The BBC manages to say it at last:

Rape crisis centre failed to protect women-only spaces

But don’t get too excited, there’s still plenty of confusion and obfuscation and avoidance.

Rape survivors are no longer being referred to a support service in Edinburgh after a review found it failed to protect women-only spaces. The reviewer’s report said that Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre had not put survivors first or adhered to national service standards.

The report also stated that the CEO of the centre – a transwomen [sic] – failed to behave professionally and did not understand the limits of her authority.

We’re still stuck in the same mud of confusion. The CEO of the centre is a man, and he abused his authority. I don’t think the two reporters on this story – Mary McCool and Lorna Gordon – actually know that Wadhwa didn’t understand the limits of his authority, I think they just wanted to give him as much cover as they could get away with. The whole story reeks of avoidance and distraction. Not least, how could Wadwha not have understood when there were furious women yelling about it for months?

Rape Crisis Scotland said it was “extremely concerned” that the centre had not provided dedicated women-only spaces for 16 months, and as a result had paused new referrals to it.

The national charity, which sets standards for member centres, commissioned the investigation after an employment tribunal found the Edinburgh facility had unfairly dismissed a councillor with gender critical views.

That is, the Edinburgh facility run by a man had unfairly fired a councillor who knows that men are not women and cannot magically become women.

The review concluded that Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre had experienced a number of difficulties…

This included a strategy “which did not put survivors first” and a failure to protect women-only spaces.

There. At least the BBC finally admits that much.

The review also pointed out that the chief executive officer who was appointed in 2021 – Mridul Wadhwa – “did not understand the limits on her role’s authority, when to refer decisions to trustees and failed to set professional standards of behaviour”.

HIS role’s authority. His. He’s a man. The whole point is that he’s a man. He’s not courteous to us; why is the BBC being so “courteous” to him that most readers will continue to be misled into thinking he’s a woman?

In its recommendations, the review said the Edinburgh centre should take advice from Rape Crisis Scotland on the definition of “woman” and publicise this within the service. Women only spaces and times “must be protected and clearly publicised”, it said.

And by “women” it means women. Not men who pretend to be women, not including men who pretend to be women, but just women, actual women.

It said: “The needs of survivors should be listened to and respected when they come to any Rape Crisis Centre. It is important that survivors can make informed choices about the services they access at Rape Crisis Centres, and we recognise that for some survivors this includes the choice of a single sex service.”

For some survivors? Seriously? Do the people who wrote the review seriously think it’s only some women who don’t want to deal with men at a rape crisis center?

There’s still a long way to go.