• 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.

  • john89@lemmy.ca
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    3 months ago

    I don’t understand.

    It’s okay to discriminate against men but not transgender women?

    • prof@infosec.pub
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      3 months ago

      While I certainly agree with you that discrimination based on sex is unacceptable im most contexts, I believe that gender exclusive spaces, unless they hinder people directly, sometimes are a good thing.

      My dad is a mental health professional and founded a weekly ‘only-men’ self help group. He found that some things they talked about there wouldn’t have worked with women involved. That group existed for about 5 years or so and helped quite a few struggling men.

      So yeah, unless there’s any maliciousness involved, I’d argue that gender exclusiity is not bad in every context.

      • endhits@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        If women have gender exclusive spaces, men also should have them. Women have invaded male spaces for decades.

        • iegod@lemm.ee
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          3 months ago

          ‘Invaded’ lol what. Dude the boys club is a real thing. And it’s everywhere.

          • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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            3 months ago

            In pretty confident this person would agree with you. They’d also say women shouldn’t be allowed there. They don’t want the boys club to go away and think it’s being threatened because women are allowed in the workplace or whatever.

        • AnalogyAddict@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          There is a vast difference between men getting together to vent and talk, and men getting together to make decisions that affect everyone and preserve power amongst themselves.

          The minute it is the latter, it no longer qualifies as a men’s space. Women don’t want to invade a genuine men’s space. And women don’t want to invade a men’s space in order to exploit and prey upon men.

      • Taohumor@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        I remember back in high school I had a teacher in an all male classroom because it was a stem field but for kids like an introductory course. A girl showed up in the 2nd year and he sort of joked about how it changes the dynamic cuz now all the guys will need to flex for her so the point of the class was sort of ruined. I remember that class was actually fucking amazing because you would make friends with guys regardless of your social circle or wealth background. Like I talked to multiple demographics and we all treated each other equally and we were all there to learn the trade. It was an amazing experience that I’ve never found anywhere else, especially not any circle where there were women. Hell even guys who were in that class there were a few if you met them outside the class it was just different. I made some close friends there where we kept spending time together outside the class that I otherwise would not have met but others when they got back to “the rest of the world” that hierarchy set back in and they couldn’t bring themselves to talk to you on that level anymore. Women invading male safe spaces under the guise of glass ceilings or whatever was extremely toxic for men, it’s as if men started barging into women’s bathrooms honestly saying it’s a glass ceiling to their right to stare at women in their own private moments. Stupid example but it’s all I could come up with.

        The point is I would love to find another environment like that and even I wish I looked for more like that as a kid and to have appreciated it for what it was more at the time. Men need to learn to see each other as brothers and not as opposition, that’s the only way we get out of this mess is to unionize properly. I think we had it once but we lost it because of this fucking propaganda painting men as inherently predators.

        • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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          3 months ago

          Women invading male safe spaces under the guise of glass ceilings or whatever was extremely toxic for men, it’s as if men started barging into women’s bathrooms

          So the class wasn’t a “men only” class, it just was a class women generally weren’t interested in. And a woman deciding she is interested was the same as men barging into women’s bathrooms.

          Jfc, who are the snowflakes again?

        • 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          So… Men act like dicks when there is a woman around or when they are back in “the rest of the world”? At which point their sense of brotherly love and cameraderie disappear? How is that a woman’s fault?

          How is that the fault of, “fucking propaganda painting men as inherently predators”?

          Sounds like a problem with that group of men…

          I have tons of male friends who dont “flex” or act like dicks when they are outside of an all-male setting

          I’m not against men’s clubs, btw… But the idea that men cant be toxic outside of a men’s club is a terrible premise for a men’s club

        • ZK686@lemmy.world
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          3 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…

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        3 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.

        • ZK686@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

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

      • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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        3 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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          3 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?

          • ZK686@lemmy.world
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            3 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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              3 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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                3 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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                  3 months ago

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

                  • Taohumor@lemmy.world
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                    3 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.

      • ZK686@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

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

          • ZK686@lemmy.world
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            3 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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              3 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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                  3 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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                    3 months ago

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

        • Jojo@lemm.ee
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          3 months ago

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

              • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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                3 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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                  3 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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                    3 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?

    • zbyte64@awful.systems
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      3 months ago

      Discriminating against men is based on gender, discriminating against trans women is based on sex (at birth).

    • PuddingFeeling@lemmy.ca
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      3 months ago

      Your account is a day old so I’m thinking you’re arguing in bad faith and are likely transphobic.

    • ZK686@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Why not just create a “trans” app and make your own people happy too?