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On Wednesday 3 cis women gave evidence to the @Commonswomequ select committee on #GRA reform. These panellists spent the majority of their allocated time arguing that proposed reform has the potential to harm cis women due to the presence of trans women in ‘women’s’ spaces
Yet anyone who has knowledge about the issues at stake knows that changes proposed to the GRA would have absolutely no impact here. There is no connection as the Equality Act, by recognising trans women as women, ensures their right to women’s spaces such as toilets
The arguments presented at @Commonswomequ by these panellists were thus completely irrelevant- they might as well have been arguing that changes to the GRA would lead to a rise in the price of bread - and should have been told so by the committee Chair.
Moreover, they presented no evidence in support of their (irrelevant) claims. When pushed, one study from Sweden was cited. Anyone who knows this study, however, knows that it does not do what was claimed - indeed the author has explicitly asked for it not to be used in this way.
Their evidence therefore is based on the views of supporters of trans hostile organisations such as WPUK who all 3 panellists have some involvement with. In light of this, I also did some quick and dirty research.
Over a period of 24 hrs I asked cis women to speak out if they were *not* concerned by the continued presence of trans women in spaces such as toilets and changing rooms. Around 1,000 women responded and many added supplementary text such as...
‘Trans women have always been in these spaces’. ‘How does anyone know who is a trans woman or a cis woman in a public facility?’ ‘The question is irrelevant to GRA reform’. And many, many variations of ‘of course not’ and ‘trans women are women’
Obviously I am not claiming that these responses are neutral. They are likely to be from women invested in the debate - as are the claims of the panellists. My point is though to show that huge numbers of women are more than happy to continue to share all spaces with *all* women.
Further, the vast majority of women are not invested in these debates simply because they do not care. Indeed, what the last 24 hrs has shown is that it is the gender policing politics and genital obsession of GC women that are a cause of concern for many cis women.
The claims of the 3 cis women panel members at the @Commonswomequ are therefore simply ideological arguments with no evidence base at all. These women do not represent women in the UK. Their views are entirely contestable. This position should have no impact on law and policy.
It’s important to also add that there were numerous responses from women who have experienced sexual assault and violence (from men). Many of these women said that they were deeply upset and offended that their experiences were being weaponised by GC feminists.