Parliament Square erupted

https://twitter.com/Liam_Beattie/status/1279395052696059904

That is, a boy successfully fought his school so that he could use the girls’ toilet.

It doesn’t sound quite so progressive that way does it.

That’s why it’s necessary to keep putting it that way.

(Notice no mention of how the girls at that school feel about the boy’s successful fight to join them in their toilet.)

Comments

15 responses to “Parliament Square erupted”

  1. Moon Avatar

    It is worth considering why we have gender-segregated bathrooms in the first place. When women began entering the workplace in larger numbers, the men in charge at the time did not believe “weak” women were ready for the brutal reality of the public sphere. They therefore created segregated female spaces that were softer, delicate, more insulated, and sometimes decorated like kitchens or bedrooms. Separate gendered bathrooms became part of plumbing codes, which became part of building codes, and no one has really bothered to address them since – even though they have nothing to do with actual safety and everything to do with powerful men thinking women needed pretty places to hide.

    Some of the interest in bathroom neutrality actually began with women wanting the ability to protect their children. Around 20 years ago, a woman sent her young nephew into a men’s room without her; in that bathroom, the boy was murdered by an adult man. That spurred interest in revising gender-divided bathrooms. Of course, I understand the desire to protect women from men who are trying to overtake female spaces – but overall, the data demonstrates that transpeople just really aren’t those people. Collected statistics from areas that have permitted transpeople to use their choice of bathroom demonstrate no rise in reported sexual assault. In the entire country of Canada, there has actually only ever been one reported case of assault by a transgender person in a bathroom over the course of 35 years. Somewhat ironically, then, transpeople are far more likely to be assaulted in a bathroom than females are. That being said, men who want to take over women’s rights ARE out there – they just aren’t transpeople – and they actually tend to be more vocal and obvious, perhaps in part because we are letting them. Us ladies going after transpeople is probably quite useful for those men – a red herring that relieves them of our scrutiny.

  2. Ophelia Benson Avatar

    Hahahaha that’s pretty good. Slightly crude, but funny.

  3. southwest88 Avatar

    Sorry to hijack the comments but just saw this on Spinster — Etsy is letting item featuring the severed head of Rowling to be sold on their site. https://www.etsy.com/listing/826804593/terf-war-jk-rowling-guillotine-sticker

    Sent an email to Etsy and got an auto-answer that their inbox is not monitored. Tried to sign in to Etsy several ways but it seems they are having technical issues……….

    Anybody still on Twitter want to bring this to the attention of Rowling and her lawyers? I canceled my etsy account a year or so ago because things that said “punch terfs” or “kill terfs” did NOT violate their policies on hate. But I don’t think they can ignore heavy duty lawyers.

  4. Ophelia Benson Avatar

    Thank you for telling us. I posted a screenshot on Twitter and a couple of other places.

  5. Omar Avatar

    Moon:

    Collected statistics from areas that have permitted transpeople to use their choice of bathroom demonstrate no rise in reported sexual assault. In the entire country of Canada, there has actually only ever been one reported case of assault by a transgender person in a bathroom over the course of 35 years. Somewhat ironically, then, transpeople are far more likely to be assaulted in a bathroom than females are. That being said, men who want to take over women’s rights ARE out there – they just aren’t transpeople – and they actually tend to be more vocal and obvious, perhaps in part because we are letting them. Us ladies going after transpeople is probably quite useful for those men – a red herring that relieves them of our scrutiny.

    EXCEPT that this cover is then available for hererosexual males masquerading as trans-whatevers to enter female spaces and get up to whatever they think they can get away with. How said female spaces originated and what function they now serve can be two separate matters entirely.

  6. Ben Avatar

    When Targets moved to gender-neutral bathrooms, sex-related offenses committed by men soared.

    https://womanmeanssomething.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/A-Longitudinal-Analysis-of-Media-Reports-at-Target-Stores.pdf

    To the objection “But those crimes weren’t committed by transwomen” (or maybe by real transwomen?), I say, “Yeah? So?”

    The radfems don’t want to keep transwomen out of their spaces; they want to keep male people out.

  7. tigger_the_wing Avatar
    tigger_the_wing

    Nobody who claims that transwomen aren’t a threat has yet been able to explain how women are supposed to tell the difference between a man who claims to be a transwoman in order to attack women, and a man who claims to be a transwoman just because.

    The only way anyone can claim that no man claiming to be a transwoman has attacked women is by wilfully avoiding all the reporting of such incidents in the news media and on social media, often by the perpetrator himself.

  8. Lady Mondegreen Avatar
    Lady Mondegreen

    Alrighty, Moon.

    In Virginia, a man dressed like woman repeatedly recorded women in mixed sex restrooms:

    https://www.womenarehuman.com/man-dressed-like-a-woman-repeatedly-recorded-women-in-mixed-sex-restrooms-richard-rodriguez/

    Voyeurism in a “gender neutral” restroom at the University of Toronto:

    https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/10/06/u-of-t-bathrooms-voyeurism_n_8253970.html

    A Trans-identified male in Scotland sexually assaulted a ten-year-old girl in one restroom and tried to film a twelve-year-old in another:

    https://www.scotsman.com/regions/edinburgh-fife-and-lothians/female-spaces-need-better-protection-after-trans-woman-sex-assault-girl-say-campaigners-140883

    Trans-identified male tries to film teenager in a Target store in Idaho–okay, this happened in a changing room, not a restroom:

    https://www.eastidahonews.com/2017/01/target-voyeur-sentenced-victim-says-felt-emotional-mutilation-following-incident/

    Speaking of changing rooms, according to a UK study

    The vast majority of reported sexual assaults at public swimming pools in the UK take place in unisex changing rooms, new statistics reveal.

    The data, obtained through a Freedom of Information request by the Sunday Times, suggests that unisex changing rooms are more dangerous for women and girls than single-sex facilities

    https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/women/sexual-assault-unisex-changing-rooms-sunday-times-women-risk-a8519086.html

    You were saying?

  9. Catwhisperer Avatar
    Catwhisperer

    Moon, you sound terribly polite and reasonable, but you gave yourself away at the end there. “Us ladies” are not “going after” trans women. We just don’t want to throw open women’s spaces to men. And yes, I’m using the words “women” and “men” to mean adult human females / males respectively.

  10. Papito Avatar

    I thought he funniest line in Moon’s post was this one:

    men who want to take over women’s rights ARE out there – they just aren’t transpeople – and they actually tend to be more vocal and obvious

    There are two bits there that amused me: first, the assertion that the men who want to take over women’s rights aren’t transpeople; and second, that someone is more vocal and obvious than them.

  11. Domino Avatar

    Lady Mondegreen, don’t expect an answer. Moon won’t have the guts to.

  12. Papito Avatar

    @Lady Mondegreen

    -What, Never?

    -Hardly ever!

  13. Colin Day Avatar

    @Moon

    #1

    They’re sex-segregated restrooms, not gender segregated.

  14. Skeletor Avatar

    Weird, they seem to have deleted the tweet.