Trans activists risk falling for misogyny

Watching the BBC drama Mrs America about the 1970s fight for the Equal Rights Amendment is a reminder that progress is rarely permanent and that feminist battles for women’s liberation always attract backlash, as well as open hatred and disdain.

In the show, the right-wing Republican and anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly does battle with second-wave feminists such as Gloria Steinem, Shirley Chisholm and Betty Friedan. Whatever your views on feminism, I would implore you to watch it. It is incredible television.

But something occurred to me right in the middle of the first episode. The Schlafly character reminded me of some of the so-called feminists of today. In the current climate of trans activists demanding total capitulation, like Schlafly, some women are happy to barter our hard-won gains in order to be seen as ‘nice’.

In the 1970s, any sensible person would be on the side of the feminists as opposed to those trying to prevent women’s equal rights under the law.