Fairplay for women take ONS to judicial review for redefining sex in census

[fatblackcatspaw]

fairplayforwomen.com/

I’ve just got off the fence and donated. I don’t want to make life more difficult for trans people and I’m glad that gender reassignment is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act.

But I think it’s unacceptable to erase sex as a protected characteristic and replace it with gender or gender identity. And I think that’s gradually happening by the back door.

Thank you Cattenberg. That’s my position too.

Fudging the data is a regressive step for everyone, however they identify.

The hard-of-thinking Gemma Stone has a rant about the census here: medium.com/@notCursedE/seriously-censuses-shouldnt-suck-so-much-f1c3cdc49528

TL,DR: Transphobes are always wrong so their attempts to correct the census to count the number of people who are trans accurately are also wrong, because feelz is better than accurate data.

@Xanthangum

The hard-of-thinking Gemma Stone has a rant about the census here: medium.com/**@notCursedE**/seriously-censuses-shouldnt-suck-so-much-f1c3cdc49528

TL,DR: Transphobes are always wrong so their attempts to correct the census to count the number of people who are trans accurately are also wrong, because feelz is better than accurate data.

I enjoyed this bit:

This system of categorisation might be the way the UK legally categorises people, but it isn’t the way these people categorise themselves. So why should they be foced to tick boxes that they don’t believe accurately describe who they are on the census, a form for trying to accurately find out who you are?

That there, in a nutshell, summing up the issue. Is it accurate data that can be legally verified we need, or not?

Is the census for affirming people’s identities, or for discovering how people for into defined and understood categories for accurate data purposes?

"This system of categorisation might be the way the UK legally categorises people, but it isn’t the way these people categorise themselves. So why should they be foced to tick boxes that they don’t believe accurately describe who they are on the census, a form for trying to accurately find out who you are?"

Yeah, I mean I identify as 6 foot 3, of Chinese origin and a premiership footballer. I'm not any of those things, but if you want to find out who I really am, you need to know that that is going on my head.

Don't you?

Donated. Now 91% nearly there

@Cattenberg

I’ve just got off the fence and donated. I don’t want to make life more difficult for trans people and I’m glad that gender reassignment is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act.

But I think it’s unacceptable to erase sex as a protected characteristic and replace it with gender or gender identity. And I think that’s gradually happening by the back door.

I think that’s how most of us feel. Until a year ago I was of the attitude that people should be able to live how they wish. But I’m now seeing the damage that attitude is causing. I’m also passionate about women’s sport. I also went for a smear last week and it made me think how I would feel about a trans women undertaking my smear. It was hard enough with a female nurse and having to discuss that I’m menopausal and some extra gel would be useful.

that they don’t believe accurately describe who they are

Well there's the thing. If you have two legs, I can describe you as having two legs.
If you're 35 years old, I can describe you as being 35 years old.
And if you're of the biological category that produces small gametes, I can describe you as male.
Without your feelings entering into consideration.

If you believe any of those observable facts "don't accurately describe who you are" when they can be demonstrated materially, you're simply... wrong.
Your perceptions and beliefs are both disprovable and irrelevant. You're simply howling at the moon, expecting the world to accept your desire to redefine words like "two" "legs" and "male" so your rejection of observable fact can be considered credible.
It's not.

that they don’t believe accurately describe who they are

They don't want to be described accurately. That's the point. All this talk of statistical likelihoods involving trans people are completely empty words, when those same people don't want any statistics about them to be gathered. Even down to how many there are.

The point is that it's unacceptable to use the national census as a validation tool. It's a tool to allocate resources and identify trends.

Even more to the point, is that the ONS and the Census 2021 appear to be completely on board with using their process as a means of validation. Quite happy to acknowledge that their data has lost integrity.

Fools talking themselves out of a job.

Chucked in another spadeful.

Less than £5,500 to go

Just dropped some more carrots in.

the ONS and the Census 2021 appear to be completely on board with using their process as a means of validation. Quite happy to acknowledge that their data has lost integrity

Crazy. It really is crazy.

There’s this tool - the census - which we legally mandate people to tell the truth according to the questions asked of them, punishable by a big fine. And the ONS are happy to write in guidance that it’s fine to not tell the truth about a fact that’s pretty fundamental.

I’ve got no problem at all with the gender identity question being added. I just cannot understand why ticking a box to say that you were born male or female could possibly be an issue on an anonymised form.

I understand all the arguments around privacy and how it’s important generally not to

Tbh, I made the mistake of reading the GirlGuiding page on trans issues today and it pissed me off all over again, so I’m cranky today.

I’m mostly live and let live but there are some issues that really are worth pushing back on.

fairplayforwomen.com/why-are-women-fighting-back-against-the-census/

Lots of people agree with us.
The issue of the Census guidance has been raised in the House of Lords.

So far we’ve raised £65,000 in 10 days to fund this legal challenge.

That’s over 2400 ordinary people digging their hands in their pockets to help.

This issue clearly matters to people. It matters to women a lot.

I dug again. We're going to do this.

Has the crowdfunder gone more mainstream? There seem to be more men contributing now, going on the comments. At the start the men were approx 1/10 comments. It is more like 3+ now.

It is a pity they have that guidance because the quesitons themselves are not too bad - your gender early on and then right at the end a fair enough question about "What is your sex|? Female or male" and then telling people a gender identity question comes later. That is fine. however sex must be sex as defined by fact and science. xx chromosomes etc. for female.

I don't know about more mainstream, I have noticed more people donating out in the open, which could mean they are also spreading it around on social media, and that's often the best kind of marketing...

(Out in the open, by which I mean using their own name rather than being anonymous. Not standing out in the garden, although they could be doing that too)

@Xanthangum

I don't know about more mainstream, I have noticed more people donating out in the open, which could mean they are also spreading it around on social media, and that's often the best kind of marketing...

I hovered over the checkbox but bottled it. Maybe I will be brave enough next time...

Are we nearly there yet?

95% of all carrots now collected.

1,294 carrots to go. This is amazing.

98 %. Someone just put 2 grand in

@Xanthangum

98 %. Someone just put 2 grand in

WOW.