Will the end of women-only areas do more harm than good?

WEARING make-up and a dress, Travis Alabanza stood in line with friends at the women’s changing rooms at the Manchester branch of Topshop.

With a dress to try on, Travis was about to walk in when the attendant turned the group away and suggested they used the men’s changing area instead.

The reason?

Despite identifying as trans-feminine, in the attendant’s eyes Travis was still clearly a man.

Furious, the performance artist from Bristol posted a series of tweets to Topshop: “Who made you in charge of deciding who is woman enough to use ur changing room?”

Within 24 hours, amid a social media storm, the high-street chain had responded, flagging up that it had already abolished sex-segregated changing areas and recently updated its changing-rooms policy.

Since this incident last month, the debate has raged on.

Should someone who identifies as a woman be allowed to use women-only spaces such as changing rooms, toilets and domestic violence refuges? Or should they have fully transitioned first?

The debate is only set to intensify as the UK government prepares to change the Gender Recognition Act, aiming to make the transitioning process easier.

Under current law, anyone who wants to legally change gender has to apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC).

This involves having lived in your preferred gender for two years, receiving a psychiatric diagnosis of gender dysphoria (the condition where a person feels they don’t belong in their biological sex), and a panel assessment.

In reality, many trans people don’t actually apply for their GRC as they find the process lengthy and demeaning.

Under new proposals, however, trans people could be able to self-declare the gender they choose to live in without needing any medical evidence or proof.

In short, if someone says they identify as a woman, they can have their gender legally recognised through a simple administrative process and then they’ll be able to access places previously only available to people who were born female (AKA cisgender or “cis” women).

Equalities minister Justine Greening has hailed the move as “the next step forward” in advancing transgender rights for the estimated 300,000-500,000 people living in the UK who don’t feel comfortable with their birth gender.*

But as well as those who support the bill, it has plenty of critics, too – especially because there would be no requirement for male-to-female trans people to take female hormones or even have genital reassignment surgery.

As it stands, around 70% of trans women still have male genitals intact.

“While I’m sympathetic to transgender people who also need safe spaces, the majority of people who identify as trans don’t have surgery of any kind, and women generally don’t like being naked and feeling vulnerable around men,” explains feminist author Sarah Ditum.

“The idea that someone like Travis, who looks male and hasn’t transitioned in any way, could use the same curtained-off changing room as me makes me feel uncomfortable.

Standing up for women's privacy is deemed transphobic

"But we’re in a situation now where standing up for women’s right to privacy is deemed transphobic.”

And Sarah isn’t the only one to feel this way.

As news of Travis V Topshop hit headlines, outraged comments flooded social media forums.

One Mumsnet user wrote: “I fully support the right of people to dress how they like, call themselves what they like, and 99% of the time do whatever job they like or live wherever they like… But 1% of the time – women’s prisons, women’s spaces where they are naked and vulnerable, women’s shelters and rape crisis centres – people with penises should not be in these spaces or taking jobs in those places.”

Another posted: “Topshop have thrown women and girls under the bus because of three tweets from one man.”

Other users even called for a boycott of the high-street store, expressing fears that gender-neutral changing rooms could allow “predatory” men access to women-only spaces, putting Topshop’s target market of teenage girls at risk.

It’s an issue Miranda Yardley, a 50-year-old accountant who was born male but had gender reassignment surgery seven years ago, agrees with.

“No one is saying trans people are a problem or more likely to commit assault against women,” she says.

“What we’re saying is it’s impossible to determine who is and who isn’t genuinely trans or non-binary [someone who doesn’t identify as male or female], and women need certain protections and privacies living in a society dominated by men.

"It’s not bigoted and it’s not transphobic. Men and women, and trans men and trans women, have different needs and requirements.”

However Maria Miller, chair of the Women And Equalities Committee who produced the government report on transgender rights, responded to concerns about the bill compromising women’s safety by saying: “These spaces [such as rape crisis centres] carry out a risk assessment before individuals are allowed to use them, and those that pose a risk to safety are not necessarily one gender.”

She also expressed surprise that criticism of the report came from “women who purport to be feminists”.

But concerns aren’t without basis.

In 2012 in Toronto, Canada, Christopher Hambrook claimed to be a trans woman in order to gain access to female shelters where he sexually assaulted two women.

Last year in Seattle, USA, a man undressed in a female locker room at a swimming pool, arguing that he had a right to be there and “testing” a new state rule that allows people to choose a bathroom based on gender identity.

Here in the UK, just last month a report published by campaign group Fair Play For Women revealed that up to half of trans prison inmates may be sex offenders.

Previously unpublicised evidence from the British Psychological Society (BPS) had warned the Commons that some biological men convicted of sex crimes had even falsely claimed to be transgender.

The BPS went on to say the convicts had done so as a means of demonstrating reduced risk and gaining parole, or to seek access to females and young children through presenting in an apparently female way.

There’s also the argument that proposed changes to the gender identity bill might actually weaken the position of transgender people.

“At the moment, people know that you have to go through a long process to live in your non-birth gender,” explains Miranda.

“Replacing the GRC with self-identification means that those [who are hostile to trans people] could simply say: ‘We don’t believe you.’

“When I think about what I went through to transition over many years – two years of counselling and planning the consequences of my decision for all the members of my family – this devalues and trivialises what it means, not least because it’s easy to challenge.”

However, Juno Dawson, 32, an author and activist from Brighton who had surgery to transition from male to female three years ago, says the current system isn’t fit for purpose.

To give trans people special areas is telling us: 'You are different'

“I know a lot of trans people who haven’t bothered applying for a GRC – myself included – because you can change your passport, driving licence and bank account yourself,” she says.

“So having a panel of strangers who’ve never even seen you judge whether you get a birth certificate or not is a very strange system.”

Juno also adds that the idea that men might use this law change to pose as women is “highly unlikely”.

And the suggestion by some that the answer could be having a third separate space for those who identify as trans or gender-neutral is simply another form of segregation, she says.

“To insist we need special areas is like telling trans people: ‘You are different,’” Juno explains.

“Someone who feels uncomfortable in a changing room with a trans person is the same as someone saying: ‘I don’t want to get on a plane with a Muslim because they’re all terrorists.’

It’s appalling. There are no crime statistics to back up these unfounded fears. It’s similar to the ‘80s, when gay men were deemed to be a threat to the general population.”

But Jo Bartosch, director of the women’s group Critical Sisters, disagrees. “While it would be disingenuous to suggest that every trans woman is a potential danger, it is fair to assume that a pair of knickers will not magic away the socialised norms of male behaviour,” she says.

“And this is where the heart of the problem lies – we have a collective blind spot around male violence. It is a sad fact that male violence does not change with gender identities.

"The reason single-sex facilities exist is not because women are prudes, it’s because a significant minority of men are predators.”

So what’s the solution? Jo suggests anyone who wants to be accepted by women should respect their boundaries.

“Travis Alabanza was behaving with classic male entitlement,” she says.

“The #metoo campaign demonstrated just how widespread sexual violence is. Sadly it is a near universal experience for women. Anyone who wants to live as a woman needs to be respectful of this painful truth.”

It’s not a view shared by 23-year-old model Talulah-Eve, who had full gender reassignment surgery last year.

“If anything, I’ve earned more right to womanhood than a cis woman,” she insists.

“I’ve had to fight to be the woman I am now. When I think about all the struggles that I’ve had to go through – being bullied, dismissed by people, rejected from jobs… To separate a trans woman from any other type of woman is just wrong.”

However, Miranda looks at it from a different stance.

“I’m not trying to lay any claim to being a woman,” she explains.

“I have not had the same life, and that’s why I’m happy to define myself as a transsexual woman.”

MOST READ IN FABULOUS

And while many trans women are already able to use female changing rooms without being noticed, Miranda says she goes out of her way to avoid them.

“I tend to buy two of something, try them on at home and take one back,” she explains.

“I don’t particularly like getting changed around people, but I also respect women and girls – and their right to privacy.”

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