Notes on the 'women's rights vs trans rights' framing that's popped up recently, since I'm starting to see (I hope) well-meaning and non-bigoted feminist colleagues buying into it. In short, it's a ploy, and distracting attention from the very real threats to women's services. 1/
First, we should always be wary when we see 'competing rights' claims being made. Framing the debate this way is a longstanding tactic of the Christian Right. They learnt it from abortion, and it's been transposed to, among other things, the fight against gay marriage. 2/
It's why US anti-gay marriage activism now focuses on rights of religious freedom, small business owners etc - see @AndrewRLewis on this. It's also why anti-abortion activists in the UK have suddenly taken up the cause of e.g. disabled people and South Asian women's rights. 3/ 
We also know that the Christian Right deliberately uses a divide and conquer strategy (in this case, 'separate the T from the LGB') to weaken the LGBT and feminist movements. They have been open about this:
splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017… 4/
splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017… 4/
That SPL article mentions the group Hands Across the Aisle, who have been very active in the current UK debate with ties to many of the 'pro-women' groups. These ties have been well documented by @CaseyExplosion 5/
In short, there is deliberate work being done here to present trans rights as a threat to women's (sometimes, specifically lesbians') rights. Don't fall for it - they're coming for the rest of us next. Now, onto the damaging effects of this for women. 6/
What's concealed in all of this is that there are very real threats to women's services and spaces. Attention to this is being sidelined in favour of the Big Trans Threat. First up: prison services. 7/
The Karen White case is awful and people are right to be concerned. But the problem was not caused by trans equality. Unfortunately, cis women can and do also commit sexual assaults in women's prisons. There are safeguarding measures in place... 8/
...to keep violent prisoners away from the vulnerable. These should apply to all women, trans or not, but were not followed in the Karen White case. Again, this is terrible. But why don't prisons apply their own safeguarding? 9/
The overarching problem here is austerity. We know from recent news that prison services are extremely stretched. They do not have the resources to function properly. The longer austerity bites, the more this will happen. 10/
Same goes for violence against women services. From the tenor of the current debate, you might think that trans women posed a huge threat to these services. But those running them say otherwise: they operate trans-inclusive services without issue bit.ly/2Cp0URJ 11/
There IS a real threat to VAW services: again, it's austerity. Since 2010, Women's Aid have had to turn away a third of referrals due to lack of space. politics.co.uk/comment-analys… 12/
Meanwhile, local councils are regularly sending women back to their abusers due to lack of housing. Services are being dismantled under our noses while we pontificate about the hypothetical threat posed by trans women. politics.co.uk/comment-analys… 13/
Women are facing a pincer attack from austerity and a coalition of Christian right and hate groups. The trans debate is at best a distraction and at worst is actively undermining our ability to stand together. We need each other - don't fall for it! 14/14
God dammit, wrong link. discoversociety.org/2017/05/02/pol…
