Do not strip trans women of their identity

Sir, – We are writing in response to the ignorant and offensive opinion piece written by Jenny Hjul in The Courier showing her support of the controversy around JK Rowling’s remarks on transgender rights.

This article showed a lack of understanding on the issues at hand and an incredible lack of compassion and respect.

The tone was inappropriate, insensitive and exclusionary.

It educated no-one on the debate that exists around trans rights and was particularly dangerous for several reasons.

It pedalled the upsetting, offensive and harmful stereotype that a trans woman is a predator, someone to fear.

The writer did not back up this view with statistical evidence nor did she offer any accounts of acts of violence or sexual assault perpetrated by trans women.

This type of fearmongering can only perpetuate the discrimination, abuse and violence suffered by trans people at the hands of cisgendered people.

To offer a statistic to back this view up, stonewall.org.uk published a Trans report in 2018 stating two in five trans people experienced a hate crime or incident because of their gender identity over a 12-month period.

Throughout the article the writer referred to trans women as men or inferred that trans women are men – “mysogynist”, “new breed of man”,”men selfstyled as women”.

In doing so she is stripping trans women of their identity and the right to their identity.

We are surprised this paper agreed to publish Hjul’s piece, considering the prevalence of mental health issues in trans people is significantly higher than the general populace.

A 2012 Trans Mental Health Study funded by the Scottish Government that surveyed 889 trans individuals found depression was the most prevalent issue, with 88% feeling they either currently or previously experienced it.

Publishing an article that implied that a trans woman cannot and should not be allowed to identify as a woman is potentially very harmful to the mental health of the trans adults and, perhaps even more significantly, the trans youths in our society reading these views.

Hjul outrageously stated in her piece that “it is hardly Trump level intolerance” – no level of intolerance should ever be viewed as acceptable, and Donald Trump should never be considered a benchmark for tolerance.

We take particular offence to the statement: “This conflict reveals the damage that can be done by fashionable causes that are born not of inequality but fabricated victimhood.”

Trans rights are not a “fashionable cause”, and who is Ms Hjul to describe the experience of the trans community as “fabricated victimhood”?

The idea that the discrimination faced by trans people is a false construct created by the trans community is truly one of the most astonishing and frustrating parts of this article.

Even the headline of Hjul’s article is misleading and inapropriate – “JK Rowling’s transgender views speak for the moderate masses watching a world going mad”.

Who are these ‘moderate masses’ Hjul refers to?

Hjul says herself that the “transgender issue is not a left-right dichotomy”, so she must not mean politically moderate.

And what evidence is there that they (whoever they may be) agree with Rowling?

We do not feel that the world is going mad, only attempting to become a more accepting place for people, no matter how they feel or present themselves, to live the way they want to live. Laura MacLaren. and Rebecca McClune. Perthshire.