Punching down on the transgender community was a recurring pattern in 2023, from liberal politicians to wealthy comedians. I’m tired of my health being used as an excuse for these attacks as a cisgender woman, female, and rape survivor.
Officials who have never seemed to worry about children’s rights before or since are now willing to defend them by denying trans people their rights. This is only fueled by the media’s fascination with transgender individuals.
Consider Dave Chappelle’s most recent Netflix special, The Dreamer. God forbid I ever go to jail, but Chappelle hopes that if he does, it will be in California. This is just one of the many quips at the cost of trans individuals. He continues by threatening to declare his gender at his imprisonment and be imprisoned in a children’s prison if he does. He claims that he would actually threaten and biologically coerce his other prisoners, with the exception of language more appropriate for a comedy show. or but his listeners appear to believe.
The alleged joke in this situation is that men may simply identify as women and access women’s spaces in California, which is considered to be a “woke” position. This is a really real, completely baseless transphobic theme that is frequently used to deny the rights or even the presence of trans people, which makes it unfunny. Although it is based primarily on prejudice, the notion that trans women are simply predatory men informs true government policy.
Trans people may be required to use single-sex hospital rooms in accordance with their gender assigned at birth, according to Health Secretary Steve Barclay’s statement at the Tory party meeting in October. Suella Braverman, the then-home minister, stated in an interview that “transgender women have no place in children’s wards or indeed any safe place relating to natural women.”
Importantly, in the 13 years that the Conservative government has been in power, neither Braverman nor any other government minister has defended single-sex safe spaces with such fervor when it comes to funding for women’s refuges, which are some of the only “single-safe places” in existence.
The Equality Act of 2010 protects domestic abuse companies from having to hold and hire only cis girls, in contrast to hospital wards, which have female staff and visitors.
Despite this, the Department of Health announced a 50% reduction in funding for Northern Ireland Women’s Aid at the beginning of 2023. In fact, the foundation’s CEO announced on social media that their “funding ends today” just days before Barclay gave his speech at the event. Reports from the women’s field frequently request additional funding in other places.
Even if we ignore this, the NHS’s statistics show that over 120,000 times in the last six years, its policy that men and women should never reveal sleeping quarters with people of the opposite sex “except where appropriate” has been broken. This is not due to instances of transgender people receiving accommodations based on their gender, but rather a persistent lack of staff and place.
You might assume that a health minister who is concerned about the purity of single-sex areas would undertake to address this aspect of the issue, but it was not his main point. Since it is not a genuine concern, it obviously didn’t. A weak minority is easily defeated on a social level.
The same can be said of the government’s draft guidance from December on supporting “gender questioning children” (a strange word that seems to disprove the notion that there are any trans transgendered children at all).
Even a quick glance reveals that it is not at all intended to support these kids, arguing that their parents should be informed and that teachers shouldn’t be forced to use their preferred names or pronouns.
There was no mention of a foundation for education or anti-bullying to safeguard this small, vulnerable group. The contrast between political pretense and horrible truth could not have been more pronounced one day before Brianna Ghey’s murder trial was found guilty.
However, when referring to the survival of single-sex areas and sports, the words “safe and good” were used. However, the small majority of trans children who also seek protection have nothing to do with the very real and ongoing risks to the health of female students and staff in colleges. The submissions-based website One’s Invited gathered more than 50,000 private stories about rape culture in British schools between 2020 and 2022. In schools, sexual assault and harassment of girls by boys are generally accepted. What is the administration’s plan of action to address this?
There is very little speech about sex and nothing about fighting misogynistic cultures, despite the fact that the Keeping Children Safe in School direction does address child-on-child sexual assault and sexual abuse and acknowledges that this is more likely to be committed by boys against girls. Again, the Government’s worry about gender-based violence suddenly wanes when there is no chance to attack trans people.
It is obvious to me that there are a ton of really true issues and concerns that need to be addressed if you are truly enthusiastic about women’s rights. It is absurd to think that something as trivial as using the restroom with trans people would be included on this record.
Policy regarding trans rights is not influenced by the health of women and children, but rather by ingrained prejudice. one that views transgender people, particularly transgender women and girls, as a menace and aims to gain political advantage by capitalizing on their concerns. These are the same biases that influence comedians like Chappelle’s so-called quips, though at least he shows us the decency of no pretending to care about cis ladies in the process.
