my ladydick’ and 'enjoy your erasure' are representative of transgender people as a whole?
No, I do not. But I also feel that the trans ‘community’ should be joining women in calling out this type of offensive language and behaviour.
Do you feel transgender people threaten your safety and well-being as a woman? If so what personal experiences (not what you have read on Mumsnet / Twitter / Reddit) have made you reach this conclusion?
I think that self id threatens all women and girls, and so all who are pushing for self id, do threaten women because it allows the gaslighting of women, girls (and all people) to persuade them to believe that a woman is whatever anyone says they are. Not all trans people are in favour of self id so my answer is neither yes nor no!
Self id erodes women’s boundaries about not wanting to change alongside male bodied people/sharing female only spaces with male-bodied people etc. Even the idea that self id might become a reality has already led to expectations about what women should have to accept in terms of female only spaces and who can be identified as female.
I have not been personally threatened by a trans person and I bear trans people no ill will. But I do believe in female only spaces and that biology matters. The issue for me is that self id opens the door for any male to identify as a woman and for all that means. I believe this will put trans women in danger too.
Do you think current exceptions in the Equality Act (eg it is legal to exclude trans women from competitive spots and certain job roles such as rape crisis counselling) are sufficient to protect women?
Well, if they were fully implemented maybe but they are not being fully implemented. Plus around the world them are multiple cases of males competing in sports against women and this could destroy women’s sports. Trans women should not be able to compete in sports to the detriment of natal women. It is not a human right to be able to compete in sports professionally or socially against anyone you want to.
If your male child repeatedly told you they were female from the age of three, wore dresses, played with girls etc and were very distressed at the thought of male puberty, how would you help them?
Interesting you said male child when currently the largest demographic seems to be female children (aka girls) identifying as boys.
Either way, for me, children are children and should have their childhoods free of potentially damaging hormones or massively damaging expectations.
They can wear what they like, play with whatever toys they like, have a unisex nick name and just live their lives as my child. As an adult they would, of course, make their own choices. I love my kids unconditionally, which means that I want them in my life and I want them happy, I want to support them but for me I would not be encouraging the belief they can change sex or should because of how they feel at 3.
I feel in the past parents went along with the idea their child was somehow trapped ‘in the wrong body’ because it seemed the kindest thing to do. And I can really see that but now there are so many gender non-conforming children, and society is so much more open to the idea that boys and girls can be free to be themselves. I really hope in the future it will be more normal and accepted for boys to love sparkles and unicorns and dresses and girls to love climbing trees and getting muddy and whatever else was once considered the preserve of boys.