Should Biologically Male Police Officers Be Able To Strip Search Women?

Courts recently made a landmark decision in the UK: Male police officers who identify as female are allowed to strip search women who are arrested. Previously, women could only be strip searched by biologically female officers, likewise men could only be strip searched by biologically male officers. But in an effort to have gender-affirming norms for police officers, trans officers will no longer be required to search suspects of the same biological gender, meaning biological men need only identify as women in order to strip search them.

Refusal to be searched because of the police officer’s biological sex can also be reported as a “hate incident,” if it’s deemed that the refusal has to do with discriminatory views, though this is open to the discretion of the officers on duty. Since police officers are recognized as their chosen gender from the moment they begin to identify as anything besides the sex they were born as, this means that they don’t need to do, well, anything to be considered “female” for the purpose of such a search. Does this decision put police officers’ own identities over the safety of women?

Whistle Blowing

Isn’t this an invasion of privacy? The police officer who became the whistleblower for this guidance thinks so. “This is a devastating blow to women's trust in the police. Women are not even an afterthought in this guidance – they are completely non-existent,” Cathy Larkman, a now-retired officer, said of the new guidance. “They claim they are trying to be inclusive. But this isn't inclusive of women, and it doesn't respect their sex."

How have we come to value biological men’s gender dysphoria over the safety of women?

These laws also have implications for female officers. In Scotland, a similar policy required female officers to have to strip search a biological male convict. Andrew Burns, who was imprisoned after stalking a 13-year-old girl, changed his gender and name in the prison records system to be listed as a female called “Tiffany Scott,” meaning he was no longer allowed to be searched by male officers on duty. Many female officers refused and were forced to put their refusals in writing, fearing for their safety.

One source told Mirror UK, “This all started last summer when the PR2 system (Prisoner Records) suddenly designated Scott to be a woman, several years after changing his name to Tiffany Scott. Up to then, a woman would not have been asked to search the lower half during a full body search, obviously because it would have been totally inappropriate to ask a woman to do that. But from one day to the next, it became inappropriate for male officers to do the searches – and the human rights of the female staff went out the window. It’s mad because nothing else about Scott has changed physically.” Full body searches are routine, completed any time prisoners are leaving to or coming from external locations, like court or doctors’ appointments.

Closing Thoughts

Modern gender theory’s approach to trans rights has no regard for women’s safety, and the criminal justice system is just the latest example. Whether women are the officer or the person being arrested, their exposure to biological men through strip searches should be an obvious thing to avoid. How have we come to value biological men’s gender dysphoria over the safety of women?

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