@Pricey So, with that definition, it sounds very much a good thing for both men and women. We all would be positively uplifted by the shedding of stereotypes.

@Pricey For sure, it is very important for women to be represented by women. Historically speaking you truly can't trust men to represent women. The data is all there and very clear.

@Pricey @surasanji Do you think there are any differences between males and females in regards to character/personality?

@sim @Pricey There are differences in personality/character between any two people.

@surasanji @Pricey Right, but does sex have no influence on it then?

@Pricey @sim Cole Porter is fantastic. Don't care much for football, though. :P

@Pricey @sim I am required by 'best friend' code to cheer for Arsenal, despite not really caring whatsoever. I'm sorry.

@sim @Pricey Potentially, but how much that influence effects an individual would be difficult to tell. As Pricey has pointed out there are also external factors to consider.

@surasanji @Pricey Yeah, it's hard to measure how much is influenced. I guess this becomes in part a nature vs nurture argument.

@Pricey @surasanji Yeah. It's a question that continues to fascinate me. I have yet to find the answer. How much of what we say is gender, is just being human? There is so much variety when it comes to something like personality that it is hard to pin something down as being male or female. There will also be other influences like peer pressure or society, our childhood and the current conditions we're in that shape how we choose to view ourselves and our personality.

But I do think that biologically, there is going to be some influence on our traits. Although those tend to be more generalisations, and not everyone will fit that. If there is a place for those generalisations, I guess we can only decide that for ourselves and how it fits our ideas about this topic.

@Pricey @surasanji I would certainly like to see more acceptance for males that want to present themselves as more feminine... but still considered as males. I think we've come a long way here for females... and I would see the same for males. Women are still women, even though they behave what gets considered masculine, even down to the clothing and interests.

But on the other hand, I do think that people can hate their own body or sex, that they can feel it is wrong or doesn't define them. That they can dissociate and disconnect. But it probably helps that I've had firsthand experience of similar happening to me. It's something you have to explore and work through for yourself to find the answer that works for you. I don't know that there is an answer that works for everyone. People have to decide what their own priority is, how they want to present themselves and who they want to be. And they might need support with figuring that out.

@sim @Pricey Women should be allowed to feel safe in their spaces.

I do agree that there are some people who are dysphoric, and that is absolutely a mental illness that requires treatment- much as my Bipolar requires treatment for me to be healthy.

I am now, however, well educated enough in psychology to say how, exactly, these persons should best be treated. I take medication to help me be healthy, I go to therapy, I learn how my brain works and how to live with my condition.

If the best practice for these few people is surgery, hormones, and what haves you, then so be it. I doubt the majority of the peoples who with SRS and all the rest are same people who are making women's spaces unsafe for women.

Basically, if you've got a penis you don't belong in the women's bathroom or at the women's gym. If you've gone all the way with SRS, hormones, medicines, what have you, maybe there is an argument there- but it specifically isn't my space to argue for or against. It's not my bathroom or changing room that these individuals would be asking to enter.

I feel like, ultimately, I can have an opinion and I'll share it freely but the decision has to be made by women when it comes to the whole spaces thing. It's up to them to share or not share these spaces, and people need to remember that no one is REQUIRED to share their private spaces.

This isn't like desegregating schools which is an absolute good, after all.

@surasanji @Pricey I would agree with you there. I'll also add that in one of my workplaces, there was a transwoman who used the female bathroom. I didn't feel unsafe sharing it in that case, but then she made the effort and wasn't threatening. It helps that bathroom stalls are separate.

The problem comes when there isn't that divide like in some changing rooms and showers. But even in that case, I'm afraid of other women. It's hard to escape the changing rooms when you are being bullied in them and need them to get changed. You are exposed in more than one way.

I think there is a case against admitting transwomen into female sports competitions because they would still have the strength of males. They would have the advantage and it wouldn't be fair. I'd be for a competition for transwomen to compete with each other though, I just don't know if there is the numbers for it.

@Pricey @surasanji Yeah. That is a concern. It's the people that aren't honest that spoil it for people who really have dysphoria for instance. I'd also be worried because there is the potential for abuse even within the trans community, but those types are also in other groups. Like there is domestic abuse within many lesbian couples.

@sim @Surasanji @Pricey trap rights