A Gold Coast man is attempting to sue a female only pole dancing studio $30,000 because they excluded him from the women’s only space. He claims to identify as female.

Stop for a moment and ask yourself, “What does that actually mean?”

A woman is not a costume. Not a feeling. Not a medication. Not a surgical procedure. A woman just is and there are countless expressions of women. 

But what unites us all is our chromosomes, reproductive systems, skeletal frames, hormonal systems etc.

For a man to claim he feels like a woman is absurd. He can never possibly know what it is to feel like or be a woman, because he is male.

Many males who claim to be women experience arousal at the thought, or fantastise about dominating women in their spaces. Look up ‘autogynaphilia’ for more information. 

Then ask yourself why would a man want to join a pole dancing studio for women only.

As The Australian reported last week:

Nomes Witney, owner of Helensvale and Coomera-based business Queens of Pole says she was holidaying with her family in February when the complainant attended a free trial class, run by another staff member at the studio, which advertises prominently on its website that it provides a “female-only environment”.

“My staff member called me and said, ‘Hey, this just went down. I wasn’t sure what to do so just ran the class normally’,” Ms Witney told The Australian.

Ms Witney said the complainant had “disclosed partway through the class that they identified as a woman”, and that the presence of a biological male had “shifted the vibe” of the female-only group, with other attendees, who included a mother and young adult daughter, becoming “visibly uncertain”.

“They tried to make their shorts longer than they were, that sort of thing,” she said. “Usually we have a really high success rate for membership conversions from trial classes, but this particular class, radio silence.”

In March, the complainant ­attempted to apply for membership, registering with an incomplete profile and stating that they were female. “I sent an email saying we were unable to accommodate the trans community at this time,” Ms Witney said.

Two days later, on March 12, the applicant complained to the Queensland Human Rights Commission, but Ms Witney was not notified until April 22.

The commission sought to mediate, forwarding Ms Witney a damages letter from the complainant at 1pm on Monday, July 13, ahead of a conciliation meeting set for 9.30am the next day.

It is the first time since Ms Witney established her business nine years ago that she has had a transgender person attend a class or attempt to gain membership, with Queens the only pole dance studio in the area offering classes exclusively for women, and others nearby advertising themselves as open to “all genders”.

So why is this male targeting the female only space when he has other options available? How is that fair or reasonable?

Conciliation has failed and the matter will now proceed to the Queensland Civil and ­Administrative Tribunal.

Ms Witney joins the unfortunate ranks of women like me, Sall Grover, Jasmine Sussex and the Lesbian Action Group who simply want the law to acknowledge the reality that men cannot be women and we need sex-based protections in law.