I've copied over my post this morning from 'Hampstead Women's pool' because wider context is important in understanding current activism and considering some of the consequences of it...
These threads are useful though so despite Tut's intentions... there is pertinent discussion here about how organisations are reluctant to use Equality Act single-sex legislation that exists (for now at least!) and there may well be new browsers to the board.
This week Pink News led with a slightly misleading headline, 'Primark investigating after trans woman ‘refused entry’ to women’s changing room'
(not for the first time of course, remember, their scoop, 'Anti-trans activists hit out at ‘parasitic’ trans people at event in Parliament') -
at some point, there does need to be consideration of the impact these have in fuelling fears within LGBT+ community
As the body of the article shows, it seems by the 'friend's' public twitter complaint that a trans woman was asked for id (which she had) before going into the female changing rooms. The asking for id, being transphobic.
The friend is an active member of Oxford LGBT
As Pink News have highlighted, Primark were found guilty earlier this year for discriminating on the basis of gender identity against their employee.
www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/04/18/primark-investigating-after-trans-woman-refused-entry-to-womens-changing-room/
This was being discussed as there are (like women only swim sessions) conflicting issues... & the reasons why women and girls need safe spaces is often ignored or dismissed.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3225459-Primark-Coventry-challenged-for-asking-trans-woman-for-ID-before-allowing-entry-to-female-changing-rooms
This discussion was rather overshadowed by EH's data breech and the consequences of this.
It is though worth linking to the thread which so incensed EH (previously NUS LGBT) was with regards a presentation/workshop/ instructions? on 'How to deal with Terfs' given at NUS Women's by a Trans Rights rep and Women's rep.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3222263-Slide-show-on-How-to-Deal-with-TERFs
The slideshow and 'recommended' reading is very concerning.
EH's reaction at the time seemed due to her closeness to the Oxford based NUS Women's rep who had published the slides although of course the long standing commitment to her beliefs is well known.
There are different types of activism... and as Helen Lewis in The New Statesman commented yesterday,
The Wolf affair also demonstrates another alarming phenomenon: the left getting high on its own supply of self-righteousness. “Some feminists have a different conception of gender to me” gets smudged into “some feminists talk about me in ways that I find offensive” and on to “some feminists are basically Hitler, trying to eradicate people like me”.
Once you reach the last statement, then of course you can slap a woman and still think of yourself as a good person. She wants to kill you; a mere punch is self-defence. (I’m not exaggerating about the language. The Edinburgh branch of Action for Trans Health tweeted the day after the attack: “Punching TERFs is the same as punching Nazis. Fascism must be smashed with the greatest violence to ensure our collective liberation from it.”
www.newstatesman.com/politics/feminism/2018/04/madness-our-gender-debate-where-feminists-defend-slapping-60-year-old