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

[ArabellaScott]

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?

theedinburghreporter.co.uk/2021/05/new-boss-for-edinburgh-rape-crisis-centre/

I get that visceral reaction to a transwoman. In a loo in Oxford they followed me in and ( due to past trauma) I was really uncomfortable about a male in my space and they just smirked .

Nope. It’s driven by biology not ideology. We know when someone is male

@Anovaneway

Do you even see what you have written? That for women who pick up that this person is male in a place where they are expecting and needing a female, it is on them if they are retraumatized because you’ve decreed that they look enough like a woman to not retraumatize women.

No that’s not what I said. Just because women know she’s a trans woman doesn’t mean they would viscerally react to her like they would to a male.

FWR regulars may have a different view but I wonder how much of that is driven by ideology?

In the case of a traumatised rape survivor needing to be both mentally and physically safe, why does it matter?

Why are you so anxious to place the feelings of a male person above the needs of a raped and traumatised female one?

I think only biological women should work in rape crises centres / refuges for women. The law supports that position.

Why are you so anxious to place the feelings of a male person above the needs of a raped and traumatised female one?

I’m not. The ERCC are experts and presumably happy with their decision and confident that she’s effective in her job. If she’d left a trail of retraumatised women in her wake I doubt that would be the case.

I think only biological women should work in rape crises centres / refuges for women. The law supports that position.

And the law could have been applied in that way had the service thought it necessary.

I say again. Charities and NGOs do not exist to give people jobs. They exist to meet charitable aims, and the primary aim here is to support women subjected to rape. MW may feel like a woman. That's irrelevant. Will women subjected to rape see a woman? Remember the service is forallof them, not just the ones you think are appropriately 21st century in their thinking.

twitter.com/hightreebud/status/1323965436334133249?s=19

This is a link to an account of a Scottish teenager who could not proceed with rape counselling because the counsellor she was assigned was a transwoman.

This is the text of that link, for people using screenreaders.

When my daughter was 14 she was raped by 4 men in scotland, where JK lives. When we specified the need for a female counsellor our agencies thought it was ok for a self ID Twoman with no GRC to counsel her as TWAW. Do you think maybe JK knows more than you do?#AskDanielRadcliffe

I’m not.

Yes you are. The thread is full of examples of women who need female attendance after rape - hell, the ERCC itself specified a woman for the job, which MW is not by any definition, so I'm not filled with confidence at all - and here you are telling us that this doesn't matter and trying to pretend that rape survivors prefer female assistance only because of "ideology" (how actually dare you?).

If nothing else, if the job was open to men, they shouldn't have excluded all the other male bodies people without GRCs. There might be a better candidate out there among natal male people. But this doesn't bother you. Because you do not care about the best person for the job or the best service for raped women. You care, primarily, about the wants and ego of MW.

Blimey Purgatory, isn't that MH suggesting they feel like beheading women who question this? Am I missing something?

This is worse than I thought.

@PurgatoryOfPotholes

I say again. Charities and NGOs do not exist to give people jobs. They exist to meet charitable aims, and the primary aim here is to support women subjected to rape. MW may feel like a woman. That's irrelevant. Will women subjected to rape see a woman? Remember the service is forallof them, not just the ones you think are appropriately 21st century in their thinking.

twitter.com/hightreebud/status/1323965436334133249?s=19

This is a link to an account of a Scottish teenager who could not proceed with rape counselling because the counsellor she was assigned was a transwoman.

Absolutely, especially the first paragraph.

No that’s not what I said. Just because women know she’s a trans woman doesn’t mean they would viscerally react to her like they would to a male.

FWR regulars may have a different view but I wonder how much of that is driven by ideology?

Because, you DON'T personally know this person, but you are willing to bet that there will be traumatised women who simply won't realise that this person is male or that if they did realise, they would not be retraumatised by that fact.

And even if they discovered afterwards, what should they do? suck up their feeling of betrayal of trust?

You are denying many women's voices that have stated that they would here and on other social media platforms, by letters, and interviews and in responses to politicians asking them to back the 'six word' amendment.

Because, you feel it is just an echo chamber ideological suggestion from the MN FWR board?

Have you looked at the votes on this poll? You realise this is NOT on FWR? And that there are way more than 1669 regular posters on FWR?

I think you are mistaken. Nearly 90% of people on this poll disagree with you.

@Carriemac

I get that visceral reaction to a transwoman. In a loo in Oxford they followed me in and ( due to past trauma) I was really uncomfortable about a male in my space and they just smirked .

I had the same when I came out of a changing room in H&M in London and found a transwoman assistant.

@lifeturnsonadime

Blimey Purgatory, isn't that MH suggesting they feel like beheading women who question this? Am I missing something?

This is worse than I thought.

to be clear MH says they must 'call this out' referring to a person questioning the appointment in the rape centre with the anger of a goodness and then post a picture of a goddess holding a severed head.

twitter.com/hightreebud/status/1324753104647135232?s=20

@Anovaneway

Why are you so anxious to place the feelings of a male person above the needs of a raped and traumatised female one?

I’m not. The ERCC are experts and presumably happy with their decision and confident that she’s effective in her job. If she’d left a trail of retraumatised women in her wake I doubt that would be the case.

I think only biological women should work in rape crises centres / refuges for women. The law supports that position.

And the law could have been applied in that way had the service thought it necessary.

Oh, for fuck's sake. Did you not read the account of a woman on here who has had personal experience of this person as a counsellor? Who said that this person just kept checking their watch and yawning. Actually yawning.

As to your second point, as you have been told several times, the law was applied in this way, by the rape crisis centre themself, who wrote the advert, and the specific sex they required and then ignored their own criteria.

I hesitate to say it's like talking to a brick wall, but 'brick' and 'wall'.

you do not care about the best person for the job or the best service for raped women. You care, primarily, about the wants and ego of MW. this really.

OP, I totally agree with you. Should not be the CEO.

“Just because women know she’s a trans woman doesn’t mean they would viscerally react to her like they would to a male.”

It’s shouldn’t be some kind of pot luck thing, (I’m trying to think of a better way to articulate what I’m thinking) it’s not like going into a shop and finding you’ve bought something faulty but can take it back for an exchange! This sort of thing could have serious repercussions on the healing process of someone! The consequences should be thought about beforehand and adjusted for, not wait until something happens and then try to remedy it!
As someone else said, these places are to provide a service to the users, not provide a job for someone!

Sorry for all the !!! but I’m fuming about this blasé attitude!

FWR regulars may have a different view but I wonder how much of that is driven by ideology?

Women understanding that sex-based Safeguarding matters is not "ideological".

If nothing else, if the job was open to men, they shouldn't have excluded all the other male bodies people without GRCs. There might be a better candidate out there among natal male people. But this doesn't bother you. Because you do not care about the best person for the job or the best service for raped women. You care, primarily, about the wants and ego of MW.

The job wasn’t open to men. I’m not sure you have any evidence that the ERCC won’t be providing a good service for raped women and won’t be getting good outcomes.

The job wasn’t open to men. I’m not sure you have any evidence that the ERCC won’t be providing a good service for raped women and won’t be getting good outcomes.

Well they don't seem to be able to follow the law for a start.

I’m not sure you have any evidence that the ERCC won’t be providing a good service for raped women and won’t be getting good outcomes. they will not be providing a single sex female service, which presumably given they have previously is the desirable space for these women to heal.

No that’s not what I said. Just because women know she’s a trans woman doesn’t mean they would viscerally react to her like they would to a male.

FWR regulars may have a different view but I wonder how much of that is driven by ideology?

Can you explain how being able to identify a male as a male is an ideological viewpoint?

The job wasn’t open to men.

Well the appointment shows otherwise.

MW does not hold a GRC and self id currently has no legal basis in the UK.

The job wasn’t open to men. I’m not sure you have any evidence that the ERCC won’t be providing a good service for raped women and won’t be getting good outcomes.

Equality Act 2010 defines men as "males of any age" and women as "females of any age"

I had the same when I came out of a changing room in H&M in London and found a transwoman assistant

They weren’t actually in the changing room with you I would hope though.

In a loo in Oxford they followed me in and ( due to past trauma) I was really uncomfortable about a male in my space and they just smirked .

That sounds horrible. Presumably they’re not working in a RCC.

I’ve already agreed that as per the law trans people can be excluded from single sex services if required. I’m going to leave it there because people are getting upset and I don’t want this to get worse