• In short: Transgender woman Roxanne Tickle is suing social media platform Giggle for Girls after she was excluded from the women-only app.
  • She is alleging unlawful discrimination on the basis of gender identity while the app’s founder has denied she is a woman.
  • What’s next? The hearing is expected to run for four days.

A transgender woman who was excluded from a women-only social media app should be awarded damages because the app’s founder has persistently denied she is a woman, a Sydney court has heard.

In February 2021, Roxanne Tickle downloaded the Giggle for Girls social networking app, which was marketed as a platform exclusively for women to share experiences and speak freely.

Users needed to provide a selfie, which was assessed by artificial intelligence software to determine if they were a woman or man.

Ms Tickle’s photograph was determined to be a woman and she used the app’s full features until September that year, when the account became restricted because the AI decision was manually overridden.

    • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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      7 months ago

      I down voted, not because I disagree with the claim, but because it doesn’t make any sense in the context and just reads as a knee-jerk dismissive response of a valid point.

      • Plague_Doctor@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        It’s true though. Gender is a performance, and as a woman your womanhood is always under scrutiny from everyone else. You can get your identity as woman taken from you if you don’t “look woman enough”. Which if you say have more masculine features, cut your hair short as a cis woman you become less woman. For example Butch lesbians are actually the most often de-womanized. Same goes for less masculine men. It’s a box no one fits into perfectly and having certain genitals doesn’t include or exclude you from either.

        This person wanted a safe space where they wouldn’t have to deal with cis straight men. Which makes it that if men want inclusion in such spaces they need to be better.

        Another question for you all, why as cis men do you want inclusion in these spaces?

        • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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          7 months ago

          Another question for you all, why as cis men do you want inclusion in these spaces?

          Strawman. I’ve seen noone in this chain that says they want access to the space, and I certainly don’t. I get why they want this space, and I get why she, as a trans woman, wants access to this space.

          I just don’t believe I’m in a position to tell these women/girls what they should be comfortable with, and who they have to allow into their club. You’re the one dictating what they should and should not be comfortable with. So I find your question to be a projection.

          I just think the poster pointing out that this is an argument over why some sexual discrimination is good, while others is bad, is a good point. And this I was pointing out how your post just ignored what I believe to be what is obviously their point.

        • Taohumor@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          You’re talking about gender expression as opposed to biology.

          As a cis man the only point of wanting inclusion is to either A demonstrate how gender identity being subjective is an easy way to exploit systems, or B to be one of few men smart enough to have access to a bunch of women in a female safe space. One of these is informative, the other is predatory.

        • ZK686@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          So, what about those who are born with a uterus? Where can they go? What if they decide, only those who were born with a vagina at birth, are women and we want only those to be part of our organization? I mean, are they wrong?

          • force@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            What if they decide, only those who were born with a vagina at birth, are women and we want only those to be part of our organization?

            I mean it’d be like barring someone for having only one kidney, or barring people who have an extra toe, or barring people who are a certain skin color. It’s a seemingly random thought pattern and generally makes you a dick. Discrimination based on organs/body parts is wrong. What if they decide that having a big nose makes you not a woman? What if they decide having big ears or short legs or being too tall makes you not a woman? Better yet, what if a trans woman gets a uterus transplant and now has a uterus? Is that when they change the rules to still somehow exclude trans women? Because that’s what usually happens.

            Trans women still face the discrimination that women face, many of the same problems that many women face, and identify as women, so they shouldn’t be excluded from a safe space for their group on the basis of one of their organs not being typical. When you get to the point of going out of your way to remove trans women who have already been accepted into the community, established themselves in the community, and fit in with the community, where other members of the community interacted with them like they would any other woman and viewed and accepted them as women, you’re not concerned about “women”, you’re concerned about your own personal insecurities and taking it out on others. That’s the point where you’re just trying to pick the specific criteria that excludes the group that you don’t like.

            Plus many cis women have no uterus, some weren’t even born with a uterus, so you’re excluding a large portion of the people you’re claiming to provide a safe space for.

            • Taohumor@lemmy.world
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              7 months ago

              They bar people who are missing limbs from sports. You can’t get on the football team or basketball team if you missing an arm, the reasons why should be obvious.

              • Fal@yiffit.net
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                7 months ago

                People missing limbs are not barred from sports. Wtf are you talking about

                • Taohumor@lemmy.world
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                  7 months ago

                  Alright find me a one armed or legged nba player. I think semantics arguments are absolute filth but lets play this out for posterity.

                  • Fal@yiffit.net
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                    7 months ago

                    They’re not barred. They simply can’t compete. What is the competition that having a vagina at birth? What’s the competition? What are the rules?

                    Or is it arbitrary barring of people from spaces based on characteristics that have absolutely nothing to do with ability.

                    But to answer your question, here https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Gisborne_Gordon

        • Sizzler@slrpnk.net
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          7 months ago

          Why do you want to take away a safe space from cis women?

          Same reason, you feel entitled to not be discriminated against.

      • zbyte64@awful.systems
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        7 months ago

        “trans women are women” is pointing out this isn’t about men vs women but the given sex at birth.

        • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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          7 months ago

          We all accept that trans women are not cis women. The obvious point by the poster was why is it okay to discriminate against men but not trans women?

          • zbyte64@awful.systems
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            7 months ago

            I’m just pointing out the obvious difference between the two categories: one is based on gender the other is based on sex. It’s like asking: “if they’re allowed to discriminate on gender, then why not this other instance (that is based on sex)?” But without making what is in the parenthesis explicit - when someone responds “trans women are women” they are saying what is in the parenthesis.

            • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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              7 months ago

              So it’s okay to discriminate based on sex, but not gender? I don’t see how this really addresses the point.

              • zbyte64@awful.systems
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                7 months ago

                I’m not directly addressing whether it’s okay but that there are categorical differences in the examples given. We might as well ask why we can’t discriminate based on hair color, since that too is categorically different than gender. That being said, bathrooms discriminate based on gender and not sex, so maybe ask why people think that is okay.

                • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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                  7 months ago

                  I ultimately disagree, because one could easily argue that they are discriminating based on biological sex, so in both cases the discrimination is exactly the same, and the question remains consistent categorically as well.

                  But even if we disregard that point, then the answer should be easy “because they are categorically different and thus the reason discriminating against one category is okay and the other is not is xyz.

                  You haven’t answered their question, you just shifted what you believe the question is precisely about, rather than actually address the question itself.

                  • zbyte64@awful.systems
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                    7 months ago

                    It should be obvious that I don’t agree with the question because of what I perceive to be a categorical error.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Real /r/unpopularopinion moment.

      I think the thing that the TERFs ultimately miss is that this person was initially welcomed in as a woman and treated as a woman by her peers. She did not disrupt the community or harass any of the participants, until she voiced support for Trans Rights.

      It was at this point that a handful of moderators decided to interrogate her on her original gender and use that as an excuse to boot an active and in-good-standing member.

      So she wasn’t removed for “not being a woman”. She was removed for “disagreeing with the political views of the admin”.

      Anyone familiar with Reddit politics should be able to sympathize.

      • Taohumor@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        That’s literally how it always goes is if you don’t like x persons politics you are a bad person.

      • ZK686@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        I don’t understand? Reddit politics is ultra liberal, they would eat this women’s app alive for discriminating against the trans.

        • Taohumor@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Nah cuz in practice a bunch of dudes will flood it with dick pics saying but I’m a woman too I identify as one.

      • ZK686@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Lol…what? I’ve read like 3 comments saying that the app is in the right, the overwhelmingly majority are siding with the trans…

    • ZK686@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I define a woman as a female who has a uterus, how should I define them?

      • Jojo@lemm.ee
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        7 months ago

        I mean personally I figure some way that doesn’t exclude anyone who’s had a hysterectomy, but

        • ZK686@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          That’s silly and you know it. She still had one to begin with. That’s like saying “if a dude cuts off his penis, he’s no longer a dude!”

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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            7 months ago

            I define a woman as a female who has a uterus

            Your definition. Has a uterus. You said nothing about a female who had a uterus.

            And you haven’t defined female.

              • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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                7 months ago

                It’s not my fault that your definition excluded women who had a uterus at one time but didn’t later.

                How about women who have two X chromosomes but were born without a uterus? Not women?

                • ZK686@lemmy.world
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                  7 months ago

                  Oh brother…let’s just agree to disagree…it’s obvious what side of the issue you’re on…

                  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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                    7 months ago

                    The side where scientific definitions of women include things like women with two X chromosomes but no uterus?

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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              7 months ago

              So you are male even if you have a complete set of female sex organs and no male sex organs?

              Literally the only way to determine ‘male’ or ‘female’ is a DNA test?

              We’ve never been able to determine that before Flemming discovered chromosomes in the late 19th century?

              That’s really weird, because the etymology of the word male traces it back to the 14th century.

              Now I’m not math expert, but I’m pretty sure 14 comes before 18.

              • Random_German_Name@feddit.de
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                7 months ago

                So you are male even if you have a complete set of female sex organs and no male sex organs?

                Biologically yes. At least according to my definition, but thats a different discussion.

                Literally the only way to determine ‘male’ or ‘female’ is a DNA test?

                Biologically, yes.

                We’ve never been able to determine that before Flemming discovered chromosomes in the late 19th century?

                In the 19th century we assumed, that social and biological gender are the same and ignored, that basically every definition of „male“ or „female“ at the time had exceptions and wasn‘t applicable to everyone.

                That’s really weird, because the etymology of the word male traces it back to the 14th century.

                I am surprised it doesn‘t traces back even further. People believed in all kind of shit back then. Thats no argument.

                Now I’m not math expert, but I’m pretty sure 14 comes before 18.

                That doesn‘t make sense in the slightest. By that logic the earth is flat, because the first models of a flat earth were published before the first models of a round earth.

                • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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                  7 months ago

                  Why do you get to unilaterally determine biological definitions when science is based on consensus?

                  Also, from where did you obtain your doctorate in genetics?

                  • Random_German_Name@feddit.de
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                    7 months ago

                    As you may have guessed I don‘t have a doctorate in genetics, just like you, I assume.

                    I don‘t get to determine biological definitions, but the definition of a biological sex, if such a thing exists, is still heavily debated in science. Therefore a consensus couldn‘t be reached so far. I just argued for the definition, that sounds the most logical to me. If you have other definitions or models I am open always open to learn.