peeping tom

As a teen I found a man watching me under a partition as I was naked, drying myself. By the time I dressed he had run away and escaped. After a while, I got over it and didn't think about it for decades. Last year, however, I was in the shower in my gym and a male face appeared under the door. I was shocked by my instinctive reaction. I couldn't breathe, my heart pounded, and my knees turned to jelly. All because it triggered the forgotten memory. It seems the body doesn't really forget. It turned out the male face was a kid of 6 or 7, but my body knew *instantly* it was male and reacted. I'm lucky really, I've never been raped. But I can't imagine the trauma of a rape victim encountering a male where they shouldn't be. Women need single-sex spaces. Every decent man knows that.

#changerooms #privacy #singlesexspaces

trade union capture

I live in Scotland but would rather it said I live in the UK. Scotland is a very small place! In my trade union, more and more men are identifying as women and taking traditional women's roles, including on the regional and national Women's Committees. Their excuse is that women don't seem to be interested in sitting on Committees. For a number of years, women have been asking for Women's Committees to take place in the evening or at weekends when it is easier to get someone to look after children or the people we care for. The Union doesn't listen and expects all women trade unionists to be in jobs where the employer will give us time off for union meetings. This is not the case, and we are not being listened to. Biological men who present as women are not, in the main, single parents nor are they unpaid carers. They are in more traditional jobs where employers recognise the Union and so are given paid leave to attend meetings. Women are being done over by the union and by these men. These biological men presenting as women do not know what it is like to be a woman who suffers heavy periods at work and so needs more toilet breaks; or is pregnant and needs to sit down on the job due to the pressure of the foetus on her spine, or is going through the menopause and needs to go change their uniform because of hot flushes. They know nothing of being the main carer of the family's children or older adults or members who are disabled. Neither do they know of the discrimination in terms of pay or simply being a woman in the workplace. And yet the union is listening to them whinge about the "rough" uniforms they have to wear, or the fact they are not allowed to wear make-up at work like these are so important. I have been a trade unionist all my working life - 43 years - and wouldn't work unless I can be in a union, but I am struggling to find a trade union that still represents biological women and their rights rather than biological men who present as women. I suspect the same is true in other countries where there are trade unions. There is no reason why the unions cannot have transsexual committees dealing with specific issues that these people face at work.

#Scotland #Unions #MenRepresentingWomen #FemaleAppropriation #ShortListedSpots #SelfID #ExclusionOfWomen

female erasure

I live in the U.S. where there is hardly any open discussion of gender-critical feminism (those who do discuss it openly are called TERFS and met with death threats and insults to their physical appearance). I attended an Abortion Rally in Portland with my partner, which was in response to the recent strict abortion laws being passed in places like Texas and Alabama.

We knew that this would be an 'inclusive' event, and while I am completely on board for anyone coming to a rally to show support for Women's bodily autonomy, we quickly noted that the speakers were made up mostly of Trans Women and Trans Men. What was even more frustrating, was that not only were signs referring to female anatomy discouraged, but the speakers themselves did not even mention the word woman once, just birthing people or pregnant people. A trans man went on to speak about their experience giving birth as a 'father' and completely derailed from the issue of access to safe abortions and began talking about Trans genocide-comparing it to the genocide of our Indigenous population.

There was a lot of talk leading up to this rally, and it seemed as if there would be more in the future, but as my partner and I were leaving in frustration we heard a few other women walking away with similar complaints and we have not heard of another rally since, despite the fact that these abortion laws will soon be brought before a fairly conservative Supreme Court. Instead, we keep hearing of Trans Genocide and the states putting restrictions on hormone therapy and puberty blockers for minors.

I truly aim to be supportive of all people, and I believe that gender stereotypes harm all folks, but it seems most trans activists only wish to enforce these stereotypes further. I was so disappointed after this rally, I had an abortion when I was a freshman in college and had little to no support. I had to deal with protestors screaming at me from the sidewalk, and people telling me I murdered my child. The person who helped organize this rally is my friend and knows of my experiences yet the people she chose to speak at the rally have never had an abortion, and most of them were unable to even get pregnant and will never understand what it is like to be in that situation.

I cannot describe how frustrating it is to have people who were born and socialized as men, dress up and act in stereotypically feminine (and frankly insulting) ways, and tell me that I have gained full equality because I am cis, and I need to sit down and shut up in women's spaces so their voices can be heard.

#USA #femaleErasure #Stereotypes #FemaleAppropriation