Single-sex spaces

This page is devoted to the conflict over sex-segregated spaces other than prisons, which are on a separate page here.

There are reasons why sex-segregated spaces exist and they pertain to the wish for privacy, dignity and – in the case of women – safety, both physical and mental because many of us are survivors of physical and sexual abuse by men. Wanting to keep male-bodied people – however they “identify” – out of places where vulnerable women are housed (e.g. prisons and refuges) or where women are potentially vulnerable (e.g. hospital wards and changing rooms) is one of the hottest potatoes of the debate around transgenderism. Yet the opinions and feelings of women themselves are being disregarded by most of those in power, who frequently resort to offering the unsupportable and divisive claim that transwomen are women in order to close down debate.

Toilets, bathrooms, restrooms…

…or whatever they are called where you are from, are one of the most commonly searched-for topics on this site. I’ve avoided writing anything about them so far, partly because I feel they are less important than other sex-segregated spaces but mainly because it’s a quandary for which there is no ideal solution.

There is no policy that would be both practicable and acceptable to everyone and would cover every kind of toilet outside the home.

And, by the way, let’s quickly dispense with the unutterably silly argument that I see from time to time on social media that goes like this:

If you don’t have sex-segregated bathrooms at home, why do you need them anywhere else?

Seriously? Do you share your home with complete strangers you know nothing whatever about?

Why not make all toilets “gender-neutral” (by which we mean “mixed-sex”)?

This one sounds less silly and is a nice easy solution for service providers but not acceptable to a great many service users. Of course, many cafes and small restaurants have them. The largest Costa Coffee shop near to where I live, for example, has just one toilet for public use. Nobody minds too much because only one person uses that private space at a time.

But when I went to a party at a North London venue in 2017, I was distressed to find that their idea of “gender-neutral” was to remove the Gents sign and make everyone use these conveniences that were clearly designed for males. Using them entailed walking past men urinating into a troth to get to the cubicles, which had no locks on the doors and were located facing the hand basins. Nightclubs, I would have thought, are places where women are best served by having sex-segregated spaces, where they can escape from drunken predators and make whatever adjustments to their appearance without being gawped at by men.

If you remove the urinals, what do you get? In many public places, even longer queues for the cubicles than there were already. Don’t expect women not to mind queuing even longer than we do already. Look what happened at the Barbican.

The most disturbing and unacceptable kowtowing to gender ideology, as far as I’m concerned, comes from schools. No adolescent girl should have to feel worried about being followed into the toilet and spied on by one or more boys – and vice versa for that matter. We all know how cruel teenagers of both sexes can be. Build additional mixed-sex toilets if you want to reinforce a regressive ideology and encourage youngsters to believe they can be what they are not but don’t take sex-segregated toilets away from them.

Helpful pages from WPUK: Mixed sex toilets in schools and Gender-neutral toilets don’t work for women

The TopShop Debacle

Posie Parker video: Boycott TopShop

 

The above cartoon specifically lampoons the behaviour of one Travis Alabanza and how the fashion chain store, TopShop, caved in to his demands while disregarding the possibility of causing discomfort to the very young women who comprise the bulk of the store’s regular clientele. The point of the cartoon is clearly to point out a possible consequence of having a gender-neutral changing area, which is that sexual perverts – and there is nothing about either of those depicted to suggest they are trans – might abuse the policy for their own gratification.

Rather like these:

Peru: Middle-aged man found hiding in loos dressed as schoolgirl The Telegraph 25.04.23

Mum’s anguish as girl, 9, sexually assaulted in Waterworld communal changing room Birmingham Live 01.12.22

Police officer who filmed woman getting changed in Primark avoids prison

Amazon driver disguised as woman took videos of women, young girls in bathroom at Wrentham Outlets

‘I’m Terrified’: Teen Texts Mom for Help Over NJ Bookstore Bathroom Terror

Girl, 9, catches man filming her mum as she tried on dress in changing room at Sainsbury’s

McDonald’s toilet voyeur jailed for Cambridge sex assault

Tesco pervert caught with head under cubicle in women’s toilets at North Shields supermarket

Anthony Sampieri pleads guilty to kidnapping, raping 7yo in Kogarah dance studio toilet

Teen peeping victim spreads message of vigilance after changing room incident

Pervert filmed 22 women and girls getting changed at Darwen Leisure Centre

Woman says man took photos of her in Target fitting room

Yorkshire man jailed for filming teen girls as they got undressed in changing rooms and bathrooms

Man jailed for filming woman in changing rooms

Man Dressed as Woman Arrested for Spying Into Mall Bathroom Stall

Transgender woman’s behaviour in changeroom unacceptable

The above cartoon upset a few people when I tweeted it because they said it was transphobic though they didn’t explain how and I was left to conclude it was a knee-jerk reaction from a bunch of idiots.

Here’s a superb response from Brendan O’Neill to the TopShop debacle: You are not a woman 19.11.17

 

Survivors of male violence

Open letter to UK Women’s Organisations from female survivors of male violence.
Written by FOVAS (Female-Only, Violence and Abuse Survivors)

 

Female Only provision: A Women and Girls in Scotland Report

Female Only provision: A Women and Girls in Scotland Report 03.06.19

 

Other links

Transgender Coach Changes in Locker Room With Shocked Pennsylvania High School Students Epoch Times  20.08.23

Clampdown on gender-neutral toilets planned by the government Sky News 13.08.23

Row as patients who only ‘temporarily’ identify as female can share single-sex NHS spaces: Health Secretary under pressure to change ‘shocking’ guidance that allows anyone ‘presenting’ as a transwomen onto women’s wards without further questions Mail 11.08.23

Furious trans woman blasts hotel spa after staff asked if she wanted to use the unisex changing rooms and says experience ‘spoilt her day’ Mail 25.07.23

British Swimming changes rules after parents complained that trans pool volunteer, 60, was wandering through female changing rooms while their teenage daughters were using them making the girls feel ‘uncomfortable’ Mail 22.07.23

• • Why Changing Is a Conundrum Following My Change | by Anne Coombes | Medium Medium 17.07.23

16-year-old female swimmer banned by YMCA swim team for not wanting to share locker room with men The Post Millennial 21.07.23

Transwoman moved from female hostel wing over ‘hot totty’ remarks, court hears Brighton and Hove News 21.07.23

Schoolgirls sexually assaulted in gender-neutral toilets The Telegraph 28.06.23

Rape victims will be referred to Rowling’s women-only centre The Times 15.06.23

Hostel let man dressed as woman sleep in female-only room The Telegraph 10.06.23

Less than a third of Britons want trans women in female-only spaces, poll finds The Times 05.06.23

Britons’ support for trans people in single-sex spaces is among lowest The Times 01.06.23

Schoolgirl taken to hospital after boy ‘donkey kicks’ toilet door | UK | News | Express.co.uk Express 16.03.23

Sex attack on woman INSIDE domestic abuse refuge by handyman proves female-only spaces are vital Julie Bindel The Mail 20.02.23

‘Danger and naivety of self-ID’: A man who sexually assaulted a woman in the toilets of Birmingham New Street station claimed he was in there because he identified as female Mail 21.02.23

‘Naked man’ reported in female change room at UEA Sportspark Eastern Daily Press 09.02.23

Mental health trust to introduce single-sex wards BBC 07.02.23

Ban pre-op trans women from female spaces say nearly two thirds of people Express 05.02.23

Gender critical author HELEN JOYCE accuses her son’s prestigious sixth form of risking safety by allows trans pupils to use girls’ toilets and play for female teams The Mail 03.02.23

Gender-neutral toilet ‘was more favourable to men’ says judge as he rules town council discriminated against woman clerk The Mail 03.02.23

Trans activists are taking the piss Jo Bartosch in Spiked 07.09.22

Alan Turing Institute urges women not to approach people they think are in the ‘wrong’ lavatory  The Telegraph 27.08.22

Trans toilet storm at Alan Turing centre as women are advised to turn a blind eye if they feel unsafe Mail 26.08.22

M&S’s ‘gender inclusive’ changing room policy is a mess Debbie Hayton in The Spectator 26.08.22

Why single sex female services are not for biological males Gordon Dangerfield 12.08.22

USA: Women Seeking Civil Rights Stand Up to Mob Hatred and Intimidation in Port Townsend 16.08.22

Video: #LetJulieSwim heckled by trans rights activists in Port Townsend USA16.08.22

Woman, 80, Banned From the City Pool for Refusing to Shower or Change in Front of a Man Matt Osborne 01.08.22

Down the pan: Report claims British public overwhelmingly wants to keep single-sex changing rooms and separate toilets for men and women Mail 12.07.22

Compulsory single-sex loos are an unexpected victory for common sense The Telegraph 04.07.22

Spaces of our own The Critic 02.07.22

Single-sex lavatories to be mandatory in all new public buildings The Telegraph 01.07.22

Backlash against gender-neutral lavatories at National Trust The Times 05.05.22

Rape victim sues crisis centre after transgender woman allowed to join ‘female-only’ therapy group The Telegraph 03.05.22

Women-only public toilets to be reinstated in Camden Town Camden New Journal 21.04.22

Has the transgender bathroom question finally been answered? Debbie Hayton in The Spectator 05.04.22

Women’s Aid groups at odds on single-sex spaces The Times 04.04.22

Women’s groups claim they are being EXCLUDED from ‘flawed’ NHS review into mixed hospital wards as leading ‘trans advocate’ tells campaigners rules that allow patients to self-identify their gender will not be changed Mail 16.03.22

Fears over ‘flawed’ NHS single-sex wards review carried out by ‘trans advocate’ The Telegraph 15.03.22

Women’s privacy is flushed away Mail 01.03.22

Gender neutral loos prove we’ve all gone mad Sarah Vine in The Mail 22.02.22

Women’s groups unite in bid to secure safe single-sex spaces The Times 15.02.22

Nurses ‘sacked for speaking out about transgender patients on single-sex wards’ The Telegraph 10.02.22

From school loos to changing rooms, female-only spaces are being disappeared – this is not OK The Telegraph 07.12.21

Why WERE two 6ft men allowed in my Zara changing room as I stood there in a bra? Mail 04.12.21

Don’t base access to women’s toilets on self-ID, say voters The Times 27.11.21

NHS hospitals will be given guidance on preserving single sex wards The Telegraph 16.10.21

NHS ‘gaslighting’ patients over trans women on female-only wards, nurse claims The Telegraph 05.10.21

No exceptions for single-sex wards Debbie Hayton 04.08.21

Why I fear the sanctity of single sex wards is under threat from trans rights Baroness Nicholson 03.08.21

Safety fears for patients as NHS allows trans sex offenders in female-only wards The Telegraph 02.08.21

Woman protests entitled man in women’s changing room at Los Angeles spa LA magazine 29.06.21

Sainsbury’s is putting ‘trans ideology’ above staff welfare by ‘dismissing female workers fears over same-sex toilets after advice from Stonewall’, whistleblower claims Mail 27.06.21

Return of ladies and gents lavatories, as ministers tell architects all new buildings must have separate facilities The Telegraph 15.05.21

Dogma is destroying women’s safe havens Janice Turner in The Times 27.02.21

Home Office women driven out of mixed lavatories The Times 17.02.21

Women win guarantee over female-only public lavatories The Times 31.10.20

Woman raped in homeless shelter as campaigners call for more support for the vulnerable Coventry Telegraph 08.10.20

Protecting men at the women’s shelter Feminist Current 13.09.20

Scotland: School lavatory gender rules still in force after ministers rejected them The Times 15.08.20

Furious parents blast secondary school for opening gender-neutral toilets without telling them – fitted with a CCTV camera – and say their children are being ‘unfairly’ pushed to use them Mail 13.08.20

Single sex spaces: The incoherence of government guidance Maya Forstater 25.05.20

Marks & Spencer’s changing room policy puts girls at risk of voyeurism, campaigners say Telegraph 24.05.20

Marks & Spencer’s transgender policy which allows men who identify as women to use female changing rooms ‘puts women and girls at risk’ from voyeurs, say campaigners Mail 23.05.20

“The transman gotcha” Maya Forstater 23.05.20

Council ditches trans guidance on lavatories after girl’s victory The Times 09.05.20

U-turn on trans toilets in schools: Parents force council to pull guidance allowing transgender pupils to use girls’ loos and dormitories Mail 27.04.20

Single sex spaces are a question of consent Maya Forstater 26.04.20

Parents force council to suspend transgender advice The Times 25.04.20

Girl launches changing room privacy case The Times 23.04.20

Edinburgh rape crisis centre forced to defend gender-neutral toilets after criticism Edinburgh Live 04.03.20

School closes gender-neutral bathroom after alleged sexual assault Christian Post 02.03.20

‘Woke’ gender-neutral lavatories should be scrapped, says Tory peer Telegraph 25.02.20

Duncan Bannatyne wades into transgender row after changing rooms tweet Daily Record 21.02.20

Judge criticises Cork hospital after teenage girl assaulted in ward RTE 13.02.20

Teenage girl launches judicial review against guidance which says she must share lavatories with trans girls Telegraph 06.02.20

Trans Identified Males Should Not Be Accessing Women’s Spaces Uncommon Ground 29.01.20

Schools warned that they could face legal action if they fail to allow trans pupils to use toilets of choice Telegraph 29.01.20

Transwomen in the changeroom: My Experience as a Lifeguard Reddit post 01.01.20

Trans Identified Males Should Not Be Accessing Women’s Single-Sex Spaces Issy Dickinson 28.12.19

Female staff shun MoD’s new £15k gender-neutral toilets Mirror 28.12.19

Local council may be sued over shared school lavatories The Sunday Times 14.12.19

Gender-neutral toilets at Brisbane high school cause outrage NZ Herald 09.12.19

Single-sex schools changing admissions to allow transgender pupils to head off legal threats Independent 01.12.19

Women hospital patients who complain about having a biological male in the next bed ‘risk being kicked off wards under new NHS transgender guidelines’ Mail 01.12.19

Flushing Female Loo Provision Down The Bog Emily Garcia Resisters United 30.11.19

School Allows Transgenders into Girls’ Locker Rooms. Trans Student Celebrates, Girl Fights Tears. Louder with Crowder 20.11.19

Chicago: District 211 grants transgender students unrestricted locker-room access 14.11.19

John Lewis in gender-neutral row after telling customers to use whichever fitting room ‘makes them feel most comfortable’ Mail 16.11.19

Man admits sexually assaulting patient (17) in hospital ward Irish Times 15.11.19

Chicago: District 211 grants transgender students unrestricted locker-room access 14.11.19

Are unisex toilets a good or bad idea in Milton Keynes secondary schools? MK Citizen 14.11.19

Woman goes to Sheffield M&S pretending she’s a man to protest trans-inclusive changing rooms The Sheffield Tab 10.11.19

‘It’s bizarre’ – Mum’s anger as KFC axes women-only toilets at North Staffordshire restaurant Stoke on Trent Live 10.11.19

Against Gender-Neutral Bathrooms  Madeleine Kearns 06.11.19

Center Parcs stands firm over where trans people get changed The Sunday Times 03.11.19

No more ladies and gentlemen in gender‑neutral theatreland The Sunday Times 03.11.19

M&S sparks gender-neutral fury after telling male and female customers to use whichever fitting room they ‘feel comfortable’ in Mail 02.11.19

M&S customer ‘outraged’ over gender-inclusive fitting room The Independent 02.11.19

Ladies’ or men’s? Use whichever fitting room you feel comfy in, says M&S The Times 01.11.19

From the red carpet to real life… SUSANNA REID: Why we MUST keep the Ladies’ loos for the ladies Mail 10.10.19

There is no problem with trans people in bathrooms Meghan Murphy 09.10.19

A theatre with inadequate women’s toilets is a theatre that doesn’t care about women Sarah Ditum 07.10.19

Women can’t win when it comes to loo queues Caroline Criado Perez in The Sunday Times 06.10.19

Girls are skipping school to avoid sharing gender neutral toilets with boys after being left to feel unsafe and ashamed Mail 05.10.19

The bathroom debate is a man’s issue entransd 05.10.19

Transgender patients can choose to be treated on male or female wards, new NHS guidance says The Telegraph 01.10.19

Men need to step up if we are really to be inclusive Catriona Stewart The Herald 27.09.19

North Carolina: Bathroom confusion leads to protest at North Buncombe High School 16.09.19

Scott Morrison asks for removal of signs giving people choice of bathroom on basis of gender identity Guardian 29.08.19

Mixed sex facilities, safe spaces, and the girls who get hurt because “it’ll never happen”. JJ Barnes 16.08.19

I’m against gender neutral public toilets, and this is why JJ Barnes 04.08.19

Middlesbrough Council to trial to gender-neutral toilets The Northern Echo 10.07.19

Woman is slammed on social media for saying she felt ‘VIOLATED’ after a man used a gender-neutral bathroom while she was in it Mail 09.07.19

We Need Sex-Segregated Toilets to Ensure Safety of Women and Girls Alessandra Asteriti 09.07.19

Response to Stonewall FOVAS 02.07.19

Chelmsford mum finds ‘hidden camera’ in Costa toilet BBC 15.06.19

Poll: Women in Scotland want to retain single-sex facilities The Scotsman 05.06.19

Sorry wagamama i love your food but i hate your mixed sex toilets Fair Play for Women 01.06.19

Wagamama to make its toilets gender-neutral Guardian 31.05.19

Can’t we all have a view on spaces for women? The Times 30.05.19

Pervert filmed 22 women and girls getting changed at Darwen Leisure Centre Lancs Telegraph 23.05.19

Strictly Orthodox women ‘to take action’ against opening Hampstead Heath Ladies Pond to transgender swimmers Jewish Chronicle 23.05.19

Transgender swimmers given official access to ladies’ pond at Hampstead Heath ITV News 23.05.29

Men ‘should accept trans women in changing rooms’ The Times 07.05.19

Students Do Not Have the Right to NOT Be Seen Naked By Opposite Sex, Judge Rules Women Are Human 30.04.19

‘Cross-dressing males’ to be allowed in women-only gym sessions in Glasgow Herald 22.04.19

Boys stormed a girls’ bathroom to ‘protest.’ A girl got expelled for fighting back, family says. Washington Post 15.04.19

ACTION: Call on Abraham Lincoln High School to Honor the Rights of Female Students to Safety and Privacy Gender Critical Action Center 14.04.19

Men who identify as women in Leeds can ‘change their gender’ with just a single phone call – without medical or legal proof Mail 14.04.19

Women’s Refuge Opens Doors to Male Transgender Who Threatened to Kill His Female Partner: Melissa (neé Mark) Addis Women Are Human 11.04.19

The inconvenient truth about unisex loos is that women – my wife especially – loathe them Dominic Lawson 08.04.19

When he was a man called Mark he was locked up after threatening to kill the mother of his child… today she’s a woman called Melissa and able to roam free at a shelter for female domestic violence victims Mail 06.04.19

Canada’s oldest rape crisis centre stripped of city funding for refusing to accept trans women National Post 18.03.19

Unisex toilets at new £47m Scots school could be removed over privacy fears The Scotsman 19.03.19

Now girl gymnasts have to share changing rooms with boys who identify as female (and trans girls don’t have to wear ‘revealing’ leotards) Mail 10.03.19

Refuges should be places where women feel safe – too often they’re not Morning Star 07.03.19

Swedish man ‘performs sex act in front of woman’ during monthly LGBTQ steam room session Mail 06.03.19

Transgender NHS rules that allow men to share women’s wards if they identify as female to be reviewedTelegraph 04.03.19

Row over Dundee Rep’s new toilet gender policy Courier 04.03.19

Warning after transgender sex offender placed in women’s hostel Courier 26.02.19

What are gender-free toilets, do we need them and should our schools have them? Sunday Post 17.02.19

Unisex toilets in schools are leaving girl pupils ‘too afraid to use the loo over fears of ‘period shaming’, sexual harassment and a lack of privacy’ Mail 17.02.19

Pupils are missing school because they don’t like mixed sex toilets and ‘period shaming’ is one of the main issues Wales Online 15.02.19

Women’s campaign group calls for ‘urgent’ investigation into gender neutral toilets at Tayside schools  The Courier 12.02.19

Pervert Stewart Ogorman admits flashing and spying on woman Brighton Argus 08.02.19

Female-only spaces ‘must be given greater protection’ The Times 06.02.19

When Feminists Abandon Girls City Journal 03.02.19

Human rights complaint filed over trans bathroom in BC tribunal office Daily Hive 29.01.19

Girls encounter ‘naked man’ at Palm Springs Swim Center. Police say person ‘self-identified as female’ Channel 3 News 23.01.19

Why did trans women lead the Women’s March? Jo Bartosc 23.01.19

D.C. restaurant fined $7,000 for trying to stop transgender woman from using women’s bathroom Yahoo 18.01.19

Anger over ‘naked men’ at unisex changing rooms in Bath BBC 14.01.19

Alaska: Faith-based shelter fights to keep out transgender women AP News 12.01.19

NHS trans row as men get access to women’s wards if they identify as female Telegraph 10.01.19

Should companies install gender neutral bathrooms? Holly Lawford-Smith 03.01.19

Uni says sorry for barring trans man from using men’s toilet Metro 31.12.18

Criminal Records Show Women Are Prudent To Not Want Men In Their Bathrooms The Federalist 19.12.18

Criminal Records Show Women Are Prudent To Not Want Men In Their Bathrooms Jamie Schupe 09.12.18

Men – however they identify – shouldn’t be allowed in shelters designed for traumatised women Maria MacLachlan 06.12.18

Man arrested, accused of recording women in dressing room at Woodland Hills Mall Fox23 News 05.12.18

It’s always about toilets. It’s never about toilets. It’s Not A Zero Sum Game blog 20.11.18

Ambulance chiefs trap defacer of unisex signs The Times 18.11.18

Anger as gender neutral toilets introduced at primary school without parents knowing
Warrington Guardian 02.11.18

Women accuse Poverello House of allowing transgender resident to sexually harass them Fresno Bee 12.10.18

A Gentleman In The Ladies Jean Hatchet 11.10.18

Youth Hostels Association allow trans guests to use female dormitories Times 08.10.18

Transgender toilet row – Protesters gather outside Lion Yard toilets to oppose changes Cambridgeshire Live 30.09.18

Transgender councillor criticises proposed change to Cambridge City Council equality policy amid toilets row Cambridge Independent 26.09.18

Unisex changing rooms put women at danger of sexual assault, data reveals Independent 02.09.18

Parents anger over new ‘gender neutral’ toilets in primary schools Herald Scotland 22.08.18

Anti-Discrimination Laws Are Wielded against a Shelter for Battered Women in Alaska National Review 16.08.18

Berlin’s new toilets: Would you use a women’s urinal? BBC online 11.08.17

Forced to share a room with transgender woman in Toronto shelter, sex abuse victim files human rights complaint National Post 02.08.18

One thousand people sign petition for greater privacy at pool changing rooms Wales online 27.7.18

Gender‑neutral toilets: My daughter was called selfish for wanting girls‑only loos at school Times 26.06.18

Man admits filming women in nightclub toilets BBC online 22.06.18

Debate over inclusion of trans women in women-only spaces intensifies Guardian 09.02.18

Women’s refuges may get transgender staff The Sunday Times 04.02.18

Sex pests target women in mixed changing rooms The Times 04.02.18

Lancaster mum with “fear of men” locked on hospital ward with transgender patient Lancaster Guardian 18.01.18

An Open Letter to Topshop Jeni Harvey 10.11.17

Transgender policies in schools ‘a waste of time and money’, claims leading academic Independent 23.06.17

A man in the restroom at Disneyland the get real mom blog 13.03.17

Shelter forced women to shower with person who identified as a transgender woman and sexually harassed them, lawsuit says Action News 23.05.18

Our swimming pond is NOT gender fluid: Fury of Hampstead Heath ladies after men identifying as women are allowed into their famous bathing lake Daily Mail 30.12.17

Miscarriages in pub toilets. Is gender neutral ready?  Fair Play for Women 05.12.17

Women’s right to sit comfortably Museum of London 06.09.17

Man abuses trans rules to strip in woman’s (sic) bathroom Pink News 18.02.16

A Rape Survivor Speaks Out About Transgender Bathrooms Kaeley Triller Haver 23.11.15

University of Toronto alters bathroom policy after two reports of voyeurism The Star 5.10.15

When I was raped, it was female-only spaces that helped me recover Rachel Hewitt 24.02.15

 

And, finally, another cartoon from the extraordinary Feminist Heretic.