Yes, ALL men!

My op-ed, on why I would ban men from working in nurseries, has brought the boys to the yard. Some are annoyed that I apply safeguarding principles to ALL men, not just those in bad wigs and dresses

Since the Supreme Court ruling in April, which clarified the law on the definition of ‘woman’ (as well as scientific and biological reality), I have been promising myself that I will leave trans idiocy behind as far as possible, and focus more on the very issue that led me to first speak out against it, back in 2003: men’s violence towards women and girls.

For me, the primary reason to push back against the notion that a person can change sex, is the fact that predatory, abusive men have been doing this for some time in order to invade women’s spaces. My concerns broadened out as transgender ideology and the transactivist movement went bonkers, into the fact that young lesbians were having double mastectomies and claiming to be trans men; children were being put on puberty blockers; the census was collecting inaccurate data; and much of the media was reporting women as sex offenders, when in fact they were masquerading men. These are all serious concerns of mine, but as I say, my primary one throughout the 22 years I’ve been involved in this battle has been the safety and protection of females.

How interesting then to see such pushback against a piece I wrote, published in the Telegraph on the 3rd of December. It was pegged on the terrible case of Vincent Chan, a male nursery worker who this week pleaded guilty to 26 charges relating to sexual assault offences against children, as well as the taking and making of pornographic images, five counts of sexual assault of a child by penetration, and possession of images depicting the most extreme and severe abuse of children. Chan is one in a long line of men who have worked directly with young children and been found guilty of sexual abuse against them. Only last year, Thomas Waller was convicted for raping and sexually abusing children as young as three at a nursery. There are many, many more.

The premise of my argument in that piece is that men should not be allowed to work in nurseries.

The arguments used by trans activists sounds as if they have got no idea that they were ever female-only spaces in the first place. “Collective punishment is always wrong,” “We don’t blame entire groups for the crimes of a minority,” “You are framing all trans women as sexual predators”.

Sound familiar? These are the arguments made by those objecting to my Telegraph piece.

Of course it’s a liberal argument to suggest that having men in nurseries is a good thing because they can be caring, it’s anti-sexist practice, and an all-round feel good thing to do. The majority of women I have spoken to over the years about leaving their very small children in nurseries with men have said that they wouldn’t ever risk it. And yet…a press release from the Department of Education earlier this year entitled “More male role models in nurseries to help children thrive” argued that “nine in ten parents believe it’s important for children to be cared for by both men and women”.

In 38 priority areas, the government has been offering £1000 payments to new nursery staff. But this is clearly because of the shortage of nursery workers, rather than the fact that only 3% are men.

For decades now, I’ve been accused of being a man hater, and paranoid to think that all men are abusing children and women. These insults no longer bother me, though I do find it puzzling that a lot of people believe this nonsense, when all I am trying to do is ensure that children as well as women are protected from predatory men.

How many more times do I need to say that I do not believe all men are a danger to women and children? AND I am clear that enough of them are a danger to women and children that we should keep them out of spaces like nurseries, as well as hospital wards, prisons, and changing rooms designated for females.

In 2023 the Journal of Early Childhood Research published a paper entitled ‘Men changing nappies: dismantling a key barrier to gender diversifying the early years’.

Imagine if a so-called ‘transwoman’ had written this; it would’ve immediately been latched onto as a pervert’s charter. What’s the difference?

Arguing for fathers to be engaged in their child’s upbringing, and participate in bathtime and nappy changing is not the same as saying that we should keep men out of nurseries. The fact that most child sexual abuse occurs in the home and is perpetrated by men known to the child doesn’t make it okay to then argue in favour of male nursery workers.

As a feminist, I’m clearly not arguing that women should be solely responsible for the care of children if there’s a father around. This is about the risk posed to children by men – and unfortunately, because child sexual predators tend not to advertise themselves as such, we have to apply that to all men. 98% of sex offenders are male, no matter how many examples you can throw at me of women who have abused children – it doesn’t alter that fact.

Many groups and individuals from a whole range of perspectives have campaigned and spoken out against trans ideology, in particular how we need to keep these men posing as women out of female-only spaces and services. And everybody has the right to speak out about this, whether from the position of feminism or not. Over the years, I have worked alongside women on the hard left with whom I disagree fundamentally about other key issues, as well as with other groups I have little in common with. I’ve always known that within what some people call ‘gender critical’ spaces, that there are those that simply don’t like oddballs, who believe that men shouldn’t really dress as women – I’m talking about traditionalists who believe that men are men and women are women. That isn’t my position, and I’ve never pretended it was. I think it’s fair to point out that in terms of the danger that some men pose to women and girls, or to young children of both sexes, my position has never changed. I’ve been consistent, and that has been the driving force behind my activism and writing against this absolutely horrendous ideology.

So don’t blame me when I point out the hypocrisy. Some men that support feminist arguments about keeping ALL ‘transwomen’ out of single sex spaces because SOME of them are a danger, now reject that argument when it comes to regular blokes.

“Well in that case maybe men should also be banned from becoming paediatricians or children’s nurses or school teachers or swimming instructors or Cub leaders etc.” said one man on X. Another suggested that enhanced DBS checks could sort the wolves from the prey.

Chan first started working at that nursery in 2017, when he was in his late thirties. He had no criminal record and passed all background checks needed to work in such an establishment. He was soon promoted to the role of nursery nurse, a position he held for most of his time at the nursery. It was a role that left him responsible, among other things, for cleaning and clothing children aged between two and four years.

All those objecting to my suggestion that men should be banned from nurseries have had plenty to say over the years about men in frocks and bad wigs having access to such places. Can somebody tell me the difference? I thought that was the point. We don’t want any men in the type of places where children and females of any age are at risk.

Some critics of gender ideology argue that it is “only trans identified men who fight to get access to women only space”. But this isn’t true. Men wishing to abuse children or vulnerable adults in residential care, for example, gravitate purposely to those jobs as a way of getting easy access. These men do not claim to be transgender, but nevertheless have the same motive. This illustrates my disconnect from some of the critiques of gender ideology that are distinctly not feminist arguments. The idea that only men who pretend to be women pose a danger is madness: why do they think we set up female-only spaces and facilities in the first place?

In response to my pointing out that the vast majority of child sex abuse perpetrators are male, the name ‘Vanessa George’ came up on several occasions. George went to prison for sexually abusing very young children in a nursery, and her crimes are terrible. But I bet you don’t know the name of her male co-defendant (who was coercively controlling George, a fact that was accepted by the court)?

The flagship BBC documentary series, Panorama, made a film about the Vanessa George case – this was the first time it had tackled the issue of child sexual abuse in nursery and educational settings. I guarantee we will not be seeing one about Vincent Chan.

It is always a revelation when men who claim to be allies of feminists when we are fighting transgender ideology, but get shirty when we point out the potential risk posed to women and children by men in general. Even though it feels ‘unfair’ to those men who would never harm a child, I would ban all men from working in nurseries, because I know that unless we do, more children will be abused.

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My Telegraph article (archived) https://archive.ph/YGhlf

For subscribers: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/03/men-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-work-in-nurseries/