we ve got some key sports like swimming and rugby, which have now, at an official level, said, no, trans women can t compete. so do you feel you re losing the argument? i mean, that s an interesting question. i think there is a question here about interpretation of the equality act is what you were discussing there. but i think, to be honest, all women are losing currently because we have existed under successive conservative governments which are not prioritising any women at all. and if you look globally, there is an attack on trans people s bodily autonomy and, as we see in the us, there is an attack on women s bodily autonomy by the right. all women have a big storm coming. and for me, it s about coming together to look at the broader context and the fact that it s important for us to be fighting for safety from violence for all and bodily autonomy for all women. perhaps the most significant battleground of all right now, particularly in the uk but it s happening elsewhere, t
battleground of all right now, particularly in the uk but it s happening elsewhere, too is over health care and young people and how one deals with children who are suffering from what i think is often called body dysphoria. who feel that they are inhabiting a body that doesn t represent their gender identity. and we re talking about kids very young kids in some cases. what do you think the right thing to do is in those cases? well, i think the first thing to say there is that there is no one right thing to do. this is a bespoke situation in every case. every child is different. every child s particular experience. we have to talk in generalisations for the purposes of this discussion, for the purposes of media. but every child will have a different relationship with gender, and even children experiencing gender dysphoria, there can be, like, a huge difference in experience. in the book, i look at a case study.
can i ask you about another element of this, you know, very complex set of issues, and that s about young people and body dysphoria. now, we know that a number of children get this feeling that they can t identify with the body that they ve been born with and they increasingly, it seems some of them, over time, want to change. and now in the uk, the law says that they can t have hormonal treatment till 16, they can t have surgery until they re at least 18, but there is a very active debate about whether it is wise to go down this track with children. you seem absolutely sure that it is not wise why? because children and adolescents are working out a number of things. sexual orientation is one of them. now, there s strong evidence that, in gender identity clinics, a large percentage
as opposed to 16% for the general population in prisons. so, that suggests that, of course, if you re not a predator and then you transition, you won t probably be a predator after, i mean, people, characters don t change, but if you are a predator and you say you are a woman, you ll still be a predator afterwards, so the idea that the trans population or trans. we re talking about trans women. and we re talking about self id somehow, miraculously, male patterns of sexual offending disappear, even given increased opportunity, is a fantasy. can i ask you about another element of this, you know, very complex set of issues, and that s about young people and body dysphoria? now, we know that a number of children get this feeling that they can t identify with the body that they ve been born with, and they, increasingly it seems,
i mean, people, characters don t change but if you are a predator and you say you are a woman, you ll still be a predator afterwards, so the idea that the trans population or trans we re talking about trans women, and we re talking about self id somehow, miraculously, male patterns of sexual offending disappear, even given increased opportunity, is a fantasy. hmm. can i ask you about another element of this, you know, very complex set of issues, and that s about young people and body dysphoria. now, we know that a number of children get this feeling that they can t identify with the body that they ve been born with and they increasingly, it seems some of them, over time, want to change. and now in the uk, the law says that they can t have hormonal treatment till 16, they can t have surgery until they re at least 18, but there is a very active debate