Jonny Best's recent article:
'What’s gone wrong with Stonewall'
(extract)
"Modern trans politics — and Stonewall’s trans policies — are centred on the concept of ‘gender identity’. Gender identity is the belief that we all have an innate sense of our own gender — that being a man or a woman is somehow deeply felt and part of our irreducible core. Trans people, according to this doctrine, have a gender identity which does not match their sex — a male who claims to have a female gender identity is a woman, and vice versa.
But there is a problem with this understanding of gender and many people (including me) reject it. To understand why, it’s helpful to remember that when we talk about gender we’re simply talking about sex stereotypes. Conventional binary gender divides us unto men and women, based on our biological sex. The categories ‘man’ and ‘woman’ are each attached to a series of social expectations, with ‘man’ hierarchically atop ‘woman’. ‘Masculinity’ and ‘femininity’ are the names we give to each collection of stereotypical characteristics. Men are aggressive, women submissive. Men build, women nurture. Men dress one way, women another. Gender’s strangulating tentacles get everywhere, restricting lives and twisting relationships. Gender, as it exists today, is not a good thing.
‘Gender identity’ takes these sex stereotypes and turns them inwards. Rather than seeing gender as something external to us, influencing and shaping us against our will, a gender identity is, its proponents argue, within us. What this means in practice is this: I’m a man not because of my biological sex, but because I identify with the sex stereotypes associated with being a man. A woman is a woman not because of her sex but because she identifies with the sex stereotypes associated with ‘woman’. It’s not hard to see why so many people (and not only feminists) refute the concept of gender identity as sexist and regressive.
Of course, those who believe in the concept of gender identity have a right to their view and to pursue a politics which arises from it. The problem with Stonewall’s trans policies is that they do not respect the freedom to reject belief in gender identity. In fact, modern transgenderism — as practiced by Stonewall — demands we all understand ourselves in line with trans ideology and pursues legislative change predicated on the existence of gender identity.
The root of Stonewall’s failure over the last five years is its endorsement of gender identity and its attempt to coerce society into accepting it. In order to see clearly the line that Stonewall has crossed, compare its definitions of homophobia and transphobia:
Homophobia is:
The fear or dislike of someone, based on prejudice or negative attitudes, beliefs or views about lesbian, gay or bi people.
Transphobia is:
The fear or dislike of someone based on the fact they are trans, including the denial/refusal to accept their gender identity.
Stonewall has written and promoted a definition of ‘transphobia’ which categorises anybody who resists belief in an idea as transphobic. Feminists who wish to uphold their understanding of gender as an oppressive, hierarchical system of sex stereotyping are labelled transphobic. At a stroke, every second wave feminist is a bigot — as Germaine Greer and Jenni Murray have both discovered.
This is not a progressive or even a constructive politics." (continues)
medium.com/@JonnnyBest/whats-gone-wrong-with-stonewall-1be30cffba9f
see also Times:today:
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/stonewall-pioneer-criticises-its-transgender-extremism-pwc696ml5?shareToken=963b7a076613075adfee64ce81a63adb
(extract)
One of the founders of Stonewall has condemned its “extreme” position on transgender rights after its chief executive announced she was stepping down.
Simon Fanshawe, 62, one of the original 14 trustees in 1989 alongside Sir Ian McKellen, called on the organisation to listen to concerns about its campaign to amend the Gender Recognition Act.
Mr Fanshawe said: “It’s allowing this extreme notion of self-identification.”
Stonewall withdraws representatives from panels that include people who disagree with its stance on self-identification. “To say these issues aren’t debatable or that raising them is somehow transphobic appears to be the Stonewall position, rather than to build on the great tradition . . . of concentrating on the big principles of discrimination,” (continues)