Advocates from the Taiwan Women Association (TWA) joined the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday to call for closer monitoring and enhanced protection of women after reports of men who self-identify as women being permitted to enter into female changing rooms and other female only public spaces.
“Being a woman is not just about wearing female clothing” and “a male is not a woman just by dressing like a woman,” TWA chairwoman Lin Shu-fan (林書帆) told a news conference in Taipei.
Lin said Taiwan has made much progress toward accepting people of different sexual orientations with the legalization of same-sex marriage being an example.
Photo: Yang Kuo-wen, Taipei Times
“But some policies have gone too far, and now we have males who ‘gender self-identify’ as women and who still possess male genitalia, being permitted by government ministries to enter into female washrooms, changing rooms, and are even permitted to live in female student dormitories,” she said.
“We are fighting against these erroneous policies. In the past ‘transgender’ referred to someone who had undergone a medical procedure, medication and hormonal therapy, changing from a person that possessed male attributes to that of female characteristics,” she said.
“Taiwan is allowing ‘gender self-identification’ for men who have not gone through these procedures. This has caused fear in many women. It is a violation of their privacy and personal rights. They see clearly that males are permitted into places where women are undressing, or are naked in saunas and hotspring baths, where in the past these areas were reserved for women only,” Lin said.
A transgender person, who wished to remain anonymous, also spoke at the event:
“I have gone through the procedure of transitioning from a man into a woman, and I am quite aware of the issues. I agree with the stance of Lin and the TSU,” she said.
“Men who self-identify as female but have not undergone surgery and hormonal therapy are taking advantage of the situation, and are infringing on women’s rights, resulting in psychological anxiety and fear for many women,” she said
Former TSU legislator Chou Ni-an (周倪安) castigated the Ministry of Education and the Sports Administration for blindly following foreign countries on the pretext of “gender inclusiveness.”
Schools have received notices that “males who self-identify as female can register to compete in women’s sporting events,” she said.
The news conference called on the government to stop these policies that “have harmed the rights of women and children.”
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