melbourne bar makes its toilets unisex while asking about women's safety

I recently went out to a bar in Brunswick, Melbourne. Since the last time I was there all the toilets have been made unisex. Whilst I was in line, a male person wearing female clothing joined the line and tried to make small talk with me. I have not experienced this behaviour from other women during previous visits to this venue. I also saw unattended drinks left on the sink.

What really made me angry was a sign inside the formerly-female toilet doors saying there has been an increase in drink spiking, and could patrons please let management know what could be done to make the venue safer. Having a female-only toilet would be something that would make women safer.

#australia #melbourne #brunswick #nightclub #unisex #bathrooms #toilets #safety #drinkspiking

"when ultra-progressives defend sexual assault against lesbians" (from marianne.net)

The following are translated extracts from a statement by a French feminist collective. The original article is here.

"We, the signers of this forum, testify to having experienced gender-based, punitive and sexual violence aimed at "correcting" our sexual orientation within spaces presenting themselves as LGBTQIAP+. It is not an urban legend. These are not isolated cases. Moreover, when following these attacks, we undertake to create other spaces to meet in complete safety and together to live our homosexuality serenely, we still suffer from bullying (physical attacks, cyber harassment ...) from the traditional far right but also from activists who wear visual symbols of anti-fascism (the anti-fascist movement, which has existed for a long time, of course does a lot of resistance work, but we see that today,some fascists abuse it)."

...

"This gives an idea of ​​what we have been facing for two or three years already, when we try for example to organize dance evenings or single-sex football tournaments in spaces that are however private. When we speak of punitive sexual violence, I insist, we are not exaggerating: those concerned recognize it themselves, since it suffices to see with what violence their threats are spread openly on social networks ... when they have, as their sole argument, accused their contradicators of "hatred" and "moral violence", all outbursts seem permitted to them."

#france #lesbianspaces #lesbian #threats #conversion #sexualorientation #anarchists

self-defence course for women

In 2012 or so I partook in a course of self-defense for women. Everyone involved was female and it created that special safe, open atmosphere that you only have when only women are in the room. Several women opened up about their past experiences with sexual assault, including one teenager who tearfully told us about her cousin raping her when she was 14.

Years later in 2018 I decided to take another such course to refresh my knowledge. On the first day of the course I discovered that there was a trans-identified male among the participants. I had never before been confronted with any trans people or topics so I went along with it despite my immediate discomfort. It was a large rather bulky man in his 40s who wore strong makeup, a skirt and high heels - the only person who had not dressed appropriately for a day full of physical exercises.

I later privately asked the course leader to not pair me up with him in anything and she agreed though she was clearly taken aback by me asking. Over the 3 days of the course, the atmosphere was tense and uncomfortable, and none of the women talked about their private experiences or really talked much at all. When the course leader was talking about statistics of male violence and such, this man made a sad face & kept nodding along as if he had any idea about it all. He was also the only one apparently unaware of the tense atmosphere his presence created as he kept laughing and trying to start conversations with the women.

Overally there was a clear difference in atmosphere and comfort between the two courses I had experienced. While there was no explicit mention of the course being for 'cis' women only, it was clearly advertised as being for women, and any trans-identified male with common sense or respect for women would surely understand that this means they should not be present in such a female space.

#germany #selfdefence #selfdefencecourse #falseadvertising #comfort #respite