STOP USING MY SAFETY AS AN EXCUSE TO VILIFY INNOCENT HUMAN BEINGS

I am apprehensive to share my thoughts publicly, I'm so scared of saying the wrong thing. However, I come from a privileged position and the fear I feel will never equate to the fear some will be feeling as a result of this total fucking nightmare. So here's what I have to say: 

STOP USING MY SAFETY AS AN EXUSE TO VILIFY INNOCENT HUMAN BEINGS. 

I have never and will never be bothered about who is pissing and shitting in what toilet. Instead, I do have a very legitimate fear of being attacked by men, I have enough common sense though to understand that they don't need to go to the truly exhausting lengths of being recognised as a transperson to this. If a man wants to attack a woman, he will just do it, because they do, every fucking day. They don't even need the privacy of a cubicle do it, they'll do in the fucking street and no one will say anything because we have created an environment in this country where violence against women is considered the norm. 

You are not concerned for our safety, you never have been. If you were, rape convictions wouldn't be at such a disgusting low it's essentially decriminalised, we wouldn't still be having conversations about abortion and domestic violence, and you wouldn't let the media keep raising our girls without the tools to use their voices and our boys with unwavering entitlement.

If you're truly concerned about people dressing up and pretending to be something they're not as a disguise to attack woman, where is your terror at the state of our police force? I have never feared a woman putting lippy on in the mirror beside me, but I do feel my body tense when I walk past male police officers, I feel the pang of sadness sickening my stomach because of the lack of action and reform after Sarah Everard's murder. But to defund and reform, to vet and deny positions to power-hungry-psychopaths would be an act of dismantling your own governmental power. Authority and hierarchy is nothing without fear. 

That is why they pick on the most vulnerable, and right now that is our trans friends and family. It happened to our gay friends and family in the 1980s, and where are they now? Well they died. The government let them die of AIDs. The government probably won't get lucky enough to have another epidemic fall into their laps, instead their going to rely on you being dumb enough to believe their lies and lazy enough to not educate yourselves - don't let this government take you for a fucking mug. You are better than that. They don't care about you, they care about keeping the power in their hands and the money in their pockets and they can only do that if you continue to ignore their crimes and believe the false ones they feed you. 

This country will have blood on its hands. Rishi Sunak and Kier Starmer will have blood on their hands. Anyone who continues to deny trans existences and propagate lies about women's safety will have blood on their hands. Every time you chose to believe a man would dress up as a woman to attack women in public toilets you are inciting hate and violence towards trans people, and you are choosing to ignore the real violence threatening women. You are in fact enabling very real, very heavily backed with statistics violence. You are choosing to dirty your hands too. Oh, and if you claim you are a feminist and fearing transwomen is your biggest concern? I hope you're fucking ashamed of yourself. 

As a woman I have to live with fear every day. I carry a small helping of fear with me every time I leave the house and every time I use the internet and consume media. And to know the fear I feel as a straight white woman, I can not imagine how that fear is amplified for women of colour, disabled women, queer women and transwomen. That fear we feel, however intense, is very real and valid and it is never taken fucking seriously. Therefore, I refuse to let anyone weaponise something they refuse to acknowledge to attack a very vulnerable group of human beings. I will not contribute to the bloodshed, because in this environment transpeople and women are going to continue to die. I will use my privilege and I will fight for something better no matter how fucking terrified I am, and I believe we all have the capacity to do the same. 

Always remember, you might have met a transperson, you might know a transperson without knowing you know them, you might even have one living with you. Your actions during this time will define how safe and supported that person feels in your presence.

Trans rights are human rights. Trans lives matter. I stand with my trans friends and send them all my love and support during this fucking nightmare. 💙💗🤍💗💙