Jess Philips on VAWG and single sex spaces.

[ArabellaScott]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/02/24/jess-phillips-lindsay-hoyle-jo-cox-murder-gaza-vote/

Interviewed in the Telegraph, including on VAWG, and trans issues. Archived in the usual places.

'Would she still like to be prime minister? “I’d still give it a crack, sure!” she says, firmly. “I used to want to be the home secretary. But I’ve learnt I don’t have that special skill of plotting, organising for your own progression that you need to get on. Women are less interested in that than men. My only ambition in politics is to halve the levels of violence experienced by women and girls in a decade. Despite two women dying every week there is still <a class="break-all" href="https://archive.is/o/X8IhI/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/09/jess-philips-womens-lives-risk-failure-reform-child-payouts/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">no strategy or target around femicide. We live in a patriarchy still. It is 2024 but all our institutions are based on a 1950s, or 1850s or even 1750s ideal that doesn’t work for women.”

Prior to becoming an MP she worked for Women’s Aid and ran rape crisis refuges. I believe her when she says it is her life’s purpose. Phillips is a rare bird in today’s politics – a confident, clever working-class woman.

So where is she on trans issues, how has her work on protecting women been affected by this debate? “The actual work hasn’t been affected at all. The political space has undoubtedly been affected, not all negatively.” Can she still speak about women? “Of course! I feel totally comfortable speaking out about women – sometimes when I talk about women that means different things. I am capable of holding two ideas in my head at once… I believe in single sex spaces for biological women, prisons, refuges etc. – 100 per cent. I’ve got the T-shirt on that. But also, if someone asks me to refer to them as a woman, I personally will do that. I’ll call you whatever you ask me to. <a class="break-all" href="https://archive.is/o/X8IhI/www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/04/09/jess-phillips-no-trans-person-met-has-said-cant-say-woman/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">I am happy to refer to transwomen as women. But also the idea that I am meant to parrot ‘transwomen are women’ as a slogan is f-g meaningless.” Classic Phillips. Having her cake and eating it.

“When I worked in women’s refuges, we always asked questions on the referral forms about people’s sex at birth, whether people had transitioned, basically. The language we used would probably get you sent to the gallows now.” She smiles and goes into a long explanation about how “there are all sorts of reasons why women who are referred might not be allowed in a refuge, not just trans. For instance, if a woman had a 14-year-old son with her, she wouldn’t be allowed in the main women’s refuge centre, she would be cared for in dispersed houses within the community with supervision so she could stay with her son. Or women with child protection issues or those with substance abuse issues.

This is Parliament’s responsibility, it’s up to the legislature to make it clear. She stresses that it is disabled women, older women and those with complex needs who have “the hardest time accessing the right kind of safe spaces… We need to have women’s biological spaces, but also when I was on Birmingham City Council, I commissioned domestic refuges for LGBTQ+ folk, particularly men beaten up by their partners. It should not be beyond the wit of man to protect women’s biological sex spaces and provide different spaces for trans people.”'

Jess is gonna get such a wedgie when Lisa "I don't care about incarcerated women" Nandy finds out about the gender critical T shirt.

You don't seem to be able to connect anything together that might make men look dodgy.

It's a while since we've had such a blatant male apologist on this board.

Eugenicists used to think they were frightfully modern and progressive and that anyone who disagreed with them was out if step with modern scientific thinking.

And coming from a bunch of people stuck in 1976, that's a bit rich.

I doubt you really want to get into a eugenics argument with RedToothBrush. 😂

Jordan Grey did an actual strip on C4 which is apparently more progressive and definitely not sexual in any way whatsoever.

Never mind the anti-woman lyrics.

I think I'll take the bullshit nonsense accusations of modern Nazism and keep the ability to use my eyes and ears rather than stfu tbh.

Clearly....
Not sure I can be arsed.

We could go through the list of prominent trans-women in the public eye collectively though.

I think this was done a while ago and you could find sexually out there comments that you would raise eyebrows at. It seemed to be rarer to have a name which didn't.

This.

Whenever someone steps towards us we have to welcome them.

I would find this easier if they were able to recognize their move from their previous position. But hey Ho, we are only going to get where we want by welcoming everyone who moves towards recognizing the need to maintain single sex provision, even if they are pretending they always thought this

"But also the idea that I am meant to parrot ‘transwomen are women’ as a slogan is f-g meaningless.”

I'm fascinated by the vehemence here, an unequivocal rejection of the Stonewall line. Fucking meaningless. Parroting a slogan. She didn't have to put it like that but she did. Will she get away with it? Rosie Duffield has been pilloried for far less.

The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.
George Orwell, 1984

Shall we start an intellectual debate on how George Orwell wasn't a leftie and was actually a Nazi who was 90 years ahead of his time?

Could be fun folks.

It took J K Rowling, for JP, to move an inch towards supporting women. Even Boris was far stronger in his support. In fact, she waiting until the tide had well and truly turned.

She is weak for a political leader and I do not respect her. I am sure she is a lovely person though, outside of politics.

Why don't you search him and find out, since you apparently know lots about trans but somehow haven't seen anything about all the fetish-driven transwomen.

In fact, perhaps we could start a fundraiser to buy Jess a KPSS T shirt, just in case the one she already has is in the wash!

Yes, we should be cautious about believing the latest societal trends. I am certainly sceptical about a movement which demands that I call my son “she”.

ROTFLMAO! 😂

But you are over ten years out of date. At one time I’d have agreed with you. Back when everyone knew that calling a male who identified as a woman ‘she’ was a polite fiction.

But that’s not what it is now. Now we are expected to believe males are literally women and we need to call them she because they are literally women in all and every circumstance.

And that has real world terrible consequences for women.

And that’s why it is no longer a polite fiction and why I will no longer respect preferred pronouns. Because doing so is act of massive disrespect to me and to all women.

I think that’s a good measured response. And often one that gains a lot of political ground as opposed to the purity spirals, as someone else mentioned.

That’s not an accurate comparison.

A more accurate comparison is they insisted I referred to them as ‘Saved Hannah’. I would refuse to do that.

Or if they expected all other employees at a company to declare their obedience to the faith in their email signature within a year that if you failed to do so you were a heretic and therefore your job was at risk.

As I say. Power and control dynamics.

You're easily amused.

You're entertaining!

Yes I'm having a good giggle at your pompous preaching thanks.

I'm not preaching. Just giving an alternative view.

You called me a bigot and a nazi. And said there was no sexualised element to being trans apart from a mounting pile of evidence to the contrary. You said I was being massively disrespectful to victims of coercive control because I have issues with how pronouns are about policing behaviour and coercing others to go along with fantasy and how this is quite frankly absolutely is abusive in certain situations such as a marriage. Then you made several batshit strawman arguments of false equivalence.

I think that's more than a little bit more than 'an alternative view' tbh.

But do crack on saying you aren't being pompous. I'm having a quiet evening, where I don't have much to do but order some birthday presents for a relative, so it's keeping me very amused to see you trying your hardest to make out I'm some kind of immoral witch who should burn in hell.

Actually I'm off to the cinema in a bit. But have a lovely evening. Hope you find some nice gifts for your relative 😚

There is a significant differernce though in saying it's polite to use requested pronouns, and this ought to be in some way enforced, and it's up to individuals if they want to use them in individual cases.

That would allow for drawing a fairly firm line around things like court cases, legal proceedings, and technical discussions. And also potentially settings like schools.

But telling people what they have to do in personal interactions? It leaves very little room for people to judge the particular situation as they see fit, and more than that, it's intrusive and doesn't follow the principle of protecting individuals language choices.

In any case, if we get some kind of handle on the medical element of this and they stop recommending transition as a go to, it may well not be an issue most need to deal with very often.