'Sex and the Scottish Census' - any thoughts on this article?

[MacaroonMama]

My lovely DSIL are exchanging views on sex-based rights, and she sent me this online article, written by a non-binary Scottish person, about the census.

A key point the author makes is that the sex / gender distinction is actually false and has no precedent in law. The author discusses a few cases, talks about 'lived sex' etc - anyone here with a legal head to confirm, refute, discuss?

I am gender critical, and think sex and gender utterly different, but am not clever enough to articulate a response to this piece!

Thanks for any thoughts. I will put link in next post x

medium.com/@harrygiles/sex-and-the-scottish-census-8881ebe32d15

All of these accesses are already underway, already protected by the Equality Act

This is false. There is nothing in the EA which "protects" access of MTF trans people to female spaces per se. The right to access any space is generally assumed for any male (and for females to male oriented spaces), except when the EA single sex exemptions are used. The exemptions are used every time someone creates a female space or service. They are used all the time and that is "a proportionate means" of achieving a "legitimate aim" ie safety, privacy, dignity etc. They're not some rare big deal. They are everyday life.

And they apply to MTFs in exactly the same way they apply to other males. GRCs complicate the matter, and would probably strengthen a discrimination case. So it's murky. But the EA defines a woman as "a female of any age"

And as for

^ I am a nonbinary person in Scotland  someone who’s neither male nor female  and I have no legal status^. I don’t know how many of me there are. When I want to access healthcare, there’s no funding and no statistical basis to support it, there’s no legal status to back up my right to that healthcare

All I can do is 🙄❄️

Also the point about discrimination by perception is a non starter for most trans MTFs, as they are not perceived as women. No one is going to look at the average MTF trans person and think "oh that lady might get pregnant so I won't give her a job".

And the idea that this person thinks they are better at understanding equality law than feminist legal scholars. Narcissism much?

Basically they make a half arsed assertion of their own interpretation and then appeal to the authority of such worthy bodies as Engender, a completely captured "women's" organisation who shockingly back up everything they think.

You are not neither male nor female, you fucking idiot. It's not the law's fault that you are pretending not to know which of the two you are.

Looking at the author picture it's clear which sex they are.

It's interesting isn't it. For the first time ever there is going to be a trans / non-binary question in the census.

But no. That is not enough. Sex needs to be erased too.

I’ll risk a ‘disciplinary’. Surely that’s a bloke?

We've written quite a bit about plans for the 2021 census. Right now the census authorities in Scotland, England and Wales are planning to ask a binary sex question (i.e. are you male or female?) and there will be a brand new (voluntary) question on trans status.

HOWEVER the census authorities are planning guidance to accompany the sex question which directs respondents to answer the male/female question based on their self-identified gender.

Here's something we wrote a couple of weeks ago about this:

murrayblackburnmackenzie.org/2019/08/19/proposals-to-test-the-census-sex-question-guidance-miss-the-point/

The Equality Act 2010 defines sex as involving “a reference to a man or to a woman”, and that’s it: it doesn’t tell us what men and women are.

Equality Act 2010, chapter 15, part 16, interpretation, 212:

"man" means a male of any age
"woman" means a female of any age

Interpretation is the section of the law where all the terms are explained ie it tells us precisely what the law means when it mentions men and women. In other words, the Equality Act does indeed tell us what men and women are.

This is a part of the law. But Harry choses to misrepresent by

misrepresent this not by

When I want to access healthcare, there’s no funding and no statistical basis to support it

Utter bollocks. This person can walk into any GP or A&E and get the exact same free healthcare as any other person in the UK, no one is refusing them anything. And where it's relevant the real world will have no difficulty at all in establishing which biological sex they are and providing for them accordingly. That they choose to see themselves differently and want to call themselves special labels for their personal identity has no bearing at all on facts.

What's that line about drawing a nice warm bath of someone else's oppression and having a wank in it?

You treasures, I knew you'd get it!

Yes to all these points, and thank you. I was thinking along the lines of the single sex exemptions and how even those with a GRC do not get to access those spaces/services/jobs etc.

I will read further on the Scottish census link, thank you.

I find the non-binary identity so puzzling. I sort-of feel like if we (many of the MN feminists of whatever sub heading!) sat and chatted to a group of non-binary people, we would agree on all the rejecting of gender stereotypes, and would actually have lots in common - until the bit about bio sex comes in. And there we differ utterly. Because they seem to deny having a sex at all. Which I just do not get.

Anyway. Thanks all. I will share this thread with my DSIL.

”If I can’t be counted then I don’t count for anything. I am a nonbinary person in Scotland — someone who’s neither male nor female — and I have no legal status.”

Sorry you’re feeling so confused Harry. It’s because you have been sold a lie. I can help you with your census responses though:

Sex: Male (don’t worry, I didn’t have to check your genitalia).
Trans status: Other: explanation Non-binary.

See! Easy, wasn’t it Harry! They’ve given you your very own question, so they can gather both the important information about your sex, and also the largely irrelevant information you’re so desperate to share with them, that you hold the belief that you are neither male nor female.

Without detracting from anyone elses points, I'd like to make a small point as someone who works with statistics quite a lot here. Write-in boxes are an absolute nightmare to deal with. You get hundreds of slightly different answers and have to decide whether to group or not and how (and of course remembering to put all the possible misspellings into the list!)

In addition, they're an irresistible temptation for some people to start writing stuff in that sounds funny to them. (Look up how many Jedi there apparently are in the UK.) Put a free-text box for sex and watch how many people decide they're "alien" or "often, please" or whatever else they think is hilarious. And that does start to affect the results, particularly because the people who do this will probably be similar-ish people, so there'll be a group of broadly similar people about whom we have less reliable information.

This undermines the whole basis of the article OP linked to, as using a free text box will probably mean less accurate responses, by anyone's standard.

Kathleen Stock calls them the sex denialists, IIRC (can't find the article of hers I read where she coined the phrase).

That's exactly what they are.

People have said to me "you're exaggerating when you say there are people who don't believe in the concept of biological sex, no one thinks that."

Yes. They do.

Where do those people think babies come from Ereshkigal?

And this is what our children are being taught.

Where do those people think babies come from Ereshkigal?

I don't think they do think. They just fall back on intersex conditions as being a reason biological sex isn't a thing.