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| Flag that represents the trans community (Image: The Age) |
The 'transgender debate' has been hard to escape in recent years. It's impacting many areas of our lives, including in schools, work and sport. Sadly, the media narrative of these stories has made it impossible to rationally discuss how to best support people who have decided to make this life-changing decision, or how to assure their 'opponents' that they aren't being cast aside, or their rights have been taken from them. I'll try and analyse this as level-headed as possible and conclude what we (UK as a whole) should be doing, as a way of being a world leader on what is seen as a divisive matter, where it ought not to be.
The current narrative is arguably led by two very different sides - one, the so-called 'pro-trans' groups, who combatively argue that people who want to transition should have easy access to basically everything; from legally changing their gender, to requiring advanced medical treatments at a click of a button. The other group are completely on the other side of that spectrum, largely led by women who believe that, particularly transwomen, are a threat to women rights and shouldn't go anywhere near female-only spaces. They're often dismissed as 'transphobic', or 'anti-trans' by critics.
These groups of people are fine to express how they feel, yet, bring them together, we're lacking constructive arguments about where transgender people fit in today's ever evolving society. The narrative is going around in needless circles which does transgender people - and women - a genuine disservice. I must say, the volume of intense debate is impressive when you think that less than 100,000 people in the UK 'identify' as trans, according to 2021 Census records.
We need to start at the root of the matter, in understanding the reasons why people consider changing their key biological features. Gender dysphoria is rising to levels never seen before, especially among younger people. Parents, who deserve every sympathy and empathy on this, face an impossible choice of either using their natural instincts and - like other matters - confidently suggest their child wait to make decisions like this until they reach adulthood, or take their child's every word in fear that they may take drastic actions behind closed doors.
The complexities of childhood today are a whole new ball game compared to when I was a child in the 1990s and early noughties. I'm forever grateful that I was raised before social media or internet became truly popular, both are littered with an overload of information young people should not have access to, but do. It isn't just Instagram and the like which are exposing young people to explicit content about how we can change our bodies. Parental controls on mobile devices can only take someone so far.
The education system has a big role to play in detecting early signs of gender dysphoria. It isn't difficult for boards to come together and agree mechanisms for young people to celebrate the amazing things a human body is capable of. It has a big role to work with parents to show that periods and puberty aren't scary, but absolutely natural. Preserving the mental health of pupils must play a central role in this, and allowing them to openly talk about how they feel about their bodies should also be encouraged, and without judgement. Them talking doesn't mean their decision is final, but the more you close the doors on them and dismiss their feelings as tosh (or take their every word as gospel), the more determined they are to take that life-changing step. It's almost as though many of us have forgotten what it was like to be a child with strong opinions.
Some may deny them, but believe medical experts when they say gender dysphoria is real. Equally, it's not transphobic to push for early interventions to ensure that we reduce the number of cases. Treatment to begin the process of transitioning shouldn't be seen as the first solution to something of this magnitude. It should be seen as a treatment for those who, by professionals, have measurably concluded that a transition takes place. And that decision should be made during adulthood, not before leaving secondary school.
For those who go through the change, they rightly have the freedom to go where they want without having others questioning their identity in doing so. I don't understand, for example, the argument that transwomen shouldn't go to female-only spaces such as public bathrooms or changing rooms. How do they propose to monitor the physical identity of those who attend these places? Are we all expected to show our ID before entering, for example, in case we entered the wrong room? If someone hasn't fully transitioned, and is, say, born male and wore a dress, you wouldn't expect them to walk into a male dressing room. Some men are unforgiving when it comes to their narrowminded judgements and take matters into their own hands.
For women - such as JK Rowling - who hint that some transwomen only go to women-only spaces to get into women's trousers, show signs of transphobia, a genuine fear that those transitioning are predators and doing it for the wrong reasons. The percentage of cases where that has actually happened, compared to the number of transwomen out there, is tiny. Yes, one case is one case is too many. However, don't let these incidents, which are overhyped by certain media titles, put policymakers off from allowing transwomen into women-only spaces. Racism, ageism, ableism and sizeism are rifer in single-gendered spaces, and perhaps need to be taken more seriously.
On trans people's role in competitive sports, I understand the concerns by sporting bodies who have carefully spent a lot of time deciding where they are categorised. The solution doesn't need to be that complicated and their conclusions should be applied to prison allocations too. If someone has fully transitioned, going through every required treatment, they should compete as their 'new' gender. The human body is a lot more complicated than arguing that 'those born as men are too powerful to compete against other women'. If you're raising 'the lack of fairness' for, say women, read the story of athlete Caster Semenya, who has to constantly prove her birth identity.
That being said, if someone is going through treatment, it isn't too controversial to suggest they compete against those who were born with the same biological features as them. A gender isn't changed from the moment of deciding that the treatment is the best way forward. The same applies if you're transitioning from female to male and you're pregnant - you're not a 'pregnant man'.
The transgender debate has to be viewed as something that's black-and-white with a dash of colour. Any matter that's a cocktail of legal and medical requirements has to be done with sincerity and sensitivity. And it's done through understanding both very different sides of the argument. Change and acceptance across society simply doesn't happen overnight. I can speak for myself. For example, it'll take me longer to recognise 'non-binary' or gender fluidity when I believe that biological identity is more powerful and wonderful. It'll also take me longer to recognise gender as a 'feeling', not fact. To me, that'd allow stereotyping to influence how we live. We should get rid of the notion that some things are for boys and others for girls.
It'll also take me longer to understand when people say they're 'born in the wrong body' when, again, you can't deny the power and wonder of science. I didn't choose to be a boy, neither did my parents. But I'm bloody delighted I am one. Equally, if I wanted to change that, with extensive professional approval, the power and wonder of science can allow for that to happen. It'll also take me longer to allow words like 'cis' (your identity today is the same as when you were born) into my everyday vocabulary, when in my eyes, you're either man, woman, transman or transwoman.
As I raised earlier, changing the behaviour of the masses isn't done overnight. Rights for gays and lesbians are still relatively new, even if overdue. If we're able to have a shared cultural understanding of how gender is defined in a modern society, it's easy for the UK government and membership bodies to make appropriate changes without feeling they're treading on thin ice. Westminster (and the devolved nations) will only stumble if they proactively satisfy one side of the debate. Transgender people deserve better than be treated as political football.
It's important to find a balance between supporting those committed to transitioning (for the right reasons) and address the concerns by those who feel needlessly threatened. It's a collected effort; allowing teachers to work with parents on talking to children at home and schools, allowing the natural transitioning of a person from one gender to another, and allowing identities to change at the time when treatments are complete as opposed to when our minds feel like it. Deny any of this, and the narrative will only get increasingly toxic and shows no sign of ending.
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