To ask what single sex spaces mean to you?

[Thisisouting]

Why are single sex spaces important to you as a female?

Single sex ( and no alternative- which still happens more often than people think) is restrictive when I have my disabled older son with me.

They aren't important to me. Better to just have individual cubicles for changing & toilets.

The individual cubicles would still be single sex, because there would be only people of one single sex in it.

And besides, many pools, camping sites, etc, don't have the money or space for it. So you don't get the choice. Sharing with other people of your own sex is the most privacy you'll get there.

brit for those of us who have been raped, whether as adults or as children, women only places are are a place of safety. Not because every man WILL rape us, but because any man COULD.

I can't believe that so many people are ignorant of the fact that survivors of sexual violence might want single sex spaces.

As could any woman

The OP didn't ask about why they might be important for survivors of abuse or even in general though. That would obviously have gathered a different set of opinions.

The ability to go out in public with a marginally lower risk of rape
www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-asia-28761363/india-lack-of-toilets-increase-rape-attacks-on-women

The ability to not have to stay at home once a month as ther is no period provision
blogs.worldbank.org/education/globally-periods-are-causing-girls-be-absent-school

The OP didn't ask about why they might be important for survivors of abuse or even in general though. That would obviously have gathered a different set of opinions.

Single sex spaces are for women or men, respectively.

They're not for survivors of abuse only. Which would be very silly and defy the purpose, because predators would know exactly where to find vulnerable people.

So, what are you on about?

It is not ignorance. Obviously for some people it is important. The original question was what single sex spaces meant to you/me. And personally to me they aren't important.

They don't mean anything to me, sorry.

Dignity, privacy and safety. With out the safety of single sex loos and changing rooms, I wouldn't have the freedom to move about the world as I do now.

As could any woman

No they couldn't because rape requires a penis.

And 98% of sexual offences are committed by men.

I have not been a victim of sexual violence, however I am very aware of the fact that women who have deserve private spaces to go to the toilet or change, therefore they are important to me.

To me they mean relative safety. And I tend to take them for granted. But I realise that for other women who have been raped or otherwise abused by men they are even more important, and essential to their lives.

I think both men and women feel more comfortable in single sex spaces. Most men wouldn't want to use a urinal in front of a woman. Perhaps a better question might be 'what are the reasons for not have single sex spaces?' I really can't think of any. It wouldn't improve anything, surely?

vestalvirgin I was replying to a previous poster. No need to be so aggressive.

Yy Maryz. Single sex (best) or unisex (not ideal, but beggars can't be choosers), no gender crap.

And adequate disabled facilities as I also need to access with a male (carer in my case). Still support other women though

Safety, dignity, lower anxiety, refuge.

For women who say they are not important, would anyone be happy to get changed in a communal changing room at a gym or pool with men? Or are you saying you still want your own private space in a cubical?

I don't really think about it. Then again I would never ever use a communal changing room and never have. As long as there are cubicals I couldn't care less.

An unconscious feeling of comfort and security which is hard to even put into words. Just privacy really. You only realise it when it's not there anymore I think.

I do feel a bit that people will automatically shrink away from the idea that "some spaces should simply be segregated by biological sex" and call it transphobic ... and then (for example) hate the idea of husbands and men staying on maternity wards overnight.

Single sex is important anywhere you might be more vulnerable than usual, for safety, dignity and privacy. So hospital wards it would be important to me. I'd rather discharge myself in an unfit condition than be in a mixed sex ward. I wouldn't use mixed sex changing rooms, unless there were floor to ceiling doors on individual cubicles, and the cubicles opened onto a open space not an enclosed room. Anywhere where people are compelled to be, such as prison or secure hospital facilities should be single sex.