Thread by @billybragg

Watching the Gender Wars doc last night, I was struck by the similarity between the experiences of Kathleen Stock and the trans woman Katy Jon Went. Both testified how they had struggled with their designated sexuality and gender 1/10

Went sought a number of therapies to avoid changing her body, but only when as a last resort she transitioned did she find instant relief. Likewise Stock spoke of how coming out as a lesbian made her comfortable with herself “I felt like a different person” 2/10

Both these women found relief by responding to their feelings, casting doubt on idea that sexuality and gender are ‘hardware’ issues - that biology is immutable and you must conform to whatever equipment nature has provided you with 3/10

Does that argument not apply to lesbians as well? They are not equipped to have sex as defined by biology with other women. Their ‘hardware’ is incompatible. The belief that nature designed two sexes to be conjoined together for the purpose of procreation is an ancient one 4/10

And so persistent that we needed to pass laws to protect lesbians from those who insist that it is a biological fact that a woman should not love another woman. Stock’s views seem to be based on this determinism - you are what you are, not what you feel you are 5/10

As the Daily Telegraph said this morning in their report on Stock’s talk last night at the Oxford Union “Stock proved that biological facts triumph over feelings”. They also report that she claimed 6/10

“It is silly to make laws and policy based on something intangible that no one can see” But sexuality is something that no on can see and yet we rightly make laws based on that to protect the rights of gays and lesbians 7/10

Stock continued “Are we supposed to accept what someone says about their gender identity on their word alone?” I find this odd for a lesbian to maintain. If Stock tells me she is a lesbian, the law rightly requires me to respect that without the need for any further proof 8/10

A law was passed in Uganda yesterday making homosexuality a crime punishable by death. The justification for such draconian measures is that same sex attraction is not an innate and immutable characteristic-the reason Stock gives for believing trans women cannot be women 9/10

Expressing the idea that biology is immutable has chilling consequences for those who feel that they are at odds with society’s notions of sexuality and gender. Be they in Uganda or Oxford, people are right to protest vigorously against this idea 10/10