Rosie Duffield right to say only women have a cervix, says Starmer
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/04/30/rosie-duffield-right-women-cervix-keir-starmer-trans-stance/
by varchina
Rosie Duffield right to say only women have a cervix, says Starmer
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/04/30/rosie-duffield-right-women-cervix-keir-starmer-trans-stance/
by varchina
26 comments
Archive link here: https://archive.ph/pIC7Q
Article text
Written by Genevieve Holl-Allen, from the Telegraph
Rosie Duffield right to say only women have a cervix, says Starmer
> Labour leader says his views on gender ‘start with biology’ in stance shift.
>
> Rosie Duffield was right to say that only women have a cervix, Sir Keir Starmer has said, in a sign of a shift in his stance on gender.
> The Labour leader said that his views on gender issues “start with biology” and that his party’s MP for Canterbury was “biologically” correct by stating only women can have a cervix.
> In 2021, the Labour leader had criticised Ms Duffield for saying that only women have a cervix, saying that her comment “is something that shouldn’t be said. It’s not right”.
> But asked on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Tuesday whether Ms Duffield’s statement was right or wrong, Sir Keir said: “Biologically, she of course is right about that.”
> Sir Keir, however, would not apologise to Ms Duffield, instead saying that the pair “discuss a number of issues” and “get on very well”.
>
> Ms Duffield, a prominent feminist campaigner who believes a person’s sex cannot be changed, has regularly complained about her experiences in the party and has likened it to being in an abusive relationship.
> She has previously been heckled by male colleagues on her benches while speaking about trans issues in the Commons, which prompted her to accuse Labour of having a “woman problem”.
> Sir Keir’s comments are the latest sign of a shift in stance from the top of the Labour Party on trans issues, in the wake of the Cass Review into gender care for children.
> Dr Hilary Cass, one of the UK’s most eminent paediatricians, found in her report that the evidence for allowing young people and children to change gender was built on weak foundations and that there was no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of treatments, such as puberty blockers, given to children.
> Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, admitted earlier this month that he was wrong to say trans women are women.
>
> In the Labour leader’s first comments on gender since the publication of the Cass Review, Sir Keir said: “There’s a distinction between sex and gender. The Labour Party has championed women’s rights for a very long time.”
> However, when asked about whether Ms Duffield was owed an apology by the party, he told ITV: “I don’t want this to go back into this toxic place where everybody is divided.”
> He added: “Rosie Duffield and I get on very well, we discuss a number of issues.
“She’s a much-respected member of the Parliamentary Labour Party and I want to have a discussion with her and anybody else about how we go forward in a positive way.”
> Sir Keir has been trying to clarify his views on gender since 2021, when he struggled to say whether or not a woman could have a penis.
> In 2023, he said that 99.9 per cent of women “haven’t got a penis”, before going on to say in July last year: “Firstly, a woman is an adult female, so let’s clear that one up.”
>
> His latest remarks come after the Government proposed changes to England’s NHS constitution, to give patients the right to request to be treated on single-sex wards, with transgender people placed in rooms on their own.
> Asked how Labour would respond to transgender women who did not want to go on male wards, Sir Keir said: “We have to accommodate that situation as it arises, but treat everybody with respect and dignity… I do not accept this is an issue that cannot be resolved with respect and dignity.”
> He added: “Where we need to make accommodations, we can make accommodations… As a country, we’re a pretty reasonable, tolerant bunch and most people know that there are a small number of individuals who do not identify with the gender that they were born into.
> “Many of them suffer great distress and trauma. And for my part, I’m perfectly happy to say I would treat them, as I would treat anybody, with respect.”
How dare she say something so controversial and true.
I told the Labour canvassers that I would never vote for Labour while people like Duffield are in the party and they just sort of sadly nodded and went on their way.
Her culture war bullshit is the opposite of what we need right now
edit: fascinating watching the upvotes swing so wildly whenever the topic of trans rights comes up. hello TERF brigade. 👋
If someone presents and identifies as male, and is treated by society as a male, but has a cervix, I’d say that man had a cervix.
It’s also possible for certain types of intersex people to have XY chromosomes and a cervix.
The consensus both in the scientific and medical communities is that gender is a concept independent of sex. You’d think people would have learnt this now that the issues been in the spotlight for so long.
Even without trans people, every now and then a cis man is born with a cervix. This is factually incorrect.
She has a right to say whatever she wants .. just like we all do
Freedom from consequences, however, is not a right
Either way this isn’t going to stop me voting Labour, I don’t like tactical voting, but this time .. anything to stop those cunting tories
I’m really glad we’re focused on the important stuff like who has a cervix, as opposed to the silly fluff like treating people like human beings.
The Cass Report seems to have had a significant impact on Starmer’s Labour.
Can…can they come up with plans to make people’s lives better please?
I don’t care what someone identifies as and I’m not interested in their reproductive organs. I’m happy for them to live as they want as long as I can live as I want. I’d like the country to get a better economy and public services to make everyone’s lives better.
Glad they cleared that one up. Now, the NHS? Crime? Immigration?
Who. Fucking. Cares.
We’ve homeless people camped all over the country. A poor boy was killed by a man wielding a sword at a Tube station this morning. Young people can’t afford a house or a baby.
Fuck politicians and this purposeful distraction of a culture war.
This is all so frustrating. Honestly, it really is. One thing I really want to be clear on is the difference between legal sex and biological sex, because half the time they get muddied:
Biological sex: depending on the biology being done, can be measured by sex chromosomes, expressions of the genes contained therein, gonads present, genitals present, hormones in bloodstream, ability to react to said hormones, secondary sexual characteristics present. Bimodal; most common sexes are Male and Female, but intersex conditions exist, and multiple sexes are present depending on the way it’s being measured.
Legal sex: M or F. Assigned as a best guess at birth based on observation of the genitals. Capable of being changed after observation of development, or during transition on request and after approval. Depending on the situation, your legal sex can be different things in different legal documents. Can only ever be M or F. Binary.
The goal of current anti-trans activists is:
1) Separate gender and sex completely as concepts.
2) Paint gender as a style choice and sex as completely immutable.
3) Tie together the ideas of biological and legal sex.
4) Push for legal recognition of sex only, with no legal recognition for gender.
5) profit
>The Labour leader said that his views on gender issues “start with biology” and that his party’s MP for Canterbury was “biologically” correct by stating only women can have a cervix
A nothing story.
I hate that fact that this sucks so much air out of the public discourse.
i’m really tired of this constant debate. so few of y’all are actually impacted by trans people living their lives. why does it need to be a constant barrage of attacks.
This is so dumb, it doesn’t need to be said out loud. It’s culture war BS. – Look at what just happened to the SNP :
Imagine being a single issue party, anywhere in the world, and then sacrificing that single issue for atleast two decades… for trans rights. Wtf?
Someone tell the politicians everywhere that twitter and the twitterrati are not representative of jack shit except their own little bubble. And also explain to them they are not american, no matter bad they want to be.
It’s literally true. Some day people will realise you cannot force others to go against science by cancelling them. It just makes you come off as deranged the more you try and justify it.
I hate this boring, spineless man with a great deal of my heart.
Some women don’t have cervixes due to hysterectomies
Y’know the great thing about Labour almost definitely (bar Starmer eating a bacon sandwich) winning the election, is that if you’re part of the electorate that they keep trying to push away you can now simply not vote for them. Which I will now be doing because Wes Streeting saying the crap he did the other day followed by this very clearly shows myself and the rest of my fellow transes™ where we stand.
The whole conversation around trans people is sad and a sad reflection of society.
I read an interview in the Guardian with Ben Bradshaw, one of the first openly gay MPs and it’s like we’re back in time, repeating the same bigotry.
> Adrian Rogers, Bradshaw’s election rival in a seat with a Tory majority that he overturned, notoriously described homosexuality as a “sterile, disease-ridden and God-forsaken occupation”.
And here we are, over 25 years later, only now the right has another sect of society to demonise for votes.
I just hope whilst it’s rough *right now* acceptance will come in time. It shouldn’t have to be this way but with the Tories chasing after every hate filled vote, it won’t start to get better until they’re out of office to lower the temperature considerably.
“I have fallen for American culture war nonsense again” – Starmer. He is a terrible leader in a country beset with terrible leaders.
Why are they playing in to the culture war nonsense.
Always the same people who wanted these issues to be more prevalent now moaning because they don’t like what other people have to say on the topic and asking for people to stop.
They missed the word biologically out of the headline which gives a fair bit of context to be honest. It’s still a bit of a simplification though…