I am just watching question time on BBC 1.
They are debating "Women's only spaces" India Willoughby is on the panel. India is a trans news reader for those that don't know.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_Willoughby
I expected it to be a one way conversation, the usual trans bashing, as these discussions usually are. The panel was quite balanced though. The recent case in Scotland was dragged up. Most of the panel with the exception of one woman, Ella Whelan, seemed fairly sympathetic. She had a horrible grin on her face most of the time when anyone disagreed with her.
Anyone in the UK can watch it on iplayer
Comments
Transgendered Will Pay the Price
Because of those like Lia Thomas and all the sexual voyeurs, along with those who did just because they could, transgender will pay the price for the backlash. Some in the medical profession and society accepted us. For a others we were never going to be accepted. Society as a whole it didn't make much difference as they had no judgement one way or another. We were the rare creature they had heard about or read about. They had never met one, or so they thought, their opinion was neutral.
Those like Lia Thomas crashed into women's sports taking the medals, the ribbons, the endorsements, which belonged to the girls and women. The girls and women who gave up a large part of their family and social life as over achievers to excel in their chosen field. Suddenly those who didn't have an opinion of us were getting interested and it wasn't good. The things they saw and read were the things which sold print and led stories. Those who crashed women's locker rooms, took the awards from women in sports, showed up in women's bathrooms with cameras. The predators who claimed to be trans and raped women.They claimed they were transgender. It was all it took and thus they were. No psychiatrist visits, doctors visits, no surgery, no hormones, all they needed was to proclaim they were trans.
Those such as myself and all my sisters will pay for what the tabloids and MSM streamed about those who claimed they were but really aren't. No one can look at the future and see how far back we have been pushed in being accepted as a real person rather than a freak show. Governors and those running for president are hoping to get laws passed to prevent anyone from not only receiving medical help but also from presenting as trans. "God only made man and woman and no one shall cross the divide."
I never asked to be transgender. I've begged, prayed, pleaded for God to taken me home, make me a complete natural woman, or end it all. Those outside looking in will never understand, even those who have studied us as they reached for a medical degree. They keep trying to put those who are trans into a definitive box, we are or we aren't. Life isn't like that as there are degrees of trans the same as degrees of temperature. Until science, medicine, and government realizes we aren't a black and white issue, they will keep trying to set boundaries for who is and who isn't transgender.
Transgender issues were a mess before doctors and government got involved. It's even worse now. I'm blessed I live where I do. I'm accepted and I'm allowed to be my own bodyguard. The Headstone was set when I lost Jean to cancer. The foot stone is for those who know.
Barbie Jean Lee
Oklahoma Cowgirl
Novelist Short Stories
USN
Viet Nam
Life is a gift, don't waste it.
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
The backlash is already happening
Thank you Barbie, you have it right.
Those of us who see ourselves as women should see things from a woman's point of view, and some "activists" are making things worse, not better. When we demand _our_ rights to be treated fairly and equitably we must not lose sight of the fact that fairness cuts both ways, and gaining rights which come at the price of taking something away from those who were born women is not fair for those women. We should remember this.
There are currently two trans debates in the news here in the UK, and some of our activists seem to me to be on the wrong side of both, and some of us will be punished for it. The assumption of some seems to be that we are all on the same side and this will hurt us.
Battle 1: Woman-only spaces, particularly women's prisons. A rapist is a rapist is a rapist. They are proven dangers to women, and as such women should be protected from them. Being a rapist or other sexual predator is the only thing which matters here, whether that person is - or claims to be - trans is irrelevant, their actions should exclude them from places where they can continue being a danger to women. If I were foolish or unlucky enough to be incarcerated I would be terrified of being confined with such a person. I am not like them, and they are not like me.
Battle 2: Women's Sports. I've said this before, but those of us who are unfortunate enough to have gone through a male puberty are *not* the same as born women. Yes, I hate that fact too, but it is still true. In some sports this will potentially give us an advantage, in others less so. But whether it does or not is another thing that doesn't matter. As soon as a trans woman wins anything in sports there will be the _perception_ of cheating, or having some advantage. And the higher the level of the sport, the worse that will be, and that is because - rightly or wrongly - we will be seen as having deprived a "real" woman of something precious or even valuable. No-one would care if a trans woman played, say, golf very badly and had some fun and exercise doing it. However, take that to the top level and have that person win an Olympic gold medal, or the Women's Open and the cries of "not fair" will start and, depending on the sport, those cries could be both valid and justifiable. Levels between that bad amateur and the Olympic Gold medal will still be seen that way.
Equality means equal, fairness must be fair for all sides or it is fair for no-one.
I wish these things were different, but they are not. Before I transitioned I was a high level sportsman - yes, man. I would have loved to continue my sport post transition, but that would not have been fair to the women competitors, and even if I had no advantage from my unfortunate puberty (which I did have) I would have been resented and probably hated every time I won something.
I walked away from the sport I loved. It was part of the price, and I paid it. This was 30+ years ago, and I believe more than ever that it was the right thing to do. I sacrificed other things to be who I really was - as did most or all of us. Marriage, family, work prospects, friends, financial security. My sport was just one more thing, and I paid that price willingly if slightly resentfully as sorting myself out was my priority.
If rights for us means infringing someone else's rights then who are we to claim that what we want matters more.
Some of the other battles were right and fair, and we have won the important fights here in the UK. I don't want to be resented or hated by the wider population because of some "activists" who have their own agenda which I do not support. Things here in the UK have been pretty good for the last 10 years plus, we should take the win and get on with our lives.
/rant
Alison
I agree with you. While I can
I agree with you. While I can understand that trans women want to be able to do all the things genetic women do, and should be able to. It is just that these things tend to provoke a whole load of haters.
One person does something horrible and claims to be trans, it is seized upon and the haters will say "look what they are all like" as if the actions of one reflect on everyone. This used to happen to gay men years back. They were perceived as child molesters by many. It's like saying if one man rapes all men are rapists. (Yes I know that is a favorite extreme feminist chant)
Lucy Letby is a nurse charged with murdering 7 babies, does everyone say women should not work in maternity wards? No of course not.
When a trans woman wins, even in a sport where their past physical development would have no impact someone will use it as an excuse to attack trans women. Last year a trans woman won a snooker tournament. It was claimed it was unfair because for some reason men were better at snooker.
It always seems to be trans women, not trans men. Perhaps they have their own problems, but you never seem to hear about them.
They use any excuse to bring up the bathroom thing. Something that affects all trans women.
I am not really qualified to know what this is like for those of you that put up with this crap on a daily basis. I live as a male most of the time but is triggers me when I see the lies leveled at trans women that just want to get on with their lives.
Leeanna
Question Time?
Does somebody still watch that load of clap trap put out by the British Bias Corporation. A host that is pathetic, a panel of nobody's and the participating audience seems to be hand picked, better to watch Tom &Jerry or Bugs Bunny