Three common misconceptions about social construction debunked — The ‘Trans Panic’ has seen a resurgence in biologically essentialist views — the idea that humans are reducible to and determined largely by our biology. …

Cases of women assaulting other women prove the argument for exclusion — ***Content warning: discussion of sexual assault, rape*** A number of cases of cisgender women assaulting other women — both cis and trans — in public toilets in recent years show that allowing women to access women’s toilets is a risk to others which can no longer be tolerated. Exclusion is…

Rishi Sunak’s statement on trans self-ID is misleading because it confuses gender recognition law with equality legislation — In a previous piece I mentioned Tory leadership hopeful Rishi Sunak’s increasingly transphobic outbursts, including his recent statement that “gender self-identification isn’t protected in the UK”. This statement is misleading because it conflates the issue of legal protection from discrimination with legal gender recognition. …

Despite Sunak using women’s rights to justify his queer-bashing, his party’s policies have been a disaster for women in the UK — The Tory Leadership election in the UK has been a race to the bottom of transphobic dog-whistles and escalating ‘culture war’ rhetoric. …

ADHD is widely misunderstood — and ADHDers suffer as a result — Even as someone diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), I didn’t understand the condition until my thirties — and only after doing a lot of research for myself and speaking to other ADHDers. It’s a condition which is the subject of several pop-culture tropes (if you want to be…

A recent article by well known transphobe Joan Smith tries to hype up moral panic around ‘the trans issue’ The New Statesman’s platforming of transphobes and transphobic ideas is nothing new, and a recent article by ‘gender critical’ writer Joan Smith is part of a growing trend in the use…

So why is this transphobic dog-whistle such effective propaganda? — Increasingly, ‘gender critical’ transphobes have been spreading the idea that trans people are trying to prevent cis women from using the word ‘woman’ and by doing so ‘erase’ women altogether. This stems from ‘gender critical’ outrage at several organisations attempting to use inclusive language when talking about reproductive healthcare. Language…

Not any more than the other 99% of the population anyway — One of the tiringly frequent accusations I see levelled at transgender people is that we ‘reinforce gender norms’. Apparently we do this by existing and, you know, having a gender identity. This argument is often used by ‘gender critical’ activists as if it’s some sort of mic-drop level takedown. Strangely…

Our concept of binary sex is as much cultural as it is biological — Sex and gender, two concepts which sit at the heart of the debate around trans rights, are often thought of as a binary. Sex is perceived as biological, the ‘nature’ which determines us as either ‘male’ or ‘female’. Gender identity is perceived as the result of ‘nurture’, of our socialisation…