To think I can't be the only person who doesn't know a single trans person

[VioletSpeedwell]

Seriously.

The news is full of people worrying about how the SC ruling will affect people who identify as trans.

Where are they? Not in my office (large organisation), my family or social groups. I don't come across any in the village where I live or when I go into town.

DD is at university and doesn't know any trans people.

Surely, I can't be the only one?

You could just admit you don't know and don't have an answer.

I’ve met two, both teens. Both autistic, one with further disabilities.

There's a reason for that. Testosterone's incredibly powerful. As a testament, it changes women's voices while oestrogen doesn't change men's. When a man desists from oestrogen treatment, his male characteristics return but most women who stop taking testosterone will have deeper voices, extra face & body hair, etc for life.

The beautiful Brazilian 'trans women' I was talking about use phenomenal amounts of oestrogen. It works, but it's dangerous in the long run.

I suppose it will be different with teenagers who evade puberty: no-one actually knows what it does to their overall development, but their appearance is chemically manipulated so they're less likely to look 'wrong sex'. I think Jackie Green and Jazz Jennings still look somewhat male but, if I didn't already know, I'd probably just think there's something slightly odd about them.

If you walked past blaire white on the street, never having seen her before, you'd think "that's a man"?

I call bullshit

Hint hint, transwomen are the patriarchy.

It's not about 'trans people'. It's about womens rights. Female only safe spaces. Fairness in sport. The issue has never been 'trans' people per se. It's always been about males and females rights in society.

Actually you're wrong, @Crazyworldmum . Poll after poll after poll shows most women believe female only spaces should be female only, as well as fair sport. You might not care about being in an intimate safe female only space with a fully intact male (which is what 92% of transwomen are), but rape survivors like me and DV survivors certainly do. There are girls in America getting urinary tract infections because they won't go to the gender neutral toilets. Women here are restricting fluid so they don't have to go to the shared toilets at work. 99% of women care, very much, I assure you of that. You just haven't looked around and noticed.

😂😂😂
You don't seriously believe that, do you?

I used to work with a very beautiful woman who I found out was trans. I would have said we were friends, but obviously she didn't see it that way as she didn't tell me. Which stung. Anyway, there were quite a few in the area I was living in then, none where I am now (rural), but if they're doing it properly you might never know unless they tell you.

My DD works with a trans male and I wouldn’t have known he was trans at all. Gay, yes but not trans.

Define "anti-trans"? I think you mean anti-male. I don't know many who are anti-trans men. Which proves this is about males. And never was actually about 'trans'.

That doesn't surprise me at all, Violet, because a very small minority of people are trans and many will go through life without knowing one, or knowingly so. There are areas where there are more visible trans people around, which is quite natural because people always try to live where there are others like them, however most of the time we only see on television or read about them.

In some big cities/towns in other countries there are transsexual and transvestite communities, Ibiza Town is one and has been so for many decades, and Brazil. I've no doubt there are pockets in London.

I'm a Londoner and long retired but when I was at work in central London I came across a couple of transwomen; at that time people would notice and whisper, mainly curiosity, not nasty so I was told about them before meeting (it was mainly curiosity, not nasty; the gender reassignment clinic at the Charing Cross Hospital was a fairly new thing then (I worked for the NHS), but I didn't gossip about them or behave any differently towards. There was a programme on TV in the 1990s about Julia, a transwoman, which many watched; she went through an awful lot and moved to Spain where she opened a small hotel. She is now dead poor soul. Her journey was extremely moving and interesting, quite an eye opener. Then in drama there was the story of Roy and Hayley Cropper in Coronation Street, Hayley being a transwoman, and we all loved Hayley.

Other than what I've mentioned, I haven't known any trans people and don't now. I was told by a friend many years back that a girl with whom we had been at school in the 1960s was undergoing gender assignment.

The media make a huge thing out of it and overuse of 'they' and 'them' is widespread but there are not many and never will be. However people do have genuine concerns which I share, eg about use of public lavatories ('rest rooms' in America), and changing rooms, because of a few things that have happened in places like prison. I 'get' that but at the same time I know there are always opportunist sex offenders, regardless of gender. The majority of trans people just want to get on with their lives, the same as anyone else. I believe we should live and let live.

In time I think all of it will die down, most will accept that there are transgender people, always have been, and there will be less media 'hooha' about the subject. There will still be male and female toilets in public places and office blocks, with a couple of unisex toilets for anyone to use. There will be less inappropriate use of gender neutral pronouns but we will call trans people by their chosen gender pronoun, whilst recognising that nobody can change biological sex.

When a male is in a female safe space, it causes harm. Especially if you're a rape survivor. We have sex-segregated spaces for a reason. When a male injures a girl at sport or takes her sports scholarship or medal or placing it causes harm.

If it didn't, you wouldn't have such a feminist revolt going on at a the moment.

I don’t think women are any more afraid of “transwomen” than any other men. But we don’t want to share a shower, changing room or hospital ward with other random men either.

No I don't know any trans people but have seen lots who remind me of that character in little Britain "I'm a lady". You can tell straight away that he isn't.

I’ve only known one transwoman well, although I’ve seen many others out and about. This person was a colleague of mine a few years ago. No one told me the employee in the pencil skirt and ballet flats was a man, but it was quite obvious with his linebacker’s shoulders and huge feet. We got along quite well though and worked on several projects together. But I still never believed he was a woman.

It's because you wouldn't know... they look just like you...

Anyone being examined by a trans GP has a right to know. People have the right to choose the sex of someone doing an intimate exam (including breast exams) and a doctor lying about their sex is potentially committing sexual assault.

I know 2 transpeople (one mtf and one ftm), one person who was previously trans (mtf) and is now nonbinary, and then two other non binary people (one f, one m).

All of them either also have other mental health issues, are diagnosed as autistic or both. I’d describe all of them as vulnerable to varying degrees. I think they’ve been preyed on, and I wish more money and resource had been available to address their other needs as robustly- I think it could have been very different.

Maybe not in a posed head and shoulders glamour shot. But in EVERY full length shot or video where Blaire is walking- yes. Genuinely. I can’t articulate why but I know Blaire is male by the way Blaire moves.

I don't know any either. There is someone that works in a local shop that I suspect is, but that's it.

There's a person who works in a local village charity shop that dresses like little girl (lots of pink, glitter, sparkles) who is very clearly male.

Other than that, I don't know anyone.

This is what I don’t get - most of us know that young people go through phases, we all did.

But for some reason this issue is supposed to be taken so seriously and never questioned, even though I’m aware of several young people who claimed they were trans and basically changed their minds a year or so later… it’s quite clearly a trend among young, confused people.

But if you say that you’re somehow a horrible person who’s denying their existence.

No, I don't know any personally. However, in my central London locale, I often see a trans male at one of the gyms I attend. Out and about, I see no less than half a dozen trans women several times a week. All of the latter are of the AGP variety, there's absolutely no ambiguity about it either (which is often a bit much in Waitrose first thing in the morning 😬. Once in a while, I another two, always together, who seem to be cos-playing female Sherlock Holmes characters 😂. There's also quite a few TiMs in the mix too, again easily identifiable due to their greasy stringy long hair, five o'clock shadows and oestrogen-filled moobs.

Oh, I used to work with a very well-known trans campaigner whose partner is trans. Or is it non-binary. Whatever it was, the partner heavily influenced City of London policy about this at local council which saw the ladies pond at Hampstead Health become a third space for trans women among other madness. That was particularly hard for me having to grit my teeth about with the nonsense he/they/whatever would spout.

I know one person at work. Extremely vulnerable young person, very poor mental health and I know they’re going to be affected by the SC ruling. However that doesn’t make the ruling wrong.