Maya Forstater

In all the time I've spent on this topic, the idea that women's rights are threatened by trans rights has been presented as, let's say, excessively hypothetical. If there is real solid reason to believe that /both/ parties will be less safe then they are now I haven't seen it yet

And finding this potential evidence is made all the harder by far too many encounters with people who argue in bad faith purely for their own interests with seemingly little regard for someone else's pain or struggle

Ultimately I want everyone to feel safe, I really honestly do. But there are prejudices at play that are real and cannot be excused because they are just a 'belief'. And no one will be truly protected until we make sure the conversation is rooted in compassion and not fear

Tbh I think the conversation will always involve fear as a large element, many women are afraid of men and that's one of the reasons so many fear the removal of single sex spaces.

Being afraid doesn't automatically make someone right, and it certainly isn't a license to inflict pain on someone else. Especially if that person is as likely to be victimized by the same group you're afraid of. Solidarity in the face of shared threats is stronger than division

If the fear is of trans people themselves, that's blatantly ridiculous. Having a penis doesn't instantly make someone a threat to anyone by virtue of that alone, I know from more than a great deal of personal experience in the matter

If the fear is of men sneaking in under the cover of being trans, not only does that seem like a pretty hypothetical scenario based on everything I've encountered, there's literally nothing that can prevent that from happening whether trans people are allowed or not

Unless you want everyone to present special papers or drop their pants to get in the door every time, all that changes is innocent people who pose no threat to anyone are excluded on the basis of a medical condition they're attempting to rectify