I am about to ID as a man

[YesItsADebate]

In 1.5 hours, I will be identifying as a gay man who does not conform with male gender stereotypes. I expect my local leisure facility to comply with the Swim England guidelines and agree that I am entitled to access the men-only swimming sessions, the male showers and toilets and to wear swimming trunks. I also expect them to re-educate any other man who objects to any of the above.

In other words, I have a meeting with the local swimming pool at 10 to see whether or not I’ll be resorting to topless swimming and public nudity tonight in an effort to prove my point that the Swim England guidelines are ridiculous

Wish me luck!

YesItsADebate you absolute fucking star! This has cheered me up no end

You are my hero OP!!!

ManFriday reminded me of a conversation I had with a person who works at a very large company and was explaining that one of their employees who is born male self identifies on a daily basis and this is accommodated by the manager and team - on any day they find out whether they have to use the male or female name, which loos he/she will be using etc etc This has been going on for a couple of years.

I'm becoming more and more convinced that these people are suffering from mental health issues rather than any kind of gender identity issue.
Like the people who have a desperate need to chop off their leg or hand as 'it isn't part of them'. A form of madness?

How about these? It would soon stop the sexualisation and make a point.

I don't really do swimming or any other PE but you'll need someone to mind the towels in a manspready fashion at the men's pond, right?

I might get one of those anyway. Vroom vroom.

Really interesting points WritersBlock2. I’m learning all the time here.

My initial request to the pool for them to consider their policy on what I can wear was intended to really make them think about the consequences of self-ID. Changing rooms, blah, toilets, blah, topless woman doing backstroke in the pool?!?!?!

The message would be even stronger if everyone wore sensible swimming costumes. It shows up the ridiculousness of "I'm a man because I say I'm a man", and the Swim England guidance issue is a bit of a niche thing anyway

PositivelyPERF those costumes!

Everyone could wear t-shirts over their swimwear with I AM A MAN in large letters. Then the press couldn’t put a ‘sexy’ spin on the story.

PositivelyPERF that’s bloody amazing! Love the “I am a man” shirt idea too. It’s simple, it’s to the point, and seeing a crap load of those popping up all over the country really would send a powerful message!

This is brilliant OP

Writersblock - I am thinking sort of along your lines but slightly differently.

When my children say, eg, "I don't like tomatoes" I have learnt the hard way not to say "well, some of the things you love like bolognese and pizza are practically based on tomatoes" because then they won't "like" those either. I just say "ok" and make a mental note to try again another time.

I guess I'm concerned that when you become part of a ridiculous process - apparently sincerely - you appear to be legitimising it. The people you're talking to are going to find this really difficult and confusing. I also think they're probably going to find you very reasonable and polite (no matter how much of a dick you think you're being, you're probably in the class of "perfectly personable and reasonable to deal with" which is certainly far from everyone customer services has to deal with).

So: please don't let there be a pivotal story somewhere that starts with "well I thought all this stuff was a bit bizarre and didn't really understand it, and had no cause to get involved. The first time I had to deal with this head on was when a very reasonable trans man came to the sports centre - what he was saying sounded very odd, especially alongside how he looked and chose to dress, but he said it so clearly and persistently that I came to understand that it's how we need to do things now"

We could do with trying to locate women on these boards who live locally to us so we can try and co-ordinate efforts. Turn our (really amazing) posts on here into proper action.

well done OP
keep us posted

AntiGrinch Totally agree action could run the risk of that. That’s why I think doing something either outlandishly ridiculous or larger scale would be the way to go. I’d hate for OP to be taken TOO seriously in her efforts. Obviously Swim England has already fallen down the rabbit hole - my concern would be if they take it too seriously and allow it, then others not yet falling for it/considering it might fall for it too, and then we’d be in a bit of trouble.

I think OP has the right idea that we have to DO something though and not just talk about it.

Thank you for expanding the bandwidth of absurdity that law carelessly written so often create.

We need to be wary that someone pretending to be supportive could easily doxx you on a local level so just be careful who you contact off MN.

I totally support you OP! I am in no way trying to detract from your brilliant action.

Like Writers, I'm just kind of thinking aloud.

And I also agree that the collective aspect is important to this.

Where do I sign up? I've got two children who've never had formula, so my breasts are Out there - the youngest is 6 now so I need an excuse to give my tits an airing again

Yes that us a worry.

'I am a man' t shirt is a great idea. I am close enough to London to do this.

I do think the far reaching ramifications of this need to be shown. To point out what a farce it is.

I am so concerned we are going to end up with 'Men's Places' and 'Others' :-(

Sign up here!.

Yes, I’m worried about being doxxed. I’ve locked down my social media and Strava accounts.

I really like the idea of ‘I am a man’ t-shirts. Will pop it on the other thread.

OP, you are wonderful.