ARTICLES.

This document is a response to the PRISM report (‘the report’) produced and disseminated by the New Zealand Human Rights Commission.

<p class="font_9">Organisations are now making policies which give men access to places which were previously female-only if they self-ID as women. Cloaked terminology such as “all women” are used to incorporate these self-ID men, and that is then imposed on the public and/or staff. This is confusing and potentially unsafe for women and girls.</p>

On 6 September, I held a public meeting in Wellington, as spokesperson for the organisation Speak Up For Women (SUFW). “Let’s talk about proposed legislation that would allow legal sex to be changed based solely on self-declaration,” prompted the publicity.

<p class="font_9">Women and girls have the right to single-sex services, but males who self-ID as women are being given access to these services as well. Service providers are allowed to provide a single-sex service irrespective of how a man self-IDs, or what sex is recorded on a (potentially changed) birth certificate.</p>
<p class="font_9">(BOR Act S 19¹, and part 2 HRA in particular ss 46² and 73ᶟ, and <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2021/0057/latest/LMS613219.html">BDMRR clause 79(2)</a></p>

Speak Up For Women is concerned about the censoring of feminists and women who speak out against sex self-ID.

<p class="font_9">If allowed to go through puberty, 80% of gender-questioning children will accept their sex. Puberty is when we mature physically, emotionally, and mentally, and halting this maturation with puberty blockers so a child can ‘pass’ more effectively as the opposite sex when they’re an adult is a questionable &nbsp;and experimental practice.&nbsp;</p>

<p class="font_9">The words ‘women’ and ‘girls’ are being replaced with undignified terminology throughout New Zealand’s public service and government organisations, as well as in some private sectors. We can now be referred to as “people who menstruate”, “birthing parent”, and “vagina owners”. Men and boys are still called men and boys. This dehumanising of women and girls must stop, and it begins with language.</p>

Speak Up For Women is often asked to provide proof that self-ID will result in harm.

Proposed changes to the BDMRR Bill (“self-ID”): effects on children/young persons under 18

New Zealanders will be shocked to realise the experimental nature of treatment being carried out on children and adolescents in the name of gender-affirming medicine.

<p class="font_9">Under misguided good intentions, New Zealand schools are implementing gender-identity ideology into their curriculum, supported by the Dept of Education’s Relationships and Sexuality Education guidelines. We believe it’s not appropriate to teach impressionable children that they may be the opposite sex if they exhibit gender nonconforming behaviour. We support <a href="https://www.resistgendereducation.nz/">Resist Gender Education</a>.</p>

<p class="font_9">No man should be housed in a women’s prison no matter how he self-IDs. Vulnerable male prisoners who self-ID as women should have other arrangements made for them, and not housed with vulnerable women. Women in prison have no escape from a male who is locked up with them.</p>