Who cares about All Women Shortlists? Eddie Izzard, Transphobia and manufactured controversy

Since Eddie Izzard announced her intention to seek to be the Labour MP candidate for Sheffield Central, a torrent of abuse and harassment…

Sarah Clarke

— 3 min read
Eddie Izzard (a genderfluid person with short blonde hair and glasses wearing a pink blazer)
Eddie Izzard (sourced from her campaign video — https://twitter.com/EddieIzzardLab/status/1579796464833806336)

[Content note: This article will include examples of transphobic and transmisogynistic abuse and harassment]

Since Eddie Izzard announced her intention to seek to be the Labour MP candidate for Sheffield Central, a torrent of abuse and harassment has been directed at her and [warning: NSFW imagery in link] women who support her on social media. Below is a small sample of the ones I saw.

Tweet by “Terry Dacteele” reading “I keep watching this thinking it’s a parody. Dress how you like brother. I’ll support you all the way. Try use the communal changing areas my 7 year old daughter and wife are using and we have a problem.. You’re a man Eddie. A gender non conforming man. Nothing special.” Quoted is Eddie Izzard’s tweet announcing her candidacy.
Some Tweets, like the above, carried implied threats of violence
Tweet by “JJPhills79” reading “Your misogyny is appalling. Fake tits and lipstick. You’re a bog standard AGP and we have to put up with you parading your fetish like it’s normal.” Quoted is Eddie Izzard’s Tweet announcing her candidacy.
Tweet by “Lightescape Events” reading “That’s the second story I’ve read today which makes me glad I don’t live in Sheffield anymore. I saw Eddie Izzard on stage in Sheffield once and it was quite funny, but it seems fitting that the council there would be the only ones in the country to want it as a mayor. Ugh.”
Dehumanising language implying sexual perversion or referring to Eddie Izzard as “it” were a common feature

Meanwhile, transphobic figures within and around the Labour Party, including MP Rosie Duffield, have declared their opposition to Izzard being featured on an “all women shortlist”. All women shortlists are an attempt to address gender imbalance in political roles by only putting forward women as potential candidates for selection as candidates in certain roles. Such shortlists have provided a focal point for anti-trans organising within the Labour Party, with “gender critical” (GC) groups like Labour Women’s Declaration claiming that including trans women on such lists would harm the status of women in Labour. According to a March 2022 article, Labour abandoned the practice earlier this year for parliamentary positions as male MPs were no longer the majority in the Parliamentary Labour Party and of the three candidates standing to be Labour’s candidate for Sheffield Central, one is a cisgender man. There never was an all women shortlist in Sheffield Central and there was no reason to expect that Izzard would be on such a shortlist.

Strangely, the announcement in the Huffington Post, a day before International Women’s Day, that Labour would no longer be using all women shortlists to select MP candidates seems to have largely gone uncommented on by GC groups and individuals who apparently regard them as important to women’s rights within the Labour Party.

In fact, multiple commenters on social media seem to still be under the impression that Izzard will be or was ever likely to be on an all women shortlist as a candidate for Sheffield Central.

Tweet by “Wire5py” reading “All women’s shortlist.” Quoted is a Tweet by Eddie Izzard announcing her candidacy.
Tweet by “Adhib ❤️ the SDP” reading “All women shortlists ain’t what they used to be …” Quoted is Eddie Izzard’s Tweet announcing her candidacy.
Tweet by Helen Staniland reading “The question matters. I’m not sure that these people had Eddie Izzard in mind for this question. If you want to talk about Eddie Izzard, you have to explicitly ask the question about Eddie Izzard.” Quoted is a Tweet by Ben Walker about a survey of Labour voters on all women shortlists.
Tweet by “onyxwolf” replying to Eddie Izzard which reads “Were you placed on an all-women shortlist, Eddie?”
Tweet by “WAFCWill36” replying to Eddie Izzard which reads “You are more than welcome to stand however not on an all women’s shortlist.”

This seemingly contradictory and counterfactual stance can be understood once one accepts a single, central fact. Nobody cares about all women shortlists. By pretending to be worried that Izzard might be included on an all women shortlist, GCs get to do their two favourite things; have “legitimate concerns” that amount to very little and call a trans person (who is in fact genderfluid per her public statements) a man. It’s not about protecting women’s rights, it’s about hurting trans people.

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