To ask what policy your Uni has on women's spaces?

[SerfTerf]

Those of you who have recent work or study experience.

Would you mind listing institution names and their policies?

NC if you need to of course.

Itsallgoimgtobefine has made some very succinct points

Example, Ian Huntley can claim to be a woman so he can share a prison with women. Clearly he's not a transwoman, but he's using all this "self-identify" stuff as a way to get access to women

How is it clear that he's not a 'real' transwomen? I don't think it's clear at all. Why isn't he a real transwomen? What even is a real transwomen? How do we define it?

At least if somebody asks what a real women is there is an actual objective, scientifically grounded measure, even if some people don't like the answer.

I work at the University of Iceland, in the oldest building. Facilities vary from building to building. On my floor we have male toilets, female toilets and one big disabled toilet which is of course gender neutral. I always go in the female toilets - we have three cubicles in there which are actually little rooms, with proper walls, doors and a sink in each. I don't know what the mens' are like but I assume the same.

In the more modern central building where all the student services etc are, there are male toilets, female toilets and a lot of single occupancy gender neutral toilets. I don't know what things are like in other areas of the University because I don't go there.

The official Equal Rights Policy does not mention the issue of sex-segregated spaces at all. The Policy is mostly concerned with tackling inequality between women and men, although it does mention other things like origins, sexuality and gender identity. On the other hand Iceland is a very (socially) liberal country in a lot of ways, especially with regards to things like gender, so make of that what you will. If you'd like to read the English translation of the Equal Rights Policy:
english.hi.is/university/equal_rights_policy

Why does it upset people so much to have a way of clarifying whether we're talking about trans women or (brace yourselves- gonna say it again!) cis gendered women? Fair point Ferrets, I meant sex assigned at birth. What I am trying to say is that in a discussion specifically about trans women, it's useful to have some linguistic precision. Is the issue that really, you don't think trans women should be able to identify as women, thus making 'cis' redundant?

OP

Why don't you just contact the universities directly and ask them. Seems much easier. Any information you get on here would be too difficult to collate or verify.

That's interesting takk.

I've just seen this;

www.dur.ac.uk/geography/about/gender-and-equality/

So that suggesting that ECU's "gender equality mark" gives credit for gender neutral toilets.

I'm off to read more about that scheme before I draw conclusions.

What I am trying to say is that in a discussion specifically about trans women, it's useful to have some linguistic precision.

Um, we already do have a distinction.

Transwomen are transwomen. Women are women.

It's completely redundant to add a prefix before the word women when you aren't talking about transwomen.

They're strangely evasive fake.

Bristol SU (my old uni) has this policy, this is just a small part of it.

To actively lobby the University of Bristol for the inclusion of Gender Neutral
Toilets in each faculty.

1. Use the phrase 'gender neutral toilet/s' to relabel an existing set of toilets, in each

department, that were once labeled either male or female toilets.

1. Keep at least one set of male toilets and one set of female toilets in each

department, as some people are more comfortable using those types.

1. Where the infrastructure of the building doesn't support having th

So... like I said, you're uncomfortable with a trans woman calling herself a woman... she has to be the one with the prefixes ??

Also you've already pretty much summed up yourself why the word cis might be a problem when you gave your definition of what the word cis actually means.

I'd like stats on how violent TW are in comparison to other males. Also their rates for committing sexual assault.

But I also think it's disingenuous to say that all women are uncomfortable with trans women being able to use the bathroom they are comfortable with, whether that is the women's or the men's or the gender neutral. I don't think that at all. I think many people don't care. I spent most of my youth in gay and drag clubs and no one gave a shit, including me. But a lot of women do care. And should have an option.

And 'cis' pisses me off. Most feminists deny that 'gender' is a real stand-alone thing. It is just the constricting performance which is expected of people based on sex. It's bad for us and bad for men. 'Cis' implies I collude with my oppression. Fuck that noise.

Having male, female, unisex and disabled toilets sounds like the ideal and perfectly reasonable solution to me :)

Leading on from what another poster said about their old maths block not having female toilets at all; I think population growth is as much to blame for these conflicts. Building facilities haven't always kept up with existing numbers never mind anticpating extra growth. Be that having female students where there didn't used to be any, disabled students where disbaled people were previously excluded or just more students in general.

We've got to have plenty of toilets and it is rarely given enough planning or priority. It seems unecessarliy divisive to make people fight for/ over the same space. We can be inclusive by offering more opportunites and choices, not less.

Ohla cause they don't think trans women are women at all, so they call them male to trans, or just 'a trans'. They don't view cis as an adjective to oppose the adjective trans, they view it as a horrible slur or notion that they (the real women) are just one type of woman.

They also view TERF as a slur (one to be reclaimed?) despite the fact that most of them actually are, by definition, trans exclusionary radical feminists.

A few also seem to view their feminism as the One True feminism, and equality feminism, intersectional feminism, and trans-inclusive feminism as 'genderism' or full on gender treachery.

she has to be the one with the prefixes

Yes because she's not a woman. She's a transwoman. And you know what? There is nothing bloody wrong with that.

Oh lavache I think you are confused about the difference between biological sex and gender. I am a woman, a person who is not biologically female but wants to live in a female gendered way is I guess a trans woman, although I get why some women would prefer the term trans gendered or non binary etc

Why does it upset people so much to have a way of clarifying whether we're talking about trans women or (brace yourselves- gonna say it again!) cis gendered women?

Because lots of women do not identify as 'cis gendered.' It's a label that is being forced on us. I don't mind 'natal women' or 'biological women' being used to distinguish us from transwomen if you feel the need to use a clarifying word, but I'm not cis. I do not identify with a gender, because I see gender as a social construct which harms women. So using a word for me which means that I identify as the gender that matches my biological sex is inaccurate and offensive.

The university I'm at had gender neutral toilets a few years ago but it was scrapped.

I'm guessing it was because the guys peed on the seats and floor (it was gross) and filled up the sanitary towel disposal units with crap that shouldn't be there.

I did get to see a nice pair of naked butt cheeks when one student couldn't be arsed (!) to close the cubicle door

Having male, female, unisex and disabled toilets sounds like the ideal and perfectly reasonable solution to me :)

Doesn't it?

Loops - your probtrans, anti female bias is showing just a tad.

Transwoman and woman is perfectly clear and accurate to most folk.

they don't think trans women are women at all

That's because we're not women.

We're transwomen.

Why do I have to be a woman in order to be accepted? Why can't I just be accepted and allowed to get on with my life as a transwomen?

Why do I have to pretend to be something I'm not?

Thanks @user1498911589

*transwoman

journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0016885

@bambambini. Although not strictly about sex offending, does include criminality figures.