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Monica Doumit: ‘Awoman’ a prayer of pure unreality

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Women and children-only spaces are fast disappearing. PHOTO: Pixabay

When madness and injustice rule the roost

The heritage-listed McIver Women’s Baths between Coogee Beach and Wylie’s Baths has been reserved exclusively for women and children since the 1880s.

A few weeks ago, the 117th session of the US Congress was opened with a prayer, written and delivered by Missouri Congressman, Emanuel Cleaver, a Methodist pastor with a Masters degree in Theology.

Rep. Cleaver concluded the prayer as follows: “And now the God who created the world and everything in it bless us and keep us. May the Lord make his face to shine upon us, and be gracious unto us. May the Lord lift up his light of countenance upon us and give us peace; peace in our families, peace across this land, and dare I ask, oh Lord, peace even in this chamber now and evermore. We ask it in the name of the monotheistic God, Brahma, and god known by many names by many different faiths. Amen and awoman.”

“…we know that for activists, it isn’t really about the swimming. It is about forcing compliance with gender ideology in each and every space, especially those that have been intended as “safe spaces” for women and children.

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There were at least a couple of elements of the Christian faith with which the good pastor with a Masters in Theology showed some confusion.

First, I am pretty sure, a Christian minister should not be praying in the name of a Hindu god, and secondly, “amen” is not a gendered term, but can be translated to “so be it,” “truly” or some other phrase that acknowledges the truth of what has just been uttered.

As has been pointed out by other commentators, “awoman” has absolutely no meaning, and it only serves to highlight the nonsense of the ideology that supports its usage. The more I thought about it, though, the more I realised that all Rep. Cleaver was doing was taking gender ideology to its logical conclusion.

When language loses all meaning

The undermining of language until it loses all its meaning is where this movement ends up.
Consider what is happening with McIver Women’s Baths in Coogee at the moment. Since the 1830s, this naturally occurring swimming pool has been reserved for women and children only. Its history traces back to times when nude bathing was more commonplace.

It was heritage-listed back in 2011, with the NSW Government Office of Environment and Heritage having this to say about the significance for which it has been included on the heritage register:

“The McIver Women’s Baths are of State heritage significance as, reportedly, the only remaining swimming venue (specifically reserved for women) in continuous use in NSW (and, perhaps, Australia).

Formally recognised in 1876, but in use since the 1830s, the McIver Women’s Baths have been well frequented by the female community as, initially, a safe and naturally secluded place to bathe and, later, as a private venue to swim and learn water safety skills … The McIver Women’s Baths are also particularly significant for their social value to the female community of NSW…

Its privacy as a gender-segregated facility has been a long-held attraction for a range of different women in NSW – including, as an example, mothers and children, elderly women, women with disabilities and women from Islamic and Catholic communities.”

That is, of course, until certain trans activists got their hands on it.

Women’s baths furore is not really about the swimming

The FAQ page on the McIver Women’s Baths website originally stated that “only transgender women who’ve undergone a gender reassignment surgery are allowed entry,” thus preserving the “female only” nature of the facility but also providing some space for some members of the trans community.

The website also helpfully points out that there are three other saltwater baths that do not restrict access based on gender: Ross Jones Memorial Pool is just a one-minute walk away, Wylie’s Baths a four-minute walk, and Giles Baths a nine-minute walk from McIver.

But we know that for activists, it isn’t really about the swimming. It is about forcing compliance with gender ideology in each and every space, especially those that have been intended as “safe spaces” for women and children.

A crucified God is our future

An online storm of criticism, no doubt generated and sustained by many who have never and will never visit McIver Women’s Baths, targeted the facility for an outdated and reductionist view of what it meant to be a trans woman. So furious was their campaign that management was forced to back down within just a matter of days.

The website for McIver Women’s Baths now confirms that transgender women are welcome, while the definition of transgender is, as per the NSW Discrimination Act,” that is, any person living or “seeking to live” as a person of the opposite sex.

In other words, the McIver’s Women’s Baths are now just the McIver’s Baths. Keeping “women” in the name of the baths is just as meaningless as ending a prayer with “amen and awoman.”

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