SCOT GOES POP / PANELBASE POLL: Huge majority of Scottish public believe that if a woman suffers a sexual assault, she should have the right to ask to be examined by a doctor who has been biologically female since birth

The past is a foreign country, so the saying goes, and it seems scarcely believable that, less than a year ago, there was a mini-exodus from the SNP of people claiming that the party was 'riven with transphobia' or even 'institutionally transphobic'.  That was more than a touch fanciful given that the First Minister is positively evangelical for the Stonewall-approved definitions of both trans rights and transphobia, but there was a clear trigger: the Scottish Government had just accepted Johann Lamont's amendment to the Forensic Medical Services Bill replacing the word "gender" with "sex" in relation to a woman's right to request a female medical examiner after a sexual assault.  The claim was that the amendment had been specifically crafted to exclude trans women from the definition of 'female', and indeed as a gender critical feminist Ms Lamont made no particular secret that this was her aim.  The resulting controversy didn't just affect the SNP - it was a major contributory factor to Andy Wightman's departure from the Green group at Holyrood and his much-lamented departure from Holyrood itself.

After I published the first GRA-related result from the new Scot Goes Pop / Panelbase poll showing overwhelming opposition to legally-recognised gender self-ID, a couple of people suggested that the outcome proved the public were bigoted, because gender identity is a private matter for the individual that doesn't affect anyone else.  But the issue of intimate examinations demonstrates how that isn't entirely true.  By insisting on trans inclusion on this subject, it's possible that a woman's right to request an examiner she is comfortable with, at a time of tremendous distress, is being restricted.  And, of course, the chief executive of Edinburgh Rape Crisis has been entirely open about her belief that even sexual assault victims should expect to have their alleged "transphobia" robustly challenged, which suggests the restriction of women's rights in this area would be seen as a feature, not a bug.

To find out exactly where the public stand, I added a specific question on this subject to the poll.

Scot Goes Pop / Panelbase poll (a representative sample of 1001 over-16s in Scotland was interviewed by Panelbase between 20th and 26th October 2021)

If a woman requires an intimate medical examination after being sexually assaulted, do you think she should have the right to ask to be examined by a doctor who has been biologically female since birth, or should she only have the right to ask to be examined by a doctor who is legally regarded as a woman, regardless of that person's biological sex at birth?

She should have the right to ask to be examined by a doctor who has been biologically female since birth: 58%

She should only have the right to ask to be examined by a doctor who is legally regarded as a woman: 20%

Don't Know / Prefer not to answer: 22%

So another very clear-cut outcome.  It may be that some people will look at the question, roll their eyes to the heavens, and say it was always obvious what result it would produce. But, in a way, that concedes the whole point.  It demonstrates that they know perfectly well that the activism is running way, way ahead of public opinion on this topic, as on so many related topics.  So are the activists actually interested in engaging with voters and winning the battle to change public opinion, or are they trying to go over the heads of voters by pushing changes through on the quiet?  It very much appears that the latter is the case.  Which may be a perfectly legitimate tactic in a parliamentary democracy, but it does mean they're being somewhat disingenuous in claiming that they are restructuring society on the back of mass public support/demand.

Although there wasn't much difference between male and female respondents on the previous two GRA questions in the poll, there's actually more of a gender gap on this question.  Intriguingly, female respondents are significantly less likely to say that a woman should have the right to be examined by a doctor who has been biologically female since birth - however, an absolute majority of women (53%) do take that view, and less than one-quarter disagree. The now-familiar generation gap is there once again, but isn't particularly pronounced.  Which party people vote for is a fairly strong predictor of their views on this question - with 24% of both SNP and Labour voters supporting trans inclusion in the definition of a female medical examiner, compared to only 13% of both Tory and Lib Dem voters.  However, an absolute majority of all parties' voters (ranging from 52% for Labour to 71% for the Tories) think women should have the right to be examined by someone who has been biologically female since birth.

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