service station toilets

Couple of years ago my mother and I used the ladies' loos at a motorway services in south wales. They were really busy - the queue was nearly out the door. In the midst of the bustle was a transwoman - clearly biologically male about 6'2, in his late 40s maybe early 50s with very broad shoulders, short blonde hair, wearing a skinnyfit pink tshirt, lipstick and jeans. From the queue I could see he was not waiting in line to use the loos but was standing outside cubicles waiting for women to go in and out, forcing them to brush past him. I think he saw I'd noticed him. When it was my turn he obstructed my access to a cubicle too. I politely said excuse me please, keeping my eyes down and he moved enough for me to brush past but then he waited outside and followed me to the sinks, staring me out the whole time like I had rumbled his game. I felt so unsafe even with my mom and all the other women there. I didn't see him leave the ladies toilets at all. Who knows how long he was in there. I'd have left if I could have held it or had anywhere else to go but I was heavily pregnant at the time.

#unitedkingdom #bathrooms #toilets #servicestation #sexualharassment

shelters & rehab

i work with homeless, and addicted women, often they are survivors of brutal male violence. i have increasingly been told when i try to get them in the women's shelter or rehab, that they left and won't go back, due to harassment by aggressive trans-identified males (TIMs), open masturbation, leering at them in the shower, etc. these women feel safer on the street during a pandemic, than in the places meant to help them, because of males' feelings being placed above the safety, boundaries, rights, and agency of actual women.

#unitedstates #shelters #rehab #homelessness #addiction #sexualharassment

prisons

In Canada, men who claim to be women can be moved to a female prison. They do not need to take hormones or have surgery - it is the "feeling" that is important. There have been several instances of sexual assault in Canada's prisons by trans-identified males. This makes me sick. Women in prison are vulnerable, but men's feelings take precedent. No one in the government cares that there have been sexual assaults. They just want to show the world how "fair" they are. Once again, women suffer at the hands of men.

[*Moderator's note: the submission said 'rape' but included a link to a news story that said 'sexual assault' and that further details were not made available by the prison. If there is another story confirming a rape then please send it to me and I will update the post. You can email me directly].

#canada #prisons #sexualassault #violenceagainstwomen #transcrime