The Women's Institute is to revert to being an Institute for Women

So because women are occasionally challenged ( and that happened 30 or so years ago to my friend who is a butch lesbian, it is nothing new)men should be allowed
in female spaces, the answer is no. As soon as my friend spoke, people realised their mistake. Generally, we are very good at noticing someones sex.
We don't consent, and ignoring wonens consent is about as dangerous as it gets.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Ok, so your male-looking ex could attack you in a women’s space, so you think all men should be allowed to access such spaces? I’m not following your logic at all.

No it hasn't. It has been clarified. Organisations interpreted the law in many ways.
As I say transmen ( women) were frequently housed in female prisons.

Nanananabatman

My other concern is that I have a friend who was born a woman who dresses feminine and has a deep voice and is on the tall side who has been accused of being trans and has been made to feel unsafe having abuse shouted at her on the street. All women are now at risk of being cast out of women’s spaces if they don’t align with how someone (probably a male security guard) thinks women should look and that concerns me more than sharing a space with trans women.

Seriously? A female who dresses in a feminine manner has had abuse shouted at her for being ‘on the tall side’?

Is there more to the story, as it seems likely that very many women would be abused in that case, and I haven’t heard of a single one? A very tall woman with cropped hair and a beard who dresses in a suit and hangs around the Ladies in a rough nightclub might attract attention, but a woman in women’s clothing in the street? Where do you live where that goes on?

Also, whilst you have every right to your opinion, the fact that you are more concerned about all women being at risk of being cast out of women’s spaces than about men being in them is neither here nor there. The law states that sex equals birth sex (ie nothing to do with ‘gender’).

Where do you go that has male security guards in the Ladies? And why do you think women’s spaces exist in the first place? What’s the point of having them if they are open to men?

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

There has also been no change in the law, this is the law that always existed, the supreme court clarified the situation.
Transmen ( women) were not excluded from female spaces ( for example due to safety reasons they were often housed in the female prison estate).

How you identify has absolutely nothing to do with your sex. It has been a terribly cruel thing to do to pretend to people that that is the case.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

The other point is transmen retain their female socialisation for the most part and therefore don't tend to make aggressive inroads into traditionally female areas. It's always so obvious when TRAs come onto threads and mention transmen, when the usual very vocal chant is transwomen are women. It's almost like transmen are a very useful tool for rebuttal purposes only 🤷 🙄🙄

Nanananabatman

So your ex is female, regardless of bits chopped off, drugs, a hairy face and a piece of paper.

The trans who have caused the problems for women, by cheating in sports, intimidating, threatening, demanding that females give up their rights are male.

Would you claim that your female ex has acquired all the unacceptable attributes of those male trans?

Have you missed the news that sex is now legally defined as the sex you are at birth? A transwoman is male (so not allowed to join the WI).

And I very much doubt that anyone has ‘forgotten’ about transmen. It’s just that as women we are more concerned about men invading our spaces. If men are interested in banning transmen from their spaces they can deal with that themselves.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Absolutely Oreo 🤪

NanKate

*Sarnia*I too am a member of the WI. I totally agree that the ‘mealy`’ mouthed apology from NFWI was totally pathetic. I have had a number of emails from people in my WI thanking me for speaking up about my concern of the WI accepting biological men in our Institute without a vote from members.

They keep insisting that transwomen are women when
they are patently not. They say they only received 20 letters of complaint but they avoid saying how many emails they got on the subject, at least 6 from me !

The WI top brass seem to have gone down the same silly route as the National Trust.

Sometimes the wandering off is interesting and you can see why it’s gone off at a tangent.

I just couldn’t see any relevance in that though.

Lathyrus3

I don’t understand what the post about police has to do with with the topic of trans in the WI?

It’s a non sequitur.

🤔🙄

You’re right, but so many things on GN are non sequiturs. Depending on your POV it’s irritating or it adds to the discussion, debate etc.

It is look at those men over there, they aren't the same as these men over here. When of course they are exactly the same.
I mean goodness knows where trans policemen fit into this complex categorising of special men.

I don’t understand what the post about police has to do with with the topic of trans in the WI?

It’s a non sequitur.

🤔🙄

Tw are men many are heterosexual. Oh and those violent policemen you talk about re not welcome in women's spaces either.
Creating a 'special category' of men is a safeguarding failure.
Oh and women who were brave enough to talk about this stopped listening to people calling us names about a decade ago now and carried on highlighting the safeguarding of women and children.

Given many of the comments on here, I can see why my Mum did not enjoy attending the WI. I say again, the people that women need to be most afraid of is heterosexual men, not transgender women.

I agree that the information about the police is appalling.
Re the heterosexual men:
TW are men.
When they force their attentions on women, attack or intimidate women or cheat women out of jobs or awards, they are no better than the police you mentioned.

Rosie51 There have been several reports relating to the sexist and racist views of a significant number of police officers. There are two high profile cases, one involving rape and murder and the other involving multiple rapes and coercive/violent behaviour.

In a recent documentary a police sergeant was filmed using the most disgusting, offensive terms about women and was joking about the most intimate details of his encounter with a woman when he was off duty. It was an appalling way to speak in front of junior officers - in fact appalling to think and speak in such a way full stop. He has recently been sacked but that is only because his words were secretly filmed - he'd been in the post for years, setting such a vile example to co-workers.

Of course, that isn't to say that every police officer is like that - but, given the numbers that have been suspended and are being investigated, I think it is reasonable to say that I expect more of people who are supposed to uphold the law and who have such power over people.

Given many of the comments on here, I can see why my Mum did not enjoy attending the WI. I say again, the people that women need to be most afraid of is heterosexual men, not transgender women.