https://women-uniting.co.uk/respectmysex/
Respect My Sex!
Local elections are happening on 5th May. Tell candidates: Respect My Sex If You Want My ‘X’!
In corporations and councils, from parliament to playgrounds, the two sexes – man and woman, male and female – are being sidelined in language, law, policy and public spaces.
Biological sex is a fact of life. It is simple and straightforward, and central to how we organise our world. But now the concept of sex is being undermined.
Instead we are offered the idea of ‘gender identity’ – an ‘internal sense of self’ that each of us can define for ourselves. Replacing sex with self-declared gender identity in law and policy is often called ‘gender self-identification’.
We are lucky to live in a free society that values self-expression and self-exploration. Everyone, young or old, is free to experiment with their sense of self: how they want to live, dress and express themselves. And nowadays, the sorts of restrictions that used to keep women out of public life, or relegate them to second-class status when it came to family law, finances, employment and so on, are thankfully over.
But for some things, sex still matters. It’s not possible to organise sports, or shared spaces like changing rooms and toilets – or to gather meaningful data – based on self-identification.
Clarity about sex matters for single-sex spaces. These are essential to both sexes for dignity and privacy, and to women for safety as well. Everyone has a right to privacy about their bodies, especially when undressing or vulnerable. But self-identification means it is becoming impossible to exclude people of one sex from a space that is supposed to be reserved for the other. It means that male people who say that they are women are being allowed into spaces that are supposed to be female-only.
Clarity about sex matters for sport. Girls and women need single-sex competitions, because that’s the only way to guarantee safe and fair participation. We deserve to be celebrated when we reach the peak of sporting achievement – just as men are. But self-identification means letting boys compete against girls, and men against women, which in most sports is not fair, and in some is not safe.
Clarity about sex matters for safeguarding children. And yet children are being taught that what makes a child a boy or girl isn’t which of the two body types they have, but whether they fit best into masculine or feminine stereotypes. This sexist nonsense is bad for all children, but especially the most vulnerable ones, who can get confused about who they are.
Local elections are due on 5th May 2022. And local authorities are also adopting policies that deny the importance of sex. They are ignoring science and undermining language. They are spending thousands of pounds on training that misrepresents the law. In schools, single-sex facilities such as toilets and changing rooms are being replaced with ‘gender-neutral’ ones – which means mixed-sex. Boys who identify as girls are being allowed into girls’ sporting competitions. In public libraries, adult material such as ‘drag queen story time’ is being presented to children. In municipal sports facilities, women’s changing rooms are being opened up to members of the opposite sex on the basis of self-identification.
From now, until the 5th May, we need to send politicians a message. We will tell political parties, and the candidates and campaigners who knock on our doors, that sex matters. Women matter. Single-sex spaces matter. Female-only sporting events matter. Child safeguarding matters.
Take Action
Browse and sign up to one (or more!) of the political women’s groups that make up Women Uniting HERE.
Download and print our:
DOORSTEP QUESTIONS by the door for when canvassers come calling.
WINDOW POSTER, and display it, if you can safely.
A4 Flyer: FULL-COLOUR or PRINT FRIENDLY.
Write to your local candidates, with our INSPIRATION EMAIL TEXT.
Email your regional/ local newspaper with our LETTER TO THE EDITOR, suggesting they feature local candidates in a ‘RespectMySex’ feature.
If your candidates reply in support, celebrate that on social media, using the hashtags #RespectMySex #LocalElections2022 #[YourTown]
Share your doorstep stories on social media with the hashtag #RespectMySex
Download our banner and profile pics for your social media accounts:
https://www.google.com/search?q=respect+my+sex&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari
https://sex-matters.org/take-action/respect-my-sex/
Sex Matters is supporting the campaign by Women Uniting and the Women’s Rights Network to encourage voters in the upcoming local elections on 5th May 2022 to challenge politicians to support women’s sex-based rights.
The campaign will launch with more details at the Women Uniting website.
Here are some simple questions to ask politicians on the doorstep, at their street stalls, at hustings and by email:
Can you tell me what a woman is?
Do you understand that the Equality Act 2010 allows for single-sex services and sports?
Will you work to protect single-sex services in our local community?
Will you ensure that our local authority uses the clear concept of sex in its policies?
Share their answers on social media using the hashtag #RespectMySex #LocalElections22, and by writing to your local paper.
Sex Matters will be sharing campaign updates and resources – make sure you are on our mailing list!
Launch of #RespectMySex campaign
Together with Heather Binning of the Women’s Rights Network and Caroline ffiske of Women Uniting, on Saturday 2nd April Maya Forstater, the executive director of Sex Matters, launched the “Respect My Sex if You Want My X” campaign.
The story made the front cover of the Daily Mail, and had further coverage in the Mail and Express. It also trended on Twitter. More details of the campaign can be found on the Women Uniting website.
Report in the Daily Mail
Pictured (L-R): Caroline Ffiske of Women Uniting, Maya Forstater Sex Matters and Heather Binning from the Women's Rights Network in Victoria Tower Gardens, Westminster at today's protest
Maya Forstater’s remarks
The local elections are an opportunity for people across the political spectrum to raise their voice about an issue that effects women across the political spectrum.
Being here in Westminster to launch this campaign is particularly poignant for me, because we are standing here today right next to my old workplace.
My walk to work from Westminster tube station to the office took me past the statues of Emmeline Pankhurst and Millicent Fawcett. During the long, lonely months when I was being investigated and losing my job I would walk past Millicent Fawcett with the “Courage Calls to Courage” sign, and I felt like she was holding it up for me.
https://sex-matters.org/posts/updates/launch-of-respectmysex-campaign/
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