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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Open letter from survivors of male violence

35 replies

PeakPants · 19/08/2018 21:40

fovas.wordpress.com/

Showing that any research into this absolutely must consult the female users of these services. Not the staff who are terrified of Stonewall campaigning to have their funding removed, but the actual women who have fled violence and are trying to rebuild their lives.

OP posts:
Datun · 20/08/2018 18:29

Melanippe

Self-ID will reify public space as male space.

My dear girl. I know it, you know it, everyone on this thread knows it and all the women on FWR know it.

Never imagine, for single second, that you are not being listened to. You are.

Flowers
Mrbatmun · 20/08/2018 18:38

Wow, seeing all those names has made me feel quite emotional. We are many.

Melanippe · 20/08/2018 20:01

Thank you brilliant women.

Oldstyle · 20/08/2018 20:23

So sorry Melanippe. Thank you for your courage. Flowers

TheChampagneGalop · 20/08/2018 20:40

MelanippeFlowers

It makes no difference to my adrenal response whether or not the owner of the male voice believes they are not male. Self-ID will reify public space as male space.

Yes. We must fight back.

Chocolatecake84 · 22/08/2018 13:30

Hi everyone,

I'm one of the admins of the FOVAS blog. I didn't write this letter, it was written by a group of women who have called themselves FOVAS. They are all survivors of abuse and the stories in the letter are theirs.

The letter has been sent out to all the women's organisations in the UK.

The full text of the letter, the survivors stories and the signatures are on the blog. The list of signatures is being updated regularly. Please share the blog widely. Send it to your MPs, talk to your friends, colleagues. Post it on social media. We are hoping the blog will become a wide collection of women’s stories and can be used as a campaigning resource for female only spaces. If anyone would like to submit their story please let me know.

We have a mailing list of all women's organisations in the UK. If anyone would like to view this list in order to email these organisations with your story please let me know.

Women can email from their own email accounts. What I recommend is sending the letter and maybe your own story, like how you would feel with males in your spaces. We are also emailing gyms and clubs and here we think there should be some emphasis on financial repercussions. These places are going to lose profits if they go along with opening up private female-only spaces to men.

If you would like to sign, submit your story, view the mailing list or if you have any questions or comments you can email us at [email protected].

Chocolatecake84 · 22/08/2018 13:31

Oh I forgot. You can also follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/FOVAS4

AnchorMum · 22/08/2018 14:12

Chocolatecake84 thanks for the very useful information.

I so hope this gets a lot of traction out there as it such a powerful and moving document.

Just reading the survivors' stories tells everyone why self-id is such a dreadful idea.

One of the stories hit me in the face when I read it. We are all those women in one way or another.

I gave the link to a friend of mine who had stayed in an abusive marriage for 26 years. She was overwhelmed by the way it's been written with such raw truth and courage.

She did manage to leave her marriage (with great difficulty and personal sacrifice) but is only just starting to understand how tightly she was controlled.

She's working very hard not to fall into those patterns again but it's a lifetime's commitment - most men mean well but they cannot understand the dynamics that underpin this all.

It's always my friend who has to analyse her reactions and attempt to change herself, rather than men bothering to look at and change the way they behave and speak and act.

Having seen some of the public comments regarding the Scottish GRA consultation, I really am at a loss to understand why so many charities and institutions that are supposed to protect women and children will not speak out against self-id.

What will it take to get those in positions of power and authority to do something to halt this madness?

lunarain · 19/10/2018 09:43

I am from FOVAS. We are still asking survivors for their stories to add to our blog if any women want to contribute

lunarain · 19/10/2018 09:45

Hi, I am from FOVAS. fovas.wordpress.com I have just read your story about being a survivor on the thread about this blog piece and was wondering if we can add it to the survivors stories section of our blog

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