If you were going to be in the Question Time audience...

[ShiteheadRevisited]

What question would you ask the panel?

There's a chance I may be doing just that, and I am trying think of a succinct way to pose a question that surfaces and gets to the core of the women's rights vs gender woo debate in a way that helps to peak the (mostly) blissfully unaware public.

Having been to one, i wouldn't. It's rigged to include only the crowd pleaser questions, like a pantomime.

I have plenty, but a good one is the "board with 100% male people, 50% of whom have internal gender identities as women" - is that gender equality?

How, specifically, does someone "live as a woman"? What are the criteria?

At what point does a male person become a woman?

Also, the concept of sexes matching genders that underlies many definitions - how can a physical sex match a gender? What do we mean by gender if it's intrinsically linked to the sexed body?

What is your definition of woman?

I'd like to see Fiona Bruce field the Staniland question.

I'd pay good money to see that.

After this week I think 'what is a woman' is definitely the one to go for.

Simple, concise, yet Anneliese Dodds and Yvette Cooper have both been floored by it.

Surely they will just screen out your question in advance? I went a long time ago and all the questions were submitted in advance and then those who were invited to ask theirs told before the show started.

I haven't watched it for a while, do they openly invite audience questions these days?

I tried to ask a mildly controversial/unfashionable question once (years ago) but it didn’t get picked. They ask everyone to submit their suggested questions before the show then pick their favourite ones. “What is a woman?” would be a good one though!

I'd go with- 'if you support women's rights, please can you tell me what a woman is? '

As a variation on 'What is a woman?' there's also the Jenni Murray question: 'What is the point of women in parliament if they're too scared to say what a woman is?'

Questions and comments are accepted from the audience, and sometimes the question-asker is asked for their opinion after the panel have responded. But you cannot predict this.

Perhaps you could ask a question on prisons, or medical ethics (testing Covid jab in pregnant women, for example), or schools having to outsource required teaching to agencies without having the knowledge to vet their content, or something similar, and hope to then get in a relevant comment or opinion.

It needs to be topical ideally though, so related to an item in the previous weeks news etc.

Maybe the trick is to ask a seemingly innocuous question, but follow it up with a killer supplementary...

there's also the Jenni Murray question: 'What is the point of women in parliament if they're too scared to say what a woman is?'

I think this, or a question about the Cass report. They won't ask a generic one.

Severe doubts that a question on this would ever be aired on BBC1.

@CornflakeMum

It needs to be topical ideally though, so related to an item in the previous weeks news etc.

Maybe the trick is to ask a seemingly innocuous question, but follow it up with a killer supplementary...

Yes - this. If you ask a general or "old news" question it won't get picked - so if you don't yet know whether/when you will be on, you probably can't plan for it yet. I reckon you'll need to wait until the week that you're going to be on, and keep a good eye on the news that week to pick out things you would be keen to raise and then think of a good question about them.

If it was going to be very soon though, I would definitely consider one about the Cass report.

@SausagePourHomme

Having been to one, i wouldn't. It's rigged to include only the crowd pleaser questions, like a pantomime.

Absolutely this. If it’s opposing the view they want to present it won’t get picked.

Do you think coercing females to get undressed and shower in front of people of the opposite sex is rape culture? If not, why not?

When Mrs Thatcher was born not all women had the vote, it was still legal for a man to rape his wife into the 90s and women make up 50% of the population, do you think anyone too gutless to say what a woman is, is fit to be an MP?

How do you know you're a woman when you can't define what one is?

Thanks all. Just had a lovely chat with the researcher, told her the issues that matter to me and how they are relevant to current news stories (Cass Review, Scottish GRA reform proposals, Keir Starmer et al unable to define "woman" etc), and how I, like many millions of women are politically homeless because no party will commit to maintaining women & girls' sex-based rights.

I said my potential questions on this topic include "what is a woman?", "how can you legislate for something you can't define?", and "is it now time to remove all gender lobbyists eg Stonewall & Mermaids from our schools and NHS given the Cass Review findings? - with follow up question: And if this had happened 10 years ago, might senior politicians not have gotten themselves in such a pickle when asked what a woman is?"

No guarantee I'll be on, but if I am then I will try and get these issues given air time, despite the fact that yes, I know it's all panto!
The more people that start to think, understand and challenge gender ideology the better, I think.

Really hope they pick you because those are all brilliant questions.

I'd like to ask : As it's biologically impossible for human beings to change sex how can trans women be women ?

@WinterTrees

After this week I think 'what is a woman' is definitely the one to go for.

Simple, concise, yet Anneliese Dodds and Yvette Cooper have both been floored by it.

Have they tried asking the same people "What is a man"? Interesting to see if they answer in the same way . . .

I was going to post that very question, Stella, "what is a man?".

Also, at what point in the process does a man become so much a woman that he can claim women's rights, women's prizes, women's spaces, etc. How does being a woman make a rapist less of a rapist? Etc etc. So many.....

I went to a recording a few years ago (filmed an hour before it is on TV so raced home to watch!). Each audience member was given three pieces of paper and asked to write a question on each and then you saw staff sorting them into piles based on subjects. They then chose one person's question from each of the top six or so subjects and asked the writer if they would ask the question. It seemed a fair way to do it and it was all in front of audience members waiting to go in. I didn't get to ask a question but it was an interesting experience and I wore a bright red top so I could spot myself in the audience!

Will it be next Thursday? Really hope you are picked