The other day I attended a screening in Brighton of the critically acclaimed film Adult Human Female. It explores the challenges posed to women’s rights by sexist trans activism, including the way that gender “self-identification” can be used by abusive males to target women and children.
It’s an inspiring though depressing film, made from a left-wing perspective, and therefore likely to be irritating to Conservatives. Nonetheless, I would recommend anyone who is interested in gender ideology and who doesn’t buy into the absurd “no debate” mantra to watch and discuss it, whatever their political background.
I missed a family event to watch it, even though I was told that it could be viewed on YouTube. I felt strongly that I should be able to attend a film of this kind in person and without hindrance.
Women in this city, as elsewhere in the UK, have for several years been unable to freely discuss this issue without fear of sanction, harassment and threats. Elsewhere in the country, screenings of this film have regularly been sabotaged.
I did attend but not without hindrance because of the security measures in place. Every person who booked tickets had to be checked and the secret venue was only revealed an hour or so before the event to prevent attempts by misogynist trans activists to close it down.
There were ID checks and people gathered a good hour before the film began. The police had been alerted. The film went ahead and trans activists, who gathered elsewhere, never discovered where it was. However, there was an unacceptable cost in terms of time, expense and anxiety.
The Brighton Women’s Liberation Collective which organised the viewing, arranges regular discussion meetings it calls “Sisters Salon”, all with tight security.
The women involved have been in the forefront of defending women’s services in this city, some of them for decades. At least one of them was central to the city’s struggle against Section 28.
These brave women have spoken out about the real risks posed by misogynist gender ideology. In so doing they have faced threats and intimidation.
Many have experienced male violence and are distressed at the loss of the city’s female-only support services and spaces, which were once some of the best in the country.
Others are parents who, having spent years challenging sex role stereotypes, now confront schools teaching their children that if they are uncomfortable with traditional sex roles they may be in the “wrong body” and not “really” a boy or girl at all.
Some are lesbians, outraged at being accused of transphobia when they assert their right to same-sex attraction and to reject sexual advances by abusive trans-identified males.
These women have become used to having meetings cancelled at the last moment, opponents kicking at doors, shouting sexist insults, punching glass windows and attempting to drown out debate, in some cases with police standing by.
The women are not violent and have threatened nobody. Yet all too often they have been treated as aggressors by local police, who have explained their shameful failure to protect them from hate-fuelled attacks by describing their role as to “keep the sides apart”, cynically suggesting equality of violence and threatening behaviour.
The film reminds us that the majority of people who identify as trans women remain fully intact males, who are heavier, larger and stronger than the average woman. Many are autogynephiliacs with an ongoing sexual attraction to females.
As local women wearily point out, men who challenge “gender ideology” are rarely attacked or threatened. Women are the target.
A couple of days before the film, I met with a friend who, to my surprise, asked me if I knew anything about the film. His work is based in a building occasionally used for meetings unrelated to these issues. He knew nothing about the film but had received an anonymous letter and was very disturbed by it, saying: “I don’t like being threatened.”
The letter, apparently widely distributed to possible venues across the city to try to prevent the screening, alleges that the film is “transphobic” (it isn’t), names the Brighton Women’s Liberation Collective, then accuses groups showing the film of “calling for violence against the trans community” (something of which I saw no evidence).
It states that any venue showing the film will be “complicit in this violence” which, it says, is “real and widespread” against “trans women especially” (the film offers evidence to challenge this emotive and often-repeated assertion).
The letter concludes: “Should you choose to go ahead with the screening, be assured that we will make it known far and wide that your venue has knowingly helped to promote transphobic ideas and therefore been complicit in violence against the LGBT community.
“In a place like Brighton I’m sure you can imagine this will not go down well. We hope that you take this strongly into account and that no further action is required.” (my emphasis)
It was this final threat which so incensed my friend. Though he was angry and not personally at risk, even he had to pause and consider the viability and safety of his workplace.
All too often threats have been effective. Community venues which should provide a haven for debate have been closed to dissenting female voices, grants have been withdrawn from women’s charities and individuals have stayed silent in order to safeguard funding, jobs and promotions. Worst of all, girls and women have been forced out of charities set up to support them.
“Sarah”, a survivor of sexual abuse, is currently mounting a legal challenge to local charity, Brighton’s Survivors’ Network, because of its refusal to provide female-only support.
The charity was set up as a female-only service but is now open to anyone who self-identifies as a woman. It refused Sarah’s request to provide a female-only group despite running a trans group and a “women’s group” which included trans women.
Shamefully, our local council, which over the years has allowed gender self-identification (which does not have the force of law) to burgeon while women’s and girls’ sex-based services have slowly withered and died, and which sat on its hands when Professor Kathleen Stock was bullied out of her job at Sussex University, has done nothing to support Sarah in her legal battle.
Earlier this month, Conservative MP Miriam Cates and Labour’s Rosie Duffield and Karin Smyth spoke out in Parliament against the Scottish Nationalist Party and Green Party’s controversial proposals to legally mandate self-identification in Scotland. This would have removed women’s right to female-only spaces, such as toilets, refuges and hospital wards.
Unlike male colleagues making similar objections, the women MPs were met by barracking and aggression, in particular from Brighton Kemptown’s enraged Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle, who shouted them down, jabbing his finger and actually crossing the floor to glare at and physically intimidate Miriam Cates. Both she and Rosie Duffield are survivors of abuse.
Despite general outrage and the expressed unease of Labour women, such as MP Jess Phillips, Russell-Moyle has faced no censure from Keir Starmer and explained his actions by reference to a “failure to control” his “passion”.
Since then, Rosie Duffield has published an article, The Labour Party Has a Woman Problem, which has been widely praised and discussed. Regrettably, there has been no comment at all from our local politicians.
This conspiracy of silence cannot be allowed to continue. Women and girls make up half the population and, however much Brighton and Hove chooses to forget it, sex remains a protected characteristic enshrined in equalities legislation.
Despite officialdom’s overwhelming focus on gender self-identification, I know there are local councillors, particularly in the Labour and Conservative parties, health professionals and police officers who sincerely wish to uphold the hard-won rights of women and girls, not least to freely gather, express our views and defend safe same-sex spaces.
I urge politicians and officials, along with all people of good will, to overcome their fears and to speak out in defence of women.
Jean Calder is a campaigner and journalist. For more of her work, click here.
Shame on you for publishing this bigoted drivel.
Ah. A man speaks… all be quiet and listen.
This woman agrees with him – it is drivel.
YOU be quiet and listen – neither Calder nor YOU speak for all women.
This woman supports her trans sisters and understands ALL women have a common enemy – patriarchy.
It’s a pity that name calling and prejudice are the best you can manage rather than tackling even one of the points made by an author who commands considerable respect and doesn’t hide behind a label name.
Could you quote the bigoted bit for me?
yes, i’d like him to highlight it for me too. i’ve had a very good look and i can’t find any
Shouting bigot doesn’t work anymore didn’t you get that memo?
We won’t be silenced by MEN
I love that bigots have to organise secret screenings of their “Critically acclaimed’ films.
Your comment reveals your own rancorous bigotry for what it is.
A really informative and well written piece Jean. In complete agreement.
Great post Jean, thank you for your insight and bravery. The era of silencing and “no debate” is over.
Thank you, as a woman I have not been confident to speak out and face the inevitable and terribly damaging backlash that seems to be the outcome of freedom of speech in this ‘debate’. The outcome of this silencing is dangerous- it’s dangerous from a girl and woman’s rights, safety, health, wellbeing perspective and more. I don’t care how people identify, who they sleep with, love etc. but the behaviours exhibited by a small number of aggressive trans activists are toxic and damaging, they are stifling much needed discussion, and understanding of the facts that will protect both trans and non trans individuals. Thank you for speaking up and to those women who have done so before and paid unjustly heavy prices for doing so.
J£sus fr£ak. This is utter nonsense from a religious fundamentalist.
Fear has frazzled your frontal lobe and closed your mind.
Yesterday I found out about the ‘Freedom to Speak Up’ Guardians in the NHS. This article put me in mind of the need for this freedom across civil society in order to address polarised issues carefully and compassionately. If anyone can make this happen my hope is that Brighton and Hove people can.
Thank you for this article. As a Brighton resident and a feminist I’ve watched as all the women-only spaces and services have disappeared from my city over the last decade. We still need these services, the reasons for them haven’t gone away. Brighton must now be one of the least woman-friendly places to live in the UK. We have been ignored by local politicians and it is about time our elected representatives started listening.
An excellent piece which highlights some very important issues. . We need to be able to discuss these issues without people menacing us, or immediately branding us as transphobic. Open discussion is vitally important.
True to form, the few dissenting voices make no comment on the actual content, despite it basically being a factual account of something that happened and is happening in Brighton – with a brief mention of facts relating to this issue in the rest of the country.
Exactly
I am sensitive to the fact that the majority of trans identifying people are not malicious and want to be able to live their lives peacefully in a way that allows them to be true to themselves. And that should be accommodated in law and services as far as possible. But the fact that the few who believe their rights trump all others, who seek to vilify biological women and close down all debate have created the environment in which weak leaders appear to prefer to compromise biological woman’s rights rather than stand up for the meagre services so hard won.
Misogyny is endemic and a sad reality even in Brighton women need to fight for their rights in 2020s.
I don’t agree with all you say Jean but unhindered free association needs to be protected along with free speech.
“the majority of trans identifying people are not malicious…”. Let’s not be naive. The men are sexual fetishists (yes, even the gay ones) and the women are narcissists.
They’re not only malicious they’re deliberately putting women and children in jeopardy – and they don’t care.
Well said, Jean. And thanks Brighton and Hove news for allowing you to say it. It’s a shame that we’ve got to the point where it’s surprising that you were able to get this perfectly reasonable opinion piece published.
Shame on Brighton and Hove News for posting something so bigoted – Brighton stands in solidarity with our trans friends, not with TERFs
What is bigoted about it? Attack the argument, not the person making it. The rights of groups and individuals should be handled in a balanced, sensitive and proportionate way. Unfortunately, a vocal minority of advocates for trans rights seem to believe that they should have their rights at the expense of women and girls rather than in a way that respects the rights of women and girls. If you resort to calling people names like TERF because you disagree with them, it places you in the company of bullies, bigots and misogynists and hinders your cause.
So well put; thank you.
Well said, Jess. What a horrible situation where people have to meet in secret, in order to discuss such an important matter. Those thugs are actually doing more harm to the cause of trans people. It is a reminder of how years ago, many people were so bigoted against gay men that they put out the false message that they were all paedophiles. A heterosexual man might want to pass himself (sorry, I refuse to use the word “they or themselves in this context”) off as a woman, but he (yes “he”) is still a male with male genitals, as has clearly been indicated by recent rapes of women by a trans male.
So you can’t actually engage with the piece or direct anyone to this claimed bigotry? How very typical of the just be kind crew.
You don’t seem to have got the message….no debate isn’t a thing. It might have worked for a little while but that’s long gone.
Shame on you. You don’t speak for all of Brighton.
Thank you for raising this. In primary schools in Brighton they are now telling children there are 100 genders and promoting trans as a gender in them. We need a lot more voices like Jean’s standing up for the rights of women and children in the city against this highly politicised and often dangerous transgender doctrine.
“In primary schools in Brighton they are now telling children there are 100 genders and promoting trans as a gender in them” – Really? I don’t think they are, in fact I think this is a blatant untruth. Why assert something you’ve only heard as unreliable gossip? How does this help a reasoned debate?
Suggest you have a little while ona search engine, William. Jessica is right.
Yes, they are. Speak to the head of Brunswick Primary School.
Isn’t it strange that the comments fall squarely into 2 camps.
Those from women, which are articulate & suggest a respectful debate needs to happen, and the ones which aren’t.
That threatening letter is astonishing.
Brighton in 2023. A throwback to some of the darkest times in the 20th century.
What’s the threat exactly? I must have missed that.
You must have missed the threat? That “Should you choose to go ahead with the screening, be assured that we will make it known far and wide that your venue has knowingly helped to promote transphobic ideas and therefore been complicit in violence against the LGBT community.
“In a place like Brighton I’m sure you can imagine this will not go down well. We hope that you take this strongly into account and that no further action is required”
Do you not have an idea on how violent and bloody mindedly spiteful trans activists are?
Vandalising rape crisis centres with death threats?
Three twenty somethings beating up a 60 yr old woman?
Hanging effigies of particular women?
Parading around at marches with placards calling to “dec@pitate terfs” “kill JK Rowling” or using images of hanged women?
Spitting, screaming at and following lone women?
Trying (and succeeding sometimes) to pressure employers to sack women for anti-doctrine views?
Breaking the arms of women at demonstrations and speeches?
Telling women to ‘s*ck my girld!ck’?
The thousands of sexually violent messages sent on social media and online to inboxes every day?
Throwing smoke bombs, or, like Lloyd Russell-Moyle’s assistant, screaming abuse in a baby’s face?
Women have been absolutely terrorised for defending same sex spaces.
I was at the “let women Speak” event in Brighton last September. Can I ask you why so many men were there? Some were later identified as being Far Right, in fact one of the women who spoke at the event is a member of the Far Right group ‘Hearts of Oak’.
Nice bedfellows!
Also, you seem to have missed the fact that a TERF supporter was arrested at that event for grabbing a man’s testicles, and ordered to pay a total of £328, made up of a £120 fine, £75 compensation and costs.
Anything to add?
You should add that someone who worked for the Brighton Kemptown MP screamed the kind of abuse at a parent and child that you seem keen to perpetuate. I believe that she was lucky not to be arrested for common assault.
I wasn’t at the rally, but media reports of the court case make it clear that it was a dispute between two males who were both part of the group opposing the Let Women Speak event. When in court, the accused man, who seems to have been homeless or insecurely housed, claimed to have changed sides after hearing the speeches. I don’t believe Let Women Speak can in any way be held responsible for his actions.
Well said. It’s disgusting that the TRAs get away with their constant threats of violence.
Try reading it again! More widely, there is no threat to those who are transgender but some of their more aggressive supporters find it acceptable to try to threaten and intimidate women.
Well said Jean from your fan in Hastings.
Lets be honest; Jean went in with her opinions already formed and like the film itself, there’s no argument to be made here – just pure propaganda.
So you’ve seen it? Do tell us more about it!
The line “made from a left-wing perspective, and therefore likely to be irritating to Conservatives” is hilarious given the proven close links between many anti-trans campaigners and extreme right-wing organisations. I think Ms Calder has her left and right mixed up.
Very disappointed that this was published by an outlet I otherwise thought was one of (if not the) best local news site in Brighton.
TWAM – erm, this is the most elitist, euro-centric, racism-appropriating, individualist concept. How many other “left wing” grass roots organisations are funded by Pritzer, Stryker, are supported by ExxonMobil, Barclays and every other major bank, most of the fortune 500? How many other simple humanitarian movements are guided by secretive plans written up by lawyers to ‘tie self id to more popular reform’ and avoid press interest?
Do you know that in reality trans people are within the safest demographics across the world? Almost all TDoR recorded deaths are from Brazil, which has an unbelievable femicide and murder rate generally, and the ones in the west are normally not related to transphobic violence, but robberies or domestics?
In the States, despite what we’re told by the incredible propaganda machine this meek political movement has, trans people are murdered on average 1.48 per 100,000. For the general population its around 5 per 100,000, for black men it is EIGHTEEN.
This is an intensely rich and privileged political arm of some very dark people. Meanwhile, TRAs can’t tell the difference between fundamentalist Christian homophobes and people like Simon Fanshawe, Helen Steel, Ruth Serwotka, or any others – even Stonewall vets!
Seriously, that’s just a ridiculous statement. You need to do some research before you start blathering on about trans people being in the safest demographic in the world.
No, no they are not
Well said, Jean. Thank you for writing this piece, and well done Brighton & Hove News for daring to publish something highlighting the Trans activists’ attacks on women and girls. The ‘no debate’ mantra of gender ideology is unacceptable – as is the adolescent ‘shut up, bigot’ mantra of so many of its cultists. Women in Brighton are increasingly treated as 3rd class citizens, and some straight talking (no pun intended) is desperately needed.
Good article, thank you. Trans activists are entitled to their views but not to abuse everyone who has a different view. The refusal to debate is absurd too, although the current furore about rapists being sent to women’s prison has illustrated why ‘no debate’ was the policy. Self ID evangelists like Nicola Sturgeon have been unable to explain what ‘trans women are women’ means without tying themselves in knots.
Fantastic article, Jean. The points you make are unanswerable, really. Human beings can’t change sex, so no man or boy can become a woman or girl, or vice versa. Men who say they are really women are just that…MEN who say they are women. You are the right side of history.
Having seen the violence and abuse rife in this movement, from the sexual used insults, threats and aggressions; the absurd reach into policy of police, the bar book, the NHS, safeguarding etc; the homophobia where lesbians are abused for being lesbian; the abuse of women like Hibo Wardere and Jana Cornell – black refugee/immigrant women who suffered infibulation and are harassed for calling it what it is – female genital mutilation; the awful, underhand tactics and intimidation of rape crisis centres and domestic violence refuges: I’m fairly convinced this is nothing but a rabid men’s rights movement that is actively endangering people, including transsexuals.
Brilliant article!
That is one badly written and incoherent mess of a comment.
Are you rabid?
I am late to this party. It began when I read that the SNP MP Mhairi Black had taken along a drag queen to read to pupils at a Paisley primary school. The drag queen’s stage name was Flow Job and there was photo of this large man in drag smiling with the young children in the ‘Rainbow Club’. EH? How did this come about?
There’s a highly organised trans political network which has been slowly spreading its tentacles and suffocating UK institutions like the BBC and the NHS.
The recent double rape case in Scotland has thankfully exposed the dangerous Gender Recognition Bill and how the Scottish Greens/SNP coalition have driven this TRA agenda. During the TRA protest in Glasgow the other day there was a photo of smiling politicians with someone holding a “Decapitate a TERF” placard behind them. The MPs said later they were unaware of what was going on behind their backs.
Kind of sums it up…
Excellent article, agree with you all the way.
It is impressive that Brighton and Hove News published this article. Well done. Too often the media have either ignored or defamed women’s defense of their sex based rights. Judging by the shocking events at Septembers ‘Let Women Speak’ rally (an event accorded little protection from police and subsequently violently attacked by balaclava wearing ‘anti terf’ protesters), the young people recruited by these activists have bought in to the shameful accusation that these women are “anti-trans”. The Green Party leadership’s tacit support for a banner rolled out that day ‘No Terfs on Our Turf’ links with the harassment and intimidation of Prof Kathleen Stock that resulted in a senior Green Party member obliged to withdraw as an election candidate.
Add that to the recent behaviour of MP Lloyd RM, it sends a shiver to realise that our political class actively support the message that many thousands of women who live in Brighton and Hove are not welcome here.
Well said Jean Calder – a shouty minority (many of whom govern the city) do indeed have a woman problem.
Thanks for speaking up.
As a resident of East Sussex who has been assaulted by trans activists for daring to speak up for women’s rights I applaud you. The dark days of ‘no debate’ are over and not before time.
Well done to you as well for making sure your voice is heard. I don’t know anyone that agrees with the peculiar minority view these people are making sure is shoved down our throats.
Another article from Jean trying to equivalate her transphobia with actual feminism…yawn
B&HN making its views very clear by giving her a weekly soapbox to stand on too
Transphobic bully discovers people fight back, bites off more than she can chew
You are happy to make abusive comments about someone you disagree with, but you seem unable to address the concerns that Jean articulates on behalf of many women. Your behaviour is typical of the bullying behaviour directed at women like Jean when they address this subject. At least Jean tackles the issues.
You think she’s trying to debate anything?
What has she done to address the fact that painting all trans women as predators is blatant bigotry?
She hasn’t painted all trans women as predators. It is a sad fact though that some abusive men have taken advantage of the current rules to sexually assault women.
You are very selective about what you take offence to!
There is some pretty offensive comments on this thread made about trans people, but you don’t mind that- cos you agree with them!
Calder is a transphobe and she does not speak on behalf of most women, she certainly speaks to and for bigots.
I should start by saying I come from a very comfortable gay male life, and as such I have no real input into the arguments on transgender people.
Firstly, whatever the position is on straight men claiming to be transgender, we should be mindful that there are people with gender dysphoria, trans people do exist and they are both this assigned male and female at birth.
I am well aware that back in the 1980s, when I was at University, the general argument was that gay people were the spawn of the devil, and deserved no rights. this seems to be the position we are arguing about now, and I expect that if those that want all trans people detransitioned (or indeed killed) succeed, their next move will be to return to the argument about gay men and women.
That having been said, I consider that you can choose as a lesbian not to want to have a relationship or sex with a trans woman who still has male genitalia and that isn’t discrimination, similarly gay men can decline to have a relationship with trans men with female genitalia.
But life is as much about relationships between people as much as it is about the phisical nature of our bodies, and a lesbian who falls in love with a trans woman (or a gay man who falls in love with a trans man is still a lesbian or gay man and isn’t “straight” as much as some would like to label them,.
There is a problem with straight men who use the nature of others to get what they want and that has to be resolved for the safety of all, but can we step back from the violent rhetoric and work out as a society how we get on with each other?
What a genuinely thoughtful contribution to such a heated debate. I dont believe trans people are the spawn of the devil. I would not want anyone, trans or otherwise, to endure discrimination. I hope they can be treated with love and respect. One of the key issues is less with trans people, but a relatively small number of predatory men, who have used trans rights as a cover to further their offending. Another area that has caused difficulty for many decent and kind people is when trans and women’s rights come into conflict. Competitive sport is an example of this, although not the only one, and it comes with its own particular challenges. I agree wholeheartedly with your wish for a step back from the violent rhetoric. These things must be debated, and ideally with respect for different points of view.
This whole article is WILD. How dare you vindicate someone that is taking lawful action against a charity for people that have suffered sexual assault. I have used them personally, and they are an indispensable resource who have included everyone for years. Pitting women against trans people is utterly disgusting. We both deserve rights and no one gets anything if we are not together.
Jean is an absolute Shero.. all she decribes is the truth. T-sexism/misogyny is rife amongst TAs . They are losing their claims and the wheels of their misogynist ideology are falling off.. about time.
For an alternate critique of this film, please read https://www.rs21.org.uk/2023/01/23/adult-human-female-and-the-contradictions-of-left-wing-transphobia
Very good article, thank you.
Horrible article. Easily disprovable, hateful speech pushing back against the trans civil rights moment. Shame on you for publishing this.
Trans people get medicine taken away that cis people can get from their GP easily, and don’t have equal rights to adoption or getting married in the same way cis people can because of the struggle to get their gender legally recognized. Then these transphobes have their beliefs questioned and call it violence- when it’s just free speech on free speech. Trans people are trans for themselves, not anyone else. You don’t need a GRC to enter the bathroom or a changing room, ‘abusive men’ couldn’t use that to gain access to women’s spaces no matter how much they wanted to.
Gender is part of someone’s identity, and you can do whatever you want with it. No diagnosis or permission is needed for someone to describe their identity in whatever words they like.