[Note: As of January 14, 2017, this article has been largely superseded by the Violence Database at the top of our site.]

Our WOMAN Means Something campaign is focused on the rights, protections and freedoms of women, specifically (biologic) female women, who comprise half of all Canadians. Part of our argument is that access to washrooms and change rooms ought to be a “sex”-based right and protection, not a “gender”-based right and protection.

According to the Badgley Royal Commission (1984), 1 out of every 2 women  will experience an unwanted sexual act over the course of their lives. The overwhelming majority of these acts will be by men, or to be more precise, males, with penises, and who have used their genitalia in evil and criminal acts. We believe it is reasonable for a female woman, especially one who has been abused or raped, to have a healthy fear of biologic males in their safe spaces. The response may be that this fear is unreasonable, or even “fear-mongering”, and incites hatred against trans individuals. The problem for female women everywhere is that Bill C-16 is so subjective concerning gender identity and expression that there are absolutely no limits or constraints that could be used to determine which (biologic) males ought to be allowed into safe spaces, and which shouldn’t. In a couple of cases there were no visual cues, and so confusion reigned. One person claimed to be a transwoman, another made no claim, and yet was not arrested though he was naked in a woman’s change room. We can imagine very difficult situations for which there is no easy solution, but Bill C-16 will not alleviate the situation. It will create opportunities for men, deviants, and sex offenders to abuse the new legislation.

Here are twenty substantiated cases of biologic males who acted against female’s freedoms and rights in safe spaces. There is variety to these accounts; some occur in gender-neutral spaces, others in women-only spaces. Some of the perpetrators claim to be transwomen, some are men cross-dressing for violent or voyeuristic purposes, and still others are men who are taking advantage of gender-neutral spaces. Our purpose is not to prove that transwomen are more violent or given to criminality than female women, though there is some data out there which could be used to support that supposition. Our purpose it to show that female women’s fears of biological males in their spaces are not unfounded or irrational.

EDIT 12/3/2016: I have removed a couple cases which were previously on this list as they may not meet a higher standard of relevance required by some people. One of these cases was an arrest of a transwoman with a firearm and “her” male genitalia exposed in a woman’s washroom, yet who did nothing purposefully against a woman. The other was a transwoman who was stealing women’s purses in women’s washrooms.

EDIT 12/16/2016: I have found a few new cases. Instead of making a longer list, I have removed a couple older cases; one of a transwoman who was convicted of assaulting a woman in a woman’s bathroom in 1999, one of a man cross-dressing to peep on women in 2003, and one of transwoman in a girls elementary school bathroom visiting the school with a convicted sex offender in 2010. I have also cleaned up a couple links, having found clearer accounts.

Of this new list of twenty incidents, fully half have occurred within the last two years, and five have occurred in Toronto, Ontario.

* Photo Atribution: https://www.flickr.com/photos/27295482@N00/9295387261/