It's a bit hellish for women at Hell's Gate in Rotorua, NZ.

 We used to have a rule that worked quite well for women, until men who say they’re women broke it. The rule was more of a social contract, really – those things we have which help all us humans live together without the need to have written rules for every little thing. Well, we had one which prevented men from entering women’s spaces, and it worked well for a long time. In fact, referring to this as only a social contract is a bit of a misnomer, as men could get arrested for going into women-only spaces. This rule was very useful in helping women to have the freedom to go about in public, and have safe spaces for our private bodily needs.

Then along came a movement of men who say they’re women and broke it. Why? Because that’s what they wanted to do.

They didn’t achieve this alone, though. They have been aided and abetted by women they’ve thoroughly duped. These women believe that men who want to get their dicks out in women’s communal changing rooms and toilets are not fetishists, who will later have a wank over it. They really believe these men are actually women trapped in the wrong body, and we shouldn’t be so awful and disgusting as to notice that they have dicks and balls. Yes, seriously.

Looking at a naked man’s genitals in a women’s changing room, and not liking what we see, is apparently something to be roundly censured for. We should keep our eyes on the ground because “it’s rude to look”, whilst the men themselves get to freely leer and stare and openly walk around with all their bits blowing in the breeze.

There are men who claim to believe the trapped-in-the-wrong-body blarney, too. But I’d put money on it that these men know exactly what the trapped-in-the-wrong-body men are up to.

Sometimes these men who say they’re women have a willing woman human-shield with them when they come into women’s spaces. These women have been persuaded by the finest of fraudulent stories ever told to be the man’s voluntary protection detail. To be honest, I wish I’d had that sort of power of persuasion when I was trying to get my ex-partners to do their share of domestic chores. I may have used it just as unconscionably.

Of course, these men who say they’re women are superb actors. Their pity-garnering performances deserve to be on the stage under a spotlight. But they mesmerise women and men even in the cold light of day with their piteously-spoken lines of their play. Language, and how it is delivered, can work real magic on us. It’s a wonderful thing. And the men who say they’re women are pros at delivering their lines.

Whilst there is celebration amongst some at the new freedom which the men who say they’re women are getting, there are women and girls whose freedom is being compromised. Their stories are real and anguished and angry. Here’s one of those stories -

Well, we are starting to know exactly what to say, and we will be saying it at Kellie-Jay Keen’s ‘Let Women Speak’ rallies in Albert Park, Auckland on Saturday 25th March at 11am; and in Civic Square, Wellington on Sunday 26th March at 2pm. These rallies are for women to have their say, women who are being silenced everywhere else.

It’s important to know that service providers are not legally bound here in New Zealand to allow men who say they’re women into women-only spaces. If they do that, it’s because they want to, not because they have to. This will apply after sex self-ID comes into law in mid-June this year. The Dept of Internal Affairs makes that quite clear in the bottom section of their FAQs about this here.

Hell’s Gate | Mud Bath & Spas, Rotorua, New Zealand (hellsgate.co.nz)