Maria Miller, former Culture Secretary and Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee spoke to The Independent on Sunday to discuss her shock at the negative response to the Trans Inquiry from a 'minority of women purporting to be feminists'.
Talking to The Independent on Sunday from her offices in Westminster, Miss Miller said that she was expecting to be attacked from within her own party by right-wingers once the Trans Inquiry was published, but was surprised by the reaction she received.
'The only negative reaction that I've seen has been from individuals purporting to be feminists', she said.
Just a quick glance at Twitter reveals that there has indeed been a negative reaction towards the Trans Inquiry, and Maria Miller, from people who are raising concerns over the notion of allowing people they view as men into women's spaces.
Maria Miller has been accused of exposing women to 'violent men hiding behind the mask of being transgender', she has been told that trans women are 'not real women' and that they are often 'violent offenders or sex offenders'. She has been told that she is a 'traitor' to women and that she is failing in her duty to protect women.
Despite these vocal disagreements from certain sections of the feminist community Maria Miller has refused to back down from her position and has painted a target for hate and abuse on herself by insisting that these views are not only wrong, but that they go against the very notion of feminism. She even went on to point out research by the Fawcett Society, a think tank campaigning for women's rights, that says that roughly two-thirds of feminists believe that gender is fluid, rather than binary.
'I think that all of us who are feminists know that equality for other groups of people, and a fairer deal for other groups of people, is good for us as well. If we live in a fairer society, where opportunities are not cut off because of your gender or sexuality or race or religion, then it's going to be good for women as well as good for everyone else.' She said.
'We should be fighting for a fairer society. I find it extraordinary that somebody wouldn't acknowledge that. But there seems to be an undercurrent of opinion amongst some that trans people shouldn't be treated equally, even when they've had a legal change in their gender, and that in some way is a threat to women; I simply reject that.'
Amy.
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