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Feminism: Sex & gender discussions

Never thought I'd post on here but males on female hospital wards. Wtf

289 replies

ryzen · 03/08/2021 06:43

I thought we were making progress by getting rid of mixed wards. I'm really upset by this. Can I do anything?!

I am a victim of endless sexual abuse and harassment.

I have suffered very much for being female and being physically weaker than most males. I do not want to ever have to end up on a ward with one. I actually hide away now due to the attacks I have suffered in public. I never get a taxi alone. I plan my days around being home before dark.

In all honesty I do avoid men but I feel I should be able to if I want to especially with something as intimate as my healthcare. I've read a report in the times today that says if a female does not want to be next to a trans person then they should be treated as a racist would. I find it disgusting to even compare these scenarios.

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DepressedDD · 03/08/2021 06:50

Terrible isn’t it. Even if that person is a sex offender with a penis….if they want to be allowed on a women’s ward then tuck them up in bed!

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Lonel · 03/08/2021 06:52

It IS terrible and it affects all women. One of the reasons why I hate the fact that "gender issues" are siphoned off onto this board. This is an issue that all women should be aware of.

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FreeBritnee · 03/08/2021 06:55

Fucking hell. The thought of my mother being on a ward, completely vulnerable alongside men just pisses me off so much.

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LizziesTwin · 03/08/2021 06:57

I really hope there’s push-back on this. You feel vulnerable enough on a single sex ward when there are men visiting their wives/girlfriends, the thought of being incapacitated with a strange man in the bed next to you is horrific. I was in a 6 bed ward for women having day surgery recently and wasn’t well enough to move out of bed for quite a while.

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BatmansBat · 03/08/2021 06:58

It is quite astonishing that trans sex offenders also should be placed on women’s wards.

archive.vn/cWKxb

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ryzen · 03/08/2021 07:00

There are so many vulnerable people on wards and the way they've gone about it is to minimise anyone being able to speak up about it.

I'm terrified now. I do not want to end up in a ward with a male. At all. And I do not want to be placed in the same category as a racist because of this.

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BatmansBat · 03/08/2021 07:15

OP, I am so sorry that you are upset. It really is a huge issue. As is transwomen sex offenders in prisons (I think about 50% of transwomen in prisons are sex offenders).

I absolutely respect their right to live their lives with the same rights as everyone else. But inevitably, there will be a conflict of interest in the spaces where women are vulnerable. Who takes precedence, a non passing transwoman who is severely dysphoric and and would feel horrible on a men’s ward or the woman who has a history of sexual abuse and is triggered by anyone she perceives to be male?

We are not allowed to even have that discussion which is what I find the most astonishing.

And it is really not even that discussion in many cases. It is about the feelings of male born vs the physical safety of women (transwomen sex offenders) and the feeling of male born comes out on top.

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LemonRoses · 03/08/2021 07:19

I posted on the other similar thread. It’s been allowed for a number of years now. There were trust’s which flexed their use of single rooms but then the guidance changed. The common view tends to be it’s really a very small number of occasions that there is a need, but I rather think that misses the point and Great Aunt Mavis or another woman may be left feeling very uncomfortable.

Page 12.
www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/05/NEW-Delivering_same_sex_accommodation_sep2019.pdf

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Lonel · 03/08/2021 07:21

I have been assaulted in hospital. I think I would have to discharge myself in this scenario. There is absolutely zero empathy for women here.

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DobbyTheHouseElk · 03/08/2021 07:23

I’d hope they wouldn’t be on a gynaecology ward, but I can imagine they could be if they bully their way onto it.

Shocking, what can we do?

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DinosaurDiana · 03/08/2021 07:28

Back in the 90’s I worked on a female ward. At one point there were far more men in than women so we had a couple of male bays on our ward. They had their own shower/toilet as the sign on the doors could be turned around. No problems.
However we had a man in his 20’s who lived in some type of ‘care home’ and his carers visited. Looking back he should never have been left alone.
One night the staff heard a scream from an elderly lady and saw this man running back to his bed. Due to her condition she couldn’t say what had happened, but she was obviously distressed. Her bedding was disturbed, in a way she wouldn’t have done, and someone had urinated on top of the bed.
The police weren’t involved, it was all handled in house. In other words he was moved to another all male ward.
This is why there should be no mixed wards, we should be safeguarding patients in our care. That poor lady was let down.

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OverTheRubicon · 03/08/2021 07:29

Isn't this supposed to be on the trans topic now?

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Nonmaquillee · 03/08/2021 07:31

@Lonel

I have been assaulted in hospital. I think I would have to discharge myself in this scenario. There is absolutely zero empathy for women here.

I’m truly sorry to hear that.
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NutellaEllaElla · 03/08/2021 07:37

@OverTheRubicon

Isn't this supposed to be on the trans topic now?

How is this about trans (
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16purplecolour16 · 03/08/2021 07:41

What is missed is the ‘single sex’. In science, your sex is fixed. It is gender that is fluid, can be charted on a spectrum.

The logic is single ‘gender’ sections in sensitive settings like hospitals and self care settings like changing rooms or toilets, in addition to single ‘sex’ sections of a unit. This is in the context that wards as such do not exist. There will be an ‘acute medicine’ unit within which there are sections containing six beds. Already the units are mixed settings but organised in smaller specific groups based on need, and could also be gender.

I agree with the article that to assume criminal intent as a first point of risk is discriminatory. Transgender people, male and female have each a history of sexual violence effected upon them and so also have a right to access safe care settings at a time when they are most vulnerable.

The protest must continue to focus on acts of sexual violence and the manipulation of circumstances to create opportunities to enter into these crimes. Not criminalise people who are also vulnerable to being targeted.

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NekoShiro · 03/08/2021 07:47

Have you spoken to a nurse about feeling uncomfortable and explained what you explained here? Maybe they'll move you.

I don't know a lot about how hospital s work, are males being put in female rooms because there's no beds anywhere else? Is it because of places being covid secure?

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Nonmaquillee · 03/08/2021 07:51

@NekoShiro

Have you spoken to a nurse about feeling uncomfortable and explained what you explained here? Maybe they'll move you.

I don't know a lot about how hospital s work, are males being put in female rooms because there's no beds anywhere else? Is it because of places being covid secure?

Have you actually read the newspaper article?!
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GCAcademic · 03/08/2021 07:51

@NekoShiro

Have you spoken to a nurse about feeling uncomfortable and explained what you explained here? Maybe they'll move you.

I don't know a lot about how hospital s work, are males being put in female rooms because there's no beds anywhere else? Is it because of places being covid secure?

They are being put on female wards because they say they are women. This includes sex offenders, by the way.

Trusts are telling staff to treat women who object to this as if they were racists and report them to the police for hate crime. In one case, they were told to deny women treatment if they object to being in bed next to a male sex offender.
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DepressedDD · 03/08/2021 07:54

To be honest even without trans people wards In my local hospital aren't single sex even though they say they are. They're single sex bays.

Dd was 17yo and on an adult general ward and the male patients wander and would come in her bay and behind her curtains, especially at night when there's less staff.

I've worked there and was always escorting men out of the wrong bay.

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EvenRosesHaveThorns · 03/08/2021 07:57

Until 2029, one trust advised medics to withdraw treatment if a woman complained

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EvenRosesHaveThorns · 03/08/2021 07:57

2019**

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ryzen · 03/08/2021 08:00

I am not talking on behalf of trans people. I wish that trans people could have their own safe space without imposing upon women and what was once their safe space.
Sitting in a restaurant with a trans person would not bother me. Being in pain and vulnerable, unable to communicate at my best in a hospital ward, yes I do have a problem. Being told I am the equivalent to a racist for saying this, absolutely unbelievable!

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Trampolean · 03/08/2021 08:00

I agree with the article that to assume criminal intent as a first point of risk is discriminatory. Transgender people, male and female have each a history of sexual violence effected upon them and so also have a right to access safe care settings at a time when they are most vulnerable.

Shame women evidently don't have the right to safe care settings though eh.

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110APiccadilly · 03/08/2021 08:05

@DobbyTheHouseElk

I’d hope they wouldn’t be on a gynaecology ward, but I can imagine they could be if they bully their way onto it.

Shocking, what can we do?

It was a slightly complicated set of circumstances, but I was once admitted to a gynecology ward with a problem nothing to do with gynecology (which could easily have affected a male) as they had to admit me and had nowhere else to put me. Presumably under similar circumstances, they'd now have to admit a trans woman into that ward.
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Tisha0 · 03/08/2021 08:08

@OverTheRubicon

Isn't this supposed to be on the trans topic now?

There is no “trans topic” - as much as some monitors would like to corral all feminist speech into one naughty corner to be able to focus their observations and reports.

It is in Feminism Chat, as it is about women. Women’s feelings, women’s safety, women’s lives, women’s healthcare, women’s safeguarding - all to do with Feminism.
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