Hampstead Heath Women's Pond

[Gacapa]

Hampstead Heath ladies say swimming pond is not gender fluid

dailym.ai/2El0eLA

Here we go...

[thecatfromjapan]

They're quite old-school there. Shouldn't that be 'Ladies Bathing Pool'?

Just saying that because there used to be quite a divide between those who called it the 'Women's Pond' and those in charge, who didn't.

[Gacapa]

I deliberately said women as I don't like lady/ladies. But yeah...

[guardianfree]

They've had the training!! So the City of London corporation have been told (by the pressure groups) that they can ignore laws that allow for sex segregated spaces.
This is how the TG groups have made such progress so quickly. Funded by the government and promoting their own versions of the law and ideas - and it's being accepted as fact by employers / organisations.

[Janesmom]

Is there a men's only pond?

If not, why can't they just make both ponds unisex? I have limited time for the dainty old ladies who think they couldn't possibly go for a swim with transwomen or men around them.

I have been using my local mixed pool for at least four years and am still here!

[MumGoneMild]

It's a pool for rich white women. Cant bring myself to weep for them

[thecatfromjapan]

It's an institution, Jane, nothing like your local rec. Rooted back in the day when naked swimming in freezing cold water was good for you.

The Ladies in Charge have a bit of a downer on naked swimming - which isn't completely fair because it's practically compulsory in the men's pool.

[thecatfromjapan]

Is it, Mum?

It's changed a lot from the days when I used to go, then.

Practically every lesbian in London attended during the summer. And there was always a frisson of tension between the lesbians and the Ladies.

[QueenLaBeefah]

Jane - there is a men's pond and also a mixed pond. I've googled it for you:

www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/green-spaces/hampstead-heath/swimming/Pages/default.aspx

[frogsoup]

Janesmom but it isn't about you. I wouldn't care either. But I haven't been raped or abused, or been brought up in a religion that makes it a no-go to swim with men. There is no earthly reason why a transitioning mtf can't use the mixed pool. The ONLY losers here (as ever) are women.

[ACubed]

Its not just 'rich white women', have you ever been there? I've been going since age 12, it's the best. And basically free!

[Janesmom]

@frogsoup

Slightly struggle to see why so many adjustments need to be made for these "women who have been abused".

I know a few dear friends who have very sadly been abused in the past but they all have entirely normal reasonable lives and, to the extent they have issues, would ever expect the world to revolve around them. Have tremendous sympathy but having special swimming pools for women who have been abused takes things a little bit far!

[JaneEyre70]

I used to regularly attend women only sessions at our local pool, as there wasn't the tutting/being forced out of lanes by the male swimmers. Now they've made the male/female changing rooms into unisex lockers and I hate it. It's my issue that I'm self-conscious about my body but I don't want to share a changing room with a man I don't know and never will. Even if he is wearing a bikini.

[frogsoup]

We have sex segregation for a good reason, which is why there is a women's pool in the first place. It's not a small proportion of women who have suffered sexual abuse in one form or another, it's the vast majority. A pool where you are not exposed to men while you are semi-independently is really quite s reasonable ask in a world where 97% of sexual assault is carried out by men. And besides which, who exactly is expecting the world to revolve around them here, the women using the women's pool, or men in bikinis demanding access to it?!

[thecatfromjapan]

@ Janesmom

Un peu imflammatory, surely?

You're doing it a little too thick, my dear.

Might I suggest you do little more work finessing the tone of your persona on reddit, or something, then come back again?

A for Effort; E for Attainment.

[frogsoup]

Gah - semi-naked. Bloody autocorrect!

[busyboysmum]

But if there are 3 pools why on earth can't biological women have one of them?

[Thehairthebod]

Slightly struggle to see why so many adjustments need to be made for these "women who have been abused".

I know a few dear friends who have very sadly been abused in the past but they all have entirely normal reasonable lives and, to the extent they have issues, would ever expect the world to revolve around them. Have tremendous sympathy but having special swimming pools for women who have been abused takes things a little bit far!

But you have no problem with the world revolving around men who think they are women? And 'adjustments' being made for them?

[IrkThePurist]

Women arent allowed anything of their own, they might get uppity. And it hurts mens feelings to only be allowed to use 2 out of the 3 ponds.

[BlackBetha]

Surely trans-identifying people of either sex could use the mixed pool if they just want to swim, and no one would think anything of it? The fact that they're insisting on using the women's pool suggests it's more about making a point and forcing their way into yet another female space. What a shame.

[EliseC1965]

It’s not about the fact that it might be for ‘rich white wonen’ (which it’s not).
It’s about the fact that our rights as women are being eroded, funnily enough, by men. There is a mixed pool, that they can freely use and a men only pool.

I’m not an activist by any means, but I am sick and tired of this whole trans v cis thing. I am a real woman and if I choose to have surgery to become a man, I will still have the same female dna running throughout my body. The same is in reverse. A man will never have the same experience of being a woman, whatever modification he chooses to have. He will never have had real periods, grown boobs from scratch, be able to bear children etc, despite what surgery and hormone they have.
They will never had the battles to get equal pay and equal rights that we fought for, and now appear to be losing.

Is it such a huge thing really, that we sometimes want our own spaces away from men and some privacy amongst our sisters and daughters? And when we protest against our privacy being invaded, we are called derogatory names, such as ‘terf’ , or told we are committing hate crimes.
I don’t want to share changing rooms with someone who is born male and has decided to become a female. Or who is ‘gender fluid’ whatever the heck that means.

[DamnDeDoubtanceIsSpartacus]

Slightly struggle to see why so many adjustments need to be made for these "women who have been abused"

Yes, lots of people struggle with women and girls having rights, you're not the only one.

There is a men's pool and a mixed pool and now the women have lost theirs. Just like they lose their sporting events and their right to privacy and dignity. their voices, their language, their representation.

[DamnDeDoubtanceIsSpartacus]

But the good news is that men gain more rights, so yay! Men get to wear a bikini and swim in the women's pool so that's good.

[Beltane18]

argh
I was so hoping that they would be able to battle against this.

[YetAnotherSpartacus]

I know a few dear friends who have very sadly been abused in the past but they all have entirely normal reasonable lives and, to the extent they have issues, would ever expect the world to revolve around them

Unlike TIMs then?

[hiyasminitsme]

Just make the whole thing mixed. As some others I can't get too worked up about it. Changing rooms should be segregated, pools not.