The Phoenix shits the bed again

Someone at Dublin’s gossip newsletter The Phoenix is either stupid or pretending to be stupid. After JK Rowling and Rosie Duffield, there really is no excuse for not understanding why women need anonymity in this debate. The Countess Didn’t Fight For is an Irish feminist group and this is their response to another hit-job by the publication.

"As the Founder of The Countess Didn’t Fight for This, I would like to draw your readers’ attention to a few facts regarding the article The Countess Returns (see The Phoenix 9/10/20).

Our members live in Ireland with some 10% living abroad. The Gender Extremist who traced our geographical positions traced our VPNs, not our actual locations. We need VPNs precisely because of that sort of behaviour and the ancillary risk to our members of doxing, outing and leaking of personal information; all of which is a tactic used to scare and silence us.

Far from being moral panic as your headline suggests, this movement is a calm and reasoned approach to the conflict of rights that exist when any man who says he is a woman can access sex-segregated spaces.

This conflict exists whether we face it or not.

Do your readers realise that currently in Ireland, any man at all, can fill out an A4 form and become legally recognised as a woman in law?

Even a male on trial for child sex abuse and sexual offence charges.

Even a male who is turned down by a gender clinic for not meeting the criteria for Dysphoria and whose stated ambition is rape and femicide.

These are two real-life examples of the complete lack of checks and balances; both these males are currently locked in with the most vulnerable women in society, in Limerick Prison.

How long before we feel the effects of self-ID in every area of life? Already we know of two fully intact adult males playing on female sports teams in Ireland. And that is the tip of the iceberg.

Should a teenage girl be forced to share a changing room with a male who identifies as a transwoman?

Women and girls are not fodder for the Gender Machine.

Feelings and validation must not come before privacy, consent and safety of girls and women.

Laoise Uí Aodha de Brún