Heartbreaking column in today's Scotsman

[howonearthdidwegethere]

Columnist Susan Dalgety reflecting on the words of the Cabinet Minister Shona Robison in the Scottish Parliament last week.

www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/abusive-men-will-exploit-proposed-new-gender-recognition-law-susan-dalgety-3596504

Shame on Robison and Sturgeon. Traitors to their sex. How do they sleep at night?

"There is no evidence...." because for quite a long time, many successfully make sure there damn well isn't - as a big bit of the skill around carrying out abuse and predatory activity.

It was about how bad men will abuse any opportunity

Single sex spaces will be now made available to such bad men

It's not about the trans

It's about how men harm and abuse women and girls and we are saying we think giving them additional opportunities is not fair or kind or sensible or humane

And yes some transpeople will abuse others because they are still humans - it's ridiculous to suggest otherwise , as those adopting that label suddenly turns everyone into a saint. But that is still not the point

the point is that saying men don't lie to achieve their goals is beyond stupid , and saying that on the anniversary of Sarah's murder by a man that lied and abused his power jus shows how bigoted against women sone people are

@DomesticatedZombie

Its a heartbreaking story, and my heart goes out to the author. But it has nothing to do with the existence of safe spaces, rather the protection of young people from abuse and their (female, male, trans, gay, whatever) ability to speak out about it and be listened to. No trans person was involved in the account given, nor are trans people responsible for global warming or all the other ills of the world.

It has nothing to do with trans people, no. Why have you brought them up? Could you not put aside your relentless and crass hectoring about trans people for one minute, and let women speak? We are talking about males, predatory males, who will abuse vulnerable women and girls (and boys, for that matter), and who will use every loophole, every glimmer of a chance that they see, to access and abuse victims.

As girls we grow up with this shit. With the threat of it and the reality of it. We learn how to avoid it, minimise it, deal with it. We learn how to spot tells, warning signs, red flags, danger signals. Any woman knows this with a practised ability that becomes second nature by the time you are middle aged, and again, especially, when looking out for one's daughters - then our senses are even more heightened because for a mother to protect her children is an instinct that runs very deep.

We know predators and abusers are out there, are common as muck, are liars, deceivers, charmers, positions of authority, upstanding members of the community, the people who we are supposed to rely on to protect us - they're in the judiciary, the police force, they are doctors, teachers, churchmen. They know how to manipulate, present a convincing exterior, take the mantle of victim themselves, pretend camaraderie, twist, guilt, gaslight, lie, and shame women.

There is not anything that men haven't thought of in their determination to harm and control women. Not a thing. And they won't ever stop unless they are forced to and women - and men - start to realise what safeguarding is for, and how it works, and how it must be applied, maintained, and protected.

Then why the need to talk about single sex spaces in connection with this?

As a child I learnt to say ‘no’ to unwanted dodgy stuff from men - by Rolf Harris and his educational film shown in schools across the country at the time:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_Can_Say_No!

Then why the need to talk about single sex spaces in connection with this?

Have you not been following the debate?

Because women need spaces free from males. We want them, deserve them, need them and have a right to them. It's the single easiest way to ensure we are safer; many if not most women prefer them for reasons of privacy and dignity; single sex spaces are qualitatively different than mixed sex spaces.

Women understand immediately the safety, sanctuary, shared sisterliness, and ease of a female-only space. It's a very, very different thing than a mixed sex space. Always will be.

I will fight tooth and nail to protect that for myself, my mother, sisters, and my daughter.

Then why the need to talk about single sex spaces in connection with this?

Why are you so keen to control women's speech?

Robison ignores the fact that many abusers are sadistic and manipulative. These types of abusers don't just want to physically abuse females.They want to see and savour their victim feeling humiliated and destroyed. They achieve that by first gaining their victims trust by pretending to be trustworthy and caring.

Then why the need to talk about single sex spaces in connection with this?

Why not talk about single sex spaces in connection with this?

I don't want males in female spaces. I don't want any bloke being able to legally 'change his sex' and falsify his birth certificate with no checks and or gatekeeping at all. I don't want a culture of self-id which leads to sex offenders being able to walk into female spaces where women are vulnerable and females not being able to challenge it, because that's 'trnasphobic' like what happened at the WiSpa. I don't want male rapists in female prisons.

Why the hell are you so keen for women not to be able to have single sex spaces?

Why the hell are you so keen for women not to be able to have single sex spaces?

This. This is the crucial question.

'Predatory men won't misuse self id in order to access vulnerable women in single sex spaces'

Oh wait...

www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/scottish-news/anger-trans-inmates-revert-males-25840252

A very interesting (and very easily missed) point in the above article is that the SPS don't intend to do anything or take any action in response to this research.

(As to the article above being in the Scottish Daily Express, same article is on The Times website but I don't have a share token).

It's an absolute disgrace that this was even said in holy rood. There are so many examples of predators taking advantage of loopholes, spending years getting themselves into positions of trust to do harm to women and children. That the SNP think that it's acceptable to base their reasoning for changes to the law on such egregious untruths is absolutely shocking.

The sooner they get voted out the better. Sadly won't be before irreversible damage has been done to the rights of women.

@StillWeRise

This is a moving and brave testimony But it doesn't clearly make the case it aims to unfortunately. That little girl was not protected by the single sex spaces and provisions that were commonplace at the time. The man who abused her did not have to pretend to be a woman in order to gain access to her. So (devil's advocate here) why would being kind to TW put her in more danger?

Because predatory men don’t wear t shirts saying “I am a predator”.

Predatory men pretend to be kind uncles or grandpas, mummy’s new boyfriend, a doctor, a dentist, a police officer, a scout leader, a youth worker, a teacher, a priest, a black cab driver, anything they can think of to divert suspicion, persuade people to let down barriers, relax gut feeling anxiety. Saying you are a transwoman to gain access to vulnerable women or to infiltrate women only spaces is a perfect cover story, especially if no one is allowed to challenge you because to do so would put them in the firing line for accusations of prejudice and abusive language.

twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/1500196714845716484

twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/1500201278730903553

To follow up on JKR's point about incarcerated women already having been subject to violence from men, 80% of female Scottish prisoners have suffered a head injury prior to being incarcerated, most often as a result of domestic abuse -

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-57103702.amp

@Livelifeinthebuslane

Then why the need to talk about single sex spaces in connection with this?

Why are you so keen to control women's speech?

Weirdly keen

Its actually a very great shame that women can’t talk about abusive males…at all

How are people so fucking stupid about this

What pisses me off (well one of the things…there are loads, too many for this post) is the fact that someone will say that they are worried about self id because of predatory males

Then another poster will say that transwomen aren’t predatory males…

And? Did i fucking mention transwomen? No….so sit down and shut up

@StillWeRise

This is a moving and brave testimony But it doesn't clearly make the case it aims to unfortunately. That little girl was not protected by the single sex spaces and provisions that were commonplace at the time. The man who abused her did not have to pretend to be a woman in order to gain access to her. So (devil's advocate here) why would being kind to TW put her in more danger?

Because it allows males into women-only spaces. So it reduces the number of safe spaces for girls and therefore increases their risk of assault.

At about the same age, I escaped from a child molester by running into a women’s toilet. He didn’t dare go in but stood outside, and then the women in there chased him away. A child would not have the same protection now that self-ID is practised, despite not being legal.

@DomesticatedZombie

Why the hell are you so keen for women not to be able to have single sex spaces?

This. This is the crucial question.

Hmmm I wonder.... 🤔

Well of course men in woman's spaces hadn't been too big a problem in the past

I'd like to keep it that way

Abs given rates of abuse , it's also evidence that currently such spaces work

Women’s spaces have been safe up to now because they’ve been single sex, not because everyone in there has looked feminine. How is that so hard to understand.

“London zoo has never had a incident of a lion eating a gazelle in its 100 year history and so concluded that this only happens in the wild. It has therefore decided it would now be safe to put both in the same enclosure to give them more space...”

It seems our main hope of being saved from this unjustified and unevidenced law is an author whose job it is not to protect the public. I salute Dalgety but I'm tired of seeing women having to bare their souls over this (also: JKR, Bailey). We should not have to.

Politicians are either MIA or AWOL. Take your pick.