And so it begins: Transwoman is running for women's officer of NUS

[PosieReturningParker]

Some of her aims:

Gender neutral sex ed
Women in leadership making room for transwomen (because you know how many women are in leadership roles)
BUS accepting transwomen to compete as women in sports

Well I'll admit that, yes, actually, I am pretty terrified of what life experiences my daughters and their daughters are going to have in a culture where 'woman' is whatever a bunch of narcissistic misogynistic males say it is and any female people who dare refuse to conform are hounded and threatened and cast out as 'vile bigots'.

I don't get why, as a people being dehumanised, appropriated and oppressed, we are supposed to fall over ourselves assuring those doing it to us that we don't hate them and aren't scared of them?

Dear golden apples
my trans friends have sympathy for women who are getting deleted, erased, silenced and threatened by misogynistic dickheads claiming to be better women than actual women.
Because my trans friends are decent people who understand that biological women and transwomen are Not The Same, and we have mutually supportive friendships.
I'd suggest you get some different trans friends, mate.

Golden... I'm not terrified, as you are, of women's voices. They speak for me and for the future of women.

I suppose the only saving grace of your post is that you admit that you're part of the thought police. Unusual to have someone on the woman erasing side of the fence be so open and honest about their hatred.

The arrogance of it all is just so jaw dropping. Anna has "lived as a woman" for what? A couple of years at most? And thinks she (guess I have to use she or MNHQ will delete my comment) can now speak for women and represent them??

Yes Vincent. I have young daughters, (8 and 11). The eldest is just starting to hit puberty and I have a real fear of what could lie ahead for her. Sexual harrassment of girls and the pressure to be sexualised as early as possible is far worse than it was when I was 11 in 1975. The whole porn culture and how that affects boys' ideas of sexual relationships. The pressure to conform- to wear makeup and be a girly girl. She is very good at science- still an area where boys outnumber girls. She is good at maths- ditto. Woman have a long way to go before we reach anything approaching equality in the West alone, never mind the horrendous lack of rights for women elsewhere. As hairylittlecarrot says, decent people understand that women and trans-women are not the same, and would allow women to hold onto the precious few gains that they have made, without trampling all over them.

This is a quote from the manager of the student union venue that just installed 'gender-neutral toilets':

"...gender-neutral loos we’ve been able to make The Sugarhouse more welcoming to a wider proportion of the student population. That’s something that’s really important to us, and it’s amazing to think that making such a small change can make such a difference to some of our customers.”

No. No. You've made them more welcoming to transpeople. You have made them considerably less welcoming to some women.

How about we go with gender-neutral but sex-segregated instead? Just a thought.

lusu.co.uk/10432/sugarhouse-unveils-trans-friendly-toilets/

I want to weep.

I'm not bothered by unisex loos. It's honest. I'd prefer that to the nonsense of choosing a loo based on your feelings

I'd laugh at that bombadier, but...

I am bothered by unisex loos, if they are communal. Partly as I'm often in them with two young girls in tow. Also when I was breastfeeding often the breastfeeding area would be almost part of the womens' loos, which although not a great idea, was at least then an all female place where I felt safe and supported and no-one was going to be gazing at my massive norks as I wrestled one out of an equally massive bra.
I also know that my older daughter and my mother, at either end of the age spectrum, would both be less comfortable in a communal loo. My mother would refuse to use one actually. The mixed sex hospital wards of a few years ago were really rough for the elderly.

Haven't single sex wards only just been made mandatory (though 'only just' might mean last decade... I'm older than I like to think...)

I just put something on FB, I was immediately told by a lesbian friend I was being 'Transphobic'

I'm not.

I'm assuming gender neutral toilets means that there are no urinals and that men have to go into a cubicle to wee in the toilet? Surely drunk men weeing into a toilet means that the toilet seats and floor will be covered in wee!

Women who hover are just as bad ime

Women who hover usually just spray on the front bit of the toilet seat but men with bad aim can get it all over the seat and that's my experience of sharing a toilet with sober men so I imagine drunk men would be even worse!

"I'm assuming gender neutral toilets means that there are no urinals and that men have to go into a cubicle to wee in the toilet? Surely drunk men weeing into a toilet means that the toilet seats and floor will be covered in wee!"

Plenty of women's toilets are disgusting without the help of men.

Yes I know that. I just think toilet seats will be worse with men using them. It only takes a couple of drunk men with bad aim to make them horrendous (they're talking about the students' union nightclub toilets).
A couple of people said they wouldn't mind gender neutral toilets so I was just thinking about whether I would mind or not. In the workplace where people are sober and fairly accountable for the state that the toilet is left in, it would probably be ok but in a nightclub I don't know!
Anyway, I appear to be derailing the thread - sorry!

I have no issue with trans women. I respect how they feel and their right to live as they choose. I recognise that they probably face many difficulties, and if they need proper representation at NUS, I would certainly support the creation of an appropriate post. I do accept that trans issues may not always "fit" with the LGB agenda.

However, the challenges faced by trans women are categorically not the same as the challenges faced by those of us who are biologically female, and sometimes, our interests may be in direct conflict with one another. The question of gender neutral toilets is a good example. For this reason, I cannot support the idea of a trans woman being elected to represent the interests of all women.

Anna should campaign for better representation of the trans community if she feels that this is necessary, but the women's officer post is not the right platform. I am a member of the NUS, and I do not want women's interests to be represented by someone who is biologically male.

In the pdf that Vincent linked to yesterday, it said under women's officer :
Objections to the eligibility of full time candidates
Any member of NUS may object to the eligibility of candidates or their nominators. For the full time position they may
do this by contacting the chief returning officer in writing via [email protected] by 12pm on March 18 2016.

Isn't this the opportunity? Who is a member of the NUS here?

Men's toilets always stink to high Heaven IME. I don't know why unless it just goes all over the floor quite often or something.

I would never, ever use a public toilet space that was shared with men.

Just no. And I'm not old.

By the way should we take it that Anna's name is a play on words, or not?

I'm appalled that my comments have been deleted.

I will not be forced to lie and say that a man is a woman.

I really think and hope that in 50 years time people will look back on the shit with 'wtf' faces on. Because it's fucking ludicrous.

On a WOMENS forum I am supposed to collude in the lie that a man is a woman, because he says he is? And we all have to go along with that and welcome him with open arms to speak 'for us'?

Fuck. That.

Honestly Sophie?

When I first saw the terrible wig and dress, the name Anna Lee (anally) and that blatantly anti-woman manifesto, and that awful video, my first thoughts were that it HAS to be satire.

I'm still not fully convinced, tbh.

It would qualify as satire tbh. I'm quite disappointed because I assumed initially that he would be an epic public speaker but when I watched the clip, it was just - wtf?

Someone has clearly told him to keep using the word 'strong', for a start.

They need someone like this.

It's like an episode of The Day Today or Brass Eye.

In her supporting statement Anna Lee says
I want to be your next Women’s Officer to fight for educational, community and social spaces that all women can be part of. Being at the forefront of the NUS Women’s Campaign has inspired me and I want to push the Campaign forward across the length and breadth of the country. There is no such thing as ‘the perfect feminist’ and we need to go much further both nationally and locally, to open the movement to those who remain excluded - through liberated representative structures, commercial services, and student activities.

So we glean that she wants women to share what little they have with transgender women. Women are being 'the perfect feminist' if they are trying to define women as women. Transgender women should not be excluded from women's only areas.

How does this relate to the NUS's agenda for Women for this year, tackling domestic violence, sexual violence and assault, and objectification of women? How the hell can this candidate say they are going to tackle these actual women's issues? Student women in their thousands are going to be shortchanged if Anna Lee is successful in being women's officer.

Surely there's someone here who is part of the NUS who could write an email?