Politicians, celebrities and business leaders will make laudable declarations to “end violence by stopping the silence”. But many will remain silent, or even excuse or encourage the escalating campaign of intimidation, threats and violence against women who speak up for the privacy, dignity and safety of women and girls. 

JK Rowling wrote in 2020 about the “trans activists who declare that TERFs need punching and re-educating”. 

“TERF” stands for “trans exclusionary radical feminist”. It is a catch-all insult for any woman who says that sex matters, and it marks her out for social ostracism, workplace complaints and threats and violence in public places.

Rowling said: 

“We’re living through the most misogynistic period I’ve experienced. Back in the 80s, I imagined that my future daughters, should I have any, would have it far better than I ever did, but between the backlash against feminism and a porn-saturated online culture, I believe things have got significantly worse for girls. Never have I seen women denigrated and dehumanised to the extent they are now.”

This is not just online nastiness, and it is not only about words. Nor is it a case of “both sides are as bad as each other”. This is a campaign of intimidation that glorifies, incites and excuses male violence against women. 

We have compiled evidence: 48 incidents over the past five years. Bomb threats; assaults; urine poured over the doorway of a woman’s workplace; women surrounded, shouted down and called c**ts and b**ches by masked men; school-girls spat at; older women pushed to the floor; lesbians intimidated at Pride marches; academics requiring protection from security officers on campus; women followed down the street by large groups of men shouting obscenities. Trans-rights activists who have held up signs in public places calling for “TERFs” to be punched or decapitated. Women who have needed a police escort to leave a pub after a quiet drink because a mob chanting trans slogans has gathered outside. 

This is misogyny writ large. And it is a triple attack on women.

The violence and intimidation are an attempt to silence women from speaking about the risk posed to the single-sex spaces and services that are supposed to protect women and girls when clarity about sex in law and policy is lost. 

The voices, events, films, books and meetings that the violent thugs seek to silence are those of women trying to carefully and compassionately articulate the problem and find solutions that protect women and girls at their most vulnerable. 

Despite the legal judgment that people with gender-critical beliefs are protected against discrimination, if they depart from the mantra that “trans women are women”, many face harassment at work and complaints that put their job at risk. 

When frontline workers, professionals, policy-makers and academics are afraid to talk about the reality of the two sexes, women and girls are harmed. 

Rapists have been put in women’s prisons and women’s hostels. The NHS has a policy of putting men who identify as women (or merely claim to be “non-binary”) in women’s hospital wards, including locked mental health wards. 

If a woman asks for a female doctor, nurse or care assistant she may find herself faced with a man who identifies as a woman. If she objects she may be lied to, abused and called a bigot. 

The same can happen if she needs to be searched by police, in prison or by a security guard. 

Female survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence need female-only spaces and services in which to recover. So do homeless women, women battling addiction and alcoholism, female offenders and women whose families are in crisis. These groups overlap. As criminologist Jo Phoenix emphasises, studies show that anywhere between 66% and 95% of women who are convicted of criminal offences have suffered head injuries, with the overwhelming majority caused in adulthood by male partners.

But the women who work in these services have been terrorised out of speaking up for female-only services, and out of saying “no” to men who want access based on their declared gender identities. The funders of these services, both public and charitable, pressure those who manage them to deny that there is any problem. 

The system of safeguarding developed to protect children, young people and vulnerable adults from abuse, harm and neglect has been hollowed out by the taboo on speaking truthfully about the two sexes.

Perversely, when women speak up about this issue online or in public, they face not only threats of violence but police visits and investigations that frame their resistance as bigotry. Their cases are handled by officers and prosecutors who have been trained by Stonewall and other trans lobby groups to view them as hateful and discriminatory: as not only “asking for it” when they are abused but as criminals for daring to speak about that abuse.

Over the next 16 days, Sex Matters together with Women’s Declaration International will be highlighting the intimidation, threats and violence that women face when they speak truthfully about the two sexes and stand up for sex-based rights

We have published a timeline of intimidation and violence and a video.

This month we took our letter, signed by nearly 15,000 people, to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. We will be sending detailed evidence to the Minister for Victims and Safeguarding, and to His Majesty;s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services. 

Join us by sharing our messages on social media, share this post and our timeline to tell people what is happening and donating to support our campaign. 

The post This is male violence against women appeared first on Sex Matters.

Our video below shows some of the incidents of intimidation, threats and violence that women have faced from transactivists when they try to meet and speak about the law and about their rights.

Ten examples

60-year-old woman assaulted, London

A group of women gathered at Speakers’ Corner before a meeting on the Gender Recognition Act were met by a small group of trans activists waving placards saying “TERFs not welcome”. Maria MacLachlan was taking photographs when one grappled with her, snatched her camera and smashed it on the ground. Another joined in and hit her several times. The second assailant was convicted of assault by battery. September 2017

Siege on the stairs, Bristol

When feminist activists held a public event at the Jam Jar community arts centre in Bristol, black-clad activists in balaclavas forced their way into the building and blocked the stairs so women could not get in or out. The meeting had to have a heavy police presence in order to go ahead. April 2018

Security guards restrain man to prevent assault, Edinburgh

Joseph “Cathy” Brennan, a trans-identifying man who had tweeted “I think there should be more Speaker’s Corner type incidents” and “British TERFs need to be made afraid”, attempted to assault journalist Julie Bindel after she took part in a panel event at Edinburgh. Bindel recounts that he screamed that “I was scum, I was a c***, I was filth… He was shouting and ranting and raving, ‘You’re a f****** c***, you’re a f****** b****, a f****** TERF’.” Bindel said Brennan lunged at her with raised fists, and a security guard restrained him. Brennan was investigated by the police and accepted a fiscal fine (a form of deferred prosecution agreement in Scotland issued as an alternative to prosecution). June 2019

Lesbians spat at, Lancaster

A group of lesbians attended Lancaster Pride with banners bearing messages that included “Lesbians are female homosexuals” and “Lesbians don’t have penises” and stood on the steps of the town hall. A crowd surrounded them, chanted over them and held up flags to block their signs from public view. Some protesters grabbed at the women’s banners. They were spat at and some protestors screamed in their faces. Robert Mee, CEO of Lancaster Pride, shouted at them: “F*ck off you f*cking dogs”. June 2019

Mob kicks at windows of feminist meeting, Brighton

When Woman’s Place UK organised an event in Brighton to coincide with the Labour party conference, the first venue they booked cancelled a few hours before, saying it could not guarantee the security of the meeting. WPUK moved the event to an alternative venue. Around 100 trans activists, many masked, blocked both entrances and tried to intimidate attendees. Despite a police presence, the protestors were allowed to stand close to the entrance, blocking it and the pavement. A group of protestors went to the back of the building, where they were permitted by the police to kick and bang on the windows of the meeting room for two hours. September 2019

Trans-identified men shout abuse at women, London

When Woman’s Place UK held an event at the QEII conference centre, there was a protest by a small but extremely aggressive group that included several trans-identifying men who shouted abuse at attendees, at people going to an unrelated black business event, and at venue staff and WPUK volunteers. Their chants included “Shut the f*ck up, you c*nt” shouted into the face of a steward; “Call Weightwatchers, your body’s not doing it”; “Your hair is minging, buy a weave”; “Your breath smells like you’ve been eating ar*e, have you been eating her a*se?”; “Are you a lesbian? No man would want that”; “Your breasts are on the floor, buy a bra and some hair dye too”; and “You f**king bald b*tch”. October 2021

Academics threatened with violence, Cardiff

After a group of Cardiff University academics signed an open letter calling on the university to review its involvement with Stonewall, activists distributed leaflets featuring an image of a woman aiming a gun alongside a list of their names and photos with the text “ACT NOW” and “Destroy the TERF menace”. The document warned the academics of “repercussions”. Comments posted on Cardiff University LGBT+ Society’s official Facebook group detailed the “urge to throat punch people when they’re being racist / transphobic / homophobic” and a suggestion for a “petition to make punching transphobes not only legal but rewarded”. A car belonging to one of the signatories had its window smashed. June 2021–February 2022

Masked men intimidate and assault, Manchester

Masked, hooded men tried to intimidate attendees at a Standing for Women rally in Manchester and disrupted the meeting with loud music. Determined not to allow the women to get close to the Emmeline Pankhurst statue, they physically assaulted one woman, grabbing and pushing her. May 2022

Man assaults filmgoer, Edinburgh

Students attempted to stop a screening by Edinburgh Academics for Academic Freedom of a film about gender politics by occupying a lecture theatre. One attendee told the Scottish Daily Express that they were met by “a group of aggressive young men who stopped us from going to the event. They intimidated women old enough to be their grandmothers, jostling and shouting at them in a very aggressive way.” The protestors managed to stop the screening. Robyn Woof, a transgender activist, was later charged with assault. December 2022

Man punches woman in the face, Aberdeen

Women Won’t Wheesht hosted an event at Duthie Park in Aberdeen which attracted trans activist protestors. One of the women attending the event, Julie Marshall, was seriously assaulted by a male transactivist who tried to steal a sign. When Julie ran after him, he struck her full in the face, still holding the sign, causing her glasses to fly off. He then punched her in the arm. Julie suffered a black eye and severe bruising and was in a great deal of pain. He was let off with a warning. July 2023

Our chronological list includes many more examples. We will be sending it to the Minister.

The post The escalating campaign of intimidation and violence against gender-critical women appeared first on Sex Matters.