I didn’t write this, wish I had!
He tells her" (after Wendy Cope)
He tells her he's a woman too
He has a ladybrain
He tells her his identity
and hers; they are the same
He tells her not to talk about
her body; it's not fair
her body is her privilege
his own, a cross to bear
When I was 15 one of the boys in my class saw a tampon in my pencil case. He snatched it and they tossed it around the class, jeering at me. They even brought my business ed teacher in on the fun, told him I was bleeding and he tossed a tube of lip balm at me and told me to "plug myself up". I can't fathom what kind of numbnut thinks girls would be ok sharing restrooms with boys.
We have a right to dignity, privacy and safety and it beggars belief that we are STILL FIGHTING THESE FUCKING BATTLES IN 2026.
@unisontheunion@unisontheunion as a union where almost 80% of your members are women, please clarify, are you now campaigning for the Equality Act to be changed so 'sex' is no longer a protected characteristic?
I've now seen a couple of the responses-to-constituents from MPs who signed the EDM opposing the EHRC Code. Suggest early signatories at least have been briefed with some familiar talking points and errors of fact:
-Strong focus on only one group with a Protected Characteristic (I'll leave you to guess which).
-Invoking costs as a barrier (would they do this for anything else?)
-Misrepresentation of the Relevant Equality Impact assessment with the idea of trans people being denied any service. (Rather ignores the fact that the Code itself deals with this issue and that the EIA is actually v positive about the clarifications the revised Code brings.)
-Invoking the spectre of people being challenged for not confirming to gender stereotypes.
-Vaguely specified concerns about lack of clarity and legal risk.
-Confusion between the Code and the law it represents (thus denying service providers a tool for improving clarity).
-Lack of understanding of what an EDM actually can achieve.
-A sudden desire for discussion about the conflicts between the Equality Act and the Gender Recognition Act. There is a court judgement that might help with this...
@Keri_J_Russell@jk_rowling I went to an all girls school when I was a teen. I hated going to the loos even there. Had boys been present I doubt I would have gone at all unless it couldn’t be avoided. Everyone deserves privacy and dignity - male or female.
Hello Stella.
(Labour Party member here, if that makes a difference)
IMO, it’s remarkable that you are co-sponsoring an EDM to reject guidance on established law, and extensively engaging/justifying this action because you think the guidance “is wrong”, yet decline to explain why you think the guidance is wrong.
You are an elected official with a national platform and accountability. Being coy about your rationale for attempting to prevent guidance on such a hotly-contested issue being approved really isn’t on.
I expect more of our parliamentarians, frankly.
Don’t you think constituents, including both the broader party constituency and non-constituents who, nonetheless, live in a country where you belong to the party in power are worthy of explanation?
You’re talking to the expert, advocates and representatives of this guidance. Maybe an actual discussion would be fruitful?
Is the guidance wring but you think the law OK?
Is the guidance wrong because you think the law is wrong?
If you think the solution is legislation, that means you wish to change the Equality Act - I don’t see another interpretation.
Your voters deserve to know how you are planning to do this. Don’t we LP members deserve to know how our party is approaching this (including the range of views on offer)?
No Debate is over.
@stellacreasy@akuareindorf Just amplifying that we do want to know precisely what is wrong with the guidance, or what you want changed (the EqA presumably as the guidance reflect that). Could you let us know? Or is there a reason you won’t? Maybe publish the letter you’re writing.
@Whiterosehip01@DrCarlHindy@BevJacksonAuth@AustinCroweLuv@garylfrancione Exactly. I don’t know how this person defining “benefit” but it’s not all “huge profits” (though I’d argue the DEI juggernaut has benefitted hugely). Those employed in this field want nice comfortable well-paid jobs in all sorts of organisations.
@DrCarlHindy@BevJacksonAuth@AustinCroweLuv@garylfrancione Jobs and income.
Fees, jobs, income, profit
Minimal effort in dealing with “inequality” without having to do anything hard like provide opportunities, training or facilities for the disabled, working mothers, etc
The thrill of transgressing women’s boundaries
@BevJacksonAuth@DrCarlHindy@AustinCroweLuv@garylfrancione The middle classes with liberal arts/humanities degrees
The entire DEI industry
So many businesses and organisations that can celebrate their “inclusivity” and “progressiveness” with almost zero effort
Men who like to transgress boundaries
Hey @TomSteyer, my mother has also loved sports her entire life, except she didn’t get to play sports in high school because her school didn’t have any women’s teams. She’s only a few years older than you & was in college when Title IX passed. She became the captain of the first women’s tennis team at her university.
My mom grew up watching her five brothers be celebrated for their athleticism. Meanwhile, she had no teams available to her. My mom is a naturally gifted athlete, but girls were expected to sit on the sidelines, cheer for boys, and never imagine themselves on the field.
Then, after Title IX passed, everything changed. Her university formed a women’s tennis team. She tried out, made the team, and became team captain. That opportunity, delayed for years, shaped her life. It gave her confidence, leadership, friendships, pride, and a sense of belonging that had been denied to her simply because she was female.
For millennia, women were kept out of public life, out of education, out of professions, out of the law, out of the vote, and yes, out of athletics, all on the basis of SEX, not gender.
And now we are told by you, Tom Steyer, to pretend that sex is irrelevant. That male bodies pumped have no advantage. That girls should just accept losing medals, titles, records, scholarships, and privacy. That after centuries of struggle, suddenly the category “woman” is opt-in for any boy who wants in.
But having inherited those rights from my mother and grandmothers who fought hard for them, I cannot and will not sit back and let you destroy them hard earned rights for future generations of girls.
Your focus is wrong. Your framing is ‘a row’. You balance ‘trans rights’ and ‘women’s rights’ as if they are equal principles.
No - the question is whether sex and sexual orientation have legal status in law, or not.
This issue requires harder thinking based on what you know (we know you know) to be a fact: that sex and sexual orientation exist in reality. There is a campaign to remove legal protections from these realities. That is what you call on your post ‘trans rights’.
The BBC likes to treat the idea that one can change sex, and the knowledge that one can’t, as if they were both opinions of equal weight. It does this because it is afraid of gender identity activists.
You know there is no middle ground. You are secure enough, and well informed enough, to say so, and to conduct interviews built on that. It’s your duty as a journalist to do so.
It’s not to be minimised as a ‘row’. It’s a top down campaign to remove legal protection from sex and sexual orientation, and an active grassroots defence to prevent that happening. Trans-identified people have all the rights that everyone else has. They, plus allies, are engaged in a campaign fully to remove the legal status of two main cohorts: women and LGB people.
Maybe on a teatime drive programme it could be argued that these things need to be simplified. Not on Political Thinking.
Note: You shouldn’t adopt activist language as if it’s your own. ‘Be who they are’ ? - you can ask better questions than that.
Mary-Anne Stephenson isn’t on one side of the debate - she’s a neutral expert. You don’t need to ‘balance’ her via questioning style.
@ForWomenScot@RestIsPolitics "Meet me in the middle, says the unjust man.
You step forward, he steps backward.
Meet me in the middle, says the unjust man."