On Saturday 18 January Connie Frankish was invited to speak by the ‘National Women’s March’ on trans issues. The Liverpool rally and march was attended by more than 1000 people, mainly young women. Later many congratulated Connie on her speech. The national UK Women’s March took place in 23 locations. One of the organisers in Liverpool said, “The event declared a national emergency of violence against women in the UK. Many marginalised groups spoke whose rights are under threat.”
Connie’s speech
Thank you all for showing up and supporting today. Thank you to the march organisers whose feminism is unapologetically inclusive. If feminism isn’t intersectional then it will not work. I am a transgender woman, and I am speaking as a trans woman, as a feminist, and as an ally of ALL women’s rights.
Women have long been the biggest allies to the trans community. This is true of my own personal experiences in education, employment, social circles and private spaces. Trans women have a unique experience of a dual oppression in simultaneously encountering both transphobia and misogyny. As feminine presenting individuals trans women can be subjected to unwanted attention, sexual harassment or random acts of violence which ALL women are bombarded with – to then often have this shift to transphobia upon perpetrators realising or suspecting that someone’s gender identity is not aligned with their sex assigned at birth. And of course, trans women with another protected characteristic such as being non white or having a disability makes them even more vulnerable experiencing further oppressions. Almost all murdered trans women – of which rates are disproportionately high – are women of colour.
The parallels between both the women’s rights and trans rights movements cannot be understated. Historically women that spoke out and took up space were described as dangerous, hysterical and mentally ill. In fact, those stigmas against women still exist today globally – from classrooms to courtrooms, hospitals to Hollywood. Similarly, today the trans community receives this exact same discourse from those who oppose US. That we are dangerous, hysterical, mentally ill. And I say ‘US’ in the broadest sense, because largely those who oppose trans rights also oppose both feminism and women’s rights. (Although they pretend otherwise.) Notice those who claim to speak on feminism in the context of being anti-trans, are quiet when the conversation turns to, say: the epidemic of violence against women, the hyper-sexualisation of young women and underage girls, fictitious beauty expectations, sex shaming, bodily autonomy and the pay gap – yes, all of these and more still exist. Yet those perpetrating these are quick to move on, as if these battles have all been won. Again, I remind you, that they have not, and that trans women have almost no part in any of them.
On gaining rights: it took hundreds of years for women to be given the right to wear trousers without persecution in this country (which, even that is still debatable). And it will likely take one hundred more for trans and gender diverse people to have the same normality. The illusion that women, queer people or any vulnerable group are handed anything in society is to erase our efforts to prevent us from fighting for more. Again, it will likely take decades to achieve a satisfactory level of trans acceptance, the right to be visibly trans and not be in danger, the right to equal employment opportunities without harassment in the workplace, the right to access spaces without criticism or hate, the right to not be rejected. To achieve this, we NEED inclusive feminism. We are each other’s allies, we are stronger together, trans women are not a threat. In fact, trans women have often been proponents of empowering the most marginalised women: sex workers (who still are without statutory rights), non-idealised or unconventional bodies who experience transphobia as females such as Olympic boxer Imane Khelif, and women victims of violence by MEN of which there are MILLIONS in the UK alone. Some reports estimate that as many as half of all women in the UK have experienced sexual abuse – we know from OUR private conversations as women the devastating likely accuracy of this estimate. To be worried about trans women can ONLY be the stance of those not privy to the extensive sexual violence taking place in UK homes, workplaces, venues; schools, parks, public transport; toilets – FYI men are willing to enter women’s toilets without pretending to be trans!
Keeping ALL women safe is paramount. No trans person wants to jeopardise women’s rights or safety. Denying trans rights does not protect women. It distracts from actual issues faced by ALL women. Instead of asking: how do we stop men from pretending to be trans women to access women’s spaces? Ask how do we stop men from going out of their way to abuse and assault women? Instead of asking if a handful of individuals claiming to be trans women makes trans rights a risk to women’s, ask why 1 in 4 UK women are the victim of sexual assault by men? Instead of asking what a woman is, ask what it means to be a man in the epidemic of violence against women?
Let’s not let those with power prevent us from working collaboratively against them, because that is EXACTLY what they want. Those whose feminism isn’t trans inclusive, I ask you, without hypotheticals: how many trans women have actively oppressed and/or violated you versus how many men actually have? So much time is invested by so many into fighting against trans rights which are so abstract and inauthentic that the incident rates hardly enter double figures. Spend any time with trans women – which most who oppose us have not – and you will realise that we are some of the biggest feminists that exist today. A safer world for ALL women doesn’t come with the denial of trans rights, but the dismantling of the patriarchy which aims to create hate to stop us from unifying – because they are afraid of us. Our enemies are afraid of women. Our enemies are fearful of femininity. Our enemies are terrified of trans women. Because we represent a complete rejection of the system that allows THEM to maintain control.
You can’t scapegoat us. We are hyper oppressed. Unlike you, we are used to overcoming insurmountable adversity. You can’t control us. We are non-conformist. Unlike you we reject societal pressures and norms. You can’t stop us. We are GLOBAL, we are VALID, we are POWERFUL.
Trans women are not the problem. Trans women are not a problem Trans women are women.
*main photo from the ECHO the second photo from UK National Women’s March