I've now seen one of these violent "women".

[CAAKE]

I haven't posted here in a while (I generally can't cope or keep up but am a constant lurker) but I shit you not FWR friends, this all happened right in front of me and I need to get it off my chest.

We have been at a big summer festival this weekend (8,000 + people). We were leaving the festival last night on foot (with kids in tow) and we heard shouting ahead and came across the following scene.

A young couple, slightly tipsy but not what I'd call drunk were pinned to a wall by a group of security guards. The woman was crying and screaming "we're not transphobic! we're not, we're not!". The young man pointed at the one security guard standing to the side and said "that person shoved me and grabbed my throat!".

This security guard then lunged forward trying to get at the young man and shouted "I heard it! I heard what you said! I AM A FUCKING WOMAN!!!"

The young woman cried and screamed, the security guards shouted aggressively some more, mostly telling the young woman to be quiet, and the couple were told that they were being detained until the police arrived!

After some discussion it seems that the young man said something that the security guard who is (very obviously) a transwoman deemed to be transphobic. The transwoman became enraged and shoved the man and grabbed his throat then called for other members of the security guard team to come and "detain" the couple.

The young couple finally calmed down enough to diffuse the situation with the help of a group of people (all older women - yay them!) who saw the original incident happen and who agreed to walk the couple away from the scene and see them home.

The whole thing was outrageous from start to finish! I'm not condoning the transphobia, I'm sure the young man was being a prize dick, but the behaviour of this transwoman was so physically and verbally aggressive it was frightening.

Surely a key skill involved in being in a security guard at a festival is calming and dispersing such situations, moving people along, keeping them safe and seeing them home rather than shoving, attempting to choke and shouting abuse at them?

All this person achieved last night was to create a grand scene where they were exposed as being a violent, aggressive, abusive snowflake in front of a crowd of many people. This behaviour directly echoed what we so often see online from certain members of the trans community. I am astounded to have witnessed it in a form so complete IRL.

I just feel so upset for everyone who was there, but especially for the young woman who was caught in this through no apparent fault of her own (aside from having a mouthy drunk idiot for a boyfriend). She thought she was going to be arrested and had to endure being physically restrained, shouted at and repeatedly told to be quiet when all she was expressing was fear. That the wider group of security guards (all men, of course) were prepared to escalate the situation on behalf of their aggressive colleague was shocking and very upsetting to witness.

What is an SIA person?

What a transphobic thread. And offensive to many SIA people

I thought it was more offensive (or is the word "truthful") about security guards.

3rd rule of misogyny: Women speaking for themselves are exclusionary and selfish.

Security Industry Authority.
SIA.

I used to do a job which required SIA registration. I don't find this offensive at all - in fact I find it quite reflective of my own experience. Women are in the minority of people working in the security industry. I have seen plenty of men and very few women be actively aggressive using the cover of the job.

The ONS' own statistics show that over 75% of violent crime involves a male perpetrator. It is not transphobic to say that identifying as a woman will not affect this pattern of behaviour.

I stopped working as a security guard the day that a man told me that if I ejected him from a venue (due to his behaviour) then he would wait outside for me to finish my shift, follow me home and rape me.

What did you say in your detailed account to the organisers?

I knew that eventually someone would come along to tell me I’m a transphobe.

To be clear, the fact that the person in question is a transwoman is only one facet of this, but it is clearly relevant in terms of the many discussions that occur on the FWR boards surrounding the committing and reporting of violent acts and crimes where the perpetrator was born male but now identifies as female. It is also a discussion of male violence in general, which is and should be a topic for discussion in a feminist space. The fact that so many pp have experienced security staff behaving in this way is shocking to me, but now that I’ve seen it for myself I can quite believe that it is a more widespread issue.

Lichtie I told them what was in my op plus some more detail about where it happened and when.

Don’t bite folks.

Thanks thebewilderness I can't keep up with all these acronyms.

@Jonbb You sound like one of my SILs: We had a cleaning assistant
at work who used undiluted cleaning fluids in the offices. Several of the office workers got permanent brain damage. When I expressed that I was upset over this, according to her I was an "academic snob". So according to my SIL because I have an academic education I may not critizise anything that anyone without an academic education does and according to you because we are women we may not critizise anything any transwoman does.

I think you are the phobic one.

I've had a very comprehensive response from the security company.

The findings of their investigation concur with our impression of events which are paraphrased as:

Man verbally insults transwoman security guard.
Security guard takes a disproportionate level of offence at the comment and in turn physically assaults the man.
Security staff collectively take OTT action against the young couple defending the actions of their offended colleague.

A good result with the truth prevailing! I hope the young couple receive an apology, particularly the young woman caught up in this shitshow of male aggression.

That's great. Sounds like the company kept their head and talked to other witnesses.

That’s good OP.

My wife was accosted by a security guard once because she commented that his dog smelled. She was worried for weeks that something would happen to her. Thankfully, his supervisor was in my gym class and when I discussed the matter with her she told me that his behaviour had been a problem for quite some time. The fact that he had threatened her was the bridge too far. There are exceptions in any profession of course but my wife has to deal with security personnel almost daily as part of her job and has a long list of complaints. The women especially can be very tiresome.

And your comment, especially the last line, contributes to the OP how, TheFemaleGaze ?

The comment was in response to the poster who complained that the OP was offensive to people who work in the security industry. My wife gets the most invasive pat downs or whatever they are called from women which explains my last sentence. I cannot elaborate any more without revealing where she works so I'll leave it at that.
I'm new to Mumsnet so have yet to understand how I can quote a post.

Security guard takes a disproportionate level of offence at the comment and in turn physically assaults the man.

This bit here - this is where the hyperbolic narrative of trans agenda causes harm. This individual has fully bought into the 'words are literal violence' mantra & feels justified in (or is unable to control) their physical response to insulting words expressed to them. The inability to control their anger at this insult is a worry & this is exactly the sort of reaction that worries people women. Would they react the same in a woman only space if someone either accidentally or even pointedly misgendered them? This stuff needs to be spoken about and pointed out to every trans ally who reinforces the normalisation of justifying violence in response to perceived or actual slights. It's wrong & raises all sorts of safeguarding issues that women have a right to talk about and ask questions about.

You are absolutely right Plectrum. That is why I pursued the complaint and why I'm so happy with the response - the security company have not allowed that "words are literal violence" and have taken action in addressing the actual violence enacted by the person.