2019/12/18/Judge rules against researcher who lost job over transgender tweets

• when: 2019/12/18
• author: Owen Bowcott
• source: The Guardian
• topics: Maya Forstater transmisia gender critical
• keywords
• link: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/dec/18/judge-rules-against-charity-worker-who-lost-job-over-transgender-tweets
• title: Judge rules against researcher who lost job over transgender tweets
• summary: Maya Forstater, a tax expert who lost her contract at the Centre for Global Development after tweeting that transgender women cannot change their biological sex, has lost her tribunal case.

Forstater has been supported by Index on Censorship. Its chief executive, Jodie Ginsberg, has said previously: “From what I have read of [Forstater’s] writing, I cannot see that Maya has done anything wrong other than express an opinion that many feminists share – that there should be a public and open debate about the distinction between sex and gender.”

Ginsberg's statement seems disingenuous. Forstater never asked for a debate; what she said in her defense was:

My belief [...] is that sex is a biological fact, and is immutable. There are two sexes, male and female. Men and boys are male. Women and girls are female. It is impossible to change sex. These were until very recently understood as basic facts of life by almost everyone.

This repeats a number of well-known myths that fly in the face of the scientific evidence:

• Humans cannot change sex
• There are (only) two sexes.

Also, the fact that these were recently common beliefs does not make them true.