The Conservatives must stem the tide of Gender Ideology

Blog Layout

CfW lodge formal complaint about the behaviour of MP Penny Mordaunt

Caroline ffiske was a Conservative Councillor for Eight Years. Published on 2 March 2021.

We have written to the Chairs and Deputy Chairs of the Conservative Party to make a formal complaint about the behaviour of Penny Mordaunt MP. Our contention is that by stating in Parliament, at the dispatch box, that 'trans men are men' and 'trans women are women' she is complicit in promoting a harmful ideology that undermines important foundations of our society and endangers women and children. We outline this, in our letter, which we publish below. We look forward to hearing their response and we will keep you posted.

Dear Sir / Madam,

We are writing to you to object to the manner in which Conservative MP, Penny Mordaunt, promotes gender ideology, via her position as a Conservative Minister. In Parliament this week, while speaking at the dispatch box, she stated 'trans men are men, trans women are women'.

While this statement, on the surface, makes little sense, it is part of an ideological drive that is doing enormous harm. The Conservative Government recently consulted extensively on options for reforming the Gender Recognition Act and concluded that no substantive changes should be made; rigorous gate-keeping must be maintained around provisions for people to change their legal gender markers. Penny Mordaunt is openly undermining government policy via her privileged position at the dispatch box.

Below we set out the ways in which gender ideology is undermining important foundations of our society. In our view, the Conservative Party, which has been in government for more than ten years, is doing too little to stem its tide. It is not too far-fetched to say that the Party is therefore complicit in undermining the values it exists to protect. Nobody voted for this ideology; it is in no manifesto. By participating in its promotion, the Conservative Party also undermines trust in our democracy. Please could we meet with you at the earliest possibility to discuss further?

1. Gender ideology eliminates the boundaries between the sexes. If, as Penny Mordaunt says 'trans women are women' then we might as well drop the 'trans'. Anyone is a woman who says they are a woman. At a stroke, this eliminates the boundary around spaces that have been created to keep women safe. Men can self-identify into women's prisons, refuges, toilets, and changing rooms. Gender ideology undermines the safety of women and the dignity and privacy of both sexes.

2. If trans women are women, that is the end of sex-segregated sport. Globally, we already see a pattern of men self-identifying into women's sports and taking prizes. How can this be justified?

3. If trans women are women, there is no mechanism whereby women, including elderly and vulnerable women, can request sex-segregated intimate health and social care. There is no way to maintain single sex hospital wards. There is no way to maintain the elementary, ancient, essential boundaries between men and women.

4. Gender ideology is promoted heavily on the internet, in online social forums. Vulnerable teenagers are persuaded that they will find their 'true self', and a resolution to the difficulties in being human, via an 'inner gender identity' which may bear no relation to their biological sex. Then, as they seek to enforce new names and invented pronouns, they can find themselves at loggerheads with those who love them the most, and provide their only security in their world - their family. Some of these teenagers go on to buy cross-sex hormones online. Some go on to seek surgery that will render them medicated for life, and leave them sterile and without sexual function. This is a medical and safeguarding scandal which continues to unfold.

5. Some young people are facing a sustained attack and challenge to their sexual identity. Young women and men face being called 'transphobic' if their sexual preference is for biological men or women, rather than for anyone according to their gender identity. Lesbian women appear to be under the most sustained attack, with men opting to 'self-identify' into their spaces.

6. Gender ideology, because of its flimsy unscientific foundations (biological sex is binary and immutable, and there is no science behind the idea of an 'inner gender identity') relies on an ongoing attack on free speech to maintain its ascendancy. The flimsy foundations must not be challenged because they will be exposed in all their emptiness. People are being removed from twitter for pointing out that trans women are biological males, and reported to their local police for 'hate'.

7. We are drifting towards 'compelled speech'. Women have been instructed in Court to refer to violent males as 'she'. Prison officers are informed that they should use female pronouns for a male prisoner who requests it and male prisoners have demanded to be searched by female officers.

8. Newspapers produce stories that are literally not true. We don't even have a name for this. (Lies?) We now read newspaper stories about violent and sexual crimes committed by women. It turns out they have been committed by men. This literally changes our perception, our understanding, of our world. This is dangerous for women and for younger people, learning to navigate the world. How do they feel, when they discover our newspapers literally publish the opposite of the truth?

9. We are eroding the integrity of science. Biological sex is binary and immutable. This basic foundational scientific knowledge is being undermined.

10. We are eroding the integrity of statistics and data gathering. The 2021 Census will allow people to record their sex according to gender markers on documents such as passports. How many people in this country even know that you can change your gender marker on your passport with ease? (Where was the democratic consensus for this?)

11. We are undermining our democracy. There is no democratic remit for the aggressive roll-out of gender ideology that goes on across our public institutions, under the Conservative Government. No democratic remit said yes to men self-identifying into women's prisons, or yes to the 2021 Census undermining the concept of biological sex, or yes to police forces recording our online discussion about sex and gender as hate, or yes to any of the above.

Please could we meet with you to discuss how the Conservative Government could do more to help turn the tide on this pernicious ideology?

Conservatives for Women

< Older Post Newer Post >

The Bar Standards’ “Equality Proposals” create risks for Women

by Caroline Ffiske • 10 Oct, 2024

Will a gender critical barrister feel free to express her views in the workplace? Those of her client in court?

A Message from Karen Varley, Founder of Conservatives for Women

15 Jul, 2024

Almost a year ago I made the difficult decision to retire after the next general election. That election came a little earlier than expected but I made a promise to my family, so I am standing down from both Conservatives for Women and my parliamentary work. I know I am leaving our task in excellent hands; my fellow directors at Conservatives for Women will continue to ensure we solidify the gains we have made within our party, and my dear friends and colleagues in many other groups will hold the new government's feet to the fire. Some of those groups did not even exist three years ago; our movement to restore sanity, safeguarding, and protect our sex-based rights goes from strength to strength. I will be working in parliament until the end of July. I will continue to support our fight in any way I can, and will always be available if I can be of help. I am stepping back, but not completely stepping away. It has been an absolute honour to share this battle with you all. For the foreseeable future though, you will find me listening to Test Match Special in my shed :-) Karen Varley, 15 July 2024

A New Era - but the fight continues

15 Jul, 2024

Five years ago Conservatives for Women was born. We were a group of women shocked by how a marginal, unscientific, and harmful idea was taking centre stage in our shared public life. We knew, like everyone else, that a vanishingly small number of men and women seek to present as the opposite sex in their public and private lives and deserve to be treated civilly. But we did not believe that school children should be taught that ‘everyone has a gender identity’. We knew this involved the State lying to our children. We did not believe that vulnerable children should be supported by the NHS to take experimental drug treatments to suppress their puberty and then move on to cross sex hormones. We instinctively knew this was the State harming our children. We also knew that women had a right to single sex spaces, services, sports, and wider opportunities. And we knew that we had a right to talk about this; yet doing so, five years ago, appeared genuinely frightening. Women were losing their jobs. So a small bunch of Conservative women got together. For several years we worked incredibly closely even though we had never met! Because our goal was clear. We knew that what was going on had to be addressed at a policy level; at a parliamentary level. We needed the Conservative Party to become gender critical. While we worked cooperatively, Karen Varley became our group leader. I expect she had little idea, five years ago, that she would soon be working 70 hour weeks, engaging directly with Ministers, MPs and Peers, tackling serious policy issues in real time. Conservatives for Women, working alongside all the other gender critical groups and grassroots individuals, turned the tide on gender ideology in the UK. Together we created Terf Island. We know that our work is very far from over. But now Karen is retiring and we would like to thank her for a truly immense contribution. She’s played her part in a historic movement. We look forward to someone, someday, writing up this period in full. They will need to talk to Karen. And now our work will continue. Here’s to Karen Varley, grassroots women, and Terf Island! Caroline ffiske, 15 July 2024

Election Special Newsletter

12 Jun, 2024

We hope this newsletter finds you well and gearing up for an election battle that’s only just begun, and with the reminder that, however dire the polls, Teresa May had a 20 point lead over Jeremy Corbyn in 2017… and then she published the Conservative manifesto and enraged the public. Her lead plummeted and the Conservative’s majority shrank enough that she had to make a deal with the DUP to command a majority to govern. Labour should be publishing its manifesto tomorrow and there is every chance it contains something that will enrage the public at large. Even if that doesn’t transpire, there is still everything to play for, and to that end, our candidates need your help. We already know the Conservatives have pledged in its manifesto to make the Equality Act clear , to clarify that sex means, and has always meant, biological sex, and not something that can be modified by a piece of paper. This, along with other manifesto commitments, is a measure that will do a great deal to help preserve single sex spaces, and protect the safety and dignity of women and girls. We now need to get out there and make it clear that our candidates not only know what a woman actually is, but will always put the safety, privacy and dignity of women and girls first. If you haven’t read it, the full manifesto can be found here . We highlighted some of the key statements in our X thread here . One of the first candidates to give a clear and well informed response to questions on women’s rights and child safeguarding was Michael Tomlinson , Conservative candidate for Mid Dorset and North Poole. Let us know if your candidate says something useful! Below, we have listed every Conservative candidate who is known to be supportive of our aims. Every one of these candidates needs support, whether it’s through encouraging messages via social media or by offering assistance with canvasing – any and all help, however seemingly small, is desperately needed. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and we are sure there may be more but we wanted to get this out to you quickly. If you see them around and you intend to vote for them, tell them WHY they have your vote. If the opposition asks why you won’t vote for them, tell them too! Women's rights and child safeguarding matter. If you would like to get directly involved with any of the campaigns for the PPCs listed, you should find contact details on their websites; if nobody gets back to you quickly then let us know via a DM on X or email us at info@conservativesforwomen.org as we have direct contact with many of the campaign coordinators. If none of these MPs are local to you, there are still things you can do that help: follow them and like their pages/posts on social media for example. Many have a presence on X, Facebook, and Instagram. You could consider doing some telephone canvassing - just half an hour a day could make a difference to any one of them. Contact them directly - or volunteer via the Conservatives website. Or do call one of our directors Caroline Ffiske on 07712 675 305 if you have not done this before and would like a few tips! Let’s give this one last push before we all mark our Xs on the ballot papers. First of all, the women:

Conservatives for Women is driven by conservative values and seeks to bring a conservative voice to the debate on women's rights.
We are not in any way affiliated with the Conservative Party.

CfW lodge formal complaint about the behaviour of MP Penny Mordaunt

The Bar Standards’ “Equality Proposals” create risks for Women

A Message from Karen Varley, Founder of Conservatives for Women

A New Era - but the fight continues

Election Special Newsletter

Baroness Anne Jenkin Speech, 17 June 2023

Gender ideology is rife across institutions in Norfolk

So...But...I...Rainbow Laces Bev!

Local Authority Education Portfolio Holder Letter - Single-sex toilets in schools

Feeling Like A Woman

Conservative Education Ministers should treat gender ideology as a 'belief system'