What's Current: Female survivors of male violence sign open letter to women's orgs opposing proposed changes to GRA

Female survivors of male violence sign an open letter to women’s organizations asking them to support female-only spaces and reject proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act (GRA).
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The Lesbian Rights Alliance (LRA) has sent an open letter to Stonewall demanding that it take the L out of LGBTQ because it makes “lesbians invisible and erases lesbians through its promotion of the Trans Agenda”.
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Meghan Murphy

Founder & Editor

Meghan Murphy is a freelance writer and journalist. She has been podcasting and writing about feminism since 2010 and has published work in numerous national and international publications, including New Statesman, Vice, Al Jazeera, The Globe and Mail, I-D, Truthdig, and more. Meghan completed a Masters degree in the department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at Simon Fraser University in 2012 and lives in Vancouver, B.C. with her dog.

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Alienigena

“Men don’t get that same treatment! They say it’s more taboo for men To talk about issues but I disagree – many men do talk about issues.”

My father incessantly complained about work at the kitchen table mainly to my mother but all of us had to listen because he was quite loud, belligerent and articulate. My brother started to complain to me about his work and marriage when I was a passenger in his car and I tuned him out and resolved never to get a ride from him again. Both he and my father were emotionally abusive during my childhood and I really don’t want to spend time listening to their complaints. Men constantly express themselves in variety of ways: out and out complaints, threats to commit suicide (my father threatened it to me when I was in my mid-teens), their loud and obnoxious participation in sports (radio talk shows, office talk, etc.), their entitlement to public space, in doctor’s offices (I waited in one exam room for 15-20 minutes while a male patient and the male doctor held a wide ranging conversation about the man’s illness and other things (the walls were paper thin), etc. I am not a fan of men so I don’t appreciate the assumption that I am willing to be a confidante. A certain number of men are constantly blabbing to anyone who will listen, in my experience.
- Rachel
  
  That is awful – so sorry to hear you’ve been subjected to those experiences and abuse. How awful to have had to grow up with that and having a parent threaten to commit suicide.
  
  They do complain! A lot. When you actually break it down to individual men, they seem to have no problem with it. They have a problem with women talking and its labelled nagging or being emotional. It makes my blood boil!