At first I cheered, then I got angry at the years of bullying and misinformation women have been subjected to

[IwantToRetire]

The Supreme Court has said the word sex in the EA means biology - fantastic! Credit due to FWS for persisting.

But why did we need a court to say this?

Because TRAs have spent years spreading misleading information.

So then you have to ask why, for instance, was Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre able to advertise a vacancy as being under the Single Sex Exemptions but appointed a man who self identified as a woman.

None of the institutions in Scotland did anything to tell them they were breaking the law. Not funders, not politicians, not charity overseers - not even the organisation representing Rape Crisis Centres in Scotland.

Is this a specifically Scottish problem? In other parts of the UK posts advertised using the SSE no other women's service provider has done this. (As far as we know). Some women's service providers only offer SS services, some offer SS Services and also trans services, which shows they know the law. And advertise accordingly ie whether SSE or transinclusive.

When and who is going to investigate how those with power colluded to undermine the meaning of the SSE. And why Stonewall law was allowed or even promoted.

And we know the poison of the misinformation has spread particularly in more social, informal settings across the UK, and even the right of lesbians to be lesbian ie same SEX attracted.

But the added bonus of today's ruling is that with the judgement that sex is biological then the instance that the case was first started about, eg representation on boards, means companies can not include trans women to improve a companies SEX equality achievements.

And also now women's sport, women's changing rooms, women's toilets, women's (Ladies?) pond, and .... are going to mean SEX based.

So as I know there are many other threads celebrating the FWS victory today, just wanted to ask how is it possible that so many people and institutions were so willing to accept the misrepresentation that women's rights were subservient to trans rights.

And could this happen again?

It’s unbelievable isn’t it
that a court had to define what a woman is
and the madness that captured so many institutions
i am angry
This has been a men’s rights movement
women are still oppressed on their biology - look at Afghanistan! No identifying out of womanhood there

Agree OP.

All I kept thinking today was how did this even happen, how did we even get here? It’s almost surreal.

Yes i totally get what you’re saying. While I’m celebrating today, tomorrow we start asking “how the fuck did this happen?” I mean yes we know about Denton’s but how were so many public bodies, organisations & institutions chuck aside women’s rights without a second thought

100% agree and still getting cross at how it’s being reported by some channels!

I agree, OP. Having considered everything from all possible angles, and reflected on the moral imperative to magnanimous in victory, and Lord Hodge's injuncition that nobody should take a triumphalist position, I am ABSOLUTELY FUCKING FURIOUS.

I want people to be held accountable. Sturgeon. Chapman. Yousaf. Starmer. Harman. Nandy. The twats running Edinburgh Rape Crisis. The vice-chancellors of Sussex and the OU. The fuckwits at NHS Fife. West Yorkshire Police. The Green Party. Every last man and woman of them. The absolute lying, bullying, cowardly, hypocritcal shits. I want to see them sacked from their jobs and spending the rest of their miserable squalid lives in a prison cell, reflecting on the harm they've done. Fuck 'em. Fuck every single one of them.

Agree OP.

The overt, unashamed sexism of women having rights in law being portrayed as some kind of tragedy....

and in a news story about women as usual, it's being discussed mostly by men and only in how it is relevant to men. The women are barely allowed a look in.

Sexism and misogyny is how this happened, and it's still happening.

I actually stopped listening to the first report I had time to today.

It was the BBC World at One. And gave up after the first minute or so as they kept using the word gender and and it just made it confusing. They could at least say gender identity couldn't they.

And then that complete tra loyalist who presents the BBC 5 pm news right from the start was insinuating that the judgement was terrible to trans rights and could hardly bring himself to talk about women.

Add to your list the evasive, shoddy bastards running the LibDems.

I'm not sure I can ever forgive them.

I understand OP's anger, I really do.

This.
Thank you @RoyalCorgi for saying so powerfully what so many women are saying.

I agree OP.

I have worried for a while about my DD (3) being put in uncomfortable and unacceptable situations as a teenager in female changing rooms/toilets, or unfair positions (women’s sport). I have always said I would even home educate and remove her from a school if necessary, as I really do feel that strongly that it is wrong for a male to be in those private spaces. Women are only just getting a proper look in with certain sports, e.g. football, and they must be protected and celebrated.

So I am delighted with today’s result! It is utter madness it ever got to this point though 🤦🏻‍♀️

I’m upset at all the things that have gone wrong in toilet design where privacy overtook safety. It’s very depressing researching particularly when you find another story about a child death or rape and wonder if it could have been prevented if the toilet design wasn’t private. Especially in schools.

This is really interesting about privacy vs safety, would you mind explaining more? I’m genuinely interested as I have a young daughter I want to be as safe as possible in the future…

I didn’t have reliable mobile signal for most of the day. I gleaned the outcome earlier but it was painfully slow, think 1990s dial up. The thing that struck me repeatedly as I caught up on the drive home was the repeated claim “it’s just a tiny number of people.” Bullshit. This has impacted half of the population, degrading the rights of and access to services for every woman and girl in the UK. It’s like we’re invisible to some people. 😡

Honestly, this whole fiasco has made me realise over the past 5-10 years that women are STILL seen as the support humans by a huge tranche of (mostly male) society. Our needs, views, bodily autonomy and safety - oh pft, worrying about those things, prioritising those things, might make a man sad, so let's just ignore them.

I'm sure that the level of rage that boils away deep in my soul isn't good for me, but there isn't a lot I can do about it.

Yes if you advanced search my name you will find long posts (!) of research but it boils down to public toilets and school single sex toilets used to have gaps at the bottom and top of doors. They were there for health and safety. I saved the life once of a young woman whose blue hand was sticking out of the gap. Recently, these door gaps have disappeared. Gender neutral/mixed sex/unisex don’t have them because of privacy. Even single sex toilets in secondary schools now have only a 5mm gap. I have researched and found no one has realised the impact this has had because the whole emphasis has been on privacy. In the DfE secondary school toilet design section they mention privacy multiple times and safety none. The DfE have no records of equality and impact assessments for the private designs in 2023 document and referred me back to 1974 for healthy and safety.

This exactly. The misogynist blokes and transmaidens revelling in kicking the most vulnerable women and the women standing up for them. I honestly didn't understand the depth of misogyny in our society until the last few years.

Thank you @RoyalCorgi for saying that x

Thank you for taking the time to reply and explain.

That actually makes a lot of sense. That’s amazing you saved someone’s life, and yes I can see how anybody who happened to collapse/have a heart attack, etc could therefore be at risk without that gap. Also somebody who was trapped in there with someone robbing/attacking them, etc.

It’s a really important point, excellent work raising awareness of it.

I was recently in a public loo where an elderly woman, possibly a bit confused and couldn't understand how to open it was locked in the cubicle. The cubicle door reached the floor and possibly the ceiling (it was a very high ceilinged building so I can't remember if it went all the way up or was just very tall).
Her very elderly husband with his walking frame was outside on the foyer worrying about her while people tried to help.
The design of the cubicle made it pretty impossible for people to do anything from the outside, other than try to instruct her on how to open the door.
I don't know how it was resolved.

Agree with you all. It’s absolutely infuriating that women( and some men!) have had to waste time, energy and money fighting for what was the law all along.

Is anyone going to apologies?!

Ahh that poor lady, and her DH, that’s really worrying 🥲

Great thread. Thanks for starting it.

I understand the LibDems (they are still shabby) because they are classical liberals (and economic neo-liberals) so consider that government should not interfere in private lives and that people should live how they wish without interference. Unfortunately it has not filtered through to them that women are people too!

I tried to raise this point re toilets in local museum and did not even get a reply. If pressed they say, but CCTV. Is anyone watching it all the time? Of course not. And CCTV doesn't cover someone collapsing in a locked compartment.

What infuriated me is all the males giving up women’s rights at no cost to themselves and then congratulating themselves on how liberal they were.

The level of misogyny was staggering from people who saw themselves as liberal and fair. They really did see half the population’s rights as conditional on not inconveniencing what men wanted.