Sunday, November 7, 2021

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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14 comments:

  1. I suspect this somewhat underplays the likely opposition. If, for example, I'd been asked this question a couple of years ago, before I'd engaged with the topic, I'd likely have been on the side which said women should only be allowed to ask for a "legally female" examiner. This is because I would assume (as I'm sure many respondents did) that means someone who has gone through the GRA process, been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, fully transitioned and is therefore someone who will have suffered a fair bit and poses no danger to women. Also that it would be such an incredibly rare occurrence it wouldn't be worth worrying about. And that the trans woman would also be empathetic enough to step back for a colleague if a woman was really distressed.

    With self ID, this is simply no longer the case. And it's the way that intersects with so many issues such as this one which creates the real problem. It's a problem all too obvious from cases like "Jessica Yaniv" in Canada who sued and harassed many women (mostly immigrants) for not waxing "her" balls in their female only parlours. This is a man who clearly gets off on bullying and harassing women. There are plenty men who get off on terrorising women. Self ID opens the door to any and every one of them to simply claim he's a woman with no transition, no gender dysphoria, nothing. And when you realise that, it entirely changes the way you'd think about a policy like this. It opens a role dealing with hugely traumatised women who have suffered rape to any man who fancies that job. That is absolutely nothing to do with "trans rights" or equality: it's wholly against the rights of traumatised women.

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    1. The question was asked after questions which detailed the GRA reform planned by the Scottish Government (ie. self-ID without any need for a diagnosis of gender dysphoria), so that would have been fresh in respondents' minds.

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    2. A very fair and sensible response from you Fergie , no one wants people to suffer from any medical or mental condition but equally so I will defend my daughters and granddaughters safety and security from depraved perverts and paedophiles who are eagerly supporting this reviled proposal
      ONLY REAL females can experience the joys and downsides of womanhood the others are either mentally ill or deviants seeking perverted sexual thrills

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    3. Meanwhile the mad liar Skier claims that because no one has separate male and female toilets in their house everyone is making a fuss about nothing as every house has a unisex toilet at present. Yep he is a WGD numpty.

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    4. IFS, if Skier's 'French wife' existed he would know, as those of us with real wives and daughters know, that they would kill for a second loo if it were affordable! Anything to get away from smelly men and their upturned toilet seats!

      Those of us who have had the dubious benefits of Skier's insights on this subject in the past know how the availability of shared facilities, especially toilets, seems to hold an inexplicable fascination for him. I'm sure Skier is as patriotic as any Irish Scotsman with a French alter ego can be but the right to listen to a woman peeing seems a strange choice of hill to die on in the cause of independence.

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  2. After many years of the SNP and SNP supporters quite rightly complaining about Britnats getting up and walking out of the HofC when they stood up to speak what do the SNP MPs do when Kenny MacAskill gets up to speak. Yep you guessed it the SNP MPs get up and walk out. Just another reason Oswald will not be getting my vote in future UK GEs.

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  3. Why would any man change their sex? After all the pain of surgery and a lifetime of reassignment drugs, plus nips and tucks into the future, who wants to earn 20% less than their male counterparts; because that's the reality: even since the 1967 equal pay act, women earn less than men; almost 55 years after the law was passed employers get off Scot free in ignoring equal pay.

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  4. It is a clear cut majority - no doubt about it but I am amazed that it is not higher. Only 58%.

    22% don't know/prefer not to answer - whit?

    Is this the SNP/ Sturgeon effect? The sheep don't want to go against any Scotgov policy that Sturgeon wants even though female WGD numpties like Capella have reservations about these matters. They stupidly take the approach of: "this can be sorted after independence."

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  5. The WGD numpty Jack Collatin calls MacAskill a turncoat.

    The true turncoats are people like Kavanagh and his doggers like Collatin who turned on Salmond and averted their eyes to the evidence that Sturgeon is a wrong un. They will all disappear without trace at some point in the future when they eventually realise they have helped contribute to wasting golden oppportunities for Scotland to be independent. The same sort of numpties who supported British Labour in Scotland for many decades. It takes a long time for some numpties to see what is staring them in the face. I have no idea if Sturgeon is laughing at these numpties but she must be astonished that she has got away with it for so long.

    True independence supporters put the independence of Scotland ahead of party.

    SNP/WGD numpties put party before country.

    SNP politicians are putting themselves ahead of their country.

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  6. James, by doing this poll I am pretty sure that you are:

    1. Getting accused of being transphobic

    2. Getting accused of focusing on something that nobody is interested in.

    I guess it does give the numpties something to distract themselves from looking at Sturgeons inaction on independence by attacking you. Numpties will be numpties.

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  7. Well who would have known it - mad liar Skier is also a expert on racism. He built up his expertise on racism whilst living in Nigeria he says. Strangely enough he does not claim to hold a Nigerian passport or be Nigerian. Just Scottish, Irish and part French. He also seems to be an expert on the Scots language as well. A man of many places and many talents. Oh and he is an expert in bullshitting.

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  8. I reckon that sometime in the future a pollster (maybe even James) will pose the question:

    "Was Nicola Sturgeon as FM of Scotland more controlled by Westminster or Stonewall?"

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  9. Thanks for commissioning this poll, James. The questions are just right, not biased in either direction, meaning the results can be trusted. A refreshing change from similar exercises in the past, and it actually takes us forward. Well done.

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  10. Now we know why Obama was against Scottish independence. He thought we were part of the Emerald Isle and Shakespeare is our bard.

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