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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Why migrant and asylum seeking women need single sex spaces

6 replies

DJLippy · 13/01/2020 13:13

makemorenoisemanc.wixsite.com/mysite/post/why-migrant-and-asylum-seeking-women-need-single-sex-spaces

One group of women often left out of discussions about single sex spaces and services are migrant and asylum seeking women. Many trans right activists talk about how intersectional their feminism is but it seems like a political choice focusing mainly on men who identify as women and prostituted women.

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AutumnRose1 · 13/01/2020 13:18

TRAs are talking shit when they talk about considering anyone else's needs.

Women need single sex spaces, period. Pun intended.

LukewarmCustard · 13/01/2020 13:47

The woke crowd like to talk about the hostile environment and supporting refugee women. I agree that it is useful to point out that this group of women have particular need of genuinely single sex spaces.

pachyderm · 13/01/2020 14:23

www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/transgender-woman-dies-in-mens-wing-of-direct-provision-centre-in-galway-859924.html

This sad case received a lot of attention in Ireland and the thing that seemed to enrage the woke crowd the most was that Sylva was housed in a male wing. I'm sure some kind of third space could have been created but I never heard that suggested. They wanted Sylva to be housed with women, many of whom are from conservative religious cultures, and who may be survivors of rape and domestic abuse. The needs of these women were not even on the radar during the furore.

stillathing · 13/01/2020 14:28

I know a woman who was a refugee as a child. One of the the worst parts of her experience of camps was a point where she had to undress to wash in front of a stranger who was a man. Nothing more than that (thankfully).

But though she saw violence, was frequently afraid, experienced total lack of sanitation and of course the trauma of having to leave home, this event stood out to her. It felt utterly wrong for her on a personal and cultural level. She was powerless to stop it. She did not know if something else would happen and even more than that felt shame for having been seen by the man.

I'm really struck how she knew that it was wrong and out of her control but still internalised the shame. Like it was somehow her fault for being seen, for being female. I think there are parallels with how a lot of victims of sexual assault are made to feel too. It is just another aspect of the reality of being female in this culture (and I'd guess almost all cultures) that is completely ignored or misunderstood by most males.

It really pisses me off that orgs such as Amnesty would probably recognise the problem with the man supervising girls washing in the camp but think that my friend, now settled into the UK, should be happy to share changing rooms, toilets, hospital wards etc with British males.

I don't know enough about Crenshawe but I'm fairly sure the point of intersectional feminism was not to further the interests of some males. That the concept has been so successfully appropriated probably just demonstrates how much more there is to do towards racial equality.

Siameasy · 13/01/2020 14:47

Being woke is a luxury. Women who see themselves as very unlikely to be in prison/need a refuge/be in a detention centre/homeless shelter etc are happy to throw the rights of the most vulnerable women away. They are not intersectional otherwise their feminism would intersect even with women they do not like or think about much. I suspect they are barely aware of such women and consider them beneath them

DJLippy · 13/01/2020 19:01

This article has lots of good sources for arguing about the needs of migrant women and asylum seeking women for single sex spaces. Actual intersectional feminism

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