Care about the trans debate? Ask yourself this question

J.K. Rowling is talking about sex and gender again, which means a lot of people are getting angry. It’s striking how the prospect of a woman eloquently stating her opinions and refusing to stop stating them – even when she has been told to shut up – seems to make some people unhappy.

Because Rowling admirably refused to do as she’s told and be quiet, this is becoming a familiar story. ‘Famous author wades into trans row’ is good copy. And it gets angry clicks on social media.

None of this changes the minds of people already immersed in this stuff, of course. Those people remain a minority. Politically speaking, the most important aspect of Britain’s gender rows are that they are marginal: the majority of people don’t have developed opinions on the issue. Most polling on the topic should therefore be treated with caution.

About the only thing we can say with confidence is that a lot of people in Britain don’t yet know enough about the sex-gender issue to be sure where they stand on it.