It should obvious to most why I raise money to help women and girls who are victims of domestic and sexual abuse. I know to some it is not; many men in particular are wilfully ignorant of the extent and effects of VAWG. They don’t want to believe the burden of violence women must bear in addition to their oppression and marginalisation around the globe. It’s easy to dismiss such men as incels or men’s rights activists or redpillers and we might mutter about the malign influences of toxic masculinity and the far right.
I’ve done it myself. I’ve congratulated myself, perhaps smugly, on my left-leaning, progressive views. But, more recently, I’ve come to understand that we need to look closer to home. Perhaps we should have listened to feminists all along when they told us there’s a powerful current of misogyny that does not respect political leanings.
Regardless, I hope it’s obvious why I support a charity that helps women and girls who are victims of domestic and sexual abuse. It might be less clear why I support nia in particular. I’ve received quite a lot of (social media) abuse for it, in fact. I’ve been called transphobic. I’ve had lies spread quite widely on social media claiming that I’m stealing the donations or otherwise defrauding the charity (this is impossible, the money goes directly from JustGiving to nia and I don’t handle a penny of it). I’ve had a group of people actively encouraging others not to donate. I’ve had people impersonating me for the same reason. I’ve had death threats. I have little doubt that the charity, and the women and girls it supports, have lost out on some donations because of it.
All of this abuse has come from fellow lefty progressives.
Here’s why:
At nia we prioritise women, women as a sex class.
https://niaendingviolence.org.uk/get-informed/prioritising-women/
That’s it. That’s all you need to know. But to expand a little:
Our work to protect single-sex services and spaces for women, particularly but not only women who have been subjected to men’s violence and abuse; and naming men as the agents or perpetrators of sexual and domestic violence and abuse, including prostitution, is not defining women through victimisation, it is not weaponising the violence perpetrated by men upon us and using it against marginalised groups. It is standing against male domination and abuse of women.
Feminism is a movement of all women for the liberation of women from subjugation and male domination under patriarchy. Women are not free until all women are free. nia is for all women.
https://niaendingviolence.org.uk/get-informed/prioritising-women/
To be clear: nia promotes single-sex spaces for women who have been traumatised by violence done to them by men. The most basic thing we can provide for abused women is a space in which they can feel – and be – safe. This cannot be the case if there are males in those spaces. This is true regardless of whether those males intend harm.
Many men do, of course, intend harm, which is why women need shelters in the first place. We know that men will blithely go to great lengths to gain access to vulnerable women so making access easier is nothing short of insanity. Allowing males who say they are women access to female-only crisis shelters and services is one of the most blatant expressions of this insanity.
Here’s yet another example of a thing we’re told never happens.
A woman was allegedly raped by a sex offender at a women’s shelter in Ontario, Canada after the predator identified as transgender in order to gain access to the facility.
Shane Jacob Green, 25, was arrested on August 24 by Ontario Provincial Police (OPP). At the time, the OPP issued a notice stating Green had been charged with two counts of sexual assault, four counts of failing to comply with a probation order, and one count of failing to comply with a release order.
But new details have emerged through the Toronto Sun revealing that Green’s crimes occurred while he was staying in a women’s emergency shelter in Parry Sound.
This is a man who had already spent 114 days in prison for assaulting a woman. After being released, Green was arrested in Welland, Ontario, for stalking and harassing two young girls.
What was he doing in a women’s shelter?
According to the Sun, Green, who is homeless, had approached the Parry Sound shelter on August 22 and declared he was a woman in order to get a place to stay. While in the home, Green had allegedly been making sexually inappropriate comments to staff and residents, his behavior culminating in a sexual assault that occurred just two days later. He was arrested on August 24, the day of the assault, and is currently at Parry Sound Jail awaiting trial.
He’d previously attempted to enter other shelters in the area, on one occasion claiming to have a child to do so. He was reportedly flagged by the shelter system because of his manipulative behaviour.
According to the Sun, Green was known for leveraging his knowledge of gender self-identification policies both with police and women’s resource centers. Green sometimes uses the name “Stephanie” when claiming to be transgender. Staff at the women’s shelter where the rape allegedly occurred may have been too afraid to turn Green away due to the risk of running afoul of Canada’s notoriously pro-trans human rights law.
All Green had to do to gain access to vulnerable women was to declare that he’s a woman. Even if he hadn’t been a rapist, his presence could have been deeply traumatising to survivors of male violence who are trying to recover in safety.
I hope this answers the question of why nia? and I hope you’ll be able to donate either via my crowdfunder (https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/latsot-wheelchair-half-marathons) or directly to nia (https://niaendingviolence.org.uk/get-involved/fundraising/)
People have been incredibly generous, despite economic difficulties. I managed to raise around £3000 this year, because of that generosity. I’ll do more wheelchair half marathons and raise more money next year and I thank nia for their excellent work.