Please note this post is not meant to be offensive at all, I’m just trying to understand stuff, so I’m sorry if I phrase things in a way that offends people. If I do that at all, please let me know and I’ll correct it.
I’m a teenage girl and a survivor of sexual assault, multiple times. Therefore I’m pretty desperate for safe places where I don’t have to worry about predatory men, so really like women only spaces. I’m also a massive feminist and have recently gotten really into radical feminism – I like the focus on campaigning against violence against women and stuff like that. I like that radical feminists support women only places. However, I have also heard other feminists say that by campaigning for women only places, radical feminists are “drawing in traumatised women who are seeking belonging and safety” and mentally grooming us into becoming transphobic, and that the idea that women need women only places isnt true and we’re actually not at risk of male violence. I am not transphobic, have trans friends who I love very much, and am just not a hateful person. So that makes me confused and like I don’t know who I’m supposed to believe.
Half of feminists are telling me that I won’t be safe in places that aren’t single sex. The other half are telling me that it’s transphobic to want single sex spaces. I’m young and pretty impressionable and not sure which women I am supposed to follow. Does anybody have any insight into this? I’m feeling very confused.