FAQ

Myth Busting

There have been a lot of stories in the mainstream media especially in the press owned by the Murdoch family such as the Sun and the Times that are exclusively gender critical with no counter arguments sought or allowed to be published. This is a common feature of the UK media with other examples being both the Daily Mail and the BBC. The usual format that these articles take is an opinion piece often without any valid citations written by a well-known gender critical author and no balance view being offered or sought from transgender individuals. On the exceedingly rare occasions that such balance is sought it is usually a group of representatives from a pressure group ranged against a single trans-woman and this is another common feature, almost invariably it is a transgender woman not man that is targeted. This is one of the reasons that many trans women refuse to take part in such events.

This section aims to address some of the most common myths that are raised in these media articles and hopefully to present a more balanced view of these claims.  Please feel free to use these to counter the claims if you are presented with them

How can there be so many genders when there are only 2 or maybe 3 sexes?

There is no consensus on exactly how many gender identities there are – just look at the variety that form part of the Pride movement – we suspect that there are probably as many as there are transgender people. It’s also worth mentioning that the rather dismissive way that a third sex is included in the question, presumably intersex people, is insulting, demeaning and does not reflect the serious situation that these people face nor the frequency with which intersex people are born - it is not uncommon for a child to be born with a mix of or unclear sexual characteristics and trying to put this "right" at a very young age has no more than an even chance of being correct for that person.

Gender is not a simple process and the formation of one's gender identity occurs at a much later stage of pregnancy than does the primary sexual characteristics - these are formed during the first trimester of pregnancy whereas the brain and gender identity develops during the third and is influenced by delicate balances of mainly testosterone and oestrogen (but also other) hormones and other factors in the mother at this time. Gender as a binary is a modern Western societal construct and like all such constructs has no bearing on biology - many cultures throughout history have recognised the existence of more than just two genders, some native North American cultures recognise up to five genders and there are many other examples of three genders from around the world. Transgender does not occur in nature is a claim also often made, yet flexible gender roles do occur in nature including some animals that change sex. After all it was the inclusion of amphibian DNA into the dinosaur DNA that formed the core of the Jurassic Park story as this is something that is well known to happen with several amphibian species. This also happens in the plant kingdom, the most recent example is the Fortingall Yew, the UK's oldest tree at 5,000 years, which has recently started to produce berries - a thing that only female yews do and that it has never done in recorded history.

People cannot choose their sex

Could not agree with this one more - no you cannot change your sex or your gender, both are biologically determined and hardwired but they are both completely different things. Neither are binary but exist on a bimodal distribution curve meaning that there are two peaks that coincide with what society regards as male and female or masculine and feminine, and there are people that exist at all points on those curves with transgender people existing where their position on one curve does not match their position on the other. This biological difference is the main cause of gender dysphoria and can result in a serious mental condition with the transgender community being the single section of the population with the highest incidence of suicide attempts. Some transgender individuals find that they can balance this difference by changing their external presentation to match that of their gender identity by presenting to the world in the gender that matches their identity either occasionally or permanently, some find that they also need to make changes to their body to satisfy this discrepancy. None of this affects their sexual orientation except in so much that by removing or reducing the stress caused by hiding their true identities away, they can be more relaxed and express themselves naturally revealing otherwise hidden sexual preferences as well.

What about the rights of women and girls

Please note that this very common question and related ones coming up are only directed at trans women, trans men, intersex, gender fluid and the others are totally ignored, despite the fact that trans men in particular are equal in number to trans women, but their presence is a problem to people propounding these opinions. So, what about female rights is threatened by the existence of trans women - in a nutshell absolutely nothing. Many countries around the world have had a greater level of equality between trans women and cis women than the UK in place for many years and have experienced none of the issues that have been claimed will occur - these countries include Ireland, Portugal, Malta, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Canada. The UK government study into this subject, conducted when changes to the Gender Recognition Act were being considered, came to the same conclusion.

But what about women's safe places like toilets and changing rooms

Legally the Equalities Act 2010 protects the right of anyone to use the single-sex facilities that are appropriate for their gender identity - this means that trans women can continue to access the ladies and trans men the gents as they have been doing without incident for many years. This is an important issue for two reasons – first, it is the one topic that comes up time and again especially in the main stream media which seems to have a vendetta against trans women (ignoring trans men again) and secondly because if trans women were prohibited from using women only spaces then it would follow that trans men would have to be prohibited from using men only spaces - this would in itself make it far easier for aggressive or abusive men to access women only spaces as they wouldn't have to make any changes to their clothing or appearance and just claim to be trans men - this would make women less safe and secure in their supposedly safe-spaces. Trans women would conversely be put at much greater risk of attack or sexual abuse by being forced to use male only facilities. How would it be policed - would every single-sex space be required to have a sex guard and how would that person determine that a person was cis or trans - would it require a genital examination, ID card, whatever is chosen it will be draconian, excessive, intrusive, possible illegal and totally unnecessary. And what is it trying to counter, how many attacks on women by trans women have there been in toilets when compared to say attacks by women - vanishingly small. There have been regrettably a very small number of instances of trans women attacking cis women in female single-sex spaces, this is behaviour that should be condemned by every right-thinking person and the perpetrators should be punished to the full extent of the law.

When public conveniences were first introduced in the UK in Victorian England, only facilities for men were provided and women were caught by what was known as the Urinary Leash, meaning that women were forced to stay close to home, nowadays considered to be a way of restricting women’s movements - is this really the situation we want to return to as this is what will happen for trans women and not very feminine looking cis women? There have already been instances of cis women deciding not to go to the toilet because they fear being abused or have actually been abused, verbally or physically for just wanting to satisfy a basic human need. Supporting this argument is a misogynistic action that puts women's rights backwards.

Recently a woman weightlifter, Rae-Ann Coughenour-Miller broke the women’s world record lifting a 605lb bench press which is an amazing result, yet the diatribe that erupted on the internet claiming that she was trans was simply outrageous, insulting and disgusting, especially given the fact that this woman who would put most men’s strength to shame was born female and has had two children – she just doesn’t look particularly feminine. This is just one recent example of how the attitude promoted by the people that ask these questions puts the rights of women backwards and is a concrete example of why cis women who do not look classically feminine feel discouraged from using single-sex spaces as they fear the discrimination they may receive.

Society has created single-sex spaces purely to allow for a degree of privacy and safety for a socially recognised group of similar individuals to undertake an activity be that worship, change clothing or to pee. This is the purpose of these spaces and is what is important not how the segregation is determined by society. No one is trying to invalidate sex, gender or any individual lived experience, but these do need to be considered in the light of the realities of nature not some ideological and inaccurate understanding.

What is there to stop a man pretending to be trans to access women's toilets to prey on women

For a man to pretend to be a trans woman takes money, time and effort to achieve, they would need to learn how to apply makeup, buy suitable clothing that fits and shapes, learn how to behave without drawing attention to themselves - this is a great deal of effort and cost to go to when there are much easier ways to gain access to women's toilets and with much of the shapewear that trans women wear to create a more feminine figure, they would take too much time to remove and their personal equipment probably wouldn't be very effective for some time afterwards.  But just wearing a reflective jacket for example and pretending to be a maintenance engineer or cleaner - instant access and probably no comment or regard paid. 

There are also a whole tranche of laws that protect against being attacked, but none of them, not even one specifically aimed at preventing trans women from accessing women's only spaces, would stop anyone intent on abusing or harming someone else.  These include:

• Equality Act 2010: protection against discrimination on protected spaces and regulation of safe spaces
• Offences against the Person Act 1861: assault, GBH, ABH, battery, wounding etc
• Sexual Offences Act 2003: sexual assault, rape, exposure, etc
• Data Protection Act 2018: protect personal information
• Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019: upskirting
• and more ...

Trans women are all sexual predators

No, they most emphatically are not. Owing to the way that biology causes the formation of trans women's brains they are much more aligned with those of cis women's brains and neither are predisposed to male aggressive sexual behaviour. In addition, the hormone treatment that trans women often undergo halts fertility and reduces libido reinforcing the points made above, it is also true to say that many trans women, not all by any means but many, are attracted to and have normal relationships with men in some case forming marriages that outlast those of cis couples. However, there have been many examples of trans women being attacked and assaulted, even murdered, by cis women in women's safe places - it is not trans women that provide a threat to cis women but the other way round with trans women experiencing much more verbal and physical abuse including sexual violence.

The majority of women do not feel safe or comfortable with trans women in single-sex spaces

This is an opinion not supported by any of the reliable surveys or polls conducted on this subject, recent studies have shown that in the UK over 70% of cis women have no issue with trans women sharing the same spaces.  Trans women have shared single-sex facilities with cis women for many years and the vast majority of cis women have shared these facilities with trans women without even knowing this or having any issue whatsoever.  There is considerable overlap between the physical differences of the sexes that makes it difficult to tell whether someone is trans or cis and no one is 100% right.  It is also impossible to tell without a physical examination whether someone is pre or post-op.  The fact that there have been so very very few issues with trans women using single-sex facilities shows that trans women are very aware of the possibilities and take great care and effort to avoid it

Only fully transitioned trans women should be allowed access to safe spaces

The legal and medical process has required trans people to live in the identified role for a minimum of two years, in many cases this is many more years, before they can even be considered for surgery or to finally complete the legal gender change process of obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate.  Trans people also spend time, often several years, socially transitioned, i.,e. living in role, before even starting the medical process - this is why the Equalities Act 2010 was drafted in the way it was in the knowledge that other laws, the Gender Recognition Act 2004 being one, that protected against possible mis use.  Changing this would require a great deal of careful redrafting of existing laws which would be both impractical and inappropriate.

Children are being encouraged to transition before they really understand what they are agreeing to

Children are protected by the current process from being forced or persuaded to undergo any irreversible procedures. Children cannot be prescribed HRT or have surgery until they become adult, and they have to live in their identified gender for at least a year as an adult before they can be considered for surgery, the only medical procedure that can be done for the vast majority of trans child cases is for them to be prescribed puberty blocking medication and this can only be done once the child has reached puberty, pre-pubescent trans children are only recommended to live in their identified gender. These drugs, despite recent comments in the press and by anti-trans pressure groups, are not experimental drugs, the effects of which are not understood. They have been used for decades to treat many childhood conditions caused by puberty, such as precocious puberty, which is a condition where puberty starts early, before the age of 9. These drugs merely halt the progress of puberty until they are withdrawn, at which point puberty continues as normal with no harm occurring to the child. Children prescribed puberty blockers that go onto HRT and surgery when they are adult do so with fewer problems than those for whom puberty has developed normally as there is much less physical development to be reversed. Children are also treated to many psychiatric examinations by child gender specialists especially designed to detect external pressures and influences. It is sad that so many seem to think that there is a conspiracy to cause children in particular to transition, whereas the vast majority of medical professionals are entirely devoted to the best interests of their patients.

It is also an incredibly sad situation that the recent Bell v. Tavistock case has negatively affected the wellbeing of so many children because of a single instance of transitioning regret.

There are a lot of people who transition who regret it and de-transition

This is simply not true, the incidence of regret in those who have transitioned is extremely small, less than those who regret having had a replacement hip for example.  More than 99% of successfully transitioned people go on to live happy and contented lives in their true gender and most of those who do detransition do so because of external influences such as their families and/or churches and many of these people, approximately 50%, re-transition later on.  Much of this satisfaction rate is down to the length of time that transitioning takes and the sheer cost in both financial and emotional factors that in itself weeds out most for whom it is not the correct solution.

Trans women athletes have an unfair advantage

This is a difficult question to answer definitively as there is practically no research targeting trans athletes and what there is in this area is of a very small sample size and can only be indicative. However, many international sporting authorities permit trans athletes to compete with and against cis athletes of the same gender, including the IOC which has been seen in a few teams at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. On a very simple analysis though if trans female athletes, particularly as once again this question assumes that only trans women exist, have such an unfair advantage, why aren’t the record books filled with trans athletes holding world or national records? 

When a trans woman has been taking HRT hormones for a year or two, there will have been many changes to her body including a redistribution of fat to female areas of the body as well as a loss of muscle mass to match closer to the muscle definition of a cis female. Not very surprisingly the actual amount or distribution will rely on the individual just as it does for cis athletes. The difficulty here is that athletes go through a great deal of exercise and training that hones their muscles and reduces their fat to suit the sport they are competing in and the effect that this has is something that has not been researched, yet the point made above still stands as empirically the record books are not filled with trans athletes. 

There has been one study published in the British Medical Journal that did compare the performance of cis and trans women that were trained to exercise by looking at a small sample (46) of US Air Force personnel. This found that when it came to core strength exercise such as sit ups, press ups etc, there was no noticeable difference between the performance of the two cohorts, but that the performance of the trans cohort was much lower than their performance before transitioning. When it came to more endurance exercise such as distance running for example, there was a slight advantage to the trans cohort over the cis one, and that once again the performance was lower than before transitioning. But remember this is a small study and it did not compare the performances of professional athletes who are trained for a specific sporting discipline but of people who were trained to exercise for general fitness.