As outlined in paragraph 67 of the Amended Particulars of my Claim, I believe the following:
(A) “Sex” is a material reality which should not be conflated with “gender” or “gender identity”.
(B) Being female is an immutable biological fact, not a feeling or an identity.
(C) Sex matters.
(D) In particular it is important it is important to be able to talk about sex in order to take action against the discrimination, violence and oppression that still affect women and girls because they were born female.
“[Sex] is not a spectrum, although I know that’s a popular theory. There are only two sexes in humans. As I say, sex is the language we use to describe reproduction. People have potential to be either large gamete producers, or small gamete producers. No one produces both; no one produces something else.” [Clare Graham Interview WPUK]
I believe that a person’s sex should not be conflated with the idea of “gender”, “gender identity” or “gender expression”, at an individual or categorical level, because they are different concepts and different things. For example, social gender roles have historically been that women and girls should look decorative, act subordinately and be concerned with emotions and domestic matters, whereas men and boys should be adventurous, active, practical, analytic and stoic. But feminists have fought for decades to show that being a woman or man does not have to mean conforming to these sex stereotypes.
Similarly while there are styles of clothing, hairstyle and makeup (so called “gender expression”) traditionally associated with men and with women, clothing and other aspects of appearance are not the same thing as sex. Changing appearance does not change a person’s sex.
Source: Claimant’s Witness Statement – Maya Forstater – Medium