Girls Spot Gym under attack for being women only

[fromorbit]

A black woman Natalee Bennett who is setting up a woman only gym in SE London is being targeted because she has said the gym will not include men which legally she can do under the equality act. She had said 4 years ago "trans" males would be allowed to enter, but she has now changed her mind.

The Girls Spot operates as a female-only gym for biological women, tackling harassment, sexual assault & violence that women face inside the gym.

The tweet circling was made 4 years ago and I was in the very early stages of creating a concept.
https://x.com/nataleebfitness/status/1898805670339899593

She is now facing a massive swarm of misogynist and racist abuse against her including multiple death threats. The post about the gym being for women only now has 51 million views.

See some examples of the abuse:
x.com/babybeginner/status/1899060758664896691

I suspect the abuse will peak a lot of people and prove the need for the gym to exist. Interestingly I suspect a lot of it derives from the US.

If you are in South East London you can register your interest in the gym here
https://thegirlspotgym.com/

Article about the gym from a few weeks ago before the controversy broke:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-14355163/women-female-gyms-fitness-influencers-gymtimidation-rise.html

The US site Newsweek has picked up on the drama:

https://www.newsweek.com/gym-trans-women-ban-girls-spot-2042133

Of course it ignores the entirely different legal background in the UK.

I hope she refuses to return any donations. It would be a well-deserved middle finger to those people who are only happy to support a women-only gym to the point they realize it won't cater to men.

That's a ridiculous comparison for them to make, though.

Nobody supported Rachel Dolezal, when she claimed to be black. You can't compare what people are with what they would like to be and give them equal status.

I'd like to be a millionaire, but that doesn't mean that the likes of Lamborghini, Faberge and Rolex are hatefully discriminating against me when they refuse to accept my fiver that 'identifies' as £250k in payment.

Declaring that a gym (or any establishment) is strictly for female people AND those who are clearly not female but still want in anyway makes as much sense as a court that will only ever find people guilty of crimes as long as they agree with that finding - and apologising and letting people who disagree that they are guilty (regardless of all concrete evidence to the contrary) go free.

I'm not surprised she changed her mind but she spoke about what happened to her in the gym and none of these TRAs have any empathy at all for her. It is disgusting and not a surprise she changed her mind and made it women only.

I do think the crowd funded money should be returned though, just to shut some people up. I did see a comment today that said the money raised amounted to 2K but obviously that could be incorrect.

I did see a comment today that said the money raised amounted to 2K but obviously that could be incorrect

It ws £22,900.

Problem is, they don’t want trans spaces, from what I’ve seen. They want access to women’s spaces, to prove that they can and to validate their chosen identities.

Which is bullshit because women’s spaces exist for women, not to prop up men’s fantasies.

It isn't about the fact it excludes trans women, it's about the fact she said it would be trans-inclusive while asking for donations. It's the sort of important context that is left out on tweets but can be found on the added community notes.

This means she could have received money from trans people or anyone supportive of trans people who were under the false belief trans women could go there.

Has she offered to reimburse people who gave her money given the change in information?

I totally agree and it's extremely unfair to real women who don't want to be in the same mix. They really don't let us have anything! Personally I don't care how much hormonal drugs or operations or change of clothes someone has, I do not want them in an only women's space it's as simple as that. Get your own! Why do we always have to accommodate everyone but no one cares to respect the small space we already have or trying to ger.

The trans community only parasitically attaches to other people's efforts. They will have contributed near diddly squat to this and now using it as a stick to beat her with. But sure, you have a point, she should refund those who paid and now feel they were misled. I bet I could cover the refund from the spare change in my pocket. Those wanting a women only gym can contribute a bit more to make up the 'loss' (and there will be many many more of them).

Yes I agree. She could check through donations and offer to refund, but I bet there’s next to none from trans women!

Changing her mind is a perfectly fine and logical thing to do, I guess she’s had a lot of feedback from women that they would rather it be a genuinely woman only place.

A local woman set up a women’s only gym a couple of years ago, but included TW. It went out of business very quickly. Had she made it female only I know loads of women who would have gone. Loads avoided it because very often being around TW is more uncomfortable that being around men, because there’s the deceit element to it all. The wolf in sheep’s clothing.

It isn't about the fact it excludes trans women

That'd be a first!

And honestly, if the only way they can screen is a genital check, and that's what it takes to make sure only biological females get memberships... OK. I have nothing to hide and everything to gain.

///

I'd also be totally ok with this. Every time.

@fromorbit

“If you are in South East London you can register your interest in the gym here
^https://thegirlspotgym.com/“^

where in SE London is it? I’m there and would sign up if it’s not to far.

the website doesn’t actually give an address, and social media seems to say it’s in Wandsworth, but that’s SW London?

Why? it's now established she lied to get more donations. And saying LGBT people who were scammed should have a "middle finger" isn't going to help.

This isn't about the fact it excludes trans people, people are unhappy they were lied to and lost their money.

I wonder if any fraud has been committed by her legally, or if she has broken the terms of service of her fundraising website?

She didn’t lie, she changed her mind over the last few years, I thought due to feedback as being trans inclusive excludes lots of women.

I've just looked at the crowdfunder. Total is currently £23,060 of which £20,000 was from Gym Shark and £335 received since she clarified female only. That leaves only £2725 maximum from individuals who may have donated prior to Natalie confirming female only.

Consider it the equivalent of a fixed penalty notice for the misogyny of believing that these men belong in a women-only space.

It is trans-inclusive. The gym is open to everyone who is female no matter if they claim to have a trans identity or not.

Thank you for the clarification.

Convenient of her to change her mind after receiving people's money.

Has she or will she sent/send a letter or email to everyone who donated offering them their money back in good faith?

I'm sure the approximately zero donators who wanted a gym full of penis owners and prostate havers will be absolutely devastated.

And if you look at all the donations and order them by "top" there was a single larger donation of £1500 by one individual - what's the likelihood this came from a trans person.

Gymshark Ltd
£20,000 3 yrs

Anonymous
£1,500 2 yrs

I'd read yesterday that the smaller donations from individual donors collected before the change of policy had totalled around £500 which is a minimal amount of crowdfunding.

Not to mention that these men force the "genital inspection" on anyone with eyes. Example attached.

Guessing game?

I guess the top donation by an individual was by a billionaire who wrote a children's book series that became popular.

Gymshark is a sports company.

The £1500 donation by a single individual was made 2 years ago long before Natalee made the female only policy public which only happened in the past week.