Caroline ffiske was a Conservative Councillor for 8 years. Published 24 September 2021

The Women and Equalities Commons Select Committee remains determined to insult women and undermine reality. Really it should be renamed. The Gender Ideology Promotion Panel? Perhaps it could set targets. More vulnerable young people with damaged bodies and medicated for life? Year on year increases in the number of men who win women's sporting trophies? The eradication of all knowledge relating to the binary and immutable nature of biological sex from school textbooks? 

How anyone supports gender ideology is beyond me. Yet here we are. The Women and Equalities Select Committee. Right at the heart of our government and democracy. Cross Party. ( Committee membership for your letter-writing here.)

WESC has decided to hold a consultation on how women experiencing menopause are supported in the workplace. But have you spotted my thoughtcrime? 

It's not just women who menstruate! 

No - "MPs on the Women and Equalities Select Committee have recently started investigating the way women and people who experience menopause are supported in the workplace". 

Click through to fill in their survey:

• "What is your sex?" Options: Male, Female, Prefer Not to Say. 

Followed by: 

• "Is the gender you identify with the same as your sex registered at birth?"  Options: Yes, No, Prefer to Self-describe. (Even yes and no are too binary now...)

We often hear the argument that 'we all know' that sex and gender identity are different. We all hear that no-one really denies the reality of biological sex which is binary, immutable, and matters very much, particularly with respect to health and medical care. Meanwhile, gender identity is different: it's self-expression, exploration, liberation, an expression of our human freedom. Sure, great - this could work after all...

But no. That is not what WESC has done here. It hasn't asked the women responding to the survey for their gender identity. That would be bad enough, pushing gender ideology - but then, we’re all non-binary, gender-queer, represented by the rainbow flag now. At least this position would respect science, biology, and medical realities that matter. 

No WESC goes further. It asks menstruators for their sex. It must let women declare that they are men, actually male-sexed. It must let men, penis-havers, declare that they menstruate. It must undermine science and deny reality. It must mis-use established language and allow people to declare falsehoods in government surveys. 

Nobody benefits from this delusion. Our bodies are sexed at the cellular level. Imagine a time in the future when WESC and gender ideology have won, and the NHS at last understands that sex is not real. Some of us get cancer. It was once understood that there are different cancer treatments for [OLDSPEAK] men and woman. Some of these treatments work for [OLDSPEAK] men, but not for women. Some of these treatments work for [OLDSPEAK] women, but not for men. But that all relied on acknowledging OLDSPEAK.  Even worse, it  involved accepting OLDSCIENCE. But those are thought crimes now.

Oh well. All ideologies have their victims. For the sake of a bright new future, unanchored from ancient truths which kept us all too human, people die.