Sarah Ditum vs. transgender people

Sarah Ditum is an English mommy blogger, opinion columnist, sex segregationist, and anti-transgender activist.

Background

Sarah Ruth Webster Ditum is a freelance writer and production editor based in Bath. She contributes to UnHerd and other anti-trans publications.

As a teen, she learned to take the sick role, pretending to be ill to avoid school. After her first year at university, she transferred to be near her boyfriend and almost immediately got pregnant: “Whatever had made its home in my belly had made me a mother, and I would have to catch up with that. Even as the person who made that decision, I find it hard to reconcile the ambition I had at 20 with the will to throw my lot in with maternity.”

She completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, then dropped out of her doctoral program after getting pregnant again.

She started self-publishing a mommy blog called Paperhouse. Early gigs were for Venue magazine, Yarn Forward, and Official PlayStation Magazine.

She married Nathan Mark Ditum (born 1981). She took her husband’s surname because “there was already a Sarah Webster working as a writer.” They have two children, Maddy and Jay. Ditum is involved in the knitting community.

In 2023 she incorporated Burn Book Ltd in the UK.

Anti-transgender activism

Ditum has been criticized for her views on transgender issues.

Her 2018 Genderquake panel with Germaine Greer, Munroe Bergdorf and Caitlyn Jenner.

In 2019, Ditum criticized all gender bathrooms at The Old Vic. The Stage later removed the piece following backlash.

Ditum is an “autogynephilia” activist, in the way that some women believe in “nymphomania” as a legitimate disease.

References

Ditum, Sarah (May 16, 2016). What is gender, anyway? New Statesman

Ditum, Sarah (March 10, 2022). The taboo trans question. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2022/03/the-taboo-trans-question/

Ditum, Sarah (July 6, 2021). Who loses when trans women win? https://unherd.com/2021/07/who-loses-when-trans-women-win/

Ditum, Sarah (July 6, 2021). Why I had a baby at university. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2021/06/lessons-of-a-student-mother/

Ditum, Sarah (February 14, 2023). The tragedy of becoming a woman. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2023/02/the-tragedy-of-becoming-a-woman/

Ditum, Sarah (June 17, 2020). How the Left betrayed feminism. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2020/06/how-the-left-betrayed-feminism/

Valentine, Vic (July 12, 2018). Trans-inclusive feminist voices are being ignored. The Economist https://www.economist.com/open-future/2018/07/12/trans-inclusive-feminist-voices-are-being-ignored

https://yogscast.fandom.com/wiki/Nathan_Ditum

Al-Kadhi, Amrou (May 9, 2018). Opinion: The Genderquake debate did more harm than good for transgender people and for feminists. The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/genderquake-channel-4-debate-genderqueer-transgender-caitlin-jenner-munroe-bergdorg-sarah-ditum-germaine-greer-a8342771.html

Glass, Jess (May 10, 2018). Exclusive: Genderquake audience were allegedly ‘encouraged to heckle’ trans panellists. PinkNews https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/05/10/genderquake-debate-heckling-transphobia-munroe-bergdorf-caitlyn-jenner/

https://www.whitehavennews.co.uk/news/17156155.a-level-students-make-plans-for-the-future/

Tobitt, Charlotte (October 7, 2019). The Stage accused of ‘cowardice’ after removing comment articles on theatre’s gender-neutral toilets. Press Gazette https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/the-stage-accused-of-cowardice-after-removing-comment-articles-on-theatres-gender-neutral-toilets/

Parsons, Vic (April 3, 2020). Neo-Nazis and homophobes are among the supporters of the ‘anti-trans’ group LGB Alliance. PinkNews https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/04/03/lgb-alliance-neo-nazi-homophobia-spinster-death-head-charity-commission/