Trans ideology and the triumph of feelings over fact

Most people who have been following the controversy over Kathleen Stock’s speech at the Oxford Union, and who have been observing this debate that combines transgender rights, the rights of women and free speech, might be tempted to conclude that the dispute has its origins in a sole ideology. That is, the transgender ideology which believes that one’s gender and one’s sex can be altered to accord to one’s authentic, inner self.

This is true. It is all about an ideology. But trans ideology isn’t the ultimate issue here. It’s the ideology of ‘feeling’ that’s at the root of the debate we’ve been having – both of the trans phenomenon and the way we all talk about it.

Trans ideology has blossomed in a culture in which one’s feelings is deemed paramount. It has come to maturity in an age of emotivism, an era inaugurated by the response to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.