The case of Jessica Yaniv, the self-identified transgender woman who has pursued more than a dozen estheticians for redress at the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal over their refusal to wax her male genitalia and their environs, has occasioned some genuine and understandable concerns among trans rights activists. Neither the intense, offensive ridiculousness of Yaniv’s request nor the mounting allegations against her of racism and predatory behaviour toward children in various social media posts and private conversations released to media (which she insists were authored by impersonators), nor her run-in with the Langley RCMP on Tuesday (she says she was arrested for owning a prohibited weapon, minutes after brandishing a Taser on a podcast), should be any boon to transphobia. But it’s not hard to see how they could be.
Yaniv’s motives are, at the very least, questionable. In a May ruling, tribunal member Devyn Cousineau noted Yaniv had withdrawn three complaints in a row as soon as the respondent filed a defence — ostensibly over concerns she would be identified, but these are, after all, public proceedings. Cousineau raised the prospect of Yaniv being a “vexatious litigant,” and declined to classify her as such only “at this stage” (noting instead she was a “frequent litigant”). All in all, many clearly believe it’s best just to ignore the whole thing.
If Yaniv’s stunt weren’t screwing up other people’s lives, that might be a defensible approach. But it is screwing up other people’s lives, notably those of the recent immigrant women Yaniv targeted, who have neither the time nor the money to indulge this peculiarly Canadian ceremony. At least one woman claims to have abandoned her salon business as a result of Yaniv’s aggression. Some have reportedly already settled, which is outrageous whether or not money changed hands: The idea of compromising with someone who wants to force a woman to touch her male genitals — to touch any genitals at all, one might argue! — is repugnant. The idea of a state body facilitating such an agreement beggars belief.
[…]
