Brendan O'Neill in The Spectator:
It is an affront to language and truth to say ‘her penis’. It is an affront to Bryson’s victims too, who presumably had to listen as the man who assaulted them had his identity flattered and his delusions validated.
Is Nicola Sturgeon a transphobe? I ask because she has decreed that Isla Bryson, a violent man who identifies as a woman, should not be locked up at a women’s prison. And every woman who has said similar in recent years, every feminist who has said that no blokes should be allowed into women’s...
www.spectator.co.uk
Alan Cochrane in The Telegraph:
They’re now laying bets as to when she’ll resign the leadership – after next year’s general election, perhaps, if her vote doesn’t hold up, or maybe even sooner. And she’s encouraged such speculation by announcing that she’s keen to start writing her memoirs and by refusing to say how long she’ll definitely stay as leader.
archived 27 Jan 2023 06:14:32 UTC
archive.md
This issue seems to make people’s brains fall right out of their heads.
Sturgeon thought this was an easy, progressive win after being slow to support gay marriage, and that she could comfortably make the Tories look like bigots, because she doesn’t understand transgenderism in the slightest. Many straight people don’t, although the penny seems to be dropping now.
As soon as the law got involved trying to enforce a person’s sense of self then the plot was lost. Bryson is not, never has been, never will be, a woman, and we can’t just “be kind”, “live and let live” and put a rapist in a women’s prison. When it comes down to it, men are not women. There is absolutely no need to act like they are. And the elephant in the room is autogynephilia.
I’m gay and I entirely support individual free expression, clothing choices and sexuality of consenting adults. None of that should attract judgment. I don’t even care if autogynephiles want to enjoy their own thing in their own private time. But that does not translate to men in women’s spaces, being told as a lesbian I should include males in my dating pool, males in women’s sport and especially not males locked up with vulnerable women. Everyone needs to get real.
Bryson’s crimes were despicable but the delicious timing of this case couldn’t even have been scripted. Before even the idiotic law is passed, the potential for mischief is all over the front pages. “Self-ID is valid and causes no problems… oh not THAT self-ID, because, uh, NOW we can tell the difference.”