@CohensDiamondTeeth
No I don't think a sign alone will stop them, that would be stupid. But going back to single sex spaces and being allowed to shout it from the rooftops if a man enters them will help.
That is not the reality of what happens though. Time after time we hear that in those situations women don’t shout from the rooftops. They freeze, they go quiet, they might be on high alert, but the suggestion the mere appearance of any man in a ladies changing room will lead to people in it pointing and shouting ‘MAAAN’ is laughable. At most they are likely to finish up and go report it to whoever is in charge of the space, but which time the guy has gone. And what of the man. If he is dressed in a suit with a clipboard, or in a pair of overalls with a mop, will they be concerned? Plenty of research on human behaviour suggests they wouldn’t be. That’s a great loophole for any would be predator.
Opportunistic predators are... well opportunistic, so they will use any opening they can to their advantage.
They don’t need GN changing room, they just find another opening
For the last few years women who spoke up (or wanted to) had the additional fear of speaking out to worry about on top of predatory men, because of no debate, the "twaw" bullshit lie, no platforming, police over reach, loss of employment, services and health care etc etc etc.
Another “fear” that is not based in actual reality but in SM hyperbole. Women speak out about this all the time. But, what is being conflated is, some women who have broken the law have been dealt with by the police. Some women who have broken a company’s TOS have been de-platformed from that service. It is incredible when I see people here claim it is impossible to talk about this anywhere, not noticing that is actually what they are doing here and when their comments have actually been blatant transphobia, it is allowed to stand.
Now that we are slowly moving back to normality and the law has been clarified by the SC who have stated that sex always meant biological sex, women can now feel confident that if a man enters a single sex space, they can speak out, they are right to do so, and their rights to this single sex space are backed by the full weight of the law.
Except that isn’t what is actually happening. If anything we are in a much worse position. The law hasn’t actually been clarified. All it says is that in that particular instance, under those particular circumstances (where the word appears in the equality act) a certain definition has been clarified. The terms of the equality act hasn’t changed at all. Trans individuals are still protected under the equality act, and are entitled to spaces for changing etc. It can be argued (and I expect will be challenged legally) that provision of single sex spaces only isn’t legal under the equality act. Add to that, guidance from public bodies has not changed and is currently at odds with that definition. ScotGov has not issued any updated guidance so right now it is an absolute shitshow. Schools in particular are finding it very difficult. If you are a trans person in a public space at the moment, it is unclear where your safe space is. Trans women may well still use these spaces, particularly if they “pass” so if women feel that is a risk to them, now they are under a false sense of “security”
We are returning to a time where we can say the "good men stay out so the bad men stand out".
A rather pithy phrase which as I said above, doesn’t reflect reality.
I don't think sexual violence perpetrated by men will ever be stamped out unfortunately, but swinging the metaphorical doors wide open and saying "all comers welcome" was not exactly a clever plan to reduce risk or harm was it? I mean why put up any barrier to any crime right? Criminals are going to do whatever anyway so why not just let them? That's basically what you are saying, and it would be lunacy for the world to run that way.
We have laws and other social barriers for very good reasons, removing them was obviously going to cause those with criminal or predatory intent to celebrate the idiocy, and it obviously was going to (and subsequently did) cause incredible harms to women and girls that otherwise wouldn't have been put at such risk.
That’s my point. There isn’t anything in the statistics which points to GN spaces increasing the number of women who are assaulted. Of course we try and prevent crime, but we do it in a way that is effective and there is no evidence which says having SS spaces does that.
So what is it, do you think that removing all lawful and social barriers to single sex spaces is going to help somehow? If so how?
I don’t advocate for that at all. SS spaces have their place. There are women who for a number of reasons feel more comfortable with that, but not all SS spaces are designed for the benefit of those women either. Open plan changing rooms with no cubicles can also cause a lot of discomfort, we need to be engaging properly with women about what they need. Most often the “designed by a man” version of SS spaces does not suit but that a whole other discussion.
How would you "stop" these predators if you don't think laws or social barriers will help reduce risk?
What I’d love is, rather than message boards, forums, social media being awash with discussions about unverifiable micro scenarios where someone has said something trans ish, we have the same noise being made about men and boys being predators. Instead of parents picketing schools for their trans policies, they picketed schools about their lack of action on boys who are harassing and assaulting girls, their lack of teaching boys about consent and appropriate behaviour. Instead of the culture wars being about the tiny number of men who have decided to become women, (add air-quotes to your liking) they are about the other attacks on women from individual men, organisations run by men and governments of all colours who have refused to do anything to improve the lot of women in society. That is the only way any of us will feel safe. If we focussed on that instead of on who is sitting next to us whilst we pee, that would do way more to solve our issues.