Bad men don't need excuses to do bad things. They will do them anyway. It's silly to think otherwise. If they want to walk into a public ladies loo and rape you they will they don't need to pretend to be a woman to do it. History shows us this. If they want to assault you at the swimming pool they will. Again history shows us this. Bad men will do it anyway. It's daft as fuck to thing the law is in some way going to give them more freedom to do it. Where there is a will there is a way
LET'S REMOVE ALL SAFEGUARDING THEN. THERE IS NO POINT IN IT.
Really? Are you that fucking stupid and that fucking privileged to say that its unimportant and not worth thinking about? Its all about how you balance this with concerns. Noting you have to acknowledge concerns, and take them seriously rather than dismissing them offhandedly without offering reassurance, in order to do this.
Unfortunately this is exactly what is proposed, because along with the proposed law change is a culture where any concerns raised can be silenced with a threat of calling someone transphobic. This means that people might be endangering their careers to speak out if they have been abused or fear someone else is being abused. Even if the law was technically on their side.
Its not about trans people abusing it (although its very possible), its about the ability to abuse it across the board because the idea is so poorly conceived and misunderstood (sometimes deliberately so) in practice. There is a blindness to this, from people who this will never affect or have no life experience which has led to them seeing exploitation of the system by predators.
I’ve not actually heard of any men abusing it apart from perhaps in prison?
Have you learned nothing from #metoo?
Apart from the numerous examples on this thread, women typically don't speak out when there is a problem because of the nature of power structures that work against them. See my comments above about the culture surrounding the trans debate and how this silences women. I'm yet to see a single definition of transphobia too, and this is crucially important to that culture of silencing.
From a personal point of view, from the 'inside' so to speak, what I've seen and experienced leads me to believe that part of gender ideology is nothing to do with gender identity at all, but is to do with power. This is crucially important to understand. Why? Because people drawn to that do so for particular underlying reasons. Some of these are harmless, some are a sign of having been harmed or being vulnerable, but for others its an altogether more worrying pattern.
The transwidow thread is an eye opener in that regard. There are patterns of behaviour that raise red flags. The pattern of behaviour on twitter from many TRAs is alarming.
Its certainly not hysterical to be concerned about the prevalence of people saying that lesbians are transphobic for not liking dicks and that they should be re-educated. This is not isolated. Its how widespread the thinking is.
If we fail to see this, respond to it and think about how we can safeguard lesbians both within law and within culture through language and what is acceptable to say, then we are complicit in homophobia and potential coercive and abusive behaviour.
For me its not simply the proposals that are problematic, its also the cultural bubble this comes in, which leads to the potential for harm being even more likely, yet no one wants to acknowledge that the position we are because it's lacking in transparency and not open to constructive criticism (instead viewing all criticism as simply transphobic) is a recipe for disaster.
At its heart the framing of the narrative that trans people are the most oppressed in society is fundamentally and profoundly flawed. It sets this idea of who is victim and who is abuser which might not necessarily be true in reality. We should not be blinded by over generalisations.
Those in society who find it hardest to voice an opinion don't have power. We should always remember this and reflect on it. Silence should never be regarded as a measure of no problems alone. You should also reflect on how easy it is to get heard and taken seriously. If the culture isn't open enough to that, silence is meaningless.
Open debate, isn't just about winning the argument. Its about acknowledging the need for debate and that different experiences and opinions are valid, even if you disagree with them. Its about an opportunity to offer reassurance and find solutions to concerns.
Instead we have the shit we are currently having.
Calling anyone 'hysterical' in that context is utter bollock. It comes from a place of understanding and ignorance. But then given posters on this thread have already admitted they are too lazy to read threads, I don't hold out much hope of them making it to page 9 of this thread, much less read a long post.
The trouble is, three words - transwomen are women' - or shouting transphobia at everything are easier to process and swallow without thought about what they mean in practice.
That's politics for people who leave themselves open to exploitation and abuse.