Sex Realist/Gender Critical Vs Gender Identity Beliefs A Quick Guide
10 minute read
I had some feedback that my last article (What Is Gender Identity Ideology?) was over complicated; for clarity I have made a table of the views as I understand them. I haven’t provided any source links in this article; links are available in the in-depth articles on both Gender Identity beliefs and Gender Critical beliefs.
The key point to remember is that these beliefs are not held uniformly; people may have some or all of the beliefs but still fall broadly under gender critical/sex realist or gender identity/sex denial in terms of their beliefs.
From what I’ve read and watched believers in Gender Identity misunderstand the Gender Critical view and think it reduces everyone down to their genitals, and that Gender Critical people think that biology determines how men and women should be. This is probably down to the more polarised stance found in the USA where there are people on the political right who are both critical of Gender Ideology AND believe that women and men should adhere to gendered stereotypes (ie woman=submissive, nurturing, man=dominant, brave). This is definitely not the case in the UK where the majority of Gender Critics are women and gay men who are politically on the left, including feminists who have been fighting against gender stereotypes since the 1960s. Gender Critical feminists in the UK and USA want society to change to accept that although man and woman are biological categories they should be free of gender stereotypical expectations ie there is no right way to be a man or woman.
Relevance for Social Work (and other professions): This has been framed in the UK press as a ‘culture war’ for the last 8 years with very little reporting from mainstream press, leaving the majority of people unaware of the implications for them, their clients, children or their own families.
I am sex realist/gender critical, I think that sex does matter in some situations; women have the legal right to request same sex carers, for rape crisis groups and refuges to be single sex, for changing areas to be single sex (not just for ourselves but so we know our teenage girls have some level of protection when they start going shopping or swimming without adult support), and for women to meet and organise socially and politically without men if they wish to. These are all situations which are permitted under the 2010 Equality Act but which are undermined in reality by policies which favour Gender Identity over biological sex.
Hopefully this table will help anyone new to the ‘culture war’ have some understanding of what it’s about and how to understand what young people we work with may have encountered on the internet.
Idealism: One thing I haven’t included in the table is a possible motivating factor for teens and young adults; for some their belief in Gender Identity Ideology is fuelled by idealism, the belief that they can rid the world of discrimination by denying any difference between the two sexes. Their end goal is actually the same as many Gender Critical feminists; we all want to live in a world where everyone is valued and treated equitably (with adjustments made according to need), but with a vastly different understanding of how to get there.
Realism: The levels of violence and discrimination against women and girls will not magically disappear by denying differences between the sexes. Acknowledging that there are differences in general between the sexes does not restrict or limit any person to any particular behaviour, we can accept the reality of biology but still aim for a world free of gendered expectations. As humans we have a level of agency over ourselves, we are influenced by our biology but it is a combination of biology, genetics, socialisation and the culture around us which makes us who we are. This is the Ecological model in action. (Social Work Theories; Broffenbrenner)
Stereotypes: The last point in the table demonstrates a misunderstanding between people on both sides; Gender Identity believers think that Gender Critics misunderstand them by thinking they help perpetuate harmful gender stereotypes: For Gender Identity believers it is not a stereotypical feminine appearance which makes a man a woman, it is their inner feeling of femaleness; there are some trans-women who dress as casually as some biological women (jeans and t-shirts, no make-up).
Gender Critics are frustrated with the misunderstanding by Gender Identity believers that Gender Critics think all men and women should conform to gender stereotypes when what they want is for men and women to accept the reality of their sex but dress how they choose and participate in the activities they enjoy irrespective of sex.
* Remember according to Gender Identity beliefs you do not need to change your body to be transgender, if you are a male with an inner feeling of being a woman then you are a woman and so if you are attracted to women you are a lesbian. This means a male with a penis and no external feminine features can identify as a woman and a lesbian.
1Terf stands for Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist but is used as an insult against anyone who raises concerns about Gender Ideology
2A large number of organisations in the UK have been trained and advised by Stonewall through their Diversity Champion Scheme. These organisations have been told to treat Gender Identity as though it is a protected characteristic in UK law; they allow people to self ID as male or female and treat misgendering as hate speech or misconduct. This includes the police; death threats and violence against women are not taken seriously but several women have been arrested for ‘hate speech’ on the basis of misgendering on Twitter or saying men can’t be women.