We're perhaps all too familiar with those who say they support the gender-critical arguments in private, but really would rather not say anything at the moment as the debate is just too toxic. That seems to have been the position not just of individuals but of quite a few organisations too – including, as Victoria Smith at UnHerd argues, the Labour Party.
The trouble with a “wait until it’s safe to say it” approach is that the world moves on while you’re sitting it out. Just a decade or so ago, it might have been possible to think that trans women were a tiny minority with a very serious, mysterious condition called “gender dysphoria”, and that there would be no real impact on the definition of “woman” from indulging a legal fiction. It is not possible to think this now.
The failure of politicians and rights organisations to engage with what women were saying, and act accordingly, has allowed a culture of male entitlement to female spaces to flourish. Women’s rights can only be clawed back now by being absolutely clear that sex, not gender, matters at all times. It is not enough to “differentiate” if we still insist that both things can signify “woman” all the same.
Women cannot count on behind-the-curve politicians for this. It’s still grassroots women’s organisations, such as For Women Scotland in its current case against the Scottish Government, which are focusing on the here and now. It’s better than nothing, but Labour has a lot of catching up to do.
I'm not sure that there were many in the Labour Party – Rosie Duffield aside – who saw the dangers of embracing the new Stonewall-led trans push. While gender ideology was the latest progressive fad Labour were happy to jump on board, claiming that women could have a penis and men could grow a cervix. Now the tide is turning they're singing a different tune. It says little for their courage or their principles.
But yes, it was always the grassroots women’s organisations, the Terfs, who led the fight.