OPINION: Trans and female communities both feel marginalised – Jews should stand alongside both
It's only fanatics, hyped up by their profound sense of rightness, who insist you cannot support both, writes Nicole Lampert.
I once made the mistake of attempting nuance on Twitter. I wrote that most Zionists were pro-Palestinian too. To me it is obvious that those of us who believe in the two state solution would like the Palestinian people to have their own land and peace – just as we would like for Israel.
But you can’t reason with extremists. For 24 hours I was mercilessly trolled; called an idiot, a liar, a hasbara troll and an apartheid-loving Nazi.
The same happens every time I enter what is known as the gender debate: I am accused of being a transphobe, a bigot, a Nazi. But being concerned about the erosion of women’s rights doesn’t mean I hate trans people.
Indeed, I feel for the pain they are going through because, as Jews once found ourselves targeted because of Corbynism, trans people are at the centre of an incredibly toxic culture war.
I’ve got to know quite a few trans people since I started writing on this subject. All of them are upset at the extremist demands being made in their name. They understand that males can be dangerous to females and opening up safe spaces such as prisons, rape centres, refuges to any person who claims to be a woman is a safeguarding risk.
These trans people are often – astonishingly – accused of being transphobes or Terfs (which stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist) when they dare mention what is, to most of us, common sense.
Trans rights extremists are the real bigots; they are misogynists who fight facts with slurs and threats and attempt to shut down another marginalised group – women.
How did this start? Some say with the theory by Jewish American academic Judith Butler that ‘gender’ which was once interchangeable with sex, is a ‘social construct’ and open to change.
In the old days – about five years ago – you had transexuals who were mainly males who had gone through a process involving surgery and taking medication to become women. They are the people who required a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) – although born male they were in the world of officialdom now female.
And then you had transvestites who were men who liked dressing up as women. Now both are under the same ‘trans umbrella’ along with around 70 – I kid you not – other genders. These include ‘affectugender’ in which a person’s gender depends on their mood and ‘aerogender’ in which a person’s gender identity changes according to one’s surroundings.
Read more:
Israel is an LGBTQ haven in the Middle East. Its new government could change that
OPINION: The transgender community deserves Jewish solidarity
Around 90 percent of trans people who identify as a woman still have a penis and that is where the conflict with safeguarding lies. It brings up several questions which trans rights activists refuse to answer:
How can you tell the difference between someone who identifies as female and means us no harm, and someone who is a pervert who wants to see naked women, film them and even attack them? And no, this isn’t hysterical fear mongering; women have been sexually assaulted in women’s prisons, on single sex hospital wards, flashed at in gyms and filmed undressing in changing rooms.
Is it fair that women and girls feel obliged to share an enclosed area with someone who is likely to be taller and stronger than them and who still has fully intact male genitalia?
How will this affect Orthodox and other religious women? Anecdotally they are already disappearing from ‘women’s only’ sessions in gyms and pools because they cannot be certain that they will be surrounded only by females.
The proposed Scottish law which is causing a constitutional kerfuffle means it will be a lot easier for people – both genuine and malign – to insist they are a different sex.
To be clear, I am not calling trans people perverts, I am saying perverts will take advantage because that’s what perverts do.
Unfortunately the Equality Act of 2010, in which sex is a protected category, never envisaged what would happen a decade later; if you change sex legally you can breach those protected safe spaces (lawyers are still arguing this point).
This Scottish law proposes anyone over the age of 16 simply has to live as the opposite sex for three months to get a GRC. How do you live as a woman? Nicola Sturgeon says it could be as simple as changing your name on your gas bill. Then a man – any man– becomes legally female and able to insist their way into female spaces with their bit of paper.
Those who cannot see the possible dangers in all of these are – at best – dangerously naïve. To be clear, I am not calling trans people perverts, I am saying perverts will take advantage because that’s what perverts do.
Trans rights extremists are the real bigots; they are misogynists who fight facts with slurs and threats and attempt to shut down another marginalised group – women. They don balaclavas, stop women speaking, threaten violence and consistently compare themselves to Holocaust victims.
This weekend alone, Scottish MPs were pictured next to placards saying ‘I eat Terfs’ and ‘decapitate Terfs’ while a Scottish councillor invoked the history of Auschwitz.
We Jews should stand beside the trans community and the female community who both feel at risk. It is only fanatics who believe you can’t do both; and we Jews know more than most how dangerous fanatics, hyped up by their sense of rightness, are.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
