Lisaluloves

#IStandWithJKRowling Passionate about books, reading, learning and enlightenment.

[Caroline Farrow @CF_Farrow]

I want to recap what actually happened at M&S, because some people seem determined to turn this into something it was not.

I went early evening because I thought the shop would be quieter. I was shopping with my teenage daughter, who is autistic and has sensory issues around clothing.

Anyone who parents a child with sensory difficulties will understand how hard clothes shopping can be. Fabric, fit, seams, tightness, waistbands, labels, texture, all of it matters. Something can look perfectly fine on the hanger and be completely unbearable once worn.

Ordering several sizes online and returning them is neither logistically nor economically feasible for us, and in any case my daughter likes to touch and see things before deciding whether she is comfortable with them. That approach simply doesn’t work for her.

So, for the avoidance of doubt, nothing would have suited me better than for my daughter to be able to try the clothes on and ensure she has enough things to see her through Summer.

That was the whole point of going to the changing rooms.

I was not looking for confrontation. I was not trying to make a political point. I was trying to make an ordinary shopping trip work for an autistic teenage girl who finds clothes difficult.

I walked into the changing area calmly and practically. My intention was to find a suitable cubicle, ideally the larger disabled one, check that it felt safe and manageable, and then encourage my daughter to follow me in.

That was the plan.

Had she been able to try the clothes on, it would have saved time, stress, uncertainty, returns, and the familiar nightmare of buying something that later turns out to be impossible for her to wear.

So the idea that I somehow wanted there to be a problem is absurd.

The changing room was supposed to be the solution.

The problem arose when my daughter became distressed by the presence of a male member of staff supervising the changing area. I had not anticipated her reaction. It was not scripted by me. I did not wind her up. I did not march in looking for a row.

She reacted. I saw her distress. I took it seriously.

And yes, I think a teenage girl, particularly an autistic teenage girl, is entitled to feel safe and comfortable in a changing-room environment.

This is not complicated. It is not about hating anyone. It is not about being difficult. It is not about “vibes” or emotional projection or whatever patronising theory people wish to attach to it online.

It is about a vulnerable young woman trying to buy clothes, and finding that the space provided did not feel safe or appropriate to her.

Parents of autistic children spend a lot of time trying to prepare, adapt, reassure, smooth things over, and make ordinary life manageable. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t.

On this occasion, it didn’t.

But I will not apologise for taking my daughter’s distress seriously. Or believing that M&S should change their policy.

[Sall Grover @salltweets]

GIGGLE V TICKLE APPEAL DECISION

FRIDAY MAY 15, 2PM AEST

Federal Court, Sydney

Live streamed

https://t.co/0vsdBdlUU5 🩷

[𝕄𝕖 🫟 𝕄𝕪𝕤𝕖𝕝𝕗 🫟 𝕆𝕟𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕖 @MeMyselfOnline]

A few weeks ago, the company I work for issued compulsory "training", including statements such as:

“Remember, if Cathi is trans, saying ‘she used to be a man’ isn't accurate. Trans women are women, and they've never not been a woman”.

I shit you not.

So I've waited till today, when the company hosts one of its quarterly meetings with all the top brass across several sites, in person and online, to read out a statement on exactly what I thought of this “training”.

I made reference to the precedent set when @MForstater won her appeal in June 2021, and levelled an accusation to the entire company that they are indirectly, and possibly directly, discriminating against all its employees under the protected characteristic of their freedom of belief.

You could have heard a pin drop. At first.

The result?

HR is now bricking it. The training is no longer compulsory. They're taking matters under review, and I've had so many hugs and messages off support from my female colleagues. My boss shook my hand.

It isn't easy speaking up. I've been very nervous till today. But as @ThePosieParker keeps telling me: if not me, then who? If not now, then when?

I think it was important that someone saw a gay man stand up and defend the women he works with, and send a message that this absurd nonsense has no place being forced upon us.

I've sure I've made plenty of enemies at work today and pissed numerous people off.

And I'm glad. I'd do it all again in a heartbeat because it's simply the right thing to do.

[Lesbian Persistence @LesbianPersist]

A homeless charity's policy is that if a homeless woman doesn't want to share a "women's dormitory" with a man masquerading as a woman, SHE will be told to leave as the service isn't for her.
Policy was drawn up after the FWS Supreme Court ruling.
https://t.co/pYDo9Hwywp

[ThisIsntWorkingPodcast @IsntWorkingPod]

@UniofOxford lecturer Matt Rattley has just posted this on Linkedin. Has he been asked to cover up? And/or to work from home? Note that his profile pic (in a low-cut top) has gone.

Are Oxford's TERFs mobilising?

[Dr. Dame Katy Denise CH GBE 🏳️‍⚧️🇳🇬🪑 @damekatydenise_]

@HelenWebberley Don’t be so hard on yourself hun.

[University of Leicester Women in Sport Society @UoLWSS]

Leicester SU have REJECTED our application, saying our society isn't needed (see full reasoning in the form in our bio).

[Diana Alastair💚🤍💜 ⚢ ❌❌✡️ @sappholives83]

So I’ve told this story before, but it’s been a while and there are a lot more of you now, so here goes.

A few years ago, my then-girlfriend and I went to a lesbian bar, and this man in a dress spent the entire night hitting on us and sexually harassing us. Management refused to say anything to him, but we didn’t want to leave because we never got to go out together because I was (and am) always working.

When I got up to go to the bathroom, dude followed me in and when I told him no again, he grabbed me by the arm and tried to push me into the wall. I think he was trying to kiss me. I didn’t really have time to think; I just reacted, and I kneed him right in the balls. I left him writhing on the bathroom floor cursing at me, and went back out to my table and my girlfriend.

10 minutes later, the manager came over and kicked me and my gf out, saying that I had behaved in a transphobic way. It wasn’t that I had turned him down; it was that in defending myself, I chose to use my knee in the “bigoted assumption that he had testicles.”

He got to stay, btw.

[J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling]

The Scottish government is responsible for this sexual assault. The Supreme Court has confirmed women’s right to single sex spaces, a ruling the SNP continues to flout. If the victim wishes to sue, https://t.co/iyohnrgVZN can assist with all costs.

[IanG @IanGee2023]

Man with a dad bod doing a dad dance in Paris is not something you see every day.

[Scottish Lesbians @ScotLesbians]

We're still not attracted to certificates! Happy @ForWomenScot day everyone 🥂#OneYearLater

[Legal Gengar @LegalGengar]

Apparently it’s my 4 year X anniversary. Ah, what fun we’ve had in those 4 years! I’ve enjoyed it.

Thank you for following and supporting me as I write about grifts, scams, and frauds. I couldn’t do it without you all.

[Colin Wynter KC @QcWynter]

A Times headline tells us that Bridget Phillipson, our hyper diligent Education Secretary, "calls for single-sex spaces to be more inclusive".
If report is accurate, Phillipson means "inclusive" of blokes, which would mean single-sex spaces would not be single-sex spaces.
Doh.

[Jennifer 🟥🔴🧙‍♀️🦉🐈‍⬛ 🦖 @babybeginner]

She did it AGAIN!! @Jennifersey just put together another video that has me in tears.

Wait for it.

Sound on.

They block these videos on other platforms bc they don’t want you seeing them. But you can see them here!!

[Women Won’t Wheesht @WWWheesht]

We are saddened to hear that @StroudBrewery have chosen to cancel an event by authors of Porn, @jo_bartosch & @robjessel16.

As Stroud Brewery will find out VERY SOON, it is unlawful to treat anyone less favourably on the basis of their gender critical views.

We hope they will choose not to be exclusionary, unwelcome & bigoted because we're sure Jo & Rob would prefer not to have to spend their valuable time in a court.

[Tom Harris 🇬🇧 @MrTCHarris]

I'd forgotten about this event, where Laurie Penny got her arse deservedly handed to her after she made an unprovoked personal attack on David Starkey. I expect it was about this time that she started suffering from PTSD.

[Graham Linehan @Glinner]

Finally, normie Australia is giving the heroic Sall Grover a platform. Remember, all she wanted to do was make an app that was for women-only. She launched it in 2020 and the Australian legal system, in service of this man, has been punishing her ever since

[𝚟𝚎𝚍𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢. @panvalues]

The “authentic self” of any middle aged trans identified man is never a 60 yr old granny called Hilda dealing with mild angina, a pelvic floor disorder, and healthy obsession about her latest crafts project.

No, it’s always a version of Barbie Bukkake-Sexcumtart.

[Lynne Pinches @PinchesLynne]

*BREAKING NEWS* The @WPBSAofficial snooker have finally changed their transgender policy & given fair play to women. From 12th March 2026 BIOLOGICAL FEMALES ONLY will play in the women's snooker. It has taken a year & they haven't announced it but I'm absolutely over the moon.