Fear of addressing philosophical questions about gender and identity in connection with transgender women

A female PhD student with a longstanding interest in these issues writes:

I've been following this debate and controversy for years now.  I was very interested to read that some philosophers are now speaking about it publicly.  I am glad that people are discussing these issues publicly: it seems to me a tide might have begun turning. 

I just wanted to mention that many feminist women have, for a long time, been saying exactly the sorts of things that Stock, Jensen and Kaufman said / are saying, but have been vilified, threatened and marginalised for doing so.  It's been frightening to watch the way in which any possibility of discussion on issues that will directly affect women's lives has been completely foreclosed under pain of stiff social penalty.  And the speed at which this happened has been incredible.  What happened to Tuvel was typical, and she wasn't even taking an opposing view.  Many women have been discussing these issues in private, but most are too frightened to speak in public (and not unreasonably so). 

The only thing to do is to push ahead with serious philosophical discussion of this and other topics, and, at the same time, to call out the thought police and academic bullies, as we have done many times before and will continue to do.