Julie Bindel

When the Australian actor Rebel Wilson announced the birth of her daughter Royce Lillian, she added the small detail that she had been born by a 'gorgeous' surrogate. Wilson expressed her gratitude to the woman who had carried the child for nine months before giving birth to her: 'Thank you for helping me start my own family, it’s an amazing gift. The BEST gift!!' A child is a human being, and obviously not a ‘present’ – although Big Fertility would have us think differently. Wilson, who had tried IVF three times without success, said that her desire to have her own baby was ‘overwhelming‘. So overwhelming that she thought borrowing another woman’s womb was perfectly acceptable.

Feminists tend to be fascinated with the story of Joan of Arc. She was irreverent, impertinent, way more intelligent than her enemies, and was true to herself and her beliefs right to the end. War hero and religious martyr, Joan has been described as ‘Jesus with a sword’. A 16-year-old peasant girl who decided to take on an entire army is a female to admire and hold up as a role model. But it would seem that we have to make allowances for an ‘intersectional’ and ‘inclusive’ approach and consider whether Joan was female after all. A tweet from Shakespeare’s Globe theatre explained: ‘Our new play I, Joan shows Joan as a legendary leader who uses the pronouns ‘they/them’.

This week, Lia Thomas became the first transgender athlete to be crowned National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champion, winning the 500-yard freestyle in Georgia, US. The crowd was muted, and no wonder. Thomas spent around 20 years as a man and started competing against women in swimming only last year before becoming a national champion. Feminism is about ending the oppression of women (by men) and not about claiming there are no differences between the sexes. One thing is clear: there are some things that we cannot compete with men in and one of those competitive sports. https://www.youtube.com/watch?

Today is the first anniversary of the murder of Sarah Everard. Should we be placated by the forthcoming inquiry into the circumstances of the case? In my view, no, and this is a view shared by many of us that campaign against male violence towards women and girls. Lawyers for the Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ) a feminist legal charity have launched a legal challenge against the Home Secretary Priti Patel, because, as its director Harriet Wistrich says, ‘The inquiry is not looking at the culture of policing. An inquiry into only one specific incident, albeit an horrific one, cannot come close to uncovering what that culture is and why and how it permeates policing – let alone what we can do to change it.’ When it comes to policing, change is slow.

Tom Ford, the stratospherically successful fashion designer has recently released lipstick shades called ‘Age of Consent’ and ‘First Time’. He also produced a perfume called ‘Lost Cherry’. There has been a bit of an uproar by some feminists who think it appalling to make references to sex with underage girls as a marketing ploy. Known for coming up with the idea of logos shaved into pubic hair and regularly using nude models, Ford, a gay man, is branded fashion’s King of Sex. He denies sexism, claiming to be an ‘equal opportunity objectifier’ because he also features nude male models, insisting there is ‘nothing wrong with using people’s bodies as a selling tool.

At one stage, I had a special tray in my study into which to throw all my lesbian wedding invitations. This was around December 2005, when lesbian and gay couples could first sign a civil partnership agreement, providing legal protection including a basis for next-of-kin and inheritance rights. Although the law still did not allow actual marriage between same sex couples, many lesbians went full throttle with their weddings. It didn’t seem to matter that the only requirement to enter a civil partnership was a trip to the town hall and a signature in front of a couple of witnesses. When I signed my own, my partner and I turned up in our usual scruffs in between work commitments. But lots of lesbians wanted the big day.

Raquel Rosario-Sanchez’s case may prove to be a landmark one in the current war on women. She is a PhD student who is taking a civil action against her university, Bristol, on the grounds of sex discrimination and negligence. She is arguing that the university failed to tackle transgender activists who subjected her to a two-year hate campaign. The case, held in the Bristol Civil Justice Centre, is being taken as a last resort: Rosario-Sanchez previously attempted to resolve matters with the university through the usual channels. It all began in 2018, when Rosario-Sanchez was invited to chair a meeting of the socialist feminist organisation, a Women’s Place UK (WPUK). She was asked for good reason. Her feminist credentials are impressive.

Before I saw the statement, ‘It is with sadness and deep regret that LGBT Foundation is severing all ties with the EHRC [Equality and Human Rights Commission],’ I had never heard of the charity, the LGBT Foundation. How I wish it had remained so. The reason why the Foundation had taken such umbrage with the EHRC is because it had released two statements this week that, according to trans-activists, are ‘extremely damaging [to trans-people] and cannot be supported in any circumstances.’ One statement was about the proposed conversion therapy legislation in England and Wales.