JENNI MURRAY: Why no one would want to wear this T-shirt now... it's poisoned

Daily Mail​

4 days ago

Back in the day, it seemed anyone who was anyone wore them: those T-shirts which declared in large letters across the chest: 'This is what a feminist looks like.' The actor Benedict Cumberbatch showed his off, as did politicians Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg and Harriet Harman.
I did, too, back in 2014, as I was the president of The Fawcett Society – an organisation that has long campaigned for greater equality between women and men. It was such a simple, yet powerful message, that both men and women of all political shades could be proud of being feminists.
Just over a decade on, though, I doubt anyone would wear such a slogan. The word 'feminist' has been poisoned by the phenomenal power of trans activists.
Indeed, I believe we've lived through the worst years ever for those feminists who, like me, have held fast to the belief that women's welfare must always be the priority.
To my mind, the rot set in around 2012, when Maria Miller became Minister for Women and Equalities under the Tory/Lib Dem coalition. Since then, women have slid down the political agenda in favour of biological males who identify as women.
I remember interviewing Miller on Woman's Hour and being shocked when she told me her primary concern was for the trans community who, she said, had told her they suffered terrible discrimination. I challenged her, pointing out that a Minister for Women should have more responsibility for women than for trans women. She ignored me.
Those of us who refused to accept trans women were women suffered a great deal back then. And any woman who agreed with me was disparagingly dubbed 'TERF' – a trans exclusionary radical feminist.
I received worse than just this label, though. An article on the issue that I wrote in The Sunday Times in 2017 saw me threatened with rape and murder on social media. Trans women, I said, deserved respect and consideration but must not see themselves as women with the right to be welcomed into single-sex spaces or be housed in women's prisons if they committed a crime.
Harriet Harman wears a shirt reading 'this is what a feminist looks like' - also sported in the past by Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg
Jenni Murray believes women have slid down the political agenda in favour of biological males who identify as women since Maria Miller (pictured_ became Minister for Women and Equalities in 2012
My perfectly reasonable views not only brought me those horrifying threats, but the BBC declared I must not be allowed to discuss the issue on Woman's Hour. And when my alma mater, Hull University, wanted to name a lecture theatre after me, the noisy trans activists tried to stop it.
All this kind of intimidation is still happening – despite the ruling from the Supreme Court that the legal definition of a woman within the Equality Act should be based on biological sex.
But now it appears that the latest clever, outspoken woman who is suffering for her feminism is Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson, the Prime Minister's choice to lead the Equality and Human Rights Commission when Baroness Falkner ends her term in November.
Mary-Ann was director of The Fawcett Society in the mid-2000s when I was appointed president. She went on to become director of the Women's Budget Group – a feminist think-tank that provides evidence for the benefits of a gender-equal economy.
And as well as working on equality and human rights issues for three decades, she holds a PhD in equality law. You'd imagine that, as she appears to be perfectly qualified to lead the equality watchdog, the suggestion of her appointment would be met with praise. But enter the trans activist, and Mary-Ann's commitment to feminism is called into question. Should she head the watchdog, they ask, when she has been open about her concerns for women whose careers were damaged by what are known as 'gender-critical' views?
As far back as 2015, she co-signed a letter to The Guardian decrying 'the worrying pattern of intimidation and silencing of individuals whose views are deemed transphobic'.
Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson (pictured) is Sir Keir Starmer's choice to lead the Equality and Human Rights Commission when Baroness Falkner ends her term in November
She also donated to the legal fund of Allison Bailey, a barrister who took her chambers to court when they asked her to remove two 'gender-critical' tweets.
Trans activists have clearly been successful at lobbying the Lords and Commons' equalities committees, as they challenged her decision to sign the letter to The Guardian. They had, they said, received hundreds of emails and letters from transgender people with concerns about her appointment. Mary-Ann defended her statements because, she said, she was opposed to 'attempts to close down debate'.
She said her £25 donation to Allison Bailey's legal fund 'was very specifically because I was upset at seeing women being harassed or sacked from their jobs for peaceful expression of legally protected beliefs'.
Those two committees who've been so influenced by the trans lobby have only an advisory role. It will be Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities, who will make the final decision. Surely ministers will not allow the transgender rights groups to stop her getting the job?
She must not be silenced. Mary-Ann is a woman who knows what needs to be said in support of women who've had to beg for their safe places. Biology trumps gender. The Supreme Court said so. It must be repeated over and over until it sinks in and we don't have to worry any more about being bullied for our beliefs.
Hands off our Bayeux tapestry!
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The Bayeux tapestry was exquisitely stitched, likely by hard-working English women, to recount the story of the Battle of Hastings
Top of a recent list of all-time favourite toys are Lego and Rubik's Cubes. Not my favourites, though. I've stood on far too many Lego pieces in bare feet and the Cube defeated me completely. Sons one and two both did it in a flash.
Children are the real victims
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Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd pictured with wife Bianca Wallace. He has two children with ex-wife Alice Evans
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