I absolutely agree that moderate voices are being drowned out in the emotionally charged debate occurring at the moment. We should not find this surprising however. Eye-catching headlines identifying some sort of a problem sell many more newspapers and TV ads than feel good stories about the progress we are making as a society. It has always been so.

While I agree with the substance of your article for the most part, I find two things problematic. First, I do not agree that gender critical feminists are espousing a liberal left-wing ideology. The fact that they are ardent feminists could be considered so, but their gender critical attitudes are a very reactionary right wing position which is shared with the MAGA crowd and other transphobic bigots. There’s nothing liberal or left-wing about such beliefs. By contrast there are many feminists (my sister-in-law is one) who are supportive of trans women and believe that we are all just women regardless of our gender assigned at birth. They view women’s concerns as being shared by all, trans and natal alike. This is the truly enlightened liberal left-wing ideology. Gender critical feminists deserve our condemnation just as much as their male counterparts do. Bigotry is bigotry regardless of one’s sex.

I also am uncomfortable with your statement that women should have their own segregated safe places. By this I assume you are referring to things like locker rooms. This implies that all transgender women should be excluded and perhaps given their own separate space away from the male only and female only ones. Separate but equal was ultimately shown to be a form of racism rather than an enlightened compromise position with regard to race relations. The same is true with regard to solutions to the challenges facing trans people. I must firmly disagree with your apparent position that it is appropriate to exclude all trans women from women’s only spaces without qualification. I am a passable postop trans woman who does not get a second glance on the street and would not in a locker room. Undressed I look just like any other woman. If you are somehow suggesting that because of my trans status certain cis women spaces should be made unavailable to me, I would suggest that this is just a soft form of transphobic bigotry.

On the other hand, like many cis women, I also would be uncomfortable if a preop or non op trans woman entered my private space and undressed. I think the discomfort is real and not unreasonable. It sounds like I am being exclusionary, but I am being pragmatic. I think we should find ways to accommodate the sensibilities of everyone. In saying this I am not diminishing the authenticity of trans women who have not had full surgical transformation. They are just as legitimate with the same rights as I have. My comment is more a matter of respect for what I believe to be valid social concerns and standards of behavior. Intentionally making cis women uncomfortable without regard to their sensibilities is neither productive nor reasonable in my opinion. It does nothing to foster understanding and goodwill. Certain compromises may be necessary to ensure that we have full rights without taking away any from those who are cis normative. It is a balancing act. I understand that these are difficult issues, the solution for which is not easy or entirely straightforward. In the meantime, we all need to move forward in good faith. People with entrenched radical positions who will not listen to reason are not helpful to the conversation.