It is surprising that transwomen have been the main focus of transactivist lobbying for their inclusion in female sports, when it is fair treatment for trans identified females (transmen), and some people with Difference/Variations of Sex Development (DSDs) that really is the difficult issue. This is glaring evidence of yet another form of sex-based inequality.
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The World Athletics Council are to be congratulated for recently joining international organisations, like World Rugby and swimming’s Fina, in restricting competition in the international women’s athletic division to those who have not gone through male puberty. It’s not banning trans identified males from competition as some of NZ’s media has hysterically proclaimed. Transwomen can compete in the category designated for their sex, subject to further revisions of the policy. It is up to men to make transwomen welcome, safe, and accepted in their competitions.
The embryonic coalition between the religious right and the secular ultra-right, and women angry about being silenced over what they perceive to be a range of threats to sex-based rights and to children’s safety, has focussed on the phenomenon of drag queen story hour.
Gender identity as an issue and a movement was created and marketed in the first world. In that context, a leader of women opposed to gender identity, who “channels her inner Monroe” while surfing a wave of anger on social media, is unsurprising.
I don’t know if Kelly-Jae Keen believes in her brand, but I do know that many of the women who support her are well-intentioned and genuine in their beliefs and concerns.
This is Part one of a three part post which expresses the writer’s personal opinion. It may not be that of all members of WLA.
Part One: Appearances Can Be Deceiving
If we all dressed in sex neutral clothes, wore our hair etc in sex-neutral styles, would we have such a thing as gender identity?
Do the existential crises and social conflicts flowing from the claims that an individual gender identity outweighs biological sex, have their roots in the soil of the capitalist era’s heavily sex-defined personal appearance standards?
Towards the end of March, Kellie-Jae Keen, aka Posie Parker, will be visiting NZ with her Let Women Speak roadshow. On cue, some members of the Green Party have called on the government to ban her, either from entry to NZ, or from speaking in public. They claim what she has to say is “hate speech”, and she’s depicted as a fascist, a white supremacist, and a transphobe.
The gender and sexuality questions in the NZ 2023 census are a bit of a muddle. Some of the definitions provided by the NZ Census and Statistics NZ departments add to the confusion. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, to answer the questions truthfully. It’s causing concern for many feminists and LGB people who understand the significance of material reality, science, and biology.
While many feminists’ attention remains focused solely on gender identity, issues like access to clean air and water, adequate food and shelter, quality social assistance through health, education and welfare services remain central to good lives for women and children.
Statistics NZ is still open to feedback on its inclusion of sex, gender ID and ‘sexual identity’ in the upcoming 2023 census. Census forms will be going out some time in February for collection in March.
Consultation about the sex, sexuality and gender variables in the 2023 census has been extended to next Friday, 5.00pm 20th January 2023.
Kate Weatherly, a New Zealand transgender athlete in women’s downhill mountain biking, has spoken out against FINA’s (Fédération Internationale De Natation) new rules for trans inclusion in women’s events.
In a sense, Weatherly is right, there are bigger issues in women’s sport than the participation of a few transgender athletes.
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