Imagine being told that expressing your views about sex, women’s safety and female-only spaces could make you a criminal.

That is the extraordinary position facing French feminist writer and commentator Dora Moutot.

Moutot has spent years arguing that sex is biological and that women should be able to discuss the implications of sex-based rights, spaces and protections without being silenced.

Her views have made her a target of fierce criticism from transgender activists — but the dispute has now moved beyond social media and into the criminal courts.

In 2022, Moutot appeared on French television alongside Marie Cau, France’s first trans-identified mayor, to debate sex and gender.

During the discussion, Moutot raised concerns about males who wish they were women being placed in women’s prisons. She said that, as women, they had to be cautious around people with male bodies, while explicitly stating that she was not claiming that all trans-identified people commit sexual violence.

In May 2026, a Paris court nevertheless convicted Moutot of public insult on the grounds of sex, sexual orientation or gender identity and ordered her to pay a total of €4,754. She has appealed the decision.

What makes the case particularly disturbing is that the court reportedly found that her comments did not explicitly or implicitly call on the public to commit violence, discrimination or hatred against transgender women.

Yet the court still considered the language sufficiently stigmatising to warrant a criminal sanction.

And now there is another case.

Moutot says she has been notified of a new criminal proceeding brought by another LGBT organisation over statements published in 2023. She expects that case to proceed in 2027.

According to Moutot, the offence involved can carry a prison sentence, meaning that she could potentially face imprisonment if convicted.

This is no longer simply an argument about transgender ideology.

It is a question about whether women are allowed to speak openly about sex.

Criminalising one side of the debate – the factual, evidence-based side – changes the nature of the debate entirely. It is now an ideology running roughshod over society in a way that rejects reality and puts people in harm’s way.

Even the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, has expressed serious concern about Moutot’s conviction and the other proceedings she faces.

Alsalem said that expressing concerns about women’s safety and sex-based spaces should not, in itself, amount to hate speech or justify criminal sanction.

A free society should not require women to remain silent on controversial questions simply because their words may offend men who identify as women.

Offence is not the same thing as harm. And disagreement is not hatred.

Women must remain free to speak.