AIBU to think this might just clarify

[SturdyEarmuffs]

Why the current trans debate has the ability to have such a profound impact on vulnerable women?

This https://fovas.wordpress.com is a statement from a group of women who are survivors of male violence & abuse.

I would absolutely support specific services for any trans identifying person to ensure they too receive the support & care to help recovery from domestic abuse and/or violence - but I fundamentally disagree that trans survivors should be provided that support care with women who stand to suffer more due to their presence.

So AIBU to think that these women are correct to call for women's organisations to object to the proposed changes to the GRA?

YANBU SturdyEarMuffs. Fair Play for Women has written about this sort of issue and the issues around this subject more generally.

YANBU.
I find it very hard to believe that someone could read such a letter and the testimonies below and not feel moved and angered by what is happening to women.

The testimonies are just heartbreaking

Thank you for posting

Heartbreaking read.

The testimonies are so sad, one excerpt reads "I would ask you to consider why women are oppressed by men. Why they are the object of so much sexual and physical violence. Because it is NOT because we identify as women. The oppression of women is the oppression of a class with shared biological characteristics. We are oppressed with sexual violence because women have vaginas. We are oppressed with domestic violence because biologically, men are physically stronger than women."

The thing is, transwomen will still have male anatomy (even with fake boobs and even the minority who remove their penis), they will still be larger, stronger, broader shoulders etc. To ask survivors to ignore basic fear responses based on seeing someone male bodied is cruel.

I also think the needs of trans and women survivors are so different that neither group is served well by them accessing the same services. They each need their own spaces.

When husbands could legally beat their wives in 1886, a woman was classed as an adult human female. When women were allowed to be paid less, a woman was classed as an adult human female. When women were allowed to be denied education, a woman was classed as an adult human female. Feminists had to campaign for decades to force men’s institutions to change their women-hating policies but now all of a sudden when males decide they want to come into female-only spaces, woman is a mere identity.

Funny, that.

Powerful post/link OP, thank you for sharing.

I wish more people would actually stop and read what is happening, instead of immediately dismissing it, because if it goes ahead, those who cried "transphobe" against their female sistren (just learned a new word!) will be just as shat upon from just as great a height and will be just as powerless to reclaim what was forcibly taken.

Shops, can I nick your post? It’s great.

"As you may be aware the government is considering changes to the Gender Recognition Act. See this fact sheet for more details:
sages.org.uk/publications/sages-factsheet.html"

"We are extremely concerned about these proposed changes which will allow any biological male to easily self-identify “as a woman” with zero oversight, no medical verifications, nothing. As women this will take away our fundamental right to female-only spaces such as rape and domestic violence shelters, hospital wards, changing rooms, showers, prisons and so forth. This would make it very difficult for you to refuse any male in women’s spaces even under the Equality Act (2010) exemptions."

"We are surprised that we, as survivors, are having to explain to you, women’s organisations, why we don’t want biological males in our spaces but we have no choice but to speak out in the face of a barrage of online verbal abuse, death threats and threats of male sexual torture."

For many of us, we are only alive today because of women-only spaces.

Powerful stuff. The whole thing is just harrowing.

I believe men who identify as women are entitled to the same rights as the rest of us. But they are not women and saying so is not bigotry. There's nothing wrong with being a transwoman but their needs and problems are not the same as women's, and they are not our problem to solve. Why is it always women who are told to budge up, to make ourselves smaller? Why can't men budge up?

Why is no one talking about this on a wider scale? Why is this debate to protect all women but in this frame vulnerable women being penned into FWR and women getting screamed at on social media?

Why does no one give a damn about the victims of male violence facing this horrifying prospect?

Every person on here who moans about the millions of trans threads, who says 'what's the big deal? I'm fine with self ID" , who wants a "trans topic" so they can carry on ignoring the situation or who thinks it's just about toilets needs to read this.

And if you are a woman who "doesn't care about the trans agenda and self ID. Learn some humility and realise that, as a woman, there but for the grace of God....

It wasn't you. It could have been though. It still might be.

When husbands could legally beat their wives in 1886, a woman was classed as an adult human female. When women were allowed to be paid less, a woman was classed as an adult human female. When women were allowed to be denied education, a woman was classed as an adult human female. Feminists had to campaign for decades to force men’s institutions to change their women-hating policies but now all of a sudden when males decide they want to come into female-only spaces, woman is a mere identity.

This needs saying over and over again

YANBU. This is hard to read but really hammers home the genuine dangers of allowing men to self-ID as women which would then give them access single-sex spaces. This isn't about a small group of bigoted women kicking up a fuss about toilets. It's a step by step rolling back of women's rights and it's already happening, even before any changes have been made to the legislation.
This should matter to all of us.

Hi everyone,

I'm one of the admins of the FOVAS blog. I didn't write this letter, it was written by a group of women who have called themselves FOVAS. They are all survivors of abuse and the stories in the letter are theirs.

The full letter, along with the survivors stories and signatures has been sent out to all the women's organisations in the UK.

The full text of the letter, the survivors stories and the signatures are on the blog. The list of signatures is being updated regularly. Please share the blog widely. Send it to your MPs, talk to your friends, colleagues. Post it on social media. We are hoping the blog will become a wide collection of women’s stories and can be used as a campaigning resource for female only spaces. If anyone would like to sign the letter or submit their story please let me know.

We have a mailing list of all women's organisations in the UK. If anyone would like to view this list in order to email these organisations with your story please let me know.

Women can email from their own email accounts. What I recommend is sending the letter and maybe your own story, like how you would feel with males in your spaces. We are also emailing gyms and clubs and here we think there should be some emphasis on financial repercussions. These places are going to lose profits if they go along with opening up private female-only spaces to men.

If you would like to sign, submit your story, view the mailing list or if you have any questions or comments you can email us at [email protected].

You can also follow us on Twitter twitter.com/FOVAS4