Women - don't lose your daughters' rights

[Isthisexpected]

I came across two women this morning at playgroup who have no idea that the Greens, Labour, Lib Dems all have policies that will privilege men with various gender identities over women.

Please please before you vote - look up what each party believes is a woman. This will tell you all you need to know about whether they'll protect your daughter from having to change in front of a person born male, or share a tent with them at camp or compete against them in sport, or share a toilet and living room in a women's refuge....

I'm not telling you who to vote for. But please be informed about women's rights, for your daughters/grandchildren if not yourself.

"Looking it up" doesn't help. I looked it up and learned that Reform, Conservatives, Alba and (I think) the Communist Party are the parties with a sensible policy on this, so given that I don't share their view on anything else, I am well and truly stuffed.

Frankly ignorance is bliss on this issue.

Unless you enjoy pissing off canvassers, of course, in which case you can have fun asking questions they can't answer like "so exactly how will a Labour government reconcile easier access to GRCs with women-only spaces for bioological women?"

Is this going to be the new victim blaming?

If a man wants to attack a woman, he will find a way of doing so, regardless of who is in government. It will not be that woman's fault because of how she voted.

Of course, it would help if the Tories hadn't effectively decriminalised rape in recent years, but hey, at least they know what a woman is.

Regardless of politics, or which party gets into power, it will be up to us women to defend our hard-won, sex-based rights.

It will be up to us to stand up and be counted. To call it out if our single-sex spaces, prizes, sports, and so forth are infiltrated by men.

Nobody else will stand up for us.

We're on our own, yet standing side by side. Again.

Was ever thus, so we might as well sleeves-up and crack on with what we have always had to do. Protect ourselves, our sisters, our daughters, our mothers.

I'm ready to go to jail for all those women who are unable to stand up for themselves, for whatever reason, to defend our sex-based rights.

To be fair we have a male janitor cleaning the ladies toilets and changing rooms where I work. There is a sign saying ‘male janitor working’ on the door but I barely register it. I’ve never heard anyone complain, same with male electricians in the changing rooms at the gym.

All this batshit bullshit happened under the tory government

If they gave a shit about female spaces they'd have done more to protect them by now

People really do talk some utter crap

So we should ignore the growing crisis facing women today in favour of changing a law which will not bring in as much safety as you all act like it will?

Same here @CovertPiggery . Getting the tories out is a must.

are you fucking kidding me????

how does that help the little girl whos dad comes into her bedroom?
how does it stop the girl who was hanging out with her mate at their house who then assaulted her?
how does that help the 5 in 6 women who KNOW THEIR ATTACKER?
How does that help the woman married to a man that subjects her to sexual abuse?

None of those women and girls will
be helped by having males in their toilets and changing rooms, though.
In Scotland there is a man employed in a reserved-for-women lead job in a rape crisis centre. Is that a good result for women?
I cannot believe what KS says when he has been so duplicitous on this issue.

But my point remains.

What other differences define women from men, apart from their reproductive systems?

If you scratch the surface of 'not defined by biology' you often uncover a lot of unconscious sexism..?

Easier...maybe? But men who want to attack women will find a way regardless.

On that point, I am far more concerned about the effective decriminalisation of rape under the Tory government which so often means that men can carry out such attacks with impunity.

FWIW, I don't believe that trans women are women and I do absolutely want single sex spaces to be protected, but more because of the lower level discomfort and unease that sharing spaces may cause for many women. Especially but not exclusively those who are from certain religious communities and/or those who have experienced sexual violence etc. I Am not convinced that allowing men to use women's changing rooms etc increases the risk of atattagh.i honestly believe that those who are that way inclined will find a way of doing it anyway.

I was that child who was raped by a male relative in my own home. Repeatedly.

Single sex spaces and groups helped because I could at least go somewhere he wasn't allowed. These days he could just follow me into them and claim he was woman gender.

KS has been rubbish on this issue. But none of the problems that have arisen in this area have arisen on his watch.

And for all their rhetoric, the Tories have a terrible record on women's rights, so while they have a basic understanding of what a woman is, they don't seem to give a toss about their safety. So what's the point?

did i say helped? No. the PP said you can't get safer than no males in female spaces. which i proved was not the case as the vast majority of women/girls were not in danger in a female only space.

Yep. This is pointed out again and again, but it's like hitting our heads against s brick wall.

I'm amazed that anyone believes a word that the Tories spin. This branch is full of intelligent women. So why have so many blinkered themselves to such a degree that they're prepared to believe Tory lies, and ignore all the ways that they have damaged women and children's lives?

This is a cynical tactic to win votes. I'm GC but there's not a chance in hell that I will vote for the Tories.

and again, rape crisis centers and refuse centers will be biological sex. They have already said that a GRC does have exceptions in such situations.

If you think that is being applied you haven't been paying attention.
The RC centre I referred to has already said their clients cannot find out the biological sex of their support workers.

Jolly good for them. As a child I didn't know about those places.

But I was fucking glad that I could sit in women's changing rooms and feel safe for 5 minutes. I could go to Guides and know there were no males there. Guide camps were my favourite weeks/weekends away. As a teen I'd only swim at womens only sessions. And I knew there were only women (the female ones) there.

Stop minimising the experiences of abused women and girls.

I don’t appreciate being addressed as “women”. I’m an individual.

Are you Mr. Chomondley-Warner?

i didn't say it applied now did i? its what has been confirmed by KS when he was asked.

I'm not minimising it, you are. If you agree with the PP that i replied to that "not much safer than no males in female spaces" ignoring the fact that for the majority of the women and girls they aren't attacked in those spaces. I didn't say it wasn't safer.

We have our own experiences. I was also abused and believe differently to you in regards to what would impact safety the most.

@Alwaystired94 and as it stands right now with services being inclusive of men under the category of women, if a woman or girl is raped by someone she knows:

• she won't be able to request for a biological female to do her rape exam without being labelled transphobic
• she will be advised to "reframe her trauma" or attend inclusivity training if the experience means that she needs female only health care providers for routine appointments due to the trauma she experiences when in intimate situations with males
• she can't guarantee that the rape counselling group she attends won't have a man in it saying he's a woman
• if she needs the services of a domestic abuse hostel she can't guarantee that the other service users or the staff members will be female even if it is described as a women's only service
• she may have to use the preferred pronouns of the trans-identified male who raped her in court referring to her rapist as 'she' to validate their identity

And just for added horror some lucky woman may end up locked in a cell in prison with the rapist because the rapist has invoked their 'I feel like a woman' card

(The above have all happened, they are documented real examples of how the inclusion of males in female only provisions has affected women)

Yes, we know the stats and women are significantly more likely to be assaulted by a man that they know. That doesn't mean that the destruction of female only services and spaces is negligible.