This is a story about politics and women. Like all mammals and most other creatures, human beings are sexually dimorphic. We come in two types, female and male. Females give birth to offspring; males provide sperm to fertilise their eggs and make reproduction possible. There are other differences. Males are typically larger, stronger and more aggressive. This caused females to be predominantly controlled by males and only in the last hundred years have females approached equal status. They can now vote, own property and theoretically at least, command similar salaries.

Male control has lessened to the point where women often choose who they will marry, or choose not to marry at all. Women may socialise with other women as well as men and are no longer required to have a chaperone. Women can access public, single sex bathroom facilities, for their convenience and safety. This single thing transformed the lives of many women from Victorian times onwards.   

The rise of trans identifying men

In the last decade, in Western societies, there has been an explosion in the number of humans who claim to have been born in the ‘wrong’ body. This psychological condition is called body dysphoria and has many of the characteristics of a religious belief. It is a matter of faith, rather than science, though its adherents would argue otherwise. Until recently it mainly affected middle aged men, but latterly there has also been a steep increase in the number of teenage girls who believe that they are boys. Societies, governments and political parties are struggling to come to terms with this perplexing trend and its implications.