Readers respond to an article by Susanna Rustin on balancing the views of trans activists and gender-critical feminists
I saw a tweet to Susanna Rustin’s article (My hope for a more open discussion of women’s and trans rights is fading, 13 October) from the MP Jess Phillips. Reading the vitriolic responses below her tweet, which was later deleted, I can only despair and conclude that some sort of safe, private, facilitated citizens’ assembly for trans and cis women is urgently needed so they can share, at length, their life experiences, fears and hopes, and perhaps reach some small shared ground as a first step towards eventual mutual respect.
Temperatures are clearly running very high on social media, and division and name-calling will get nobody any further forward. Trans women exist, and their concerns are not going to go away, but neither are those of their cis counterparts. Both deserve to be listened to and taken very seriously as a first step.
Peter Doughty
Belfast
