The EconomistJanuary 30th 2021 United States 23move are not granted automatically; they
are assessed by a panel that is mindful that
some male sex offenders will claim to be
trans to gain access to victims.
But even if it were possible to weed out
all sexual predators—some assaults, like
flashing, rarely show up in criminal re-
cords —there would remain another, more
widespread problem. Women’s right to
separate spaces is not only about safety; it
is also about privacy. “Women have a right
to disrobe out of the sight of men,” says
Ann Menasche, a lawyer with Feminists In
Struggle which is lobbying to change the
wording of the Equality Act. In prison that
may be especially important. Most incar-
cerated women have suffered trauma: the
American Civil Liberties Union says 92% of
all women in California prisons have been
“battered and abused”.
No one has surveyed female inmates
about their views on how trans prisoners
should be housed; “no one would dare, in
the current climate,” says Ms Menasche.
But it seems probable that most would
rather not share a cell or shower with
someone with the defining sex characteris-
tics of a man. Most transwomen have not
undergone “bottom surgery”: a survey by
the National Centre of Transgender Equali-
ty found that 12% had undergone vagino-
plasty or labiaplasty and 11% had a orchiec-
tomy (the removal of one or more testicle).
How to balance the welfare of trans
women and women inmates? When posed
this question, transgender activists, who
increasingly express dislike of the term
“biological sex,” deny that any such tension
exists. “Trans women are women,” says
Shawn Meerkamper, a lawyer with the
Transgender Law Centre, which helped
draw up California’s new law.
The refusal to discuss any alternative to
policies that ignore the meaning of “sex”
precludes the exploration of better sol-
utions. In Britain, the fear that allowing
transwomen into women prisons endan-
gers females prompted the establishment
of a separate trans wing in a women’s pri-
son in London. But this is unlikely to be
copied in America: transgender-only
spaces correspond with laws that protect
transgender people as a separate category
rather than those that count them as mem-
bers of the sex with which they identify.
Changes to the way trans prisoners are
housed are likely to come slowly. Guide-
lines introduced in 2012 that require all
federal and state prisons to ask trans in-
mates whether they would feel safest in a
men’s or women’s prison appear to have
had little effect on where they are placed.
But as more trans women enter women’s
prisons, the problems this will entail will
spark court cases. That may prompt a re-
think. In the meantime, this policy will be
tested at the expense of an unusually vul-
nerable and voiceless group. 7
W
hen america’snewestskiresort
opened on December 31st, Bluebird
Backcountry was uniquely adapted to
social-distancing measures because it
lacked one thing that every other ski
resort in America has: lifts. There were
no queues to stand in, worrying about
your neighbour breathing on you. In-
stead of shuttling ticket-holders up the
mountain by gondola, lifts and other
mechanised means, the new resort made
skiers and snowboarders slide up the
mountain before gliding down.
Bluebird is part of the growing in-
terest in backcountry skiing (or, in Euro-
pean resorts, “ski touring”). Not long ago,
off-piste skiing was frowned on in most
of the United States. Your correspondent
remembers ducking under ski boundary
ropes in search of untracked powder,
only to have the ski patrol threaten to ban
him from the resort. But even before the
pandemic, backcountry skiing was be-
coming mainstream.
From 2016 to March 2020, sales of
touring gear (such as skis with bindings
that release at the heel for skiing up)
more than doubled, going from $39m to
$79m. By the 2017-18 season, 5% of Amer-
ica’s 30m skiers and snowboarders were
venturing out of bounds. Although some
resorts are open to backcountry skiers,
most choose wilder environs, such as
national parks, where they find solitude
and better powder.
Now covid-19 has supercharged the
growth of the sport. In March last year
backcountry-gear sales leapt 34% com-paredwiththeyearbefore. Retailers
reported that, a week after resorts were
forced to shut down, much of their stock
was sold out. Car parks at popular access
spots were full. This year most resorts are
open but the boom continues. Manufac-
turers and retailers had increased the
supply of skis, boots and the like. Yet
many stores are still running low. Doug
Bittinger, the owner of Mountain Out-
fitters in Breckenridge, Colorado, report-
ed that he had sold as much by late De-
cember as in the whole 2019-20 season.
Now he has very limited stock.
This spike in interest is making some
in the ski industry nervous. America
generally has fewer avalanche deaths per
year than Europe, where off-piste skiing
is less discouraged by resorts. But now
many neophytes are rushing up moun-
tains which do not have ski patrols,
sometimes without safety gear such as
avalanche transceivers. In December
Colorado saw four backcountry skiers die
in avalanches; over the whole previous
season, only six died. Experienced skiers
are calling for caution. “We all have to
make changes because of covid, and stick
to low-consequence terrain,” says Tim
Estep, a backcountry skier in Golden.
Retailers now push beginners to pay for
avalanche-safety courses.
Will the boom in backcountry skiing
last? If the virus disappears, many skiers
will return to the safety and ease of tradi-
tional resorts. But some will develop a
yen for what the sport has to offer: a
brutal workout in a winter wonderland.Lifts-off
Off-piste skiingEUGENE, OREGON
Covid-19 is driving a surge in off-piste skiing