ABC coverage of transwomen and "menopause"

This is not a story of a single incident, rather an attitude that is becoming so invasive it is eroding the rights of women.

Tracey Holmes (an ABC sports writer) recently quoted a Canadian trans-woman athlete. Unfortunately, I am unable to find the article to cite directly. But this trans-woman compared his experience of transitioning to going through instant menopause. Now, how can a person born a male know what going through menopause feels like?

I am a 48 year old woman, I am currently experiencing peri-menopause. So after 33 years of monthly periods my ovaries no longer expel unfertilised eggs on a regular basis. My natural hormones are fluctuating, the ageing process really kicks in, and eventually that part of my womanhood will stop completely. It is the natural life process of being a woman.

To have this experience belittled by a man who identifies as a woman is insulting. To have Tracey Holmes validate this person by requoting his comment is insulting. To have the ABC (the national public broadcaster) publish this comment is insulting.

It demeans the very essence of what it is to be female. It shows the arrogance and ignorance of this trans-woman. For a man to espouse the experience of menopause, and for the ABC to publish it is astounding.

If men feel the need to change their appearance, to surgically alter their bodies go for it. But they will ever know what it is like to be a woman, and as such should not be invading our spaces... including the menstrual!

#australia #media #mediacoverage #menopause #perimenopause #abc #traceyholmes #FemaleErasure #SelfID

schoolboys & 'non-gendered' girls' toilets

My daughters went to primary school in the UK. (We live in North America now) .

About 5 years ago, the head teacher in their UK school announced in an assembly to the children (without any communication to parents) that the girls' toilets were now non-gendered.

They said nothing at all about the boys' toilets.

Right after assembly, the first thing that happened was all the naughty boys stormed the girls toilets. En masse. And that’s how boys minds work. My daughters were horrified and didn’t use the toilet for the rest of the day, because they were worried boys would come in and try to peek at them. For good reason. The boys would have done that.

Men are just tall boys, who have not always matured and who, like those little boys, will just do it for the kick and go 'be naughty' in the girls' loos.

#unitedkingdom #bathrooms #schools #parentalconsent #toilets #education #singlesexspaces

women-only gyms now unable to keep out leering men

I have always been grateful that my local gym has a women-only area for women to work out. It's been so nice to exercise without being leered at, propositioned, or harassed. I have tried to exercise in the mixed -sex spaces, I just don't feel comfortable, so finding a gym with a women-only section was important to me. The women's area is behind closed doors, and there are clear signs that mark it as a women's space. The gym has always been careful to inform us if a man will be entering the area to repair machines, and only female gym staff enter.

The other day while working out, a man wearing women's athletic clothes entered the women's space. He spent a long time wandering between the machines, and staring at the women. He didn't seem particularly interested in working out, and spent a long time staring at me. I decided to use the technique I often do when men stare at me, stare back until they look away. This was effective. I usually have to do that sort of thing on public transport, I was not expecting to have to do it here. I felt deeply uncomfortable, and all the of safety, comfort and security I felt previously in the space was completely gone. Eventually he entered the women's change area, I imagine to do more leering. I left quickly, feeling violated and angry.

What's even more frustrating is that despite all the efforts the gym puts into keeping this section women-only, there is nothing they can do to restrict this man from entering the women-only section. In Canada, gender identity is protected in the human rights code because of a law called Bill C16. If the gym tells the man he can only use the mixed-sex section, he could take them to a human rights tribunal and they could be fined.

Women have so few spaces to ourselves, and exercising in a women-only space allows women, who spend so much of our lives caring for others, to spend time taking care of ourselves without being bothered by men. It's endlessly frustrating that we have no ability to protect these spaces in law in Canada.

#canada #gym #harassment #leering #spacewithoutmen #fitness #SingleSexSpaces