Any Questions: What is a woman (spoiler - none of them would say)

[FannyCann]

A heads up for anyone who would like the opportunity to reply to the question "What is a woman".
The question was posed last night on Any Questions.

Any answers is at 2pm.


twitter.com/lesbianlabour/status/1388404168390545413?s=21

[Nonmaquillee]

Thanks for this 😊
I shall listen later and no doubt cry tears of frustration and anger.

[howonearthdidwegethere]

For Women Scotland have posted a transcript of the exchange:

forwomen.scot/01/05/2021/election-hustings/#more-4377

[Bluesername]

Let's also have 'What is a man?' while we're at it

[vivariumvivariumsvivaria]

Ooooh, that is a great question.

[Ereshkigalangcleg]

Yes it would be fascinating to see them answer that.

[FannyCann]

I am tired of politicians answering the question "What is a woman?" by centring transwomen with variations of "transwomen are the most oppressed people ever".

If the question had instead been "What is a transwoman?", I think there would have been zero chance of the SNP, Labour, LibDem and Green politicians centring biologically female women.

That is actually an excellent idea. It would be very interesting to see them try to answer that.

[Ereshkigalangcleg]

Yes I agree nauticant. I think it is worth a complaint. Also that they let them spout fact free nonsense about males in women's prisons without pulling them up.

[nauticant]

If anyone is minded to complain, in my view the complaint most likely to effectively engage with BBC is that one of the panel, Lorna Slater, slandered a member of the public who had called in, apparently in good faith, declaring him to be transphobic, with there not even being any basis for her to reach such a prejudicial judgement.

What was especially interesting was that in normal circumstances the host, Chris Mason, would come down hard on this and say that it was unjustified and in no way reflected the views of the BBC but in this particular circumstance he was so mild in his response it would suggest he felt his hands were tied in some way.

[ChristinaXYZ]

It is getting really scary now.

[vesuvia]

The panellists were asked the question "What is a woman?" but judging by the answers of the panellists I soon began to wonder if I had misheard the question, because it was all about transwomen are this... transwomen are that...

The responses of Lorna Slater (Scottish Greens) centred transwomen and dismissed any concerns of anyone who does not agree with her "transwomen-are-women" opinion. She gave me the impression that second in her hierarchy of priorities are men who clean women's toilets - how bad it is that they could (allegedly) lose their jobs if gender-critical people succeed in preserving any single sex spaces for female people. Slater gave me the impression that, for her, female women come a distant third in her priorities.

The response of Ivan McKee (SNP) was along the lines of: people identify as trans, it's complicated and transgender people have a very tough time. He didn't even bother to link being transgender to being a woman. He mentioned people and trans people but he did not mention the word woman. He just gave a list of buzzword comments about transgender people. In his world, defining what a woman is seems to be more difficult than his job as a Scottish Government Minister.

I think the only panellist who came close to answering the question was Jackie Baillie (Scottish Labour) who said "There are women who will identify as being a woman based on their sex and there will be trans people who may be born as a different gender who will identify as women". Unfortunately, she went for quantity of words instead of clarity of thought; I think her answer is just a longwinded version of "transwomen-are-women". She centres feelings not facts. Also, what is the meaning of "identify as a woman"?

Christine Jardine (LibDem) believes the debate about "same gender" toilets is "hilarious" because she claims that we all have "same gender" toilets at home. (The toilet in my home is "mixed sex" or even "mixed gender", not "same gender"). She also seemed very proud of herself for pointing out that self-identification of gender is wonderful because it was the three women on the panel who were most comfortable with throwing women's rights under the bus allowing people who are not biologically female the right to access female spaces, implying that female believers of the "transwomen-are-women" mantra are the best protectors of the rights of female people. I think "the best betrayers of women's rights" is more accurate.

Murdo Fraser (Conservative) opposes self-identification of gender but I think even he did not actually define "what is a woman" although his comments do seem to suggest that, for him, self-identified transwomen are not women.

I am tired of politicians answering the question "What is a woman?" by centring transwomen with variations of "transwomen are the most oppressed people ever".

If the question had instead been "What is a transwoman?", I think there would have been zero chance of the SNP, Labour, LibDem and Green politicians centring biologically female women.

[Ereshkigalangcleg]

I’ve just had the local election canvassers (Labour) round at my door and I’ve been ranting for about half an hour.

well done!

[toffeebutterpopcorn]

I never actually share a bathroom/toilet. Nope - it’s single occupancy. My two males use it (I assume they are males, I haven’t actually asked) but I am gender atheist, so how does that work?

[WhatWouldPhyllisCraneDo]

Other gotchas were that everyone has a gender neutral toilet at home

I can't believe anyone thinks this is actually a valid gotcha :( (well actually I can and that's what's so awful)

I share my bathroom at home with 2 males. Technically still boys, but in man sized bodies. However as I gave birth to, and raised them, I am not remotely worried about how they might behave towards me in the bathroom. The same can't be said of the random strangers I might meet in a public mixed 'gender' toilet.

Disclaimer: this by no way means I think all men/tw/men pretending to be tw are rapists. But I am painfully aware that some are.

[verycrossnamechange]

"They" meaning the person, not the 4 policemen. Arrrgghh!

[verycrossnamechange]

My colleague is seriously ill in hospital.
A male person who identifies as a woman has been admitted into the bed next to her. This person is accompanied by 4 policemen as they have smashed up the ambulance that brought them to the hospital.

I am so infuriated by all this nonsense.

[Thecatonthemat]

Complaints time. I am so angry about this rubbish presented as fact. I will also ask how many phone calls and emails they resisted talking about.

[WeeBisom]

I also thought the most baffling thing was one of the women said that there is 'no clash between women's rights and trans rights', but when Murdo pointed out that male bodied people are in women's prisons she interjected to say that 'that's irrelevant, that has nothing to do with the gender recognition act.' I just find the bad faith discussion so depressing. I honestly would have 100% more respect for trans rights activism if the supporters came out and said 'yes, there is a clash of rights. As a result of our policy, male bodied people will be allowed in female only spaces. But here is why we think that is justifiable.' At the moment I"m suspicious that they can't actually justify this position, because they are so eager to pre-emptively sweep away any concerns that there's a rights clash at all. If they truly believed in their position they would surely be able to confidently declare why gender identity ought to trump sex in public policy.

[Abitofalark]

The standard of our MPs isn't impressive. I thought it was Jackie Baillie who pointed out it was three women who were on the trans activist side and men who were on the other. She appears to think this reflects well on the women. It doesn't. And toilets in the home argument - fatuous.

Christine Jardine was obnoxious and the know-it-all zealot, relentlessly trying to stop the man from speaking. Kudos to him for keeping his cool and being to the point. Very poor and superficial level of discussion from the women, taking up positions and denying or not addressing the complications and consequences of the current law.

[DentonsFringeArnottsWaistcoat]

@WeeBisom

At the end when Christine interjected "isn't 'it ironic that the three women support self ID, and the two men don't" I just blurted out "what's a woman, Christine? How do you know the two men are men?"

I was sooo wishing Murdo might have got in quick with that comment and asked her how come she knew he wasn’t a woman. But he’s probably not as petty as me.

[WeeBisom]

At the end when Christine interjected "isn't 'it ironic that the three women support self ID, and the two men don't" I just blurted out "what's a woman, Christine? How do you know the two men are men?"

[vivariumvivariumsvivaria]

Wow.

It really is a subject that no one is prepared to discuss.

[LostToucan]

Nope. Nothing.

[dapsnotplimsolls]

14.33 and still not mentioned.

[Taswama]

Listening to Any Answers too, but I fear Boris's curtains are deemed more important...

[Bluesername]

Listening to Any Answers now...