‘Eventually, the media had no choice but to start reporting on some of it. The stories became too big to ignore…The mainstream media has started acknowledging it but there’s still a huge gap between what the public knows - and what has actually happened over the last decade’
Remember when people would tell you that stories about children identifying as the opposite sex, schools encouraging it, teachers affirming it, or even kids identifying as things other than human were just "right-wing myths" or internet rumours?
Many of us were seeing these stories years ago. We saw the videos, read the accounts from parents, followed the whistleblowers and watched the numbers grow. Yet when you tried to tell family and friends about the latest development, you sounded crazy because the mainstream media either ignored it completely or covered it in a way that downplayed what was actually happening.
For a long time, we assumed these stories would eventually make the news because they were so shocking. Often they didn't. Or if they did, it was months or years later, after people had already been dismissed as conspiracy theorists for talking about them.
Those were strange days. Children went from being isolated during the pandemic to returning to schools where, in some cases, they were being encouraged to question the reality of their own sex and expected to affirm beliefs they could plainly see conflicted with reality. It's reasonable to ask what effect this has had on young minds.
Eventually, the media had no choice but to start reporting on some of it. The stories became too big to ignore. Women's sports became impossible to avoid. Most people pay attention to the Olympics, after all. Seeing a male athlete win in a women's category is the sort of thing that cuts through to people who haven't spent years following the issue. So does watching an ordinary working mother, finishing long shifts as a nurse, suddenly become a household name after being dragged into a legal battle for stating what most people believe to be common sense.
The reality is that nobody sees as much of this as those who've gone down the (unfortunate) rabbit hole. The average woman agrees with basic boundaries - she doesn't want men in women's spaces and she knows sex is real - but she also has a job, a family and a life. She isn't spending hours reading reports, court cases, policy changes, school guidance and the countless stories that never make the headlines.
That's why so many people are still stuck in the “middle”. Not because they support everything that's happened, but because they haven't seen even a fraction of what many of us have seen. From the outside, it can all appear fairly harmless: bright colours, rainbow flags, messages about inclusion, kindness and being yourself. If that's all you're exposed to, it's understandable why you'd struggle to see why anyone is concerned. It's only when you start looking beyond the branding and the slogans that you begin to understand why so many women have become alarmed.
The mainstream media has started acknowledging more of it, but there is still a huge gap between what the public knows and what has actually happened over the last decade. Until that gap closes, many people will continue to see it primarily as a colourful movement about acceptance, compassion and self-expression. Most of us would agree that people should be free to be themselves and live their lives as they choose. The problem is that many remain unaware of the wider ideas and policies that have emerged alongside it, and the real-world consequences those have had in schools, healthcare, sport and women's rights.
The minute those in the so-called middle start seeing the fuller picture, things may finally begin to change. Ordinary women like us won't have to keep shouting over the noise or doing the heavy lifting anymore. What many of us have spent years trying to highlight will become impossible for the wider public not to see. The reality behind the slogans, colours and carefully crafted messaging will be staring people in the face.