Supreme court ruling on sex divides opinion

The Guardian

18-04-2025

The recent supreme court ruling on gender recognition and the controversial debate over single-sex spaces has at its core the need to avoid male violence. Male violence affects us all, but is seldom mentioned in any of these toxic debates. Instead, we get women being pitched against trans women, and one of the major underlying causes of all this distress – male violence – is allowed to remain unexamined.
Putting the sports issue aside, can you imagine how different this issue would have been if there was no threat of violence (whether sexual or physical) from men, either towards women or trans women? The first step in treating a problem is to correctly name the root cause.Liz MoylettTyne and Wear
Gender self-identification has created confusion and inconsistency across our institutions. The sharp edge of this has, as usual, hurt mostly vulnerable women such as those in prison; those needing refuge from domestic violence; and those either working in, or requiring treatment from, NHS services. In these three examples we have ample evidence of male-bodied trans women violating women's protected space.
This clarification from the supreme court was necessary and proportionate, and should have no adverse effect on the majority, who are not violating spaces reserved for women, but simply living their lives. It also puts the onus on organisations to ensure provision for trans women who are also vulnerable to male violence, but whose needs should not be conflated with those of women for legitimate safeguarding purposes.Marian BrookeHailsham, East Sussex
Sam Fowles writes: 'It must be remembered that this is not an abstract debate – it involves real people' (The supreme court didn't rule on the definition of 'a woman' – this is what its judgment does mean, 16 April). Gender-critical feminists have always known that this debate involves real people; women are real people, too. It is precisely because this inconvenient fact was forgotten by the Scottish parliament – that as real people we have suffered real abuse, vilification, fear, and denial of our sex-based human rights – that the case was brought in the first place.
The ruling is absolute validation for those of us who have seen service providers and public bodies regard the expectations of 0.44% of the population as more important than the rights of 50%. It means that the spaces the women's movement fought for, especially those for recovery from the trauma of male violence, can again become safe for women to access.
Having experienced discrimination, abuse, sexual assault, violence and harassment from men because I am a woman, I do not wish anyone to experience such behaviour, be they women, trans women, trans men or men. I understand that trans women may not wish to access male spaces, so I suggest that the trans community campaign for safe transgender spaces. That way we can all have dignity and safety, and live life free from fear and intimidation. Stephanie Green Isleworth, London
I am a mother. A mother to a transgender daughter who is about to turn 18. My daughter has rightly been devastated about this ruling and what it means for her and her hopes for the future. She hoped that the gender recognition certificate would acknowledge her identity, but she now feels her dreams have been obliterated. I would like to ask the women who have campaigned for this ruling: how many transgender women do you know? How many have you spoken to? Have you thought about what this means to them?
My daughter does not want to be an athlete and compete in the Olympics or sit on a board in Scotland – she wants a normal life. A normal life is being able to drink fluids when you are at college. I've seen my daughter severely dehydrated, putting her health at risk, because she is too scared to go to the toilet.
My daughter is so brave to go out every day and face the staring, the remarks, the laughing. Transgender women already have so much to overcome. The protections stated in the Equality Act do not protect from the narrow-minded, the cruel and the heartless. On Wednesday, I was ashamed to be a woman.Name and address supplied
Since coming out as a trans woman a few years ago, I have been in the habit of using women's loos without causing offence or even a raised eyebrow. Do I no longer have this option? With my hairstyle and general appearance, I would be an obvious misfit in the gents, inviting name-calling or worse. So what am I to do when caught short?
The system before the latest ruling has generally worked well, including special exceptions for single-sex spaces where appropriate. There have been a small number of high-profile mistakes, such as the housing of a self-identified trans woman with convictions for molesting women in a women's jail. Such things call for sensible management rather than sweeping change.
I feel significantly less safe today than I did before the judgment. We have taken a sad backward step towards a darker, less compassionate age.Rachel IsherwoodBroughton-in-Furness, Cumbria
I am a trans woman, I am pre-op but living full-time as a woman. I am on hormone-adjusting medication. I fought long and hard against the idea of transitioning until it became the only option for my sanity. My question is: who is most at risk, a woman when I use the ladies toilets, or me if I use the gents? This ruling and its ramifications scare me.Name and address supplied