'Let A Woman Speak' Observer Letter

[R0wantrees]

Observer 14/10/2018
"On 28 September, Leeds city council cancelled a room booking by Women’s Place UK, which was planning a meeting that night to discuss government proposals to change the Gender Recognition Act.

When the consultation on changing the GRA was launched by the minister for women and equalities, Penny Mordaunt, she said: “We particularly want to hear from women’s groups who have expressed concerns about the implications of our proposals.” However, the action by the council is only the latest in a series of attempts to halt discussion among women about GRA reform. Harassment of those organising, speaking at or even attending meetings is now routine; one woman had the details of her children’s school posted online with a view to intimidating her into desisting.

Earlier this year the Mercure hotel in Cardiff and Millwall football club were successfully pressured to cancel bookings made by women’s groups to hold panel discussions about proposed changes to the law. In Bristol a meeting was picketed by masked activists blocking attendees’ entrance in an attempt to prevent it going ahead.

In September 2017, a 60-year-old woman was violently assaulted when she was part of a group gathered at Hyde Park Corner waiting to be directed to the venue of a meeting to discuss the GRA.

Professional intimidation and attempted ostracising of, in particular, female academics is also rife. In September this year the Sunday Times revealed an orchestrated campaign, coordinated by a lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London, to report academics who had questioned some aspects of transgender ideology to their institutions for “hate crime”.

On International Women’s Day, a trade unionist was hounded off a picket line by activists because she had attended a meeting. Girlguiding has removed two guide leaders from their posts for questioning policies that anticipate changes to the GRA.

We believe the right to discuss proposed changes to the law is fundamental in a democratic society. Public authorities, academic institutions, unions and NGOs should be facilitating discussions and protecting the rights of people to take part in them without harassment or intimidation. We find it troubling that institutions have not condemned these actions and in some cases have expressed support for them.

Marina Strinkovsky, feminist organiser; Beatrix Campbell; Graham Linehan, writer; James Dreyfus; Pragna Patel, Southall Black Sisters; Abigail Rowland, retired head of faculty (English); Professor Adam Swift, UCL; Alice Bondi, psychotherapist; Dr Amanda Maclean; Amina Lone, secularist and women’s campaigner; Anoma Jacobs, N Surrey Green party; Councillor Amy Brooks; Ann Day, musician; Ann McTaggart; Ann Sinnott, former Labour councillor and author; Professor Ann Stewart, University of Warwick; Anna Bluman; Annabella Ashby; Anne Morch, social worker; Annie Gwillym Walker; Annie Thomas; Andy Healey, play worker; Angela Stewart-Park; Anya Palmer, barrister; Ashlee Kelly (Rose of Dawn), social commentator; Betsy Stanko, OBE, emeritus professor; Bronwen Davies, Labour party member; Caroline Spry, TV producer; Dr Catherine Butler, Bath Spa University; Catherine Muller, business adviser; Cathy Devine, former senior lecturer, University of Cumbria; Celia Wangler; Ceri Tegwyn; Ceri Williams; Charlotte Ayres, student; Chetan Bhatt, LSE; Chris Holt; Claire Graham, intersex advocate; Clare B Dimyon MBE (L-GBT), educator and broadcaster; Clare Davies, PhD student; Clare Davies, PhD student; Dale Rapley; Darren Johnson; Dawn Furness, opera singer and film-maker; Debbie Hayton, teacher and transgender activist; Professor Deborah Cameron; Dr Deborah Dean, University of Warwick; Dr Diane Brewster; Diane Jones , teacher, Labour party member;

Donna Stevenson, school librarian; Elizabeth Mansfield, North Surrey Green party; Emma Aynsley; Emma Flynn; Eva Poen, University of Exeter; Dr Fiona English, academic author, former branch chair (Labour) Tottenham Green; Fiona Montgomery; Fionne Orlander, transperson; Frances Barber, actor; Frankie Rickford; Freda Davis, poet, artist, feminist;

Gemma Aitchinson, Yes Matters; Georgia Testa, University of Leeds; Harriet Wistrich, lawyer; Hazel Pegg; Hazel Turner-Lyons; Dr Heather Brunskell-Evans; Helen Gibson, former Labour councillor; Helen Jackson; Helen Mary Jones AM, National Assembly for Wales; Dr Helen Mott; Helen Raynor; Helen Saxby, writer and campaigner; Helen Steel; Helen Watts, former leader, Girlguiding UK; Helena Coates; Hilary Adams; Holly Sutherland; Ivy Cameron; Jack Appleby, web developer; Jacquie Hughes; Dr James Harrison, University of Warwick; Jane Galloway, autism parent advocate; Dr Jane Clare Jones, writer and philosopher; Jalna Hamner; Janet Veitch OBE; Jayne Egerton, radio producer; Jean Bartrum; Jeni Harvey, writer; Jenny Randles, author and broadcaster; Jessica Goldfinch

Jill Mills, Green party member, retired nurse; Jill Nichols, film-maker; Joan Smith, journalist and human rights activist; Joan Scanlon; Jonathan Best, former director, Queer Up North international festival; Josephine Bartosch, Critical Sisters; Judith Green, co-founder, Women’s Place UK; Judith Jones; Judy Maciejowska; Julian Norman, barrister; Julia Pascal, playwright, director; Dr Julian Vigo, writer and anthropologist; Julie Armstrong, Gateshead CLP; Julie Bindel; Justine Potter, producer; Karen Ingala Smith, CEO, nia; Katheen Stock, University of Sussex; Kay Green; Kim Thomas; Councillor Kindy Sandhu; Kiri Tunks, co-founder, Women’s Place UK; Kristina Harrison, trans campaigner; Kym Barlow; Laura McGrath

Leonora Christina; Lin Harwood, lecturer; Linda Oubridge; Lisa-Marie Taylor, CEO, FiLiA; Professor Liz Kelly; Lolly Viv Willowes; Lorraine Roberts; Lorenzo Obi Abadinas, Barnet Green party; Louise Evan Wong; Councillor Louise Paine; Louise Somerville, Women’s Voices Matter; Lucy Masoud, firefighter and FBU London regional official; Lynn Alderson, Totnes CLP; Councillor Lynne Caffrey, Gateshead; Maggie Saxon, arts manager; Maire Smith; Marina Strinkovsky, feminist organiser; Marion Gow; Councillor Mary McGarry; Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson, director, Women’s Budget Group; Marta Garcia de la Vega; Maureen O’Hara, Coventry University; Michael Biggs, University of Oxford; Professor Michele Moore, Patient Safety Academy, Oxford University; Mike Shon, ex-mayor of Stafford; Miranda Yardley, transsexual rights activist; Dr Miroslav Imbrisevic, philosopher; Nick Rogers; Dr Nicola Williams, Fair Play 4 Women; Pam Isherwood, photographer, former lecturer; Dr Patrick Turner, Bath Spa University; Paula Dauncey; Peter J Hughes, N Surrey Green party; Phil Rose; Phillipa Harvey; Pilgrim Tucker, academic researcher and community campaigner; Professor Rosemary Auchmuty, School of Law, University of Reading; Professor Selina Todd, University of Oxford; Professor Victoria Rimell; Rahila Gupta, Southall Black Sisters; Raquel Rosario Sánchez, feminist writer and campaigner; Rebecca Gill, consultant; Rebecca Lush, environmental campaigner; Richard Byng, University of Plymouth; Rosa Freedman, law professor, University of Reading; Rosey Bennett, councillor; Rupert Jackson; Ruth Conlock, social worker; Ruth Serwotka, co-founder, Women’s Place UK; SJ Atherton, writer; Samira Abdi, accountant; Sarah Jay, consultant; Sarah Tanburn, writer; Shahida Chudhry; Sheila Jeffreys, University of Melbourne; Sian Sullivan; Sioned-Mair Richards; Solange Hughes, N Surrey Green party; Dr Sophie Allen, Keele University; Stephanie Davies-Arai, Transgender Trend; Steve Trafford, writer, N Surrey Green party; Sue Parrish, Sphinx Theatre; Susan Matthews, Roehampton University; Tania Glynn; Tom Farr, human rights researcher; Tony Green, freelance writer and tutor; Tracey Smith; Veronica Quilligan, actor; Wendy Sarah Davis, Rooms of our Own; Wendy Savage, MBBch FRCO; Wendy Wheeler, professor emeritus, science and culture studies

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/14/observer-letters-theresa-may-siren-words-fool-no-one

I'm sure many here would wish to add their names to this letter

I think you'd have to have lived under a rock for the last few months, if you're not aware of the issues.

Most people I know are completely unaware of the issues, or just think I have a strange bee in the bonnet about it.

Maybe I know a lot of Guardian readers.

All those signatories.
That's amazing.

Barnet Green Party???

Lucydogz they have written to the Observer to challenge the paper's silence. I'm glad it's been printed but it seems the Obs has waited until the tide started to turn to notice this issue which is rather disappointing.

Amazing to see so many people signed it. Thank you to everyone who did.

I think it was a wise move sending it to the Observer simply because this issue is already in the Times. The more people who understand the strength of feeling among gc feminists, the better

Most people I’ve talked to IRL think trans is just another sexuality and we should all “live and let live”. They think the change in the law is just to give trans people the same rights as the rest of us. They have no idea of the implications of Self ID. It’s frightening to be honest.

I now find that a quick explanation of why Karen White was allowed into a women's prison is a useful shortcut to incredulity and Peak!

Especially if accompanied by a picture and a list of David's crimes.

It's a total triumph to get something like this in The Guardian/Observer. Well done those who did it. And thank you.

Excellent letter and a great move to get this into the observer.

Awesome letter

lucydogz I think it’s really good it’s gone to the Guardian. One of the reasons my older sister gave me for not taking seriously what I was saying about these issues, was the fact that she hadn’t heard about it in The Guardian or the BBC.

I have a thread about Karen White at the moment - it is mind blowing

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/a3393395-AIBU-to-think-that-this-is-gaslighting-of-victims?msgid=81793585#81793585

Re Grayson Perry, I know some one who has curated for him and he is definitively a man with a fetish. The head line of the article in the guardian was basically him saying he was a man with a fetish and then they were deleting comments that said "Good to see a man who is being open about his fetish". I already had a headache from thinking about Karen White and went to bed to stare at the ceiling for 4 hours after that!

WTF is going on in the world? This is properly, insanely mad.

I now expect an avalanche of Guardian articles on the subject, questioning Self ID etc

Interesting, interesting. Here's the wonderful Caroline Criado Perez writing about Helena Kennedy (on the Guardian website today, not sure where or when in print version):

Sticking with prisons, the one oddly flabby note in the book comes in a few pages where Kennedy discusses trans prisoners......when it comes to the nuances and complexities of housing trans women in female prisons, her usually fiercely critical eye is strangely absent. Our prison system, she writes, “too often locks up transgender prisoners according to their genitals rather than their chosen gender identity, and often with tragic consequences”, as if these choices are clear-cut. It is perhaps not fair to pull Kennedy up by citing the case of multiple rapist and paedophile Karen White who was housed in a female prison and subsequently sexually assaulted two female inmates, since it was made public after Eve Was Shamed went to print, but this situation was surely foreseeable. In 2014, convicted rapist Jessica Hambrook was jailed for sexually assaulting two women in Canadian refuges, having gained access by claiming to be a trans woman. Both Hambrook and White were housed according to their gender identity rather than their genitals – can Kennedy really claim that this was inarguably the right choice and that there are no competing rights at stake here?

amp.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/14/eve-was-shamed-how-british-justice-failing-women-review-helena-kennedy?

...and there they go. Chasing the zeitgeist

Caroline Criado Perez writing about Helena Kennedy

Completely agree with her point about the flabbiness of Kennedy on that point and that it was forseeable. And it's not as if Kennedy has made up for it in her more recent interviews.

shikah Well done for posting in AIBU a year back that would have been terrifying and most ppl would moan about your bigotry but now.... people really are waking up.

When I'm on the same side as Betsy Stanko I know for sure that side is right. Thank you to every single person that signed.

I am absolutely amazed to see two articles in the G/O for the first time allowing the gender critical position to be voiced.
Unfortunately they are buried deep with the "book review" and "open letter" areas so unlikely to be seen but this really is a sign of something changing.

They need to wake up and stick something on the front pages.

Those of us that signed it were well aware of the Guardian's notable silence on the issue. I'm pretty sure the organisers of the letter thought that getting it to a wider audience was important 😎

Please don't jump to any conclusions about who signed and didn't sign. I physically signed it because I was in a room at a meeting, when it was circulated (with some of the proper 'notables' 😉). People are doing what they can, where they can, seizing opportunities when they present themselves, using personal connections if possible. This is too important to try second guessing people, getting information out before the end of the consultation period has been a priority.

I think the tide is turning, they can't slip this reform in under the radar now.

So heartened to see Betsy Stanko as one of the signatories. She’s been an advisor for the Met police for years on VAW and really knows what she’s talking about. I went to a talk of hers once and remember her saying rape cases should be tried by specially trained judges.

My jaw dropped as I saw all those signatures.

I was heartened to see that the letter concentrated on calling out the institutions and individuals who ought to have been facilitating discussion, and pointing out the extraordinary acts of confrontation and sabotage that ought to have been reported on.

The timing was perfect.

It's amazing.

The Guardian publishes two letters in response to The Letter:

One from pro-trans academics and one from a gender critical academic who preferred not to be named:

www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/23/perspectives-on-the-trans-debate?CMP=twt_gu

one from a gender critical academic who preferred not to be named:

Preferred not to be named? Must be because the TRAs are so awfully marginalized.