Sally found a

where five researchers give a rebuttal of all the major arguments made by transphobic radical feminists and right wing extremists. I am taking the liberty of providing an unoffical translation here (an adaptation of a pretty good Google translation, actually):

PREJUDICED INCOMPETENCE REGARDING GENDER DIVERSITY

Gjevjon is upset by the legal gender law that came into force last summer. It states that "Persons living in Norway who experience belonging to the other gender than the person in question are registered in the population register have the right to change their legal gender." She complains about how "easy" it is to change legally Gender, and ask indignantly: "Did you know that it's harder to change names than gender in this country, Bent?"

It is tempting to resort to Gjevie's own harsh tone and ask "How is it possible?". We are, however, careful to recommend Gjevjon to think about what it means of marginalization, othering and harassment to be a transperson in Norway, and if it seems reasonable to compare it with name change.

Transgender people are one of the groups most vulnerable to discrimination, violence and sexual abuse on a global basis. In a Swedish living condition survey among transgender people forund that over 50% have experienced being harassed because of their gender expressions in the last three months, and every fifth has experienced violence. A third has been considering taking their lives.

A new separate investigation is to propose various measures for improving health care, schools and occupational health and safety in order to reduce mental suffering among transgender people. This will be done, inter alia, by creating the conditions for less discrimination and greater inclusion of gender diversity. With the exception of the 2013 report written by Janneke van der Ros, Alskens Folk , we do not have any similar surveys or investigative measures in Norway.

Gjevjon wants the term woman to be reserved for people who are born with vagina and breasts, and makes use of the dictionary to define gender. As gender researchers, we know that gender is far more complex phenomenon than Gjevjon gives an impression of. Many people are happy to live socially as the legal gender they were granted at birth. But for an increasing number of people, it is not.

Among young people in Sweden, for example, one in 100 defines as non-binary, which means that they do not have one stable gender identity that is consistent with what is said in the passport. Some find that they are alternately both women and men, or neither. Every year, there are also born twelve children with indeterminate sex in Norway.

Gjevjon claims that "women who are born women (female) share the experience of being a woman and to be seen and treated as a woman." Minority women have argued against this argument throughout the history of feminism. In 1851 Sojourner Truth asked the question "Ain't I a Woman?" in a speech that pointed out that black women's experiences in an American society characterized by slavery were not exactly "female"[/"feminine"]. Truth herself pointed out that she was stronger than most men and that she had hardly ever been seen and treated as a woman.

In a recent story, lesbian feminist Monique Wittig argued that lesbians can not be understood as women because they do not share the most common common experience shared among women: the heterosexual relationship with men. Up till now feminists have not succeeded in finding out what the experiences "of being a woman and being seen and treated as a woman" can define the woman's category. Women, also in Gjevie's understanding of the term, seem to be too diverse for that.

A lot of Norwegian research on gender diversity involving trans focuses on health and justice, but internationally we are increasingly seeing research-based knowledge from humanities and social sciences based on transgender' peoples' own experiences and positions. This research is an important resource for policy decisions for better protection and rights. This is in many ways a classic feminist position: the personal is political. Experience-based knowledge that takes the individual's experience seriously, which does not override through authoritarian institutions such as psychiatry and court, or warns minority's warning of discrimination or hatred, is the primary basis for a democratic society that accommodates all of us.

Let it be clear: Social participation and equality for transgender and others who do not fit into the twin model, do not threaten the freedom of those who support the said binary model. By identifying trans women especially as a categorical threat in the public space, Gjevjon feeds an ideological debate based on anything but knowledge and reality. However, it is highly effective when she meets people who agree with her -- in both radical feminist environments and not least in conservative political environments - who see all gender and sexual liberalization as a threat to Society, period .

It is undeniably ironic that Gjevjon's argumentation fits perfectly with extreme right-wing populism, for insance among the Republicans in the United States, where transgender access to public toilets is among the most important battle ground issues that distinguish Liberals and Republicans in the struggle for voters and power.

All in all, there is little new in Gjevie's repeated attacks on trans-identity and trans-rights in the media lately. We will find most of it so-called TERF rhetoric, or "trans-exclusionary radicalism", which has been operating internationally for decades and appears to be strong in Norway, especially in debates about the prostitution law, sex work, and gender diversity.

However, TERF stands for a one-sided continuation of the essentialist women's struggle and a divisive identity policy, and they actively oppose a broader coalition and solidarity-based feminist movement through active use of ideology and by dismissing new knowledge. We suggest that Gjevjon uses more energy to think further about how everyone should be able to feel safe and respected in public spaces, rather than continuing to put marginalized groups up against each other.

The examples of how such groups most often share common interests are many: In Sweden there are gender-neutral changing booths with showers in swimming pools. These can be used by all who do not want to be naked with others -- and there may be many reasons for this. In reality, as much research-based knowledge also shows, human variation is far more diverse than the political ideology that Gjevjon bases her prejudiced anti-trans project on.

Adapting society to the gender diversity that is actually found among us is life-saving for the people concerned, as well as the term of fundamental solidarity humanity really needed in today's troubled world.

.

Janne Bromseth; University Lecturer, Stockholm University; Forskerkollektivet

Elisabeth Lund Engebretsen, Lecturer at the Center for Interdisciplinary Gender Research, University of Oslo; Forskerkollektivet

Lin Prøitz, The Norwegian Researchers' Association

Katrina Roen, Professor, Psychology Department, University of Oslo

Stine H. Bang Svendsen, Associate Professor in Education at the Department of Teacher Education, NTNU; Forskerkollektivet

[Edits: Grammar]