So how do I live in the female gender?

[Definitelynamechanged123]

There are 8834 people in the UK who have a Gender Recognition Certificate.
I am one of them.

To get it, I had to show evidence of transition, surgery etc. Lots of hoops

I also had to swear a Statutory Declaration. I had to go to a Magistrates Court and swear a legal declaration in front of a magistrate. It was all very formal.

I had to swear this:

" have lived as a (insert ‘male’ or ‘female’ as appropriate)
throughout the period of years before the date of this statutory
declaration and I intend to live in that gender until death."

This declaration is legally binding. Apparently if I don't follow this, I can be done for perjury.

So...how do I live as a female and live in that gender until death - I have sworn to do this in front of a magistrate.

I was very surprised that so few trans people have Gender Recognition Certificates.

This information is completely inaccurate for the UK. Can you please share your source? It’s crucial to rely on credible data for a better understanding.

You can do as you please.

I want a woman only ward for ceetain treatment and a woman to give me a pap smear or a mammo. I am now entitled to it. I think most women do. Sex- NOT the woo woo of gender identity-makes a difference to me and the law agrees

The OP will have to be uncomfortable in the men's ward. Tough luck.

So if you are walking home late at night and sense a man walking close behind you, you don’t get fearful and perhaps walk a bit faster or take measures to distance yourself?

if I sensed a male behind me (man or trans women) and it was dark and lonely I would run home. I wouldn’t have the same fear if it was a women. I would actually be relieved there was someone nearby and we had strength in numbers

Personally I'd continue as you are. I mean it's a lawful certificate so I'd continue as you were. You have the right to a private life the same as anyone. The law doesn't make sense sometimes.

It's Mumsnet OP. Terf island HQ (I'm sure you are aware of how bigoted this site is so the responses shouldn't come as a surprise).

Here's a summary from the CPS.

www.cps.gov.uk/crime-info/hate-crime/context-and-characteristics-hostility-towards-sexual-orientation-and-transgender-identity

I won't be engaging in this thread any further, I have no interest in arguing with transphobes. OP, you won't get anywhere with this lot.

Actually there was a FOI request that showed that within the male prison population TW were far more likely to have committed rape and sexual assault than the rest of the population.

The figures are there, women have every right to prevent all male people from being welcomed into the very few spaces that are women only.

Edited to add the link here
(IIRC a journalist didn’t believe it, looked into it again and found the rates were higher).

I am genuinely unconcerned that a transwoman is going to attack me anywhere. But then I also actually don’t live in constant fear of attack.

But the majority of women do.

That last sentence is kind of the point.

You can need what you need, prefer what you prefer, but there’s no need to be horrible to people you don’t even know because of that.

“They can be uncomfortable. Tough luck?” How completely unnecessarily harsh.

You go on about bigotry but cant post a single instance. Ocado is currently apologising to Justine for calling MN bigoted!

Transpeople are a targeted group. They are prone to physical attacks.
The way women claim to be scared & victimised. The law is now targeting trans people in the same way. I'm embarrassed frankly.

I expect the oath was entirely meaningful, because at the time, living as a woman would have meant using women’s toilets and changing rooms. It’s only now, with clarity in the law, that it becomes less so.

I genuinely don’t, no.

Firstly - your average man could catch me, running wouldn’t help.

Secondly, my attackers lived under my own roof.

Lastly - sometimes men just want to walk somewhere. Without plotting any violence.

And you are a handmaiden @SleeplessInWherever who will hand over womens spaces to men and expect us to be kind.
If men attack other men in hospital wards- tiny chance- that is not the problem of women to solve.

No they don't. Of course they don't. What a ridiculous thing to say. Some women do. Some. Those women need support, not pandering to fantasies about men dressing up as women & going into a toilet to watch them have a pee. Christ alive.

Is that percentage based data, or the actual volume?

You know - if there’s two people in a cell and the trans person is a rapist, there’s your 50%.

But I think the actual quantity of violent men, biologically male, has to reasonably be assumed to be higher.

Oh come on. No-one believes that.

Please don't minimise VAWG. The problem with risk statistics based on percentages are they're skewed by the fact that women comprise over 50% of the population, but trans people are a fraction of 1%.

Therefore, the number of women assaulted is massive. 3 women a week are murdered in this country. 71% of women report having been sexually harassed in their lifetime. I honestly don't know a woman who hasn't been.

By official stats, approx 1250 in every 5000 women have been assaulted, and that's just the ones reported. This might be versus, say, 40 out of 100 trans people. Both are awful, but 40 does not compare to 1250.

The percentage of trans people sounds bigger because their population numbers are much smaller and don't come anywhere near the number of women being assaulted at any given time. There are approx 200,000 trans people in the UK. But 30 million women and girls.

I don't want anyone to be assaulted, I wish to rid the world of these abhorrent crimes. But to say trans are the most vulnerable group based on percentages disingenuously masks a far bigger issue, and minimises the sheer scale of VAWG.

We really shouldn't be competing in some vile victim Olympics. The fact is, assault affects vastly more women than trans people. Women are already vulnerable enough without being required to shield another group too.

Look, I do have sympathy for you. I really do. I get that you just want to live as a biological woman. But you must surely understand why women want places that are just for biological women too. I sympathise with your toilet conundrum too. It's not easy having to hunt around for a suitable toilet when you are out and about and have to plan your outings around it. Most women will also understand this as using the toilet is nigh on impossible when you have a pram with you. Cubicles are not wide enough to accommodate a pram or a pushchair. Toilets invariably involve a flight of stairs. Finding a spot to change or feed a baby is even harder.

You are in the same position as those with prams/pushchairs and better off than those with disabilities. You are not unique in that respect. Sadly it is a man's world.

Just as women and disabled people have had to fight for their rights and facilities, so will you for your own toilets and safe spaces. Women would support your fight providing that you don't expect them to give up what they have fought for. Unfortunately the trans sector (some of them at least) have sought to demonstrate that they are more vulnerable and important than other marginalised groups and have made demands. The venom has been largely directed against women with the labelling of them as ignorant terfs. So, you have to understand why this is going to get womens' backs up. Many 'representing' the trans communities (particularly the younger generations) have caused conflict and pitted the trans community against women. If you want progress then you need to allow the more moderate reasonable voices of the trans community to be heard and look for a more concillitary and problem solving solutions rather than continuing with this sense of entitlement that seeks to remove the rights of others.

Don’t Margaret Atwood me, please 😂

Aye? What record? Where? Show the record please I want to see this.

“They can be uncomfortable. Tough luck?” How completely unnecessarily harsh.
No, it is not harsh. Not at all. It's harsh to expect women to give up their rights, safety, dignity, to swallow their fear and worries, especially in a place like hospital where they are vulnerable just so a man can be more comfortable.
This kind of bullshit is why so many of us see this as a men's rights movement. Women don't exist to make men fucking comfortable.

I'm sorry, in what way is the law targetting trans people? All that has happened is clarification that sex in the equalities act refers to biological sex and not legal sex.

How on earth is that an attack on trans people, unless trans people's accomodations have indeed, as women have been saying all along, been at the expense of the legal protections based on sex?

Has it turned out that rights were indeed like a pie after all?

And if so, it this perhaps a signal that the right approach was not to demand that trans needs were met through the appropriation of sex-based rights, but shoudl all along have been lobbying for separate and from-the-ground up provisions that work just right for trans people?

That doesn’t say what you think it says.

Read the link I added.