In Australia and around the world, legislation is being introduced that replaces sex with gender identity. Advocates insist that there is no conflict of interest. But governments are not collecting data on the impacts of this legislative change. We're worried about the impacts on women of men using women-only spaces, including but not limited to: changing rooms, fitting rooms, bathrooms, shelters, rape and domestic violence refuges, gyms, spas, sports, schools, accommodations, hospital wards, shortlists, prizes, quotas, political groups, prisons, clubs, events, festivals, dating apps, and language. If we can't collect data, we can at least collect stories. Please tell us how your use of women-only spaces has been impacted. All stories will be published anonymously. If you know of other women who have been impacted, please encourage them to tell their stories too.
This site is run from Australia, New Zealand members of the LGB Defence, AWW Inc. and supported by LGB Alliance.
A trans-identified male started attending our anonymous recovery meeting of women only. There are no women-only or lesbian-only meetings any more. There are "queer" and "trans" meetings populated overwhelmingly with male-bodied people.
I feel afraid to try new 'women's only' groups. I'm a survivor and feel uncomfortable around men in mixed and public spaces. Women's only spaces have healed me over the last three years. Except now when I'm in a group, there is the fear a male can join at any time.
I joined a women's cycling group. We were all young women in our 20s and an old 50+ years old man called "Margaret". I felt creeped out. The atmosphere was weird as no one was saying anything about the incongruence of this man being in a young women's space. I felt horrible and had to leave. I've experienced a traumatic voyeurism offence against me and was scared he was recording us on Zoom meetings to watch afterwards. I could not be sure of his intentions. It just didn't seem right to me that we couldn't carve one little space for ourselves without men being able to enter. The culture of silence is frightening. I had a friend stop speaking to me after I raised some questions with her based on data from blogs like Fair Play for Women. She said she thought I was harsh and how could I discriminate against such marginalised people who fear their lives everyday. I feel fear every day as a woman from street harassment and knowing the UK feminicide statistics! Unsurprisingly, she didn't want to talk about that...
I feel like I'm living on an alien planet where I'm seeing one thing and others are seeing something else. At the same time, I don't know how many others are keeping silent and afraid of recriminations like myself. I daren't go public... I only try to sometimes talk to my closest female friends if I can. It's very difficult though. The party line of "you're a bigot" if you question the ideology seems all-pervasive, even amongst those who are ordinarily critical thinkers!
I was once at a bar with only one bathroom, which was gender-neutral. Whilst I have seen these at my university, I was baffled it was in a bar. As a victim of sexual violence, whilst I was desperate to go to the bathroom, I was so scared of the gender-neutral nature of the space in a bar being potentially dangerous for sexual violence. Because of this, and the fact that it was late with nothing else open around me, I felt my only choice was to leave & Uber home.
