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The Observer view on gender data: failure to accurately record biological sex harms us all | Observer editorial
A report lays bare the extent of real-world detriment caused by institutions that have caved in to activist pressuresThe idea that the reality of people’s biological sex is immaterial in society, and that it can be replaced by the concept of gender identity – whether someone feels male or female – is a highly contested belief system that does not reflect British equalities law. Yet in recent years, it has come to dominate sections of the public sphere spanning institutions as diverse as the NHS, the police and universities, as activists have sought to impose this personal belief on everyone.The extent to which leaders in those institutions have caved in to activist pressures has led to real-world detriment. Gender-questioning children and young people have been prescribed untested drugs with harmful side effects by NHS clinicians. Rape crisis services have failed to provide women who have been sexually assaulted with single-sex services. Male rapists and sex offenders who say they believe they are really women have been locked up in female prisons with vulnerable women. The police have unlawfully tried to discourage people who believe biological sex is real from exercising their democratic right to free speech. Employment tribunal rulings illustrate how many people – particularly women – who have refused to comply with this belief system have been bullied and hounded out of their workplaces. And now a new government-commissioned review led by Prof Alice Sullivan of University College London has highlighted the extent to which official data sources have been corrupted by gender ideology.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...
A report lays bare the extent of real-world detriment caused by institutions that have caved in to activist pressures
The idea that the reality of people’s biological sex is immaterial in society, and that it can be replaced by the concept of gender identity – whether someone feels male or female – is a highly contested belief system that does not reflect British equalities law. Yet in recent years, it has come to dominate sections of the public sphere spanning institutions as diverse as the NHS, the police and universities, as activists have sought to impose this personal belief on everyone.
The extent to which leaders in those institutions have caved in to activist pressures has led to real-world detriment. Gender-questioning children and young people have been prescribed untested drugs with harmful side effects by NHS clinicians. Rape crisis services have failed to provide women who have been sexually assaulted with single-sex services. Male rapists and sex offenders who say they believe they are really women have been locked up in female prisons with vulnerable women. The police have unlawfully tried to discourage people who believe biological sex is real from exercising their democratic right to free speech. Employment tribunal rulings illustrate how many people – particularly women – who have refused to comply with this belief system have been bullied and hounded out of their workplaces. And now a new government-commissioned review led by Prof Alice Sullivan of University College London has highlighted the extent to which official data sources have been corrupted by gender ideology.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...
