The mountain, depicted on a piece of cardboard, served as a backdrop for a comedy show during the Leicester Comedy Festival. However, for Ives, it symbolized the daily struggles faced by transgender individuals in Britain, likening it to continuously climbing a hill. Despite the challenging premise, Ives, who is transgender herself, felt confident in addressing the topic in her show. Transgender people have gained more visibility in British culture, but this has also brought about opposition to transgender rights in various media platforms. In the realm of stand-up comedy, where societal issues are often addressed, transgender issues have frequently been treated as a joke. In a recent phone interview, Jen Ives, a trans comedian, discussed the pressure she sometimes feels to represent the entire transgender community when she would rather just focus on telling jokes. In contrast to the United States, where opinions on transgender issues are divided along political lines, in Britain, voices from both the left and right have raised concerns about allowing transgender women to use bathrooms according to their gender identity. These concerns have been debunked by a 2018 UCLA study, but prominent figures like JK Rowling have continued to express them. Rowling has been accused of transphobia for her views on transgender rights, which she believes are harmful to women as a political and biological class. In a telephone interview, Dan Healey, an academic at the University of Oxford's Centre for Gender, Identity, and Subjectivity, stated that the debate surrounding transgender rights in Britain is more prominent than in the United States. He explained that the debate is primarily between two groups of feminists - those who accept trans women as women, and those who do not. British comedian Jen Ives expressed concern that feminists who do not accept transgender individuals are challenging their very humanity, leading to an attempt to dehumanize trans people in the UK. Ives, 30, expressed that people often do not see transgender individuals as human beings, but rather as a topic of debate or a passing trend. She has been discussing her transgender identity in her stand-up routines since 2017, and audiences have responded positively to her openness about it. Her show, "Peak Trans," was created in part as a reaction to the negative atmosphere towards transgender individuals in Britain. She believes that making people laugh may not change their opinions, but it does humanize the transgender experience for them. Even when addressing serious issues, Ives always includes humor in her routines. She mentioned that being transgender is not the only thing that defines her, also stating that she is a vegetarian and had considered going vegan over Christmas. However, as a trans woman, she decided against it to spare her father any additional stress. Transgender comedians have been part of the British comedy scene for many years, with Eddie Izzard being a prominent figure who recently announced she prefers she/her pronouns. Debra-Jane Appleby and Bethany Black, both trans stand-up comedians, have also had successful careers in comedy. Black once mentioned in an interview that most people do not care about her being transgender, and she laughed when the interviewer brought up that comment in a recent video interview. "Yeah, that's changed a bit," she commented. In the past, people believed there were only a few transsexuals in the world, around 10 or 15, she recalled. Now, the perception has shifted to thinking that trans people are numerous and are trying to infiltrate sports. Although she jokes about transphobia in her performances, Black revealed that the ongoing debate in Britain about trans individuals has had a negative impact on her mental health. She disclosed that she was diagnosed with agoraphobia recently, which she attributes to constantly feeling like she is in a constant battle. Black also expressed frustration with comedians and TV shows that make insensitive jokes about transgender individuals. Those jokes had become a common element in the routines of certain well-known comedians, to the point where James Acaster, another British stand-up, poked fun at this trend in a 2019 performance. However, many comedians refrained from making those jokes when performing alongside her, according to Black. Despite their claims of being bold and supportive of free speech, many of them would not make those jokes when she was also on the lineup. One exception to this was comedian Adam Rowe, who has a routine in which he criticizes lingerie company Victoria's Secret for not including transgender or plus-size models in their shows. In a photo taken remotely, British comedian Bethany Black is pictured on February 25, 2021, discussing her experience as a transgender individual. Black stated that being transgender is a daily reality for her, not just a hypothetical scenario. She mentioned that many British comedians make jokes about trans people, but they tend to avoid those jokes when she is performing alongside them. Brian, your hands are described as shovels towards the end of the routine. Victoria's Secret recently cast a transgender model. Bethany Black, a British comedian, discussed being transgender in an undated photo from February 25, 2021. Black emphasized that being transgender is a daily reality for her, not just a hypothetical situation. Despite many British comedians making jokes about trans people, they usually avoid doing so when Black is on the same lineup. Rowe defended the joke in an email. He stated that the routine was not transphobic, but rather designed to deceive those who are not paying attention into thinking it is. He mentioned that people often get caught up in buzzwords. Ives pointed out that she has witnessed non-trans comedians performing trans material that she found funny because she can laugh at herself. However, she also noted that sometimes it feels like a cheap shot. She shared that she has had to follow male comedians who made jokes about transgender women many times in her career, and she would usually mock them in response. She described this as making the best of a bad situation. "I'd prefer not to." During her recent performance, Ives gradually guided her audience towards the metaphorical Peak Trans, pausing to make jokes about transgender athletes and her own coming out experience. However, as they neared the summit, a particular topic came into focus. Ives apologized and announced they would discuss JK Rowling. She began by joking about Rowling's latest book "Troubled Blood," which includes a male killer who dresses as a woman. Ives expressed a desire to speak out as an activist, but noted the book's length of 1,000 pages posed a challenge. Ives stated that Rowling wants individuals like herself to refrain from using women's spaces and instead use men's toilets. Ives then compared trans women to spiders, noting that they are often more afraid of others than others are of them.