Esther Betts
Men – however they identify – shouldn’t be allowed in shelters designed for traumatised women
I am reproducing here a piece I did for The Article website on 06.12.18. Please note that the Twitter account currently linked to from that page is NOT mine.
As I discovered over many years of supporting victims of domestic violence, women trying to escape abusive relationships have often had a succession of violent, controlling partners who’ve sensed their vulnerability, their lack of self-esteem and taken full advantage. Or there may have only been one relationship which, over the course of several years, crushed their spirit and made them feel worthless.
Obviously the first thing such women need is to be somewhere away from their abusers. They need a place where they can be free of fear and where they can begin to heal in peace among people they trust. Shelters are for those women who have nowhere else to go, and, if they are to help women recover and move on, they need to be free of men – however those men “identify”.
At this point I expect some readers to stop reading because of their insistence that “transwomen are women and anyone who disagrees is a transphobe”. That insistence – born, I believe, of a deeply ingrained sense that men’s feelings matter more than women’s – tends to be the knee-jerk response of those unable to argue their corner. If they can’t physically silence dissenters, they run away.
Inside the warped mind of a Trans Rights Activist
A couple of days ago, a “trans rights activist” (TRA) published an article on Medium* entitled, I was one of the transactivists on the Channel 4 documentary, I regret what I did — this is why.
The documentary in question – which was, in my opinion, excellent and well worth watching – was Trans Kids: It’s Time To Talk. It aired last week and can currently be viewed on Vimeo.
Quite a few people on the gender critical side of what is laughingly called this “debate” have applauded the author, Esther Betts, for being courageous. It is a sign of the times we live in that admitting you behaved abominably after the evidence that you did has already been broadcast on national TV, is called “courageous”. However, others – including me – aren’t quite so charitable.
