Who's up for a self-ID day of activism?

[YesItsADebate]

Following on from my swimming thread, I'd like to guage interest to see who would be interested in taking part in a day where we all self-ID as men and take part in various forms of activism.

Some ideas from the other thread:

• a mass swim in the men's pond in Hampstead;
• manspreading on public transport;
• sunbathing/sauntering around in shorts and flip-flops;
• using the men's loos;
• using men's changing rooms;
• applying for membership of men-only golf clubs, gentlemen's clubs, the Freemasons' men's lodges etc.
• going to men-and-toddler play sessions (with bacon butties!);
• mansplaining, interrupting other participants in meetings and generally acting with a chauvinistic sense of superiority.

I'm sure you can come up with more. Vaguely planning for the summer when it's a bit warmer! Anyone up for it?

Disclaimer: while the law on Exposure (formerly indecent exposure) only applies to genitals, exposing breasts in public may amount to a public nuisance if it's done with the intent to shock, upset or annoy. I'll have a look a bit later for better guidance.

Maybe we should write to City of London Corporation and ask for their policy on self-ID transmen using the men's pond.

I don't suppose Momentum have a men's group, do they?

As I said on the other thread, I would love to be involved in a protest like this- however I am wary of being arrested for indecent exposure! I would be happy to attend a swim in wearing a rash vest or wetsuit or another clothed event.

I'm not comfortable doing anything involving getting undressed in front of men/being topless, but will be watching this thread with interest for other activist ideas! I'm in London.

Whilst I love the idea of a self-ID swim at Hampstead Men's Pond, my fear is that any press coverage would be purely sniggering at topless ladies. The story would be larking about our bodies, not about our concerns around self-ID

This is the swimming thread.

I called the leisure centre first and gave my questiosn over the phone. An email might be something like this:

Good afternoon,

As your leisure facility is linked to Swim England, please could you clarify whether you will be implementing Swim England's Guide to Engaging Trans People in Swimming. Specifically, as a female-bodied man, I would like to know your organisation's policy on self-identified men:

• Accessing the men's single-sex swimming sessions;
• Using sex-segregated male changing rooms, toilets and showers;
• Wearing male swimming/sports attire e.g. trunks for swimming.

I would also like to know, if your organisation does have policies based on the Swim England guidance, how other service users who challenge my presence in men's spaces will be educated by staff to understand that a man may look like a female but is still a man and entitled by your policies to be treated as such.

I am happy to have a telephone conversation or meeting to discuss my questions. My phone number is 07xxxxxxxxxx.

Best regards,
xyz

We don't have to be topless... you don't have to dress like a man to identify as one!

Another one 'oop north' who can't make London but happy to take part in any way I can.

I don’t think you would have to go topless in the men’s pond to make an impact. Just going into it would cause enough of an uproar. They don’t want women in male spaces, but are happy to have men in female spaces. They’d be furious with women for daring to enter a male pool.

I think going into the male pond dressed as women but IDing as men makes the point even more strongly. No adjustments necessary and all that- like Muscato.

I do think a little bit of fake blood sneakily poured into the water, to look like period blood and attention being brought to the ‘fact’ that you’re menstruating would soon give you more space in the pool. 😆

I think it would be great to get organised to demonstrate what the trans agenda will look like in practise. I don't think we should make this London centric - both to ensure that MNers all over the UK can join in and so that one event doesn't get blocked by the transactivists. We could pick a date (when it's warmer for those who are intending to swim outdoors!), all self-ID on that day for the whole day and organise local events for the day (MN local boards/meet ups - thank you!) and also everyone who can't join the organised events can spend their day doing their own little acts of protest (filling every form in self identifying as a man etc etc, doing as the wonderful YesItsADebate did and going along to the local swimming pool to discuss the Swim England policies or at the very least doing as I do daily and stating their name is Spartacus when ordering coffee at a well known coffee chain).

I LOVE THIS!!!!

Trouble is, most Men only clubs are pretty much closed shops and 99.9% of men can't get into them.
The majority of golf clubs are open to women on the same basis of men, you could apply to the men only Muirfield but they'll just bin your submission the same way as they bin unsolicited applications from "born" men...
Most clubs that "exclusive" only take applications with a proposer and seconder from Members

What if instead we silently stared at the males, at their uninteresting crotches, and then commented unfavourably on them to each other.

Make a point and make a stand against the issue - that's fair. But suggesting attacking individuals like this isn't on.

We could wear Mankinis

How about we pick a day and then just infiltrate whatever we can that's near us. We could leave 'used' tampons and towels in men's loos/changing rooms, walk into golf clubs, demand more money at work.
We'd need a hashtag too!

MrsFogi that’s exactly what I had in mind. Thank goodness there are people on here better than me at this sort of thing!

Surely there must be some men who would actually support what we're doing?

A poster on the other thread suggested Man Friday as header. I’ve asked her permission to use #ManFriday as our name and get some button badges. Another poster came up with #randomactsofmanliness, which I think is a genius slogan!

Has anyone suggested going to the local barbers for a hair cut?

Okay - let's talk dates and make this happen. We need to avoid school holidays and the idea of ManFriday is great. How about a Friday in June? Any suggestions (ideally we have a date that is not associated with another event/anniversary) on best date? We just need to get on, choose a date and then get organised locally and/or individually.

You are brill - I’m up for this.

What if instead we silently stared at the males, at their uninteresting crotches, and then commented unfavourably on them to each other.
*
Make a point and make a stand against the issue - that's fair. But suggesting attacking individuals like this isn't on.*

How else can we make them feel as uncomfortable about female presence in male space as we feel about male presence in female space?

I'm very willing to be persuaded otherwise BTW. I do not actually want to sink to the level of the misogynist behaviour that we experience day-to-day.

I’m so appalled by Matthew Falder and that one of his tactics was pretending to be a woman.

Could there be some mileage in wearing a t shirt saying “I identify as Matthew Falder”