Parker’s suggestion that men choosing to identify as women, or vice versa, is going to cause some sort of irreparable tear to the fabric of 21st-century society is, um, yawn.
I’m apparently quite late to this topic, but it looks like her followers are afraid transgender women will make women’s bathrooms unsafe, make their sport unsafe and (?) read to their children.
I hear concerns about a proliferation of transgenderism - otherwise known as a fear of having to look closely at Tinder profiles before swiping right.
This time warp feels weird because a year or two ago we were all fawning over Ru Paul’s Drag Race. We watched Freddie Mercury dance around with breasts and a vacuum cleaner decades ago.
In Thailand, we have an example of a place where transgender people have some freedom to exist without as much judgment, and they’ve thrived socially and economically as a result.
You would expect society in 2023 to be moving towards further transgender acceptance, but it’s as if the people who opposed gay marriage decided once they’d lost that war, they needed another rallying cry.
The arguments seem to dissolve under mild critique.
My knowledge of women’s bathrooms is loose (and yes, I am probably a terrible choice of person to write this article as a result) but there are cubicles for the private bit, right?
And in the shared areas, people will overwhelmingly do what they’ve been doing since the dawn of time - they will mind their own business.
I’m a single dad, and so I occasionally have to take my girls into the men’s toilets when we’re out and about. Every time we walk in, the big scary men, without fail, just carry on washing their hands.
In the unlikely event that a transgender woman causes problems in a public bathroom, it strikes me as more of an individual problem than a societal one, and it’s why we have authorities such as the police.
Police have historically provided poor treatment to women who report sex crimes - this is a worldwide statistics-backed issue - and seems like it should be where the calls for change should be focused.
Safer spaces, together.
The other big concern - the fear for the future of sport - might appear on the surface to have merit.
But I’ve yet to hear of anyone, anywhere in the world, who has transitioned purely to play sport or to try to cheat the system and win.
Why would they? It’s a lot of work. And have you seen the pay for women’s sport?
If transgender women want to play the game they played before transitioning, it’s most likely because they actually do love it.
Sporting codes would be wise to court those who want to play, rather than traumatising everyone by making them drop their trousers for a check before the referee starts the game.
Those who argue the inclusion of transgender women will make their sport unsafe for the women who play it are speaking their minds, and unwittingly, speaking the truth too.
These people are admitting that their sport is actually, inherently, unsafe.
Of course it’s unsafe for a transgender woman to get in the boxing ring with a woman.
But have you seen a boxing match? Between anyone?
If you’re comfortable with people pummelling each other’s skulls for 12 rounds, but worrying deeply if one of the participants had access to some testosterone in their childhood, you’re not really being logical.
As a country and a society, we need to take one big accepting shrug and pivot away from topics that revolve around the bulges in our pants.
We have more important things to spend our time on this planet thinking about.
Chris Hyde is editor of the Hawke’s Bay Today.
* ‘Cis’ is short for cisgender. A cisgender person is someone who has a gender identity that matches their sex assigned at birth. You’re welcome.
