Kenwood Ladies Pond Authoritarians

[KenwoodMagicWand]

The handmaidens at The Ladies Pond just can’t help themselves. A woman wears a swimming costume which expresses an opinion which contravenes their ludicrous trans ideology and they actually want to know if she can be prevented from wearing it. They think they’re the good guys but they are authoritarians enforcing a men’s sexual rights movement.
No dearies, you can’t stop this woman from wearing her cool swimming costume just because you don’t like it.

What’s weird is that I don’t think they pin down on that Facebook thread what the offending swimsuit words actually are. I think they are all talking about some indistinct transphobic words but no one actually knows what those words are, just that they’re not dick-pandering.
Dear City of London, a woman had something not-nice on her swimsuit. Please can you make a rule banning things like this.
Many thanks, Kirsty Alsoppy

Probably not dissimilar to being at certain schools atm actually.

Where little girls of 11 are being forced to go to toilets alongside 18-year-old men. Which results in many girls just not using the loo all day, potentially causing themselves long-term medical issues.

Yup, it’s all such a larf, isn’t it?

Yes I think it's important that women are being prevented from swimming at the ponds in favour of some men who can still swim there in the mixed sex pond but just don't want to.

I don't think that is the best way to protest about the City of London trying to avoid keeping to the law of the land. However, I defend the choice to do so.

Swimming in open water is for many people about being away from other things in life.

@TransParentlyAnnoyed can you explain to me what’s funny about rape victims like me being excluded from services? Im not seeing the joke.

These women are foolish in my view, and the swimsuit is amazing, but I don’t think you should be posting their names like this.

@itstoolateforsnacks fair point, I did consider this. I’ll ask for the other pic to be deleted

Fair play to the one who said "is it hate or is it an opinion"

Obviously it's not an "opinion" it's fact, but even so she was brave to post that comment

If women are offended by males being allowed in the women’s pond they should be allowed to say it. If women are offended by her swimsuit they too should be allowed to say it. However, to argue that one level of offence is more important than another and the person should be reported for it highlights how these women work. They should mind their business and get on with their swim.

@Justme56agree entirely. My objection is to them trying to get it banned somehow

Indeed.

They have a right to be offended. That they seek to get offensive apparel banned and the swimmers who wear them, is going too far. It is a pair of swimmers with a factual statement appliquéd on them!

I used to meet friends at the Ladies Pond a couple of times each summer but never go now.

I find the presence / potential presence of people with penises create more ‘aggro’ than words on a top.

I also felt that a trans woman approaching my friend for a ‘cosy sisterly chat’ about having larger breasts was way more disturbing of our tranquility than words on a costume could be.

“Banning what is essentially hate speech”

that is a very authoritarian instinct.

speech you hate does not equal hate speech

if I saw someone wearing a TWAW t shirt I’d roll my eyes and assume we wouldn’t get along but I wouldn’t have any urge to report them or have them banned.

Your poor friend. Ffs. Has the world gone mad?

Exactly. There are three ponds.

A mixed bathing pond where men can swim.

A men only pond where men can swim.

A women only pond. Where ………. oh fill in the rest for yourself and tell yourself it is only fair and kind……….

So what would be the best way to protest in your opinion? I’m of the idea every time someone sees a penis in the women’s pond, they point and laugh. Shame the exhibitionists.

Why? If they’re proud to support men in Women’s spaces, surely they won’t be ashamed of their names being shown?

There is a mixed bathing pond on the Heath as well as the Ladies and the men's.
The fact that these TIMs insist on invading the females only space rather than using the Mixed pond shows their lack of good faith.
If they really felt like women they wouldn't insist on upsetting women and invading their segregated spaces.
Meaning many women no longer use those facilities.
It's all cock eyed.
No pun intended. But why should the majority be deprived in order to placate these noisy outliers.
TIMs if you are genuine in your identity and motives please use the mixed pond.
Otherwise I'll continue to think you are there for purposes other than swimming.

Suggestion fir a new clothing range:

Is biology a fact or an opinion?

Blimey!

What an inappropriate ‘chat’.

It’s not about shame - I don’t know how they’d feel about it, but I don’t think it’s good form to take screenshots of peoples names from one part of the internet and paste it elsewhere without their knowledge or consent. However daft the opinions posted may be. I don’t think we win any hearts or minds with that kind of behaviour. Anyway, op has agreed.

But I’ve seen that a lot on this forum. There’s always screenshots of things posted on x or bluesky or Reddit or fb to here and vice versa. Why should these people get any different treatment?im of the opinion if you don’t want people to know you said something… don’t say it.

Yes absolutely. I understand your opinion on that, mine is more about ‘treat others how you want to be treated’. There’s a lot of awful behaviour that we need to stand up against, but it’s important to me to remain decent as I do so.

Awful. Did she make a complaint? Have you?

It was obvious sexual harassment.

We left feeling so uncomfortable, because if the harassment itself but actually at a deeper level because we felt our response was gagged for fear of being accused of transphobia. Not that either of us would have said anything centring their trans identity, but anything that amounted to ‘I don’t want to discuss my breasts with you’ could end up with the well worn accusation.

A few years on and with the benefit of hind sight we would now be prepared with a much more robust response. My friend did her best to Grey Rock until I manufactured an ‘urgent distraction’ to end the conversation.

It was horrible.