My story is from 26 years ago. I was hospitalised in the mid trimester of my pregnancy due to severe bleeding. I was there for 2 months. Masada private hospital in East St Kilda, had a maternity wing (they have since closed down the maternity ward) and a general wing. This hospital performed transgender surgery too. Maternity was full and I had to be admitted to the general ward. I was placed in a strange part at the back section of the general ward. It was nowhere near Maternity. This room had 6 beds and the room was divided down the middle by a wall with a walk through space at the end for bathroom access. Hence, 3 beds either side of the dividing wall. The bathroom was on my side. I was very unwell and felt very vulnerable because of my pregnancy, which was touch and go. I had the very real fear that I was going to lose my baby. I was required to rest and stay calm to ensure my pregnancy had the best chance of survival. I was alone on my side, however, on the other side were 3 transgender surgery patients. That was uncomfortable enough but when they appeared to use the bathroom this made me feel I wasn’t in a safe space. The last straw was when one individual appeared, stood at the bathroom door and leered at me for a lingering period of time, probably a good 5 seconds, then they swung their head around nose in air and in to the bathroom. I felt so intimidated that I had a panic attack , got immediately out of bed in a very distressed state and rushed through the hospital into the maternity ward and broke down uncontrollably. The midwives were lovely and supportive but it was only then that a private room close to maternity, where I could feel safe, was found for me. I was furious that my sense of security and well being wasn’t considered until I had the degrading situation in that shared first divided room, where I had become so distressed they had to do something about it. Why is it that biological women continue to be the losers in this new WOKE culture? I refuse to be labelled a person that menstruates, a person with a uterus, a chest-feeder rather than a breast-feeder. I’m a woman, a daughter, a wife, a mother and I demand to have safe spaces that I, my mother, and my daughter can rely on having. Spaces not shared with males, who by just saying ‘they identify as female’, can enter. As a woman I’m questioning why is it that my rights and sensibilities not respected?