This June 23, the parliamentary group of insubordinate France tabled an amendment asking to “improve the care of transgender people in prison”. So far, no problem. Men who call themselves women are sometimes victims of violence from their fellow male prisoners, and it is quite normal to be concerned about this.
To remedy this problem, LFI therefore proposes that any imprisoned man declaring himself a woman, even if he is a rapist or a killer of women, can be imprisoned in women’s prisons: is carried out on the basis of the declared gender identity of the convicted person, regardless of the civil status gender at the time of the conviction”. A gentleman who declares himself to be Madame would therefore not even need to have made a sex change in the civil status to benefit from this measure.
In France, since 2016, it is possible to “change sex” in the civil register – this expression is an abuse of language because it is biologically impossible for the human being to change sex, but let’s move on – on simple declaration, by presenting themselves “publicly as belonging to the claimed sex”, and by being “known by the claimed sex of their family, friends or professional entourage”. It is therefore enough for Patrick to put on a skirt and for those around him to speak of him in the feminine for him to be considered a woman. The law says so.
British statistics
The proposed amendment of La France insoumise does not even require that Patrick put on a skirt, nor that those around him make the effort to speak of him in the feminine. Patrick could keep his beard, his penis and all that goes with it, and go and serve his sentence among the women.
This poses two problems.
The first problem is that in countries that have statistics on this subject, transfeminine men are often imprisoned for acts of sexual violence. In 2017, in the United Kingdom, the association Fairplay for women, published a report based on government figures, explaining that 41% of transfeminine men imprisoned were there for acts of sexual violence. The British Ministry of Justice has confirmed that of 125 trans people imprisoned in England, 60 of them were for sexual violence, specifying however that the report in question does not give an indication of the gender of the transgender people guilty. of these attacks.
The second problem is that the amendment proposed by LFI trusts the declarations of criminals and delinquents to know, better than the prison institution, in what circumstances they should be incarcerated. Any rapist or killer of women could turn out to be a woman overnight – even if they don’t have gender dysphoria, even if they’re not trans – and find themselves serving their sentence among women. Gift.
A political party which has the habit of advocating the holding of “segregated meetings” in particular for “racialized” people, suddenly wants to impose diversity, precisely where women are in danger if they do not is not respected.
Even in prison, women have the right to be safe
On this subject, in January 2013, feminist activist Julie Bindel declared: “We do not want the presence of men in spaces reserved for women because they represent a threat. When I speak of men, I include those who identify themselves as ‘trans women’ (…) That is why there are laws that allow women to benefit from reserved spaces in hospitals, in prisons, in accommodation centers, in locker rooms , in gyms. I’m not saying that all men are rapists. I’m saying that globally enough studies, including government studies, have shown the fact that a significant minority of men are rapists. men commit crimes against women and girls. This is why we need our own spaces. (…) What kind of society locks up rapists and sex criminals with women? (…) It is totally foolish to put the so-called ‘rights’ of men who claim to be women before the safety of women who are already in a situation of great vulnerability.”
If men who identify as “trans women” experience violence in men’s prisons, we propose to create dedicated departments in men’s prisons.
This question must go beyond partisan political conflicts; we call on the left and the right to unite in order to firmly oppose this amendment which represents a serious danger for women in prison. Even in prison, even if they have committed crimes and misdemeanors, they have the right to be safe, they have the right not to suffer exhibitions of “women’s penises” in collective showers and not to live in a situation of constant hyper-vigilance for fear of being spied on by a desiring male or sexually assaulted.
* Dora Moutot is the creator of the Instagram account #TasJoui. Marguerite Stern is the founder of the collage movement against feminicides. These two feminists launched the site femalelist.