Has the Supreme Court Ruling that the term woman means an adult human female (for the purposes of the Equality Act) ended the gender wars?
Not yet. Fury has been unleashed. The protests over the Easter weekend against the legal ruling have been hard to watch and the placards unpleasant to read. The hate-fuelled anger from a number of trans-activists towards women and non-believers is explicit for all to see. The intention to intimidate is clear.
This backlash from the genderists is not surprising. For two decades an irrational ideology that undermines elementary science, bulldozes through language, truth, and logic, and tramples over the rights of non-believers has been allowed increasingly to hold sway across our institutions and shared public life. Adherents of the ideology have been led to believe that they will get their way. Conjure up a new gender identity – it duly appears in worksheets for schoolchildren. Dream up a new demand for workplaces – next year you will see it in the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index.
Besides, gender ideology was supposed to be well bulwarked against set-backs. Violent threats were not meant to be needed, because more subtle ones, even nicely sugar-coated, were in place.
Firstly, we are all familiar with the notion of ‘transphobia’. The threat of disciplinary action at work, a ‘non-crime hate incident’ recorded against your name by the police, the fear of being called a transphobe on social media: these were all supposed to silence the would-be questioners about gender ideology.
But even this wasn’t the main defence against the exposure of the rotten heart of gender ideology. Candy-coated compliance was expected to suffice, the velvet glove covering the iron fist was not meant to come off. We were all supposed to ‘Be Kind’.
Following the Supreme Court judgment last week, Andrew Walton, Lloyds’s Chief Corporate Affairs Director, told LGBT staff: “Please know that we cherish and celebrate you.” Cherish and celebrate work colleagues? That sounds unrealistic and exhausting. On display here is the language of ‘allyship’.
Last week, Justine Roberts, the founder of Mumsnet, revealed that her business had been blacklisted by Barclays because it hosts debate on gender ideology and in the past has called for the definition of ‘a woman’ to be clarified in equality legislation. Queried about this by the BBC, Barclays declined to comment. In 2018 Barclays was named one of Stonewall’s Top Global Employers for the sixth consecutive year. A Barclays video about ‘allyship’ is therefore a perfect showcase of this approach.
In the Barclays allyship video, Sionice (she/her) explains the rules – listen to catch the tone.
Sionice explains about transgenderism: “Where people go wrong they think they need to understand it. You don’t!” (Subtext – don’t ask questions.)
On allyship: “To be a better ally there are three things you need to do. You need to Wise up, Stand up, and Show up.”
On wising up: “Wising up is about educating yourself and not expecting the LGBTQ+ community to educate you.”
On standing up: “Standing up is about standing up for the community as if you’re part of the community.”
On showing up: “Showing up is about being visible in your allyship. It’s about saying ‘I’m an ally’, adding your pronouns to your email signatures and social media sites. And observing days like Trans Day of Remembrance.”
Overall: “You don’t need to be an expert. But by helping yourself and educating yourself you’re helping others. You are saying ‘I am an ally and I think about diversity and inclusion’. And that is the first step to brilliant allyship.”
Stonewall also provides lessons in allyship. It’s Workplace Equality Index has multiple questions asking employers for evidence of it. The idea for ‘visible signals’ has spawned a plethora of badge schemes, rainbow staircases, rainbow crossings, rainbow lanyards, and rainbow cupcakes…
The instruction to have ‘visible signals’ is probably what led Barclays to promote transgenderism to users of its cashpoints.
Allyship was supposed to work. We could show up, cherish each other and celebrate bringing our whole selves to work. We could use whichever loo we want and relegate the dignity and privacy of the two sexes to the history books. We would note the irreversible damage done to vulnerable young people by experimental gender medicine as an acceptable side product of our self-actualisation.
Well, allyship didn’t work. When we wised up we came back to the fact that sex is real and matters. When we stood up we spotted other people starting to have questions too. When we showed up we decided to head to a Let Women Speak meeting in Hyde Park to hear from Posie Parker.
The accusations of transphobia ultimately didn’t work either. Live not by lies!
So now too, the violent threats won’t work. Sex matters and so does the truth. Gender ideology is over – but we need to keep the receipts, expose the history and learn the lessons. “By educating yourself you are helping others” – thanks for the tip, Barclays.
Caroline Ffiske is a Director of Conservatives for Women. Find her on X.
Stop Press: The Met Police is reviewing death threats to women displayed by trans rights activists at a protest. The Telegraph has more.
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