Six women
Thanks, Guardian. Even when talking about women’s safety, do be sure to include a man who pretends to be a woman, despite the fact that that kneecaps the whole issue.
Saoirse Ronan’s comment about women’s safety on The Graham Norton Show has gone viral after she said using a phone as a weapon is something “girls have to think about all the time”. Ronan later said the reaction has been “wild” and that the moment was “opening a conversation”.
Here, six women tell us what they think about the comments and how they feel about women’s safety.
Except it’s actually five women plus one man for the sake of inclooooooooosion. Which is like having one tiger in a conversation about humans’ safety from large predatory animals.
I’m a trans woman who only came out fully a couple of years ago. My style is everyday, nothing provocative, and I’m always taken for a woman. Walking home from the bus at night for the first time and feeling really unsafe I suddenly realised – this is what women go through the whole time. I’ve always been aware and supportive of women’s issues but even so, it was a horrible, shaming epiphany to realise that I’d seen past this basic fact of women’s lives. It’s so easy to ignore a danger or threat if you don’t have to experience it yourself. Kim, 60, classical musician, Sweden
To be fair, he is admitting his own cluelessness about this basic fact about women’s lives, but still – when the Guardian tells us here are six women commenting it should refrain from sneaking in a man.
I’m not kidding – when I saw that “six women” headline in the Guardian this morning, I immediately thought “I wonder how many People of Gender there will be?” and expected one male woman and one female they-themmer. I was wrong about the female they-themmer.
Yeah. It appears the Guardian (and BBC, Indy, etc) cannot use the word “women” now if there isn’t at least one man inclooded. Not EVER.
Side-note:
One reason (beyond all the obvious ones) I don’t think transwomen should be in rape shelters for women is actually highlighted in the last paragraph. Think about the implications of that last paragraph, and apply it to actually being a rape victim, instead of just being nervous about it. You spent years and money and went through intense medical procedures, all in the name of claiming an identity that wasn’t yours, and you think you’ve succeeded… only to discover the ultimate downside of that identity, the thing you were never warned about all that time your doctors and therapists and online support brigade were cheering you on. Navigating that intense cognitive dissonance? That’s gonna require specialist care, vitally distinct from the care given to female victims.