Woman’s Place UK has published their manifesto. There is a lot of good stuff in it, that I would support, except for the core demands, sneaked in in coded language. But we know what the code means, don’t we, ladies?
No trans women!
They start with barely a hint of transphobia:
We are united by our belief that women’s hard-won rights must be defended. We are against all forms of discrimination. We believe in the right of everyone to live their lives free from discrimination and harassment.
They don’t say here, or anywhere, that “woman” does not include trans woman. Or that excluding trans women from women’s space could ever be discrimination.
On economic status, they want caring work valued, and benefits restored. They want better enforcement of the Equality Act 2010. Careful what you wish for: that’s the Act that protects trans rights.
They oppose violence against women and girls. Here is the tragedy of their position: all their campaigning energy, and mine, is diverted onto their campaign
No trans women!
Implement the abolitionist model, criminalising those who exploit prostituted people (including pimps and sex buyers) and decriminalising the prostituted, providing practical and psychological exiting support.
That’s code too. Sex workers oppose it. They are “Sex worker excluding radical feminists” or SWERFs.
On health care, they demand Implement the NHS strategy of Elimination of Mixed Sex Accommodation in hospitals. Commit to uphold right to request a female clinician, carer or support worker and to have that request respected. But they don’t see me as female.
No trans women!
On education, they want An end to the provision of education by lobby groups and untrained or unregulated providers in all state schools and colleges. They really hate Mermaids, the charity supporting trans children and their families.
No Mermaids!
I entirely agree when they demand, Introduce a duty on schools and colleges to challenge harmful gender, sex and other stereotypes. That would benefit everyone. But Robust defence of the human right to freedom of speech in academia is because of students angry at ignorant and transphobic attitudes of some academics. Free Speech is not threatened when the media is relentlessly transphobic, and while students have campaigned, no academic career has been threatened for reasonable writing.
On Law, they say, Strengthen the Equality Act by restoring the statutory questionnaire; the duty to protect from third party harassment; and the power of tribunals to make wider recommendations. Enact Section 1 to compel action to reduce socio-economic disadvantage. As a former employment tribunal representative, I agree wholeheartedly. And with this: Enforce Public Sector Equality Duty and Equality Act, though they’d better watch out: the Equality duty was the reason their meeting in Leeds was cancelled. There are a lot of assorted demands, such as, Overhaul aggressive immigration laws and end the hostile environment policy. Many on the Left would agree.
Where women are housed in the prison estate, accommodation must be single-sex to protect their privacy, safety and dignity. So trans women, however long we have been transitioned, however harmless we are- me, perhaps, if I campaign too hard for Extinction Rebellion or pacifist causes- must rot on male vulnerable prisoner units with the paedophiles.
Participation in public life: Defend the use of sex-based mechanisms such as all-women shortlists.
“Sex-based” is of course code for you know what.
Here’s a radical demand: Action to end sexist, demeaning, objectifying, stereotypical images of women and girls throughout society and in particular in media, arts, advertising and the political sphere. Yet I agree: the campaign against “page 3” should only be the start. It would be a huge step towards abolishing the Patriarchy. It would however require them to devote their entire campaign to it. Many who support trans rights will not join them while they are anti-trans. Fully implemented it would mean censoring Shakespeare, but there is no suggestion here where they might start.
Support for sex-segregated sports. No-one seriously opposes having separate women’s competition, it’s just how you define “woman” on the margins. Caster Semenya is a woman who should be entitled to enter women’s competition. So are trans women compliant with the IOC rules.
Women should be supported to pursue their right to freedom of association. That is, hold feminist meetings excluding trans women. Weary sigh. If the debate were not so charged, trans women might leave them alone, and go to women’s groups only by invitation. I don’t want a feminist gathering suddenly to focus on me, where my presence is the only issue. But the WPUK campaign has done a great deal to inflame the debate.
So there’s a lot of good stuff here, but throughout there is the coded demand:
No trans women!
And the rest has not the slightest credibility, because they have not held one meeting, or posted one video, except to campaign against trans rights. They could put radical feminism on the national agenda, but instead they campaign against us. It is a tragedy. We should be allies.
I found the profusion of developing pine cones beautiful:
Clare Flourish 
“Commit to uphold right to request a female clinician, carer or support worker and to have that request respected. But they don’t see me as female.”
If a male-born healthcare worker prioritises their own desire to be seen as a woman over a female patient’s need to be treated by a female staff member, that healthcare worker is unfit to practice and should find another job.
I have two reasons to ask for a female nurse to do my smear test. First, I was sexually-assaulted by people with penises and need to hear and see and smell a bevulvaed person (and yes, we can often tell: voice, hand size, hip-shoulder ratio, and smell are dead giveaways) when that speculum goes in to hurt my vulva again, otherwise I’m screaming and thrashing around because I flash right back to bepenised people causing that pain. Without this accommodation, I cannot get a smear test, putting me at increased risk of undetected cervical cancer that could kill me. One person’s feelings of validation are not worth more than another person’s life and physical health; how selfish do you have to be to think otherwise? Second, I want the nurse to have the same anatomy as me in order to know how the procedure feels. A smear won’t feel the same for a transwoman with a surgically-constructed vagina as it does for someone female-born, assuming that transwomen need smear tests in the first place.
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Welcome. Thank you for commenting.
Thank you for your detailed description- the smell, the revulsion. Have you ever had a trans woman assigned to do a smear test on you?
“Feelings of validation”. I can see that calling it that helps you discount it. Not transitioning is inhabiting a role, and a body, that you cannot bear, often leading to “screaming and thrashing around”, or deep depression, or- I would say “losing the will to live”, but I have seen suicidal trans women mocked and laughed at by anti-trans campaigners.
No, trans women do not need smear tests. We don’t have cervixes. But you knew that.
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