A Melbourne woman has suffered horrendous injuries after being assaulted by a male trans activist.

According to feminist news site Reduxx, the attack left the woman with a shattered shoulder joint.

Ruby* and her partner were attending the Punks Pub Crawl when a male who she thought was a part of the pub crawl intentionally shoulder-barged her after the group stopped to take a photo.

Ruby describes her attacker as “male, but not obviously ‘trans.’” As she was with a group of individuals belonging to the punk rock community, she didn’t immediately believe he was attempting to present as the opposite sex, and simply thought he was donning classic punk attire.

“He just looked like a metal head with lipstick on, and I had never seen him before in my life,” she says.

Ruby confronted the man but he and his friend insisted it was an accident. Things escalated when his friends told her she had misgendered the man.

“I heard a few murmurs of ‘He?’ Like people were offended at my choice of pronoun,” she says. “I stood facing him for another [few seconds] waiting to see if he was going to kick off, but he seemed to have nothing to say so I turned and walked away.” 

But just as she did, Ruby says she was suddenly attacked from behind, with the man pushing her onto the concrete with tremendous force.

“I was wearing a heavy studded leather jacket so I went down hard and fast. I put my left arm out to break the fall with anything other than my head and the impact reverberated all up my arm, shattering my shoulder and breaking my arm at the joint.”

Ruby suffered a fractured shoulder and severe bruising in the attack. She believes she was targeted deliberately because of social media posts and her gender critical views.

According to Reduxx, a male who identifies as a “woman” has been charged.

But the effect on Ruby has been life-changing:

“I play bass guitar, and at first we weren’t sure if I was going to be able to play gigs anymore. Fortunately, it’s looking like I will be able to, just not too often and it hurts like a bastard to tune up,” she says, explaining that her impacted arm can no longer be lifted above the shoulder

“I will never swim again, [or] shoot hoops with my son, get things from high shelves, or hang washing. The doctor said: ‘your ability to lift that arm above your head ended when you hit the ground.'”

Binary spokeswoman Kirralie Smith said no one should have to endure such violence for stating a person cannot change their sex.

“This is abhorrent behaviour. Violence toward women who defend biological sex-based rights should never be targeted for their views,” she said.

“This woman now has a permanent disability because a man who appropriates womanhood took offense at a view steeped in truth and reality.

“The courts must deal with him severely to deter other men from behaving in the same way.”