Agency
Virginia Department of Health
 
Board
State Board of Health
 
chapter
[12 VAC 5 ‑ ]
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5/16/25  5:06 pm
Commenter: Janet S.

SUPPORT Protecting Women's Spaces
 

Women and girls need their own separate spaces and sports categories in order to participate fully in public life.

Making changing spaces and bathrooms co-ed places no hardship or intimidation on boys and men because boys and men are not routinely targeted by a bigger, stronger sex with a highly likelihood of sex-targeted criminality. Mixed-sexes spaces may be embarrassing for boys and men, but otherwise, men and boys are far less likely to be targeted for spy cam video to be uploaded on porn sights, sexually assaulted, or made a part of someone's amusement or sexual fetish to invade the spaces of the opposite sex.

"Not all men" but enough men commit these crimes that makes this a clear and present danger to women and girls. A study done in Sweden demonstrates that 1% of the population is responsible for 63% of violent crime. It takes a very small percentage of people to do a lot of harm to a lot of people, and only a few men to harm a lot of girls and women.

What's more, most men and boys instinctively know this, and the ones that would never harm a woman or girl feel the most aversion to mixed-sex spaces in part because they respect the opposite sex. The ones that feel entitled to our spaces are the ones most likely to harm girls and women because they don't care how girls and women feel about being exposed in front of them. These same males will get angry and lob insults at girls and women, maybe even strike out in violence, for feeling uncomfortable because they're abusers and manipulators who want what they want, including female compliance.

These intimidations and risks in mixed-sex spaces are one-sidedly placed on girls and women. If there is any question as to whether women and girls face an increased risk of violence or intimidation, merely observe how many people threaten and silence girls and women in response to spaces being designated by sex, not identity. 

If men and boys really "feel like women," they would empathize with women and girls and make concessions in some parts of public life instead of prioritizing what make them most comfortable and happy. The fact they don't, and demand women and girls get used to male bodies being in their spaces demonstrates entitlement, not oppression.

It is for that same physical difference that women's and girls' sports need to have their own separate category away from males. Men and boys are physically stronger and faster than girls and women and it's unfair to have girls and women compete against male competitors. The World Tribune has reported that 890 medals in 29 sports have been taken by men competing as women in women's competition, displacing 600 women. This is not a hypothetical. This is already happening.

Men and boys will always have their spaces in public participation, and mixed sex spaces will never limit them in public participation for their less likelihood of being targeted and exploited based on sex in public. Men and boys have greater strength and speed than women and will enjoy their unfair advantages in sports against girls and women instead of competing fairly in their own sex class.

Women and girls do not have the luxury of NOT being targeted in intimate spaces by the opposite sex. Women and girls are NOT physically competitive against boys and men in sports categories.

Girls and women need separate spaces in some aspects of public life like changing rooms and bathrooms in order to participate fully in public life. 

Girls and women need their own sports categories to ensure fairness in competition.

SUPPORT this provisions!

CommentID: 235383