'I've been spat on' Support groups report an increase in non-conforming women facing abuse

Support groups report an increase in non-conforming women facing abuse

- Libby Brooks

Caz Coronel was standing in the queue for the ladies' at the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank in London when she registered a male voice shouting across the vestibule: "The men's toilets are on this side!"

At first the composer and producer paid little attention, until the man - whom she describes as tall and in his late 60s - approached and touched her shoulder.

He continued to challenge her about being in the wrong queue until she asked him bluntly: "Do you want to see my tits?"

"It sounds funny, but at the time I was shocked," she said. At that moment, another woman, who Coronel presumes was the man's wife, ushered him away.

"I have short hair and don't mind if people think I look male. I've often been called 'Sir' but when they see my face they either apologise or ask me politely what I like to be called. But I've never had anyone approach me before in such a publicly aggressive way."

"What then flashed through my mind was: 'Is this what this ruling has done?'"

Since the supreme court's ruling on biological sex, debate about its practical application has focused heavily on access to women's toilet and changing facilities - in particular after initial advice on implementation from the equalities watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, amounted to a blanket ban on trans people using toilets of their lived gender, which many say in effect excludes them from public spaces.

Support groups report some early indications that gender non-conforming women are facing increased challenges, raising wider questions about how women read each other's bodies and whether women's toilets have ever been entirely safe spaces.

Others say these anxieties amount to scaremongering from those who do not agree with the judgment of the supreme court.