by Sarah Vine, Daily Mail
They’re gaslighting us when they should be apologising to all those women who dared to speak out
[…] Trans people – or those who feel themselves to be a different gender from their biological sex – have a history stretching back centuries and spanning many cultures. They are a small but steadfast minority, often vulnerable to the judgement of the mainstream. The vast majority pose no threat to anyone, and just want to get on with their lives like the rest of us.
[…] But this week’s ruling has not been made necessary by these sorts of trans women. Instead, it is the result of the actions and aggressions of a different type of trans woman: those who claim to live as women but who in reality act like the worst kind of male bully, imposing their bodies and their sex on females. Who merely wear the mask of womanhood, not necessarily because that is who they want to be but because it suits their purpose, which has been shown, on occasion, to be criminal.
Some seem to delight in imposing their maleness on women in women-only spaces, others are clearly there for voyeuristic purposes.
It is neither the fault of trans women nor biological women that these people exist. But exist they do, and in recent years, as being trans has become a cause celebre, they have been able to take advantage. Biological women – always the first to bear the brunt of society’s ills – have found their hard-won rights being whittled away and handed to a group of people – many of them, as I say, not truly trans women at all – who don’t respect theirs.
There are countless examples of this. We simply cannot have a situation where a man accused of multiple rapes (Adam Graham) dons a wig and declares himself a woman (Isla Bryson) while awaiting trial and is indulged by the court, even serving part of his sentence in a women’s prison.
Nor is it acceptable to have mediocre male athletes who possess all the inherent physical advantages of an adult male – superior strength and stamina – re-invent themselves as females to win women’s medals.
Nor is it OK that women should have their jobs and livelihoods threatened – such as the nurse Sandie Peggie, suspended for refusing to share a room with a trans-identifying male doctor, or the eight Darlington nurses uncomfortable about sharing their changing room with a male-bodied colleague.
Women need private safe spaces in a way that men don’t – because, simply, a man is far more likely to physically harm or take advantage of a woman than the other way round. Even if the male-bodied individuals involved have no bad intentions, some women just find that masculine energy oppressive and intimidating.