...to be literally speechless after reading this?

[CSLewis]

https://apple.news/AxiPl_cmVRTeudBZ6Kc4mRg

I think more women need to start self identifying as men and walking into men only institutions.....

I'm not convinced anyone applies to a women's only college at Cambridge because they don't want to share living space with a man. At least, I went to an all women's college in Oxford when such things existed (they are now all co ed) and absolutely no one I knew did that.

It won't be intimate spaces anyway - everyone has private rooms, and maybe a shared bathroom with a lock. No more intrusive than a flatmate. And frankly, I'm mostly surprised an all women's college still exists at Cambridge. I thought they had all gone the way of the dodo. I suspect this is a definite attempt on the college's part to stave off that fate.

Sex isn't as clear as that. As many as 1 person in 100 has some form of “DSD,” a difference/disorder of sex development. Yes, there are two distinct binary sexes, male and female, but there are variations in between. Chromosomal sex is a process, not an assignation.
Anatomy, hormones, cells, and chromosomes are actually not usually aligned with one binary classification. That's why it's not as black and white as being male or female.

I am far more concerned about trans and non-binary people's safety.

Being trans-exclusionary is basically saying that a vagina is the only important part of actually being a woman. Caring more about a somebody having a vagina than whether you're actually oppressing people is bigotry. Trans-exclusionary feminism" is a hypocritical, misogynistic farce because it's reducing women to their genitals, which is exactly what misogyny does. Feminism is supposed to benefit all women, not ones that fit into a certain archetype.

I'm more shocked that Cambridge is banning leading feminists from speaking to students while inviting a group of transactivists who organised a violent attack on a woman who tried to attend a feminist meeting.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/linda-bellos-barred-in-cambridge-university-row-0pbdq5sm9

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/trans-group-ath-condones-punching-feminists-n6mz06pj3?shareToken

www.womens.cusu.cam.ac.uk/2017/09/28/termcard-release-michealmas-2017/

Completely agree with OP that it is about the difference between sex and gender, and as a single sex college, people's gender identity should not be relevant.

I do believe there are some women who need the female only space for family and religious reasons (allowing them to go to university), or there were in my day.

Men are massively advantaged at Cambridge by the teaching style, and in academia by the usual issues of maternity leave etc. And even with two single sex colleges there are still more men than women there.

The single sex colleges were set up as single sex. Not single gender.
Because (except for the very small number of intersex people), sex is biologically very clear.

A single sex environment is different. The atmosphere in the bar is different. The atmosphere on the landings is different. At Oxford & Cambridge the tutorial system (often with 2 students to 1 lecturer) means you know you will be paired with another female, which (as studies into single sex teaching have shown) may mean that women feel more able to speak their views.

Murray Edwards should either just admit men (which though another poster said it is going to I haven't found a link for), or stick to being for female-sex only.

Tesla, what sort of dangers do non-binary people actually face? Someone referring to them by that day's wrong pronouns because they couldn't tell their gender had shifted in the morning? Not realising that a woman dressed in a stereotypically feminine way/a man dressed in a stereotypically masculine way are actually non-binary because, unlike the rest of us who are simply carbon copy stereotypes of our sex, they transcend these boundaries with their super special personality?

Except that sex is as clear as that Teslas.

There are only two sexes; male and female. If you have XY chromosomes and a penis then you are male or XX chromosomes and a vagina then you are female.

There are a very small minority of people who are born with chromosomal defects or intersex disorders but they are rare. They are not a third sex or a variation. They also have nothing to do with trans issues and have asked to be left out of trans discussions and debates. The majority of people with intersex disorders are not trans and the majority of transsexuals are not intersex.

They also aren't accepting transwomen as such. They are accepting people who identify as women. So, as someone has already pointed out, if a transwomen who identified as a trans woman rather than a woman applied then they would be turned down. However if a hairy bearded bloke applied and stated that they identify as a woman (whatever the fuck that means) they would be accepted.

Biology is important. It's the reason why women are oppressed and discriminated against. Women aren't oppressed because we feel like women or because we're feminine. We're oppressed because of our biology.

Transwomen are not women because the only way to be a woman is biologically. There is no such thing as a lady brain.

Trans people are not oppressed either. They are discriminated against but they are not oppressed because nobody is trying to extract anything from them.

Nobody wants to take trans people's rights away however there are times when sex matters and some places should be segregated by sex and not gender.

I am far more concerned about trans and non-binary people's safety.

Tesla why?

Funnily enough when I was at an Oxford College (80% men in my year, so I reckon there was a need for the option of female only colleges) my tutorials were almost always all female. For some reason we had 2-3 women in some groups and 2-3 men in others. I'm not sure if this was to encourage the women to speak up and men not dominate or just to put people with their friends (as I was always with friends).

Total digression and as stated above I agree with the OP.

Excuse my ignorance... Is there a difference between a trans woman (who is in the process of transitioning and is living as their chosen gender for a period of time), and someone who simply 'identifies'? Is there a process to sensitively prove the validity of their situation?

Is there a difference between a situation where there is only a binary option and a trans person would be significantly singled out and be at risk of harm (eg men's prison/toilet/changing room) and a uni college where options are already diverse and choosing a women-only college is possibly political in motivation?

I would wonder if it's a case of trying to be fair and sympathetic to all and presumably not making someone's gender into a political circus or creating conflict with other groups in society (eg strictly religious groups where higher education for a young woman may already have been conditional/hard fought).

Is a women-only environment likely to be more suitable for a vulnerable trans woman (knowing the sort of teasing and horseplay that goes on between lads at uni, especially in drink).

Has a case arisen or Is this college trying to raise the flag for progress and equality to make a point?

It is such a sensitive issue

Part of the problem dances is that this includes people who haven't transitioned at all.

Just men who say "I feel like a woman" and that's it.

I'm really thinking this is my chance to be Pope.

ssd "it's not a male problem, it's a problem for everyone."

It's experienced by all but predominantly created by men, and perpetuated by men. Whether the victims of male violence are women or men, or children, its perpetuated by men. Not all men, of course.

I'm really thinking this is my chance to be Pope. Slightly more involved than deciding you are male.

I think more women need to start self identifying as men and walking into men only institutions Wouldn't make any difference with Cambridge Colleges as there aren't any men's colleges.

TeslasDeathRay wanting a female only college is not bigotry.

Sex is indeed a binary and although I've heard he 1% statistic for interesx I think it is in inflated. Could you post your source, please?

I too am concerned for trans people's safety, and for women's safety. Any old man who identifies as a woman is not a woman and they are not necessarily trans either. So this current situation is undermining support for trans people.

It's because of having a vagina and a female reproductive system that women are oppressed.

If you really think feminism benefits from trans women, maybe you should Google the banners some trans women carried at the pink hat women march (anti Trump), the ones that were anti female reproductive organs.

I want all the normal protections for trans people and for women. But our 'needs' do not always intersect. And not being able to talk about things that are normal for women, because it may offend trans women is not progress or support. I inhibits women and centers male needs. It doesn't benefit feminism. By all means we can work together when we can but actually trans needs are different in some cases.

"Feminism is supposed to benefit all women, not ones that fit into a certain archetype." That archetype being female you mean?

It inhibits...

The Times this morning with a bit more detail than the telegraph - note that it appears not to be sufficient for a boy to just say they 'identify' as a girl in order to have their application considered. It seems more as though its aimed those who will probably end up with a gender recognition cert, but at 17/18 are too young to possibly have one.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/women-only-murray-edwards-college-cambridge-admits-transgender-applicants-dtnmdpbpb?shareToken=16ea0342ee2ea462c2860f5b4befe8299*

I think more women need to start self identifying as men and walking into men only institutions....

Its time. I'd do it myself if I had the guts (or is it the balls?)

As many as 1 person in 100 has some form of “DSD,” a difference/disorder of sex development

Source for that? Because this source states 1 in 5,500 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3272549/ and most cases are chromosomal females with slightly ambiguous genitalia that nearly all end up identifying as female anyway.

Is a women's only college a 'safe space'?

With more women attending uni than men, surely any argument for not allowing men to attend this college is empty.

topic But the debate isn't whether ME should accept men, it is about whether it should accept men who are identifying as women. That is a different debate.

And I think someone upthread stated that at Oxford/Cambridge men still outnumber women.

Italian greyhound....of course there is a difference between what happened in our parents and grandparents Day and now, but that still doesn't explain to me the reason why we have women's only colleges within Universities in 2017. I just can't see the need.

Theonlylivingboy.....I'm also banging head on desk..(how rude)..We aren't in 1869.....we have all moved on. Women have had access to Universities for quite some now have we not? Do we really need a women's only college now, just because women were hard done to in the past?

Tabby If enough high calibre women weren't applying / being pooled then ME & Newnham would both consistently languish at the bottom of performance tables. This would lead them to go co-ed. There clearly are good people either applying to them and/or being rejected by other colleges.
They are both low, but not so low that has caused them to do this yet. So I would say there is a need/demand.