Page 19 | To think that a Rape Crisis centre should not have a transwoman CEO?

ArabellaScott · 2021-05-03T15:18:23+00:00

Mridhul Wadhwa has just been appointed CEO of Edinburgh Rape Crisis. The job was advertised as for women only. Mridhul is a transwoman (born male) without a Gender Recognition Certificate. AIBU to think that women survivors of rape and sexual violence should be able to have a female only space? [[https://theedinburghreporter.co.uk/2021/05/new-boss-for-edinburgh-rape-crisis-centre/]]

AllThatisSolid · 03/05/2021 21:12

The thing is that if Mridhul Wadhwa was a woman, they'd know exactly why a woman is need for the CEO job of Rape Crisis

This.

I think many women take the support, safety & security of single-sex spaces & professional support for granted.

Until we lose them.

grannysbay · 03/05/2021 21:15

@Racecation5577

I wasn’t aware that trans people weren’t able to be raped

Struggling to understand the relevance of this TBH. Has anyone stated this previously? I would hope that, should that happen, the victim would be able to access suitable support and counselling with someone able to understand their issues. And the same should be available to women. Including being able to specify they were examined by a natal female.

BlitheringBlathers · 03/05/2021 21:16

@BetterKateThanNever

Good grief. As I've already said, very clearly, if you ask for a new counsellor for any reason you're very likely to be offered one! Even if your reasoning is transphobic, they're likely a better person than you who will still want you to get help and support, despite your prejudice!

But if you're asking for another counsellor because you want one of the same sex as you that isn't transphobic/prejudiced is it. You would be asking for a female counsellor regardless of their trans status so where is the transphobia?

TalkingtoLangClegintheDark · 03/05/2021 21:17

[quote Rubyrecka]@TalkingtoLangClegintheDark that's very informative, thanks [/quote]
You’re welcome

dementedma · 03/05/2021 21:19

Excellent post by talkingtolangclec.

TalkingtoLangClegintheDark · 03/05/2021 21:19

Thank you 5zeds and no worries, I understood the context of your post!

SeaWitchly · 03/05/2021 21:22

I don't think it's right. If this person truly cared about the rights and dignity of female rape survivors they would step down. They are a transwoman, not a woman and this job is not for them. Enough if this bullshit.

WhoNeedsaManOfTheWorld · 03/05/2021 21:22

If transwomen are born female there is no such thing as trans so stonewall can go and there is no such thing as transphobia
We don't need trans days (weeks) of visibility or particular roles for transpersons

SeaWitchly · 03/05/2021 21:24

Mridhul Wadhwa, a trans activist, was very much against legislation protecting the legal right of female rape victims to be attended by female forensic teams

If this is true then they need to be removed from this post asap.

Helleofabore · 03/05/2021 21:27

@fruitbrewhaha

Mridhul Wadhwa, a trans activist, was very much against legislation protecting the legal right of female rape victims to be attended by female forensic teams.

Not who I'd want heading up rape crisis centres, someone who centres men.

Yes, I think I burst out laughing reading a post that stated that MW was a passionate advocate for women’s rights. ....

Ahhh no. They are a passionate advocate for trans rights. Women’s rights mean nothing to them unless they cover themselves.

Nothing altruistic about this person.

And in the CEO role, they will actively work to change Scottish government policies to suit themselves. They are well connected, which is why they have been given the role in a time when rape centres and refuges are fighting for funding.

thepuredrop · 03/05/2021 21:29

@BetterKateThanNever

Good grief. As I've already said, very clearly, if you ask for a new counsellor for any reason you're very likely to be offered one! Even if your reasoning is transphobic, they're likely a better person than you who will still want you to get help and support, despite your prejudice!

“Here’s your counsellor, you didn’t specify needing a female woman.”

Way to re-traumatise survivors of male sexual violence.

AllThatisSolid · 03/05/2021 21:30

But a group set up to help women with a specific issue - why should they be told they ought to help everyone with that issue? Or maybe they should be told that they shouldn't just support people who have been raped - why shouldn't they also have to support domestic violence, say, or people affected by other crimes?

Excellent points @FlattestWhite - as usual, women are supposed to look after everyone else.

And their work is not to be respected or remembered.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 03/05/2021 21:30

Even if your reasoning is transphobic

Wanting a same sex examiner as a rape victim doesn't make you "transphobic" nor does it make you a worse person than anyone else.

Redapplewreath · 03/05/2021 21:31

There's a bit of a failure of tolerance going on when someone with a different belief is perceived as not only inferior, but morally wrong.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 03/05/2021 21:32

You can ask it what a tradwife is, what a woman is, etc. It might benefit you.

And you. Woman is an adult human female, hope that's enlightening for you.

thinkIamdone · 03/05/2021 21:34

OFFS! A trans woman cannot possibly have the experiences of a real woman so it's a mockery to appoint them as a CEO. Every woman experiences male aggression at some point in their life and following rape they need a natural woman who understands the trauma and misogyny that is rape.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 03/05/2021 21:36

It is deeply inappropriate for you to continue to use the slur 'TERF' on a thread about a rape crisis service given the violent sexual and death threats women receive who are deemed to be 'TERF's'. If you cannot engage in a discussion without slurs or personal insults, it just shows how much your argument is lacking.

Perfectly put.

EsmeShelby · 03/05/2021 21:36

Wadhwa lied to get the job. Not a woman. If a job description requires you to have a qualification and you lie about having that qualification, then you should be sacked.

Deceit is not a good qualification for any CEO.

I'm never donating to ERCC again.

Viviennemary · 03/05/2021 21:37

Absolutely not on. Still this is what things have come to.

HecatesCatsInFancyHats · 03/05/2021 21:39

@Ereshkigalangcleg

Even if your reasoning is transphobic

Wanting a same sex examiner as a rape victim doesn't make you "transphobic" nor does it make you a worse person than anyone else.

This

Definately · 03/05/2021 21:42

@BetterKateThanNever

Good grief. As I've already said, very clearly, if you ask for a new counsellor for any reason you're very likely to be offered one! Even if your reasoning is transphobic, they're likely a better person than you who will still want you to get help and support, despite your prejudice!

It isn't transphobic not to want a male rape counsellor. Women don't want this, and it's not about whether the man in question is wearing a t shirt and jeans or a dress and heels. Not everything is about trans people and their feelings you know. This one is about women, and what they want and need, and we should be allowed to want and need things without trans women stamping their feet and saying 'what about me!'

5zeds · 03/05/2021 21:44

So what’s to be done?

Ereshkigalangcleg · 03/05/2021 21:44

A thread about a small local charity who bravely defied a Twitter pile on from TRAs and their allies to continue to provide women centred female only support:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4227395-Wight-DASH

HecatesCatsInFancyHats · 03/05/2021 21:47

I still can't get over the fact that a person with male chromosomes and genitalia, who hasn't applied for, and seemingly doesn't want a gender recognition certificate, has chosen to make a career for themselves not just within a sector that centres women, but within rape crisis organisations that previously (prior to equality and diversity programmes moving away from considering women's needs) centred extremely vulnerable women. I'd be asking myself if there's some kind of assertion of power/personality issue going on here well before I allowed this person to sit in rooms with traumatised women as a counsellor and later as the leader of a previously female-centric organisation. Those of you who are fine with this, have you never seen this pattern of behaviour elsewhere, does it really ring no alarm bells as to motive? This is a male person who is now apparently placed beneath female rape/violence victims in the heirarchy of victim hood that we are currently obsessed with, who somehow is running the charity that represents them 🤔 How on earth did that happen?

Voice0fReason · 03/05/2021 21:49

It shows complete contempt for women that when they are victims of male violence, they have no rights to have female counsellors and for physical examinations.

Victims should not have to specify that they want to talk to a female. They should not be put in a position where they have to refuse a transwoman because a transwoman should not be in a job that is specified as a female only role.

I find it very sad that some women are socialised to such a degree that they put the wants of a transwoman ahead of the needs of a female victim of sexual violence.