WPUK Myth busters

From the earliest days of our campaign, WPUK has faced smears, slurs, and lies intended to discredit us. We’re busy women so we don’t have time to write to every newspaper that publishes incorrect information about us or to trawl social media to call out the trolls peddling conspiracy theories about us.

To help any readers who are concerned about some of things that have been written about us, we have provided a handy myth buster. Here are the 5 most common myths busted:

MYTH: WPUK are transphobic.

FACT: WPUK opposes all unlawful discrimination against trans people and we believe that the right to gender non-conformity including in dress codes and behavioural expectations should be upheld in law, for men and for women. We work closely with trans people who share our views and we have provided a platform for transsexual people who also believe that a woman’s biological sex is something that she is born with.

Videos from our meetings are available on the WPUK YouTube channel. Statements made by others in other settings have been incorrectly attributed to speakers at our meetings.

MYTH: WPUK are funded by right-wing evangelical American groups.

FACT: We are not funded by the far or religious right; nor would we ever seek, or knowingly accept, any such funding. WPUK is funded entirely by individual donations. The average donation received is £24.39. We have published a financial statement showing our income and expenditure for the three years we have existed. We do not disclose the names of individual donors because this would expose them to online harassment and complaints to their employers.

MYTH: WPUK are a hate group.

FACT: The central organisers and activists of WPUK have deep personal involvement in a range of feminist, pro-working class, internationalist political activity from a variety of left-wing backgrounds, including the Labour Party and trade unions.  All of us are committed to a world free of poverty, discrimination and intolerance and we have demonstrated this throughout our adult lives.

MYTH: WPUK was set up with the sole aim of opposing trans rights.

FACT: WPUK was set up to ensure women’s voices were heard in a consultation to change a law that would have a material impact on women’s lives. We believe that women must be part of the decision-making processes that affect our lives.

MYTH:  WPUK represents only a vocal minority of transphobic bigots

FACT: WPUK is not a representative group, it is a feminist campaign group which provides a platform for women to discuss matters of concern to women. Nonetheless, public opinion polling by You Gov confirms that the British public shares many of our concerns over recognition of cross-sex legal status, especially for pre-operative, non-dysphoric trans people.

CORRECTING THE RECORD

We focus on positive campaigning but we do rebut inaccurate claims about us when we are aware of them. You can read our rebuttals here.

Videos from our public meetings and webinars are available on the WPUK YouTube channel.

All our statements and resources are published on the WPUK website.

Read our original 5 Demands.

Read about our 5 campaign resolutions.

WPUK

28th November 2020

For more:

WPUK Myth busters – a response to the IRR and others