I’ll begin with the premise that words have meanings and that those meanings matter. What we used to call a “sex change operation” is now called “gender reassignment surgery.” This small change in language is bad news for trans activists because it represents an admission that the concept of “sex change” was always a lie. No human, in the history of the world, has ever changed their sex.

Even if it became possible to alter the DNA that resides in every cell nucleus in the body, you can’t reverse the many physiological changes of male puberty. Surgically removing genitals or breasts cannot change a person’s sex, nor can years of ingesting cross-sex hormones. While scientists did not fully understand how DNA works when the first “sex change” operations were conducted, the “Y” chromosome, and the role it played in sex determination, had already been discovered in 1905 by Nettie Stevens.

When the first “sex-change” operations were performed, those who believed that their “sex” had been “changed” by surgery and hormones were deceived. It was a mistake to allow them to falsify the sex or “gender”  recorded on government documents. This was a serious mistake and it needs to be corrected. Obviously, this is anathema to trans activists and will cause some of them psychological distress. It hurts to have the truth revealed when you’ve been living a lie. This problem has flown under the radar for decades because of the traditional social stigma and the very low numbers of “trans” people.

Today we understand that there is a significant difference between sex and gender, but this difference is a recent invention. “Gender” as a field on government documents was originally just a euphemism that referred specifically to what we now understand to be biological sex. We used to say “gender” instead of “sex” because people were squeamish about sex. When these documents were first designed, “sex” belonged exclusively behind the closed doors of married couples’ bedrooms and the subject was avoided in polite society.

When existing government documents were created, including forms to record statistics, sex and gender were interchangeable terms but that is no longer the case. With 20/20 hindsight we can see that instead of changing the sex/gender marker on documents for people who had a “sex change operation” we could have added a new field so sex and gender could be recorded separately. Trans activists don’t want this, obviously, but we do need to discuss the reality that society has made a serious mistake and needs to correct it. The #NoDebate hashtag was supposed to stop us from ever having this conversation.

Now that we understand humans cannot change sex, because we cannot alter our DNA, trans activists want us all to pretend that gender is all that matters, as if gender was never interchangeable with sex. Today, by making a clear distinction between sex and gender, trans activists have pulled off a huge “bait & switch” with catastrophic consequences for women and girls. Sex, however, does matter in ways that gender never will. Sex, not gender, not “gender identity” is the reason people who were born male are unwelcome in female single-sex spaces. 

It is an indisputable fact that men, as a group, are statistically significantly bigger, stronger and more violent than women and much more likely to be sexual predators. This is why females are entitled to spaces where males are excluded. The sex differences that make female spaces so necessary are not mitigated by surgery or cross-sex hormones. Maleness is forever, and there is nothing a trans-identifying male can do about that.

If a man jumps through all the hoops, takes the hormones, has bottom surgery, shaves down his Adam’s apple, gets facial feminization surgery, grows his hair, wears makeup, swaps his wardrobe and performs femininity well, he may “pass” as female, but he is still living a lie. He is still violating the boundaries of women every time he enters a female space, and not getting caught because he’s doing this by stealth does not make it okay. You know who you are.

If I enter a female space to undress I consent to be seen by other females and I don’t mind this because women, as a group, are not bigger, stronger, more violent or likely to be sexual predators. I do not consent to be seen by a male in a female space, not even if he is gay with gender dysphoria instead of being a heterosexual with autogynephilia. My consent is my own and no person anywhere has permission to give MY consent to any male person,whether he “passes” as female or not. Allowing trans-identifying males to use female single-sex spaces, even public toilets, is a violation of the sex-based boundaries and consent of every female who *could* walk into that space and disrobe, even if they don’t.

There is a social contract being violated here, and this needs to stop. There is a public perception that most men who claim to be trans are gay men with genuine dysphoria, which is a mental illness that tells them they were “born in the wrong body” but that perception is flawed. Increasing numbers of heterosexual men with a sexual fetish called autogynephilia are now claiming to be “trans women” and expecting women to validate them by participating in their delusions.

The #MeToo movement made it clear that our sexual consent is our own and nobody has the right to take that from us. Men who commit indecent exposure are punished for it because we recognize that as a violation, even if there is no physical contact, as is also the case with voyeurism. When a male enters a space where women may be undressed in full view of other women, he is committing the crime of voyeurism. If a trans-identifying male with male genitals undresses in a female space, he is committing the additional crime of indecent exposure and should be prosecuted for it.

When Canada debated Bill C-16 in 2016, why was there no discussion of the impact it would have on the criminal code with respect to voyeurism and indecent exposure? These laws are still on the books. A person of the male sex cannot be allowed to use a female single-sex space no matter what gender he claims to be. Crime statistics should record both sex and gender, because failing to do so will make it appear as if females are more violent than we really are. The very statistics that support single-sex spaces for females have now been undermined by the lie that men can change their sex.

I recently asked a Toronto police officer if an arrest would be made if a trans-identifying male exposed his male genitals in a female space. He said it would depend on how that person identified. This response is unacceptable. A trans-identifying male should be arrested and charged with voyeurism for entering any female space, even if he’s had bottom surgery. I don’t care if you think I’m unkind. Expecting females to accommodate men’s “feelings” at the expense of our privacy, dignity and physical safety is extremely unkind to women and girls.

I’m sick of being told I need to accommodate men who are living a lie. These men need psychological treatment for their alethophobia – their fear of or aversion to the truth. The truth is that no man has ever changed his sex to female. The standard of care for all phobias is exposure therapy. For a deeply indoctrinated trans person, the truths in this article will be hard pills to swallow. One of the hardest truths for trans people to accept is that by demanding privileges that destroyed the fundamental sex-based rights of women and girls, trans activists have shot themselves in the foot by exposing the lie that is at the very foundation of their movement and they have only themselves to blame.

Correcting the errors our society made that were based on the lie that people could change their sex will seem regressive to trans people. I understand their perspective, but continuing to tear down the sex-based rights of woman and girls so men can continue to live a lie is unacceptable. Maybe this article is too much truth all at once for a deeply indoctrinated trans person, but I will keep speaking the truth until they get used to it. For them, re-reading this article may have therapeutic value.