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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Girls Spot Gym under attack for being women only

119 replies

fromorbit · 10/03/2025 17:55

A black woman Natalee Bennett who is setting up a woman only gym in SE London is being targeted because she has said the gym will not include men which legally she can do under the equality act. She had said 4 years ago "trans" males would be allowed to enter, but she has now changed her mind.

The Girls Spot operates as a female-only gym for biological women, tackling harassment, sexual assault & violence that women face inside the gym.

The tweet circling was made 4 years ago and I was in the very early stages of creating a concept.
https://x.com/nataleebfitness/status/1898805670339899593

She is now facing a massive swarm of misogynist and racist abuse against her including multiple death threats. The post about the gym being for women only now has 51 million views.

See some examples of the abuse:
x.com/babybeginner/status/1899060758664896691

I suspect the abuse will peak a lot of people and prove the need for the gym to exist. Interestingly I suspect a lot of it derives from the US.

If you are in South East London you can register your interest in the gym here
https://thegirlspotgym.com/

Article about the gym from a few weeks ago before the controversy broke:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-14355163/women-female-gyms-fitness-influencers-gymtimidation-rise.html

The US site Newsweek has picked up on the drama:

https://www.newsweek.com/gym-trans-women-ban-girls-spot-2042133

Of course it ignores the entirely different legal background in the UK.

https://x.com/nataleebfitness/status/1898805670339899593

OP posts:
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Ereshkigalangcleg · 12/03/2025 09:08

A few screenshots from that Reddit thread. Does anyone know anything about the tribunal referenced?

As pp said. Typical upside down TRA interpretation of course. AIW won her case because ACE didn't follow process. At no point did they say her comments were ok. There is a thread here. Is this fool even aware that they were also found to have discriminated against Denise Fahmy for her GC beliefs?

UtopiaPlanitia · 12/03/2025 03:01

WandaSiri · 12/03/2025 02:49

She uses a great phrase about all the libfem types abusing Natalee - "suicidal compassion and empathy".

I agree.

Dr Gad Saad has spoken publicly about what he termed 'suicidal empathy' and I think that, in this situation, that is what these women who are attacking Natalee are displaying.

https://www.northwood.edu/news/parasitic-ideas-and-suicidal-empathy-are-killing-the-west/

A man with gray hair and a beard smiles while wearing a black shirt, standing against a white brick wall.

Parasitic Ideas and Suicidal Empathy Are Killing the West - Northwood University

The following essay by Dr. Gad Saad, an outspoken public intellectual and trailblazer in applying evolutionary psychology to consumer behavior, appeared on

https://www.northwood.edu/news/parasitic-ideas-and-suicidal-empathy-are-killing-the-west/

WandaSiri · 12/03/2025 02:49

UtopiaPlanitia · 12/03/2025 01:40

A supportive opinion from America:

d

She uses a great phrase about all the libfem types abusing Natalee - "suicidal compassion and empathy".

UtopiaPlanitia · 12/03/2025 01:40

A supportive opinion from America:

d

RowlingStones · 12/03/2025 00:59

https://www.instagram.com/nataleebarnett_/reel/DHBZpTvtaXU

I feel so bad for her, she's just trying to make a safe space for herself and other women, and now she feels she has to make video after video explaining this while trans activist idiots and abusers rage at her. It's heartbreaking.

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/nataleebarnett_/reel/DHBZpTvtaXU/

FlowchartRequired · 11/03/2025 23:35

Thanks to both of you for the explanations and the links.

WandaSiri · 11/03/2025 23:31

Deleted because cross posted.
https://www.gov.uk/employment-tribunal-decisions/mrs-a-islam-wright-v-arts-council-england-and-c-ashcroft-2408555-slash-2022

In any case, the case is irrelevant because excluding males who claim to be women from a women-only gym is lawful.

ditalini · 11/03/2025 23:28

This is a summary of the tribunal: www.artsprofessional.co.uk/news/breaking-news-ace-loses-second-gender-beliefs-tribunal-case

You will be Shocked that it doesn't say what they say it says.

Basically, woman compared gender critical beliefs to racism. When shit hit fan she recanted. Her employer continued to disciplinary at which point she resigned. Tribunal said the employer didn't follow their disciplinary procedures and also they believed that she was proper sorry guv honest so employer should have accepted that and drawn a line.

FlowchartRequired · 11/03/2025 23:06

Ereshkigalangcleg · 11/03/2025 11:05

A few screenshots from that Reddit thread. Does anyone know anything about the tribunal referenced?

Girls Spot Gym under attack for being women only
Girls Spot Gym under attack for being women only
Girls Spot Gym under attack for being women only
Girls Spot Gym under attack for being women only
FrippEnos · 11/03/2025 22:45

NPET · 11/03/2025 22:26

Surely if it HASN'T taken place it can't be filmed.
More importantly enormous amounts of harassment HAVE taken place and I for one have been physically assaulted for daring to stand up for a girl who was pushed off a machine by her brother.

I have not said that harassment ay gyms does not take place, we all know that it does.
I would be happy with completely separate male and female gyms, even if they were separate in the same building,.
What I am talking about are those that have filmed in gyms and people have been able to disprove that harassment has not happened at all..

DivorcedMumOfAdults · 11/03/2025 22:39

It’s such a shame that she has had so much abuse for trying to do something that men did for centuries!

If she makes it a membership only club and interviews prospective members ( like they do for golf clubs etc ) then she can allow only those people who will fit in with the ethos of her private club. The membership fee could be relatively small once only payment and then pay as you go

NPET · 11/03/2025 22:26

FrippEnos · 10/03/2025 19:14

Neither would I be against men-only spaces, provided they weren't funded or operated with any greater support or powers than our spaces, but I doubt they would be wanted or needed anyway.

There have been attempts at starting male only gyms but they have suffered similar abuse to the abuse that the woman in the article has suffered.
And I would say that the trend of filming and accusing men of harassment where none has taken place shows that single sex gyms are very much needed and wanted.

Surely if it HASN'T taken place it can't be filmed.
More importantly enormous amounts of harassment HAVE taken place and I for one have been physically assaulted for daring to stand up for a girl who was pushed off a machine by her brother.

Waitwhat23 · 11/03/2025 22:15

The abuse Natalee has been receiving has been horrifying. I hope she's OK.

Waitwhat23 · 11/03/2025 22:14

PinkChaires · 11/03/2025 07:31

On tiktok alot of comments are saying that people with pcos could be mistaken as transgender. Not only is this highly offensive as someone with pcos, i dont believe that people with pcos do look like that? Are they saying it because of the excess facial hair? Words fail me honestly. Its the delusion that transwomen apparently dont look like they have an entirely different bone structure

It's the same on Twitter and it's really pissing me off. Those of us with PCOS (aside from the utter melts who claim that their PCOS makes them intersex which is just...) are really fucked off at our female endocrine disorder being used as a shitty gotcha.

We're not men. Our hirsutism doesn't make us men or make us somehow 'manly'. Our higher testosterone levels are nowhere near even the lowest level for men. We're women with a female disorder.

BobLobla · 11/03/2025 21:55

My dd is raging about this. She gets all her 'news' online and she's definitely of the opinion it was crowdfunded and won't hear of the counter-arguments. It's so tedious

RedBrickWarehouse · 11/03/2025 19:21

I’ve just seen this on TikTok.
I hope she does well, and agree that the abuse she’s getting proves how much female only spaces are needed.

I just saw a vile comment from a transman saying she’s going to get surgery, all the hormones, bulk up and go to the gym to make the women feel uncomfortable, I mean, they can go to literally any other gym for that. What a twat! She’s already trying to opt out of her sex, why go the extra mile to ruin it for others? Fucking spiteful lot they are!

Dwrcegin · 11/03/2025 14:02

Interesting that the people on reddit (and IG) seem to think its crowd funded. On IreneBritUSA's most recent post, she shows a video of Natalee where she states she put the money up to open it.

Between Biology and transition, which comes first in terms of protected characteristics?

Ereshkigalangcleg · 11/03/2025 11:05

Reddit

www.reddit.com/r/transgenderUK/s/mbKJWulNDw

puffyisgood · 11/03/2025 10:38

Something about the story feels a little odd to me, maybe a slight whiff of grift about it, the wannabe gym owner seems a bit like an 'influencer' type, and very young to be opening up a gym in competition with the established 'big dogs' who are active in this space.

Though it goes without saying that I say more power to Ms Bennett in her endeavours, the proposed clientele limitations seem more than reasonable to me.

ItsCoolForCats · 11/03/2025 10:23

There is a female only gym near me. It doesn't say anything about whether it is for biological women only, but it is in an area of the city that has a high Muslim population, so I would imagine it's a given that that's how it operates and any man trying to self ID into it would get short shrift.

SerafinasGoose · 11/03/2025 10:08

RadicalisedPastThePointOfSalvation · 10/03/2025 19:34

Also interesting that it’s a-ok to go after a young black female business owner. Intersectionality who?

Who indeed. This lobby doesn't seem to know the meaning of half the theoretical terms it's fond of regurgitating (not that intersectionality is a methodology of any kind, just a social observation). Ask them who Crenshaw was and what was the point behind her article, then watch them stand there with their gears spinning.

If TRAs don't grasp that gender constructivism is the very brainchild of the 'queer' theorists whose work they constantly spout and on which they claim to be informed, there's no helping them. 'Gender' is a crock of socially-sanctioned stereotypes. Don't blame us - just ask Foucault 😆

Here's just another case of TRAs' misappropriation of language, theoretical terms, large threads of academia, and spaces and groups in which they have no business, which in reality have sod all to do with them.

Gifgaf · 11/03/2025 09:14

The only solution in society is for trans to create their own trans space and stop demanding to mix. Unfortunately for them you can't expect and force everyone to agree to accommodate something they don't want or believe in. Women deserve to have their own space without cosplay and I really hope she sticks to her guns on this one.

happydappy2 · 11/03/2025 08:54

I think this is in Wandsworth....have joined the wait list to show support

WandaSiri · 11/03/2025 08:39

Justme56 · 11/03/2025 08:38

Yes there seems to be a theme that whilst TW can only be sexed by looking in their pants, women can easily be mistaken for men by simply looking at a bit of hair on their face.

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