My nightmare legal battle to exclude men from my rape crisis group

[IwantToRetire]

Survivors’ Network, which receives funding from local councils and the Ministry of Justice, describes itself as a “feminist organisation”, albeit one that supports “survivors of all gender”.

Summers went on, however, to find herself refused support and painted as a bigot for objecting to the presence of a man in the room where she and other survivors were hoping to disclose details of sexual assault in a safe environment.

She eventually took legal action against Survivors’ Network and, earlier this month, after four years, the case was settled. It has been agreed that there will, in future, be single-sex provision for female victims of sexual assault – a departure from the previous policy.
For Summers, the fact that Survivors’ Network put so much effort and money into contesting her claim was extraordinary in itself.

“I never asked Survivors’ Network to exclude male people from their existing women’s groups,” she explains, speaking exclusively to The Telegraph, about the toll taken by her battle, under a pseudonym.
“I simply asked if they could run an additional space for biological women. I thought a rape crisis service would be sympathetic to the needs of women who have a trauma response to males. I felt it was a modest and reasonable ask.’’

Article continues at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/12/nightmare-legal-battle-exclude-men-from-rape-crisis-group/

And at https://archive.is/pGQe1 (if clicking this link doesn't work copy and paste link into browser)

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/12/nightmare-legal-battle-exclude-men-from-rape-crisis-group/

I remember the anger from the tras against her and on X someone saying she had no chance of winning. Look who DID win!

And not only won for herself, but has helped get a women only support service set up!

🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

I sympathise
But this is why all my "women only" chats are done outside of official groups. No man dare set foot if my gals and I are discussing rape, periods, sex, toilet provision, or feminism generally. And we're not being funded or reported on, so we can decide to exclude men.
OK I realise I'm not effectively answering the subject matter here, but just making the case for no-one with a p to come anywhere near us!

Their fetishes know no bounds do they? Demanding access to a female sexual assault/rape service. Have I got that right?

Nothing to do with their trauma and everything to do with their demands.

Great article.

Sarah compares being a child trapped in a room by the man abusing her, with being an adult trapped in a room with a man in front of whom she was expected to disclose details of said abuse.

I think this touches on two key points that are shamelessly exploited by abusive males and their supporters. Firstly that of trauma responses: a history of trauma means Sarah may have been physically unable to stand up and leave that group session despite the fact it was technically possible. Secondly the fear of being socially outcast is real (in our past it could have even meant death) and a genuine threat thanks to the public shaming and smearing as bigots of anyone who even slightly disagrees with trans ideology.

Great news and hopefully other groups will be looking and learning.

Well done on Sarah’s tenacity and win but they don’t seem to have got around to updating the website yet. Does anyone know if there’s a court imposed deadline?

The purpose of the Peer Support Group is for adult, self-identified women and gender-diverse survivors of sexual violence, abuse or harassment, to come together and gain support from each other.

We aim to offer a safe, welcoming and trauma sensitive space for this to happen (following the Peer Support Group Agreement, below).
The group is facilitated by a member of staff and our trained volunteers. All staff and volunteers identify as women. They will hold the space and be on hand for anyone who needs support.

The groups run on the following days and times: Thursday 11-13.00 in Brighton (open to self-identifying women and gender-diverse survivors, venue not fully accessible).
Wednesday 18.30-20.30 in an accessible venue in Brighton (open to self-identifying women only). We ask everyone to arrive in good time for the start of the group.

We are a trans-inclusive organisation and welcome trans women to our groups. The Peer Support Group operates on self-identification. You are welcome to contact the Volunteer Led Services Manager if you have any questions regarding this – [email protected]

From FAQs
Who is the Group for?
Adult, self-identified women survivors of sexual violence, abuse or harassment, recent or historic. Our Tuesday afternoon group is open to gender-diverse survivors (this includes but is not limited to gender queer people, Non-Binary people and trans people.)One of our groups is for self-identified women over 50 only.

In the Yoga section:

Who are these classes for?
These sessions are open to all levels and abilities and to all adult women and gender diverse people.
Unfortunately, these sessions are not suitable for pregnant people.

In their ‘What we stand for’ section:

Some paragraphs on ‘survivors not victims’ etc then this rather random piece (below) as the only entry in the ‘Pledges and Commitments section. I’m sure letting staff with Afro-textured hair express their ‘full identities’ through hairstyle and texture is very laudable but it seems rather unrelated to the charitable purpose and sits as a sole pledge. Nothing about supporting women who want any type of female only support.

Also no equivalent commitment to support other religious style or dress requirements or any attempt to be accessible to blind or deaf rape victims for example. Totally bizarre and makes me think they are run by a bunch of over privileged women with a saviour complex.

Pledges and Commitments
The Halo Code

Our workplace champions the right of staff to embrace all Afro-hairstyles. We acknowledge that Afro-textured hair is an important part of our Black employees’ racial, ethnic, cultural, and religious identities, and requires specific styling for hair health and maintenance.
We celebrate Afro-textured hair worn in all styles including, but not limited to, afros, locs, twists, braids, cornrows, fades, hair straightened through the application of heat or chemicals, weaves, wigs, headscarves, and wraps.
In this workplace, we recognise and celebrate our colleagues’ identities. We are a community built on an ethos of equality and respect where hair texture and style have no bearing on an employees ability to succeed.

I’ll also be interested to see how this women only service is set up and whether they will deliberately make it so difficult to access or otherwise unpleasant that there is low take up and they will claim that there is not enough demand and cancel it.

From the state of their website I’d say they were thoroughly untrustworthy with women’s welfare and every last heartless fraud involved should be sacked.

The wins just keep on coming.😀

Am very pleased Sarah’s story is being told in national papers. I still can’t get over the absolute chilling audacity of RMW coming onto one of Sarah’s threads on here (he was slated to be on opposing legal team), I mean it was a cast iron example of the culture of transgression but still my jaw dropped when it happened.

I find myself wondering about the TiM who use these groups. Are they actually survivors of sexual assault, or is this another pretence of theirs? Obviously men can be raped too, so I don't want to say these males can't have been raped, but given that a) the proportion of men who are trans is pretty small, and b) far fewer males than females get sexually assaulted, how come TiMs keep popping up at rape crisis centres?

Surprised (but pleased) to receive some positive reactions. Thought I'd be told off for derailing the subject!

The deletion of Twitter account on the very day of the "joint" announcement doesn't suggest they've had a complete change of heart. Very petty. Good to Sarah though - seems like she's taking the Michelle Obama approach and going high when they go low.

I must admit I some how hadn't registered that.

But wonder if in fact they did it because they know that their account would have been deluged by TRAs.

They know their people because the were (are) part of it.

I wonder if Brighton Council has said anything.

Great result. How can anyone argue against this? It beggars belief.

I wonder this too. Is it just another fetish?

It is entirely possible that there is some pretence.

but also some TIS have experienced sexual violence.

thing is one can never be sure which is an additional reason to have women only groups.

Gives me the rage

I'm going out on a limb here and suggesting, based on my experience with boys and men at school and college, that 90-95‰ of male involvement in women's groups is "pretence", a sort of "we've got nothing better to do so let's annoy women".
Maybe I'm wrong, but as a 21 year old who's suffered considerable annoyance from boys and men, I would not be surprised.

Tbf, it does look like they were pretty clear from the start that they were trans inclusive (unlike others that just say 'for women'). But any rape counseling service should really have truly single sex provisions offered IMO due to the nature of the situations they deal with.

We should never be surprised at their self-entitlement. They genuinely see women as less than human, here to serve them or act as an audience.

OP, the start of your post is missing, on my phone at least. Can you get Mumsnet to reinstate it?
Thanks for posting. This is a very important win. And congratulations to Sarah.
I have stopped being amazed at the number of men who get off on hearing about women being abused. I just want to be able to keep them away from us.

Its all there! But here is is again:

My nightmare legal battle to exclude men from my rape crisis group

Survivors’ Network, which receives funding from local councils and the Ministry of Justice, describes itself as a “feminist organisation”, albeit one that supports “survivors of all gender”.

Summers went on, however, to find herself refused support and painted as a bigot for objecting to the presence of a man in the room where she and other survivors were hoping to disclose details of sexual assault in a safe environment.

She eventually took legal action against Survivors’ Network and, earlier this month, after four years, the case was settled. It has been agreed that there will, in future, be single-sex provision for female victims of sexual assault – a departure from the previous policy.
For Summers, the fact that Survivors’ Network put so much effort and money into contesting her claim was extraordinary in itself.

“I never asked Survivors’ Network to exclude male people from their existing women’s groups,” she explains, speaking exclusively to The Telegraph, about the toll taken by her battle, under a pseudonym.
“I simply asked if they could run an additional space for biological women. I thought a rape crisis service would be sympathetic to the needs of women who have a trauma response to males. I felt it was a modest and reasonable ask.’’

Article continues at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/12/nightmare-legal-battle-exclude-men-from-rape-crisis-group/

And at https://archive.is/pGQe1 (if clicking this link doesn't work copy and paste link into browser)