• In short: Transgender woman Roxanne Tickle is suing social media platform Giggle for Girls after she was excluded from the women-only app.
  • She is alleging unlawful discrimination on the basis of gender identity while the app’s founder has denied she is a woman.
  • What’s next? The hearing is expected to run for four days.

A transgender woman who was excluded from a women-only social media app should be awarded damages because the app’s founder has persistently denied she is a woman, a Sydney court has heard.

In February 2021, Roxanne Tickle downloaded the Giggle for Girls social networking app, which was marketed as a platform exclusively for women to share experiences and speak freely.

Users needed to provide a selfie, which was assessed by artificial intelligence software to determine if they were a woman or man.

Ms Tickle’s photograph was determined to be a woman and she used the app’s full features until September that year, when the account became restricted because the AI decision was manually overridden.

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99 points

I don’t understand.

It’s okay to discriminate against men but not transgender women?

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83 points

While I certainly agree with you that discrimination based on sex is unacceptable im most contexts, I believe that gender exclusive spaces, unless they hinder people directly, sometimes are a good thing.

My dad is a mental health professional and founded a weekly ‘only-men’ self help group. He found that some things they talked about there wouldn’t have worked with women involved. That group existed for about 5 years or so and helped quite a few struggling men.

So yeah, unless there’s any maliciousness involved, I’d argue that gender exclusiity is not bad in every context.

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14 points

That’s a bit different. A little private group is not a for-profit company. The difference between not being invited to a family only event when you aren’t family and not being allowed into a restaurant chain because of your race.

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27 points

The group I referenced had a paid membership. Scale that up and make it digital and you may end up with a gender exclusive social media app.

I get what you mean though, but I feel there’s a bit more nuance than what you imply.

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-23 points

If women have gender exclusive spaces, men also should have them. Women have invaded male spaces for decades.

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14 points

‘Invaded’ lol what. Dude the boys club is a real thing. And it’s everywhere.

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1 point

There is a vast difference between men getting together to vent and talk, and men getting together to make decisions that affect everyone and preserve power amongst themselves.

The minute it is the latter, it no longer qualifies as a men’s space. Women don’t want to invade a genuine men’s space. And women don’t want to invade a men’s space in order to exploit and prey upon men.

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-27 points

I remember back in high school I had a teacher in an all male classroom because it was a stem field but for kids like an introductory course. A girl showed up in the 2nd year and he sort of joked about how it changes the dynamic cuz now all the guys will need to flex for her so the point of the class was sort of ruined. I remember that class was actually fucking amazing because you would make friends with guys regardless of your social circle or wealth background. Like I talked to multiple demographics and we all treated each other equally and we were all there to learn the trade. It was an amazing experience that I’ve never found anywhere else, especially not any circle where there were women. Hell even guys who were in that class there were a few if you met them outside the class it was just different. I made some close friends there where we kept spending time together outside the class that I otherwise would not have met but others when they got back to “the rest of the world” that hierarchy set back in and they couldn’t bring themselves to talk to you on that level anymore. Women invading male safe spaces under the guise of glass ceilings or whatever was extremely toxic for men, it’s as if men started barging into women’s bathrooms honestly saying it’s a glass ceiling to their right to stare at women in their own private moments. Stupid example but it’s all I could come up with.

The point is I would love to find another environment like that and even I wish I looked for more like that as a kid and to have appreciated it for what it was more at the time. Men need to learn to see each other as brothers and not as opposition, that’s the only way we get out of this mess is to unionize properly. I think we had it once but we lost it because of this fucking propaganda painting men as inherently predators.

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31 points
*

So… Men act like dicks when there is a woman around or when they are back in “the rest of the world”? At which point their sense of brotherly love and cameraderie disappear? How is that a woman’s fault?

How is that the fault of, “fucking propaganda painting men as inherently predators”?

Sounds like a problem with that group of men…

I have tons of male friends who dont “flex” or act like dicks when they are outside of an all-male setting

I’m not against men’s clubs, btw… But the idea that men cant be toxic outside of a men’s club is a terrible premise for a men’s club

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22 points
*

Women invading male safe spaces under the guise of glass ceilings or whatever was extremely toxic for men, it’s as if men started barging into women’s bathrooms

So the class wasn’t a “men only” class, it just was a class women generally weren’t interested in. And a woman deciding she is interested was the same as men barging into women’s bathrooms.

Jfc, who are the snowflakes again?

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3 points

It’s not a male safe space if the purpose is to learn. No one gets to have a “safe space” to gain advantage over others. That’s not what female safe spaces do.

I mean… safe from what? What did the women do that changed the dynamic?

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21 points

More the reverse. If you say “Girls Only” and then exclude a girl, you’ve violated your own terms of service.

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-18 points
Removed by mod
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10 points
*

I define female as one who has a uterus…

And that’s where you and literally anyone with any medical knowledge whatsoever disagree. There are plenty of people who are assigned as girls at birth who have no uterus – sex characteristics are far too complex for just a binary “boy/girl” label, and it’s not as simple as “no uterus = boy, uterus = girl”. sometimes, a baby can be labelled as any gender and it’s up to the parent to decide which. What a “woman” is is pretty arbitrary and the only accurate classification is entirely dependent on what the person identifies as.

And that’s just not even considering the fact that hysterectomies exist, meaning a lot of generically cis women also don’t have uteruses.

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9 points

Everyone hear that? Once you get a hysterectomy, you’re not female any more!

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1 point
*

I would highly advise you to look into intersex people. There can be people you’d otherwise say are women who don’t have a uterus and people you’d otherwise say are men who do. You can have a penis and uterus, for example. “Basic biology” is a lie you were told because real human biology is complex and varied so its easier to teach a dumbed down version. Even if we assume trans people don’t exist your definition is massively flawed.

Anyone arguing your position hasn’t actually attempted to understand the other point of view and is arguing purely from ignorance, which isn’t a place you should choose to be.

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0 points

Removed, transphobia.

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6 points

I’m not familiar with discrimination laws in Australia. In the US there are exceptions in the Civil Rights Act (1964) for “private clubs” though I don’t think courts have consistently defined what that means.

I’m very curious to hear how this case turns out under Australian law. Personally I think it’s counterproductive to exclude trans women from a women-only social club. But if a US court ruled this social club was in fact a “private club” then they could legally discriminate in whatever way they desire, be that by excluding men or trans women.

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1 point

Does that include protected classes? For example: can they exclude minorities?

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5 points

A “private” club can exclude protected classes. Like the other poster mentioned, what constitutes “private” is a grey area.

Back in the 90s Augusta National Golf Club was still excluding blacks even though they hosted the Masters… ( They finally gave in )

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1 point

I believe so, but I’d have to do a little more research to say with certainty. There is a particular supreme court case that serves as an example. See Tillman v Wheaton-Haven Recreation Association.

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6 points

Seems like you do understand it.

But fear not, if you want a website full of only men there are plenty out there.

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3 points

Your account is a day old so I’m thinking you’re arguing in bad faith and are likely transphobic.

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0 points

🥱

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-12 points

Trans women are women.

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32 points

I down voted, not because I disagree with the claim, but because it doesn’t make any sense in the context and just reads as a knee-jerk dismissive response of a valid point.

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9 points

It’s true though. Gender is a performance, and as a woman your womanhood is always under scrutiny from everyone else. You can get your identity as woman taken from you if you don’t “look woman enough”. Which if you say have more masculine features, cut your hair short as a cis woman you become less woman. For example Butch lesbians are actually the most often de-womanized. Same goes for less masculine men. It’s a box no one fits into perfectly and having certain genitals doesn’t include or exclude you from either.

This person wanted a safe space where they wouldn’t have to deal with cis straight men. Which makes it that if men want inclusion in such spaces they need to be better.

Another question for you all, why as cis men do you want inclusion in these spaces?

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4 points

“trans women are women” is pointing out this isn’t about men vs women but the given sex at birth.

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19 points

Real /r/unpopularopinion moment.

I think the thing that the TERFs ultimately miss is that this person was initially welcomed in as a woman and treated as a woman by her peers. She did not disrupt the community or harass any of the participants, until she voiced support for Trans Rights.

It was at this point that a handful of moderators decided to interrogate her on her original gender and use that as an excuse to boot an active and in-good-standing member.

So she wasn’t removed for “not being a woman”. She was removed for “disagreeing with the political views of the admin”.

Anyone familiar with Reddit politics should be able to sympathize.

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2 points

That’s literally how it always goes is if you don’t like x persons politics you are a bad person.

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-11 points

I don’t understand? Reddit politics is ultra liberal, they would eat this women’s app alive for discriminating against the trans.

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1 point

Yes you’re right the transphobes are taking over here

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-12 points

Lol…what? I’ve read like 3 comments saying that the app is in the right, the overwhelmingly majority are siding with the trans…

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-19 points

I define a woman as a female who has a uterus, how should I define them?

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10 points

I mean personally I figure some way that doesn’t exclude anyone who’s had a hysterectomy, but

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6 points

So if a woman has a hysterectomy, she is no longer a woman? What is she?

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-4 points

Biological gender: A Person with two X-Chromosons

Social Gender: Anyone who wants to be a woman

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-13 points

Why not just create a “trans” app and make your own people happy too?

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1 point

Not even a separate app, just add a tick box for people who are trans-inclusive.

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0 points

Sounds like a good idea to me.

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-14 points

Discriminating against men is based on gender, discriminating against trans women is based on sex (at birth).

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