OP. You asked what I meant about retaining single sex spaces.
As pp’s have said, I mean retaining them for women. I’ve never seen or heard a discussion where men are worried about women who identify as men using the mens toilet. For good reason. Women (with vanishingly few exceptions) don’t present a physical or sexual threat to men. Statistically men are far more of a threat to women.
And before you say not all men…Of course not all men. Which is why we have safeguarding measures in society, as those who present a threat to others don’t advertise the fact.
Historically single sex spaces exist for women because of the threat of male violence, alongside female specific issues due to our biology, and matters of privacy and dignity.
It’s a depressing thought, but also a hard reality. That reality is reflected in women wishing to retain these spaces, and not to invite in male bodied people. Even those men who have undergone transitional surgery (which is a tiny percentage of trans identified people) have still, in the main, gone through male puberty and male socialisation. They are therefore generally physically stronger, even after taking female hormones. Evidence also suggests that male pattern violence is not reduced to any significant degree in males who have medically transitioned.
My concern isn’t about where men who identify as women go to the toilet. It’s about retaining single sex spaces for women. If the answer for men identifying as women is a third space then they can pursue that. Much like women had to create and fund the women’s refuge movement decades ago.
The answer to the problem for one group of people is not to encroach on the rights of another group.