stand-up comedy & funding/publicity for women

I had a go at stand-up comedy a few years ago and had a lot of fun going to open mic comedy nights. There was one guy there that was extremely open about their kink being dressing up in women's clothing and that it was always a sex thing. I even went to their comedy shows a couple of times and they were pretty good. Then they 'transitioned' and started going by female pronouns (when all this was becoming popular).

At first I didn't have a second thought except 'good for them', but now this person is getting a lot of funding and publicity as a 'woman in comedy'. I stopped following them because frankly, I felt bad for the biological women I met doing comedy who never received that kind of credit for their work. I didn't do it for very long, but even I could observe how stand up comedy could be a bit of a 'boys club'.

Should female comedians transition to be men so that people will stop saying 'women aren't funny'?

#australia #arts #comedy #standup #funding #publicity #shortlistedspots #maleprivilege

bathrooms: trans men get it

I went to an LGBTI conference about 7-10 years ago. The venue had men's and women's toilet facilities, but the usual signage had been covered with paper signs that read things like: 'this facility contains 6 urinals and 3 stalls with toilets and shared hand-washing basins' and 'this facility contains 6 stalls with toilets and shared hand-washing basins'.

The organisers celebrated how this was a wonderful example of how all public toilets should be, making toilets safe places for trans people. During the plenary session, I challenged this, asking why it was OK to make such changes for a tiny percentage of the population at the cost of 50% of the community. I explained that given the incidence of sexual assault, women need to know that they are safe to take down their trousers or pull up their skirts when going to the toilet.

The trans men on the panel understood this and recommended that single toilets with their own basin (like disability access ones) would be better for everyone.

#australia #lgbti #bathrooms #genderneutral #unisex #safety #privacy #SingleSexSpaces

the value of women-only spaces to survivors

I am nearly 60 years of age, a mother and grandmother.

I was sexually abused as young girl by my stepfather, raped as a teen by a friend, and my children's father was a controlling and coercive alcoholic - experiences shared by many women.

My ability to socialise, meet other women, participate in the community is dependent on access to spaces that are for women only. The possibility of encountering males in these spaces discourages me from attending events, joining a gym or being anywhere that means I may need to use spaces that have traditionally been single sex.

I am fearful of finding myself in an enclosed space with any male-bodied person I do not know - physically intimidated and all too aware of the harms that can be done.

My world, already narrowed by my age and health, has shrunk ever so much more with the lack of women-only provision of changing rooms and toilets and the erosion of my sex-based rights as a woman to privacy and dignity within these spaces.

#unitedkingdom #survivors #trauma #maleviolence #safety #security #SingleSexSpaces