Sex Matters mail shot of Helen Joyce book Trans

[HummingBeeBox]

Just seen that Sex Matters have sent a copy of Trans to every Westminster MP, every MSP in Holyrood, every MS in Cardiff.

I love this.

How many do we think will
a) read it?
b) be brave enough to say they agree?

Dear MP

I understand that every MP/MSP/AM has received a copy of Trans: When ideology meets reality by Helen Joyce, an editor at The Economist.

This has been funded by donations by ordinary women like me to Sex Matters, an organisation which recognises that, at certain times, the fact that women are biologically female matters, whether for our privacy, dignity or safety - and that our sex-based rights, protected though they may be under the Equality Act, are currently under threat from lobbying groups pushing to remove the Single Sex exemptions and replace them with the nebulous concept of gender identity.

I've read Trans and thought it was great. And I agree with Sex Matters' position. But putting myself in your shoes, I wonder if it would feel like a presumptuous (and possibly even manipulative?) imposition to ask you to read this. Reading a book is a significant time investment for a busy person.

However, I think it is too important a book to ignore/fob off on one of your researchers, so I would urge you to read it - first and last chapters if you are really pressed for time. Helen Joyce is also a fascinating speaker on this issue so I can highly recommend any of the long form interviews with her if you can more easily fit in a podcast at the moment.

At a time when misogyny is being widely debated for incredibly depressing reasons, you need to stand up unequivocally for the dignity, privacy, safety and biological reality of 51% of your constituency. My vote and the vote of 1000s of other women depends on this.

Yours etc

This is a campaign crowdfunded by ordinary women to inform politicians about the issues with uncritical promotion of gender identity ideology. As I said, this is a respected book by a serious journalist, not some batshit manifesto.

It at the very least demonstrates that this is an issue people care about.

@ClumpingBambooIsALie

Yeah maybe "manipulative" is the wrong word. Demanding, perhaps. Politicians can't be expected to devote the time it would take read a full-length book from every campaign group that wants to convince them of something. They have a lot of other stuff to do as well.

And if they continue threatening women's rights under the impression that they are 'being kind' and their frustrated electorate vote them out, won't they be wondering why no one in their constituency told them what was going on?

Labour and Brexit are a prime example. Labour refused to listen to their working class voters and were surprised by the massive swing to the Tories in 2019.

@ClumpingBambooIsALie

I mean, I've read Trans and thought it was great. And I agree with Sex Matters' position. But putting myself in the position of the recipient, I think it would feel like a presumptuous and possibly manipulative imposition. Reading a book is a significant time investment for a busy person.

On the other hand, this is an issue many people care a lot about. So perhaps it's a very thoughtful and helpful gesture to send a solid and lucid book to explain it.

There’s a lot more but maybe Sex Matters should start getting sponsors to send it to secondary school head teachers now.

I heard that wider dissemination of the book to other groups ie local authorities was being discussed. People could also nominate the books to go to anyone they wished.

Shed this issue is of utmost importance to us and intimately interlinked with a lot of other important stuff, but I think for a lot of people they see it as way down there on the list of Things I Should Prioritise Worrying About, somewhere below climate change, Brexit, Covid, racial justice, the NHS, etc. etc., and perhaps just slightly up from the finer details of regulations around road markings. People think it's just some nutty student politics leaking into the mainstream again — I don't think they care that much if MPs seem to be going "yes, yes, trans rights".

So yes, I welcome any and all efforts to push for awareness of the magnitude of the problems it brings up, I just think we need to prepare for an underwhelming reaction to the book being sent out.

I met my Tory MP after I’d sent him a copy. He said he didn’t know if he would read it as he had a lot of books to read. I hope he has a look but I won’t hold my breath

the rights of 50% of the electorate should really be an issue that politicians care about.

even if it's the female 50%.

So I’m guessing all those books on bookshelves in video interviews with MPs on the news are all there for show?

The sneaky bastards only do that so people will send them freebies

I am guessing that few will read the whole thing but some may use it as reference, MPs need to mug up quickly on issues, others will leave it hanging around and their staff may have have a gander.

@ClumpingBambooIsALie

Shed this issue is of utmost importance to us and intimately interlinked with a lot of other important stuff, but I think for a lot of people they see it as way down there on the list of Things I Should Prioritise Worrying About, somewhere below climate change, Brexit, Covid, racial justice, the NHS, etc. etc., and perhaps just slightly up from the finer details of regulations around road markings. People think it's just some nutty student politics leaking into the mainstream again — I don't think they care that much if MPs seem to be going "yes, yes, trans rights".

So yes, I welcome any and all efforts to push for awareness of the magnitude of the problems it brings up, I just think we need to prepare for an underwhelming reaction to the book being sent out.

Maybe, but apart from doing my own insulation and taking personal decisions about driving and flying and meat-eating there's not a lot I can do to prevent climate change. Brexit is done. Racial justice you can fight for and one of those ways is by contacting your MP and making it clear you want it prioritised.

I don't understand why you think that the loss of hard-won rights to single-sex spaces and provision and equality protection is so minor that it doesn't warrant a few hours of your MP's time. Particularly given that a few hours now, to prevent this madness progressing any further, may mean a lot fewer hours spent sorting it out in years to come.

Thanks for the letter ANewCreation

Shed I'm not saying I think it's minor. I'm saying that to the electorate as a whole, who haven't really looked into the issue that much, it probably doesn't on the face of it seem like a massive problem to "just" be "kind", or it looks like some irrelevant lefty infighting, etc. — and politicians know that. And also that politicians have a lot of people from a lot of campaign groups telling them that this or that or the other issue is The Most Important Thing Ever. Yeah, we can campaign, and advocate, and try to educate, but reading an entire novel-length book about just one of the many, many issues they get people shouting at them about is quite a big ask TBH.

I hope lots of them read it and take it in. I'm just trying to temper my expectations a bit when it comes to how much time and effort your average politician is going to be willing to put into understanding a GC perspective.

@ANewCreation excellent email.

TBH I probably wouldn't read an unsolicited book sent by an organisation with a clear agenda. I have been emailig my MP fro a while. Told him the book was coming, why it was coming and that the person who answered his emails hade been monitoring them to the point of ignoring my emails and that of another woman who was also trying to get him to discuss the topic.

I got a reply and a promise to read at least the first chapter.

I may follow up this week.

ANewCreation's idea of suggesting prioritised sections of reading from the book is great.

Well one of the things about this is that the organisation “Sex Matters” didn’t pay to send this to every MP, their constituents did.

Every copy was sponsored by someone who wanted MPs to read it.

And lest we forget, MPs are supposed to serve us, the public.

I work for an MP. Their copy arrived today- well done sex matters!

To be honest, MPs aren’t sent proper books that often. Little pamphlets - yes. Actual books less so.

And yes they’re more likely to read it if a constituent also emails about it.
And after the cervix rubbish (Labour conference) and the LGBalliance argument (Tory conference) it’s also very good timing.

@RealhousewifeofBarnardCastle

Well one of the things about this is that the organisation “Sex Matters” didn’t pay to send this to every MP, their constituents did.

Every copy was sponsored by someone who wanted MPs to read it.

And lest we forget, MPs are supposed to serve us, the public.

And I certainly put in an email why I wanted them to read it and why it was important to me, as a constituent.

So I’m guessing all those books on bookshelves in video interviews with MPs on the news are all there for show?

I expect they chose those though. I've got a long enough 'to read' list without people pointedly sending me things they insist I ought to read. I mean... it's a nice idea and I've read the book and it's great. I just think people tend to read books they want to read.

We can’t force anyone to read it but it’s a bloody good idea to send them out to MPs and creates an excellent and very timely/topical in the mainstream opportunity for lots of us to contact our MPs and remind them that women do have votes and these issues are crucial to many of us, including the women most vulnerable and most reliant on public services in society, who are particularly at risk from this misogynistic agenda.

I emailed my MP as well as sending a copy

@WitchButNotTheFunKind

There’s a lot more but maybe Sex Matters should start getting sponsors to send it to secondary school head teachers now.

I was just thinking that.

It is a brillant book; as such, I convinced one friend who works in education to buy a copy, and will shortly be lending my own to another.