The ‘damaging new consensus’ on ‘gender identity’ is the result of a decades-long war against the traditional family, a Times columnist has said.
Melanie Phillips believes that the “doctrine of identity-neutrality” has been gaining momentum for years.
In an article for The Times, Phillips said that the “politicised gender issue” was first created by feminists to “dispense with the social role of men and destroy the traditional family”.
Distinctions
Phillips stated: “In 1977 the psychologist Sandra Bem wrote that when androgyny had been absorbed by culture, distinctions between masculinity and femininity would ‘blur into invisibility’.
“In 1991, the sociologist Judith Lorber advocated a ‘social order without gender’. There was absolutely nothing distinct about femininity, she claimed, not even menstruation, pregnancy or lactation since some women never got pregnant and some men lactated.”
“Such theories”, Phillips added, “originally thought to be beyond bizarre” have become “mainstream”.
‘Mental disorder’
Going on to discuss transsexualism, the columnist noted that prominent US academic Paul McHugh, “continues to state that transgenderism is a mental disorder”.
He argues that transsexual people are being denied the treatment they actually need “purely for political and ideological reasons”.
Phillips also marked the plight of psychiatrists who have been forced to affirm young people’s belief that they were born in the wrong body.
‘Diversity’
She was writing after Transport for London (TfL) ordered its staff to begin making announcements in ‘gender-neutral’ language.
TfL staff now have to begin announcements with ‘hello everyone’ instead of ‘ladies and gentlemen’, so as not to offend ‘gender non-binary’ people.