Does a woman have a penis? Of course not. Until recently, that basic biological fact was accepted by almost everyone. Perhaps it still is but, with the transgender thought police waiting in the wings, it is a truth that few politicians are willing to articulate.
After a leaked recording emerged – allegedly from a meeting of the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs – we can perhaps be clearer about Rishi Sunak’s views. Referring to Lib Dem leader, Ed Davey, the Prime Minister pointed out that, ‘You may have noticed Ed Davey has been very busy…trying to convince everybody that women clearly had penises’.
Sunak added:
‘You all know, I’m a big fan of everybody studying maths to 18. It turns out we need to focus on biology to 18 as well.’
The outrage from the alphabet people has already begun. Not just about what Sunak said, but the laughter from his audience. ‘His focus on genitalia and who has penises is borderline indecent,’ said Peter Tatchell.
If it is forbidden to even speak the truth about the characteristics of biological sex, it is surely blasphemous to ridicule the fantasy that sex is no more than a feeling in someone’s head.
The object of ridicule was Ed Davey and his ludicrous ideas
The perhaps inconvenient truth is that we did not create sex, sex created us. It existed millions of years before human beings appeared on the planet. Among mammalian species (like us), it is the males who have penises, which they can use to deliver the small gametes that they produce in their testes. Females have a different set of organs.
Presumably this was the biology that Sunak was referring to. According to the National Curriculum for England, children aged 11 to 14 are expected to be taught about ‘reproduction in humans (as an example of a mammal), including the structure and function of the male and female reproductive systems.’
But while all this teaching may be happening in the biology lab, elsewhere the truth is being obfuscated. Ambiguous language and wishful thinking has – in some people’s minds, at least – detached the word woman from the biological sex it once described. Others have decided that it is perhaps safer not to get involved and keep their scientific truth to themselves, but it is a debate that must not be ignored. If pseudoscience goes unchallenged, the next generation may be taken in by it.
The laughter from Sunak’s colleagues has been cited as evidence that trans people were being mocked in that meeting. No. The object of ridicule was Davey and his ludicrous ideas. Or perhaps it was the natural response to the voicing of a taboo? But it was not an attack on trans people.
Trans people have been let down badly by these new ideas. Indeed if women can have penises, then why would male transsexuals go to extreme lengths to have their penis removed? And why should the NHS pay for the operation? Despite the myths propagated on the internet, in real life, bodies matter. Women have female bodies, and female bodies do not have penises. Sunak knows this, and his audience knew it. We all know it, really.
It was telling that Sunak referred to Ed Davey and the Lib Dems. Keir Starmer was sat on the fence for a while, refusing to say whether women could have a penis. Last year, he avoided the question, suggesting that, ‘I don’t think that discussing this issue in this way helps anyone in the long run.’ More recently he said that trans rights cannot override women’s rights.
Next year, Starmer may be prime minister. If he commands a majority in the Commons, he could decide whether to make a trans rights bill a priority. We certainly don’t need new legislation, and personally I would prefer the government to leave trans people alone and focus on what really matters: things like, jobs, health, education and public services. If Starmer has any doubts then the recent debacle of Nicola Sturgeon’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill is all the evidence he needs to leave the issue alone.
But what if he falls short and invites the Lib Dems to form a red-yellow coalition? That is why Ed Davey’s words matter. Earlier this year, he claimed that some women can ‘clearly’ have a penis. Davey has also announced that:
‘Trans women are women, trans men are men. The trans community is one of the most discriminated against in the UK. Lib Dems must always stand up for equality & human rights for all.’
If, following the next election, Davey finds himself to be deputy prime minister, we cannot say that we have not been warned. Rishi Sunak was right to remind his colleagues. Laughter or no laughter, Davey’s nonsensical ideas may yet end up in the ascendency.
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