What on earth is going to happen to women?

[Tinseltower]

I’m actually really worried. In the past couple of weeks I’ve seen Theresa May’s speech on how being transgender is not an illness, on how they will be given equal rights including access to vinerable women’s spaces. I’ve seen labour following suit, criticising Margaret Thatchers speech about homosexuality and likening it to the transgender movement, saying they won’t get it wrong. It’s not the same at all! What is going to happen to women in all this? It seems their rights will be pushed to one side and I’m actually rather worried. Can enough of us stand up to be heard?

I think society is moving towards all space being unisex.

I think ‘trans’ is a trojen horse.

When the Barbican turned the womens toilet into a unisex toilet, there were massive queues as men wanted to use it. Those men didn't think twice about the women waiting to use the toilet who were inconvenienced. I really doubt any of them thought they were doing any harm.

Its going to be like that, a lot.

Sorry, I'm just trying to understand what the problem is? I'm still mystified.

I think it's only a tiny percentage of men that want to be pretend to be a woman. Yes, which is why the power they are grabbing is frightening. So out of proportion.

There are much, much bigger things to worry about than this. Yes... I suppose nuclear war, global deforestation, etc are bigger for the whole world. But that doesn't mean that we should ignore the changes these loud and aggressive men are pushing through!

I think the wider women population, LGB and old skool T (OST) communities need to come together to fight this.

Together people wouldn't be able to point the finger at straight women and say "you're just homophobic", the tiny OST contingent would have a louder voice, as would the relatively small LGB communities who don't seem to have a particularly loud mainstream voice.

At the moment, we are being shut down, even on here, with cries of "bigot", "homophobe', "transphobe" by people who are either ignorant or deliberately obtuse - the nodebate has meant that time is wasted on repeating and explaining endlessly rather than pulling together.

There was a thread on Pink News linked to a couple of weeks ago about transmen on Grindr. The men talking about it were saying the exact same things as us (eg don't want vaginas in male spaces; TM are not M etc) and receiving the exact same nonsense arguments in return.

There ae a lot of us saying this. We need to be saying it together.

To be honest this is not a real world issue yet and until it is one the battles are small scale.

The second it hits the real world the emperors clothes will all fall off. Once the person on the street understands that the fethisists have been subsumed under the transgender umbrella the issue will go back into the hole from whence it came. Everyone and their mother currently thinks there is a straight rebranding of transsexuals to transgender. Why would you not take pity on a group of people so gender disphoric that they will go to such extremes to change “sex”? Once people start wondering where all the fethisists went then everything will start to fall into place. That in my opinion is where the attention needs to be drawn.

Upstartcrow "When the Barbican turned the womens toilet into a unisex toilet, there were massive queues as men wanted to use it."

when did they do this please? I haven't been since CumberHamlet.

Yellowshadeofgreen "Everyone and their mother currently thinks there is a straight rebranding of transsexuals to transgender."

I think that's where we were about a year ago....I don't know though, I'm talking to people about it in order to get rid of that misconception so perhaps I'm in a bubble.

Has anyone got a link to the Theresa May speech mentions up thread? I hadn't heard about it before now.

Think about the dozens of male dominance displays women are subject to every day. Now think about what men will do when they have access to women in various states of undress. Men already sneak in to the women's restrooms to masturbate, take pictures, and hide video cameras. Now they won't need to sneak.
One of the first things men did when they were told they were free to use the women's rest room is that several of them went in to stand around and occupy it. The women waited outside for them to leave.

If you do not think it will affect you and so you do not care about these changes to the law that is fine. Please do not try to convince those of us who have already been effected by it that we are wrong to be concerned.

Queen, the only speech I know about is this one from six months ago

www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/10/19/british-prime-minister-theresa-may-being-trans-is-not-an-illness/

There are much, much bigger things to worry about than this

If the reforms go through:

The word ‘woman’ will be meaningless. In studies and statistics, in deciding what help and support is needed where, in providing safe spaces (domestic violence and rape centres)

If any man can tick a form saying he is a woman, you really can’t see that there would be a huge problem?

AmTheu don’t have to wear a dress, they don’t have to change their name, they don’t need any medical appointments or ‘proof’, they don’t have to change a single damn thing.

Just tick a box.

All the rapists, the slightly dodgy men, the men who get sexual gratification from invading women’s spaces (the more vulnerable the better).

Those men will already do everything in their power to access vulnerable women and children. You think making it easy for them isn’t an issue?

Has anyone got those stats for the target stores when they made their changing rooms unisex?

I think I remember sexual assaults and incidents peeping toms shot up a fair bit.

Do you think those women went back or encouraged their daughters to go shopping in that store again?

I'm guessing the toilet would have a door on it, no?
Actually one primary school is removing doors so that no one can do anything illegal in the cubby.

Queen a quick google threw up quite a lot of hits

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/theresa-may-transgender-not-illness-gender-recognition-act-lgbt-rights-sex-edution-homophobia-pink-a8008486.html

She spoke about "LGBT community" in general and then went on about Trans this Trans that, as though trans is LGBT!

50% of trans identified males who are incarcerated in the UK are there for sex crimes. They will be housed in the women's institutions and the trans identified females will be housed in the male institutions. Canada has just begun housing convicted criminals by gender instead of sex.

Whenever someone starts talking about an LGBT person you can be sure they are not talking about an L G or B person.

Hell they won’t even need to ‘tick a box’.

Once the current reforms pass and a ‘woman’ can be absolutely anyone, no one can be stopped from entering a woman’s space.

They won’t even be checked, because whatever service it is would get their arses handed to them on a plate for committing ‘hate crimes’ if they try to stop the group of six foot men, dressed as men, from entering a changing room/toilet where two little girls have just entered.

I think some of this is a bit OTT! and I'm against self-ID

I think the bill will go through, not a lot will change for most women, most of the time - but a fair number individual women will lose out hugely and people will just shrug.

I think the only area where there will be a real push-back from the current position is around the medication given to young children. I imagine some research and medical people will start to speak up more.

Little girls are also the ones who will suffer from boys who refuse to take no for an answer.

I'm not that bothered about a tiny proportion of teams men demanding smears. Our practice nurse with a speculum could sort them out. I am concerned about women's sport and women in prisons being forced to share cells with men and the re-establishing of boy=blue girl=pink stereotyping women of my generation (born 1960s) fought against

Trans men not team. Autocorrect!

I think sports would be the most visible representation of what is happening. Elsewhere - eg in domestic violence shelters and prisons - desperate, vulnerable women will lose the tiny pieces of safety they had.

I don't think women in general will stop going out. Men have always been iffy towards us and we still go out. Younger women and older girls in particular want to get out into the world and experience it and doing this exposes them to risks already, I think it's wrong to underestimate the drive that you have when you're young to "do stuff".

This will simply be added to the list of things that we have to "protect ourselves" around. Going to to toilets in a gang is already a thing, it will become universal, or if you're with a bloke getting him to wait right outside maybe. Or even come in with you! Yes that would be fine now wouldn't it. Changing rooms ditto, taking it in turns with a friend posted outside the curtain.

We can and do put up with a lot of shit already - #metoo shows that - we are used to it which is why I think a lot of women are meh.

Women from certain religious communities, women from very protective households, women who have had certain experiences, these women may restrict their lives, however lots of women already restrict their lives for these reasons so I don't see much difference.

I think that if and when women's spaces are opened up to men we will deal with it quietly, as we do with everything else, unfortunately.

I do think that the areas most likely to cause public outcry are sports and prisons.

Bottom line is sex offences at the "lower" end, harassment and intimidation of women and girls in public is already extremely common, this extends opportunity but really we're expected to put up and shut up in the main aren't we?

I think it may seem ott if you think that’s we are saying that this will definitely happen 100% all the time.

But it’s realy important that people realise that these reforms will remove the protections in place right now that prevent the sort of things described on this thread from happening.

There were good reasons women got spaces of their own after fighting for it. It is naive at best to think that those reasons are no longer present.

grasspigeons I wish I agreed with you. But just look at what has already happened and become invisible because the men doing it are apparently women.