Forgive me for returning to comments on the first thread, but this comment says it all (my bold print)
@Sausagedognamedmash
I really struggle with the nuances of this. I have trans friends, both mtf and ftm and support them wholeheartedly every single day.
However I have also been on the receiving end of an SA by a man who was only a "transwoman" when it suited him to access women only spaces in order to be a predator. I understand clearly this was one bad person, not indicative of a whole subset of people, however when you've been in a position where such abuse has taken place because no one would stand up and say otherwise despite it being clearly a lie. Because that would be 'denying their truth' and 'anti-trans' it worries me, that small minority that abuse the system and the good nature of others in order to be a predator, and as with the Man/Bear debate, you can never tell on face value alone who is a predator and who is just a normal person trying to live their life.
There is absolutely no nuance.
The phrases I understand clearly this was one bad person, not indicative of a whole subset of people and you can never tell on face value alone who is a predator sums up the whole issue EXACTLY.
ALL men do not pose a threat to women's safety.
But SOME men do.
And some men deliberately do under the current protection of 'feeling like a woman'
Decent men (who are the majority of men IMO) instinctively know and respect that women need their private spaces to feel safe and to maintain their dignity - because of the threat that SOME men can pose. Therefore, the majority of men are happy to stay out of women's spaces, They instinctively understand the reasons why men shouldn't be there under any circumstances.
It's an historical understanding - men understand what men can easily do (and sometimes do) to women and that is why safeguards were introduced.
It takes only one bad person to put women at risk
If NO men are allowed, it makes it easier for women to challenge if one bad person does enter that space. It makes it easier to enforce a women-only space.
It safeguards a vulnerable sex. Because you can never tell on face value alone who is a predator
So,if a man wants to enter that space and go against historic reasons of safeguarding, it automatically raises safeguarding questions.
It automatically raises the question 'why' does he want to enter that space............
and it automatically pre-supposes that a man does it for reasons that are not conducive to women's safety, dignity and privacy.
Women's instincts tell them this.
If a man ' doesn't feel safe as a trans woman using male facilities', then surely the questions to ask are WHY he doesn't feel safe? and WHY are men making him feel unsafe?
And that surely is an issue for men to resolve, not women.
Is it perhaps that men need to reframe their thinking?
I absolutely believe that people should live their lives as themselves.
But I also absolutely believe that women's rights are there for a bloody good reason.