Staniland Question is so good. Can we think of others?

• suspect. Not "suspended"

334bu excellent topic on hostels. And I suspended once COVID is over this will come up.

"Should women traveling to the UK/US/Canada (or insert your own country) have an expectation of sex-segregated hostels/dorms/rooms?"

Female-only hostels and dorms allowed my girlfriends, sisters and me to travel all over the world as independent young women. After a day of sexual harassment and catcalling, it was always such a relief to feel safe and left alone when we got back to our rooms. We also had the opportunity to meet women from around the world and despite our many cultural differences, sharing female-only space was a relief and comfort no matter what country we came from.

I realized that was a few decades ago...are there no longer female-only hostel rooms?!? I am also thinking of all the non-western women who often had stricter sex boundaries than we did. It's rather appalling that this could change. It will tamp down women's freedom to travel and attend foreign education programs.

My old lecturer posed the following to us students. He said, that I know you are all leftie and take the moral high ground on politics and don't want to hear opinions and offensive things but when you get to my age you may see the world differently. When you are young your natural instinct is for censorship but it has drawbacks and we should always be mindful of them. He asked us to consider the following:

Do you believe in censorship? If you believe in censorship how do you control the power of the censors and hold it to account if you have no power to criticise? Just how powerful is the power of censorship and what are its limits? Who decides what to censor and what not to censor? What happens if the power of censorship passes from 'your' side of the political divide to the 'other side' of the political spectrum?

No its not a Staniland Question, but its definitely a thought for our time and one everyone should consider hard.

He died some years ago but he was truly brilliant and with the benefit of hindsight I really wished I'd listened harder and appreciated him more now. I wish I could go back and ask a few questions.

Only men can become trans women, therefore how are trans women, women? At which point in the process do they magically change sex?

Should all vulnerable men be allowed to use female changing rooms and sleeping accommodation because they might not be safe in the men's changing room/ dormitory?

Transwomen are not 'any other women'. If male people are made to feel unsafe or uncomfortable in men's spaces then that is not a problem that women should be expected to fix.

There are some great questions here. I think we will have lots of things we can ask people to illustrate the point.

Designed? Like, facilities with sanitary bins and tampon dispensers, or dedicated breastfeeding rooms? Agree.

Well men's toilets have urinals for a start which are not suitable for many trans women, so they would be disadvantaged by having reduced toilet provision for a start.

It would be good to have the facts, no?

I think it's self evident that many trans women would be just at risk as any other woman using men's spaces, and would equally feel as uncomfortable as any other woman forced to use a men's space. There are trans women alive who've been using women's spaces for decades, do you really expect them all to stop and start using the men's?

@wellthatsunusual I'm absolutely outraged on behalf of your daughter. It also makes me sad that she and your husband lost out on some lovely father/daughter activities because of the selfishness of some individuals. I see TRAs fight for inclusion in female spaces motivated by arrogance and spite. One of the trans people I know would not want their dysphoria to be the reason a young girl was frightened.

She's a big fully grown teenager and she still won't bloody go to a public toilet alone, partly because that man freaked her out so much. The arrogance of these people. How bloody dare they.

Is it right that a female holidaymaker should have to disclose her experience of sexual abuse to a hostel manager in order to ensure that she doesn't have to share with a person of the opposite sex who says they identify as a woman?

trans people should not be forced to use facilities which are not designed for them and they may be at risk.

Designed? Like, facilities with sanitary bins and tampon dispensers, or dedicated breastfeeding rooms? Agree.

Which facilities are trans people at risk in, why, and from whom?
I think that statement bears investigation.

I know you're keen to substantiate your statements with evidence.
Perhaps this is also true, like your earlier claim:
"Transpeople are hundreds of times more likely to be struck by lightening then they are ever to be assaulted using facilities for their own sex"

It would be good to have the facts, no?

Just as a general remark, it is important to distinguish between actual transpeople and transactivists, the key distinction being that, judging by their behaviour, transactivists absolutely loathe transpeople. Everything they do is aimed at making transpeople's lives as miserable as possible. All the issues being discussed on here are due to the taunts and threats of activists. The transpeople of my acquaintance, admittedly few, just want to live ordinary lives which, as we all know, are led mostly in the company of those of the same sex/gender. It is this that the activists have ruined for them. They want to blend in, but this thread is ample proof that no one will allow them to, and that is the fault solely of the activists. It's such a shame.

I' ve never been assaulted by a man in a female toilet and yet men are barred from such places. As a man is no more likely to be a predator than any male who identifies as a woman ,why are men not allowed into female safe spaces ?

Should teenage boys race against girls if they say they feel female?

How many boys can run in the girls' race before it's not a girls race any more?

Question!:

Should male athletes who have all the physical advantages of a male puberty and a level of testosterone 5/ 10 times higher than the average women be allowed to compete against female athletes, just because they say they identify as women?

Besides. Outraged told me to google events after 1950, in their confidence I wouldn't find any. I actually found some in the last decade on page 1 of my results. Quite something.*

And how many billions of times have women used a toilet or changing room in the last decade? You are hundreds of times more likely to be struck by lightening then you are ever to be assaulted by a trans women in a women's changing room or toilet.

jj Should millions of female people (i.e. women) lose the right to participate safely in public life, in comfort and with dignity, because not enough sex attacks have been reported yet?

Besides. Outraged told me to google events after 1950, in their confidence I wouldn't find any. I actually found some in the last decade* on page 1 of my results. Quite something.

So don't go shifting the goalposts.

*more recent than 2007, eh?

If some men do not feel safe or comfortable sharing facilities with their own sex then that is men's responsibility and it is up to men to sort it out.

You appear to imply that the only way for men to live safely, in comfort and with dignity, is if women and girls immediately agree to get naked with them.

I'd suggest that might be hyperbole.

[quote PotholeParadies]I've just been googling, as kindly advised by Outraged, and these two results came up.

www.thestar.com/life/2014/01/04/transgender_mans_behaviour_in_changeroom_unacceptable_gallinger.html

idahonews.com/news/local/transgender-shopper-accused-of-taking-pics-of-woman-in-changing-room-in-idaho-target-store[/quote]
Should millions of trans people lose the right to live safely, in comfort and with dignity, because of a tiny number of events over the last decade?

Why are women expected to give up single sex spaces because a small number of men lose self control if faced with a feminine looking male?

Should a teenage trans girl, with a vagina, be forced to undress and shower in a communal changing room with naked men?

I will give that this is a question about a young man who has had surgery. Young men would be less strong than older fully mature men.

It's implicit in this question that you are going for a young vulnerable male and suggesting they should undress with women and girls.

Also implicit in the question is the idea that a fully mature man would be reasonably excluded from female spaces, even if he identified as a woman.

So we agree there is a line, I just draw that line as all males over the age of about 8, no matter how they identify.

transcrimeuk.com/ keeps a record of those crimes which hit the media. There may of course be others that are missed.

Worth a browse.

I've just been googling, as kindly advised by Outraged, and these two results came up.

www.thestar.com/life/2014/01/04/transgender_mans_behaviour_in_changeroom_unacceptable_gallinger.html

idahonews.com/news/local/transgender-shopper-accused-of-taking-pics-of-woman-in-changing-room-in-idaho-target-store