creative arts opportunities

I work in the creative arts, and over the last few years have seen almost every single competition, professional opportunity, shortlist, grant, prize, residency, scholarship etc. originally for women opened up to (and frequently awarded to) self-identified trans-identified males as well. While I fully support new opportunities being created for people regardless of gender identity, I have to wonder: the declared intent of those opportunities originally created for women was to support women - i.e. females - in a field they have historically been completely shut out of. To this day, most of the large organizations commission less than 5% of their works from women. In some of the most prominent organizations, that number is closer to 1%. By all means, create opportunities to award people regardless of their gender, but what message does it send to women that - when we are still hugely underrepresented and underappreciated as artists - that the few opportunities created for us are given away yet again to males?

#arts #scholarships #prizes #shortlists #underrepresentation

aussie rules footy

I am part of a new women’s masters Aussie rules footy competition and it was such a beautiful safe environment for older women to finally have the chance to play in.

Now we have transgender women wanting to join our competition. We finally had the chance to play footy on our own merit, and now this safe place is threatened by transgender women. We have had transgender women play in social matches and in every game they have dominated to the point where it has impacted the women who have played directly against them. Not only have they felt unable to be competitive, but they have felt more physically vulnerable.

I personally have taken one hit from a transgender woman attempting to tackle me and I literally felt like I had been hit by cement, a feeling I had never experienced while been tackled by a woman before.

If we were to be forced to allow transgender women to play in our footy competitions in the future I would certainly lose my feeling of safety on the playing field.

Can a transgender woman not start their own competition to make a level playing field for them?

Women have fought so hard to finally have a respectable platform for playing footy for it to be stripped away from us.

#australia #football #sports #womeninsport

12-step women-only trauma survivors' group

The group folded after two men dressed as women started to attend. There was a big emphasis in the established group on appropriate sharing and safety boundaries. One of the cross-dressers repeatedly broke the group guidelines through relaying horrendous rape narratives that provoked women’s PTSD. When asked to desist, they repeatedly ignored the requests.

When women tried politely to initiate a discussion post-meeting, about their perceived entitlement to be there plus that some regulars felt very unsafe with men in the room, one in particular became threatening and used stand over and other abuser tactics to intimidate women.

The men eventually stopped going but by then, the group had effectively lost its core supporters. A couple of the male-centred women, not recognising the abuse tactics nor unwilling/unable to stand up to the men’s bullying, felt uncomfortable at confrontation. Some women stopped going because they felt unsafe, some didn’t like division, whilst others didn’t want a mixed sex setting.

The men never sought the consent of the group before attending nor would they hear the concerns of many of the women at their presence. The group eventually folded. It was a sad loss as it had taken a lot to get it established and it was perceived as a safe space for women. It hasn’t been replaced.

#australia #sydney #traumasurvivors #recoverygroup #supportgroup #malesocialisation