Is this the day?
Ah yes “Emily” Bridges, the man who forced his way into women’s cycling. ITV thought he would be a good person to chat with about issues that affect women.
Emily Bridges, Britain’s best known transgender athlete, says last week’s Supreme Court ruling on gender has “painted a target” on the back of trans women.
Who says he’s best known?
If he is best known it’s for being a man who cheats by racing as a woman.
“It increases levels of vulnerability,” she told ITV News. “You go out of the house thinking ‘is this the day that someone is going to shout at me, attack me?'”
Oh really? Is that what it does? Now think about what it does for women.
She said she reacted to the court’s decision with disbelief: “I felt, like it has painted, like, more of a kind of target on our back since because it’s…..been wall to wall coverage across social media and across the news and, of course, the newspapers”.
Now think about how women feel.
But of course he won’t. Could not care less.
Bridges also believes the judgement stokes the toxicity and extreme views. “The public expression on both sides has increased in intensity and vitriol,” she said. “People are now feeling more comfortable to express hateful views. Not just trans people but about people of colour, immigrants, religious minorities and there’s been a massive rise in sexism.”
Much if not all of it coming from people who claim to be trans.
Bridges says, despite the ruling, she will continue to use women only spaces: “I am going to keep using the spaces I’ve always used. I’m perceived as female in the street, I am greeted with ‘Miss’, I’m perceived as a women, I’m going to use a female changing room, I’m going to use a female toilet.”
But how about the women who feel intimidated or unsafe by trans women using their changing rooms, what about their feelings?
Yes what about them? I mean us? Thank you for asking at last.
“I understand if you see someone you think is trans and you have a certain view, but how do you know who is trans? The policing of toilets which has already been happening, is if you’re not welcome in a toilet you’ll be asked to leave. That’s how it works.”
Beautiful compassion. I’m all verklempt.
Right. And women go out of the house thinking,
“Is this the day a man is going to kill me?”
“Is this the day that an entitled man is going to rape me in what’s supposed to be a women-only space?”
“Is this the day I’m going to become an involuntary porn actor with my image permanently on the internet, because men were allowed in women’s spaces to set up hidden cameras?”
“Is this the day that a male player will severely injure me when he participates in women’s sport?”
“Is this the day that my prison sentence includes rape and/or impregnation by a LARPing man in my cell/unit?”
Shouting at you is SO MUCH worse!
And then the person you correctly identified as a man starts screaming at you and calls the manager to have you thrown out.
On one hand, this is a welcome acknowledgement. The vitriol is certainly not just coming from one side. On the other hand, I’m not all that happy at the implication that there are only two sides here, especially not when considering the immediately-following characterization of one of those sides as deeply bigoted and hateful. (When I first read it, I thought that Bridges was acknowledging that “trans people” were expressing “hateful views.” Then I realized he’d just skipped a preposition.)
There’s also the little matter of who has more right to vitriol? Is it men who grab everything that belongs to women, or is it women who object to men who grab everything that belongs to women?
[…] a comment by maddog1129 on Is this the […]
You mean extreme views like this?
So you can add “predator” alongside “cheat” on your CV.
But you believe calling you a man is a hateful view, even though that is what you are, and always will be. I’m not going to accept your definition of “hateful” any more than your definition of “woman.”
And here you go using bigotry against others as a human shield. Telling you you’re male, and keeping you out of female, single-sex spaces is not extreme, hateful or vitriolic. It is not bigotry. It is not comparable in any way to the actual bigotry experinced by these other groups, among whom you’re hoping to hide. You’re getting pushback against your intrusion into women’s spaces and women’s sports. You’re not a martyr or a victim. Any “target” on your back is one you painted there yourself, and one you share with others who violate female spaces.
You are a threat and risk to women, just like the voyeurs, stalkers, flashers, and rapists with whom you should now be counted. You’re not that special; you’re just are another man who enjoys violating women’s boundaries. There are lots of your type. The only thing that makes you “special”, and has let you get away with what you’ve done already, is the fact that a disgustingly large number of people think you and your fellow trans identified males are victims and heroes who deserve the things you’ve stolen, and whose whims and desires count more than the health, safety, and dignity of women.
Now your unlimited, all-access pass to women’s spaces is being revoked, or at least drastically limited. Fewer people will accept your claims because they are no longer compelled to do so. Particularly women; for whom this judgement is a welcome respite from an onslaught of state sponsored intimidation and thugery. It looks like the times they are a-changing. You likely “pass” a lot less frequently than you believe. With this judgement to back them, fewer women will be cowed into acceptance and withdrawal in the face of your intrusions. If they’re lucky, maybe more police officers will start taking their side instead of yours. Maybe what you should be asking yourself is “Is this the day I’ll be arrested?”
We can hope.
‘Is this the day I’ll be arrested?’ not by the secret police for expressing dissident views, but for deliberately breaking a law I am well aware of and which following will not harm me or inconvenience me in the slightest.
Keep using the spaces he’s always used? So that would have been the men’s until just a few years ago.
Poor bloke. He knows, you see, that women refusing to let men have whatever they want is far more devastating than men killing women.
If he can’t own everything he desires, if he can’t go wherever he pleases without needing to ask for permission, if he can’t swan through life without a care in the world about anything and anyone but himself, then he’s being literally genocided!
No you’re not, you liar. You “always” used boys’ and men’s toilets your whole life, up until you decided you could win more by lying about your sex. You pretend to be a woman because that way you can cheat. You didn’t use women’s bathrooms until you thought of this cheating scheme. It’s a twofer: there’s the advantage in the sport, but there’s also the gratification you get from terrorizing women (and getting praised for it). You get your jollies in two ways: by looking at the women, and by forcing them to look at you. It is a power play, intended to intimidate.