The CEO of one of Scotland’s largest rape crisis centres has been slammed for implying that victims who want single-sex spaces to be protected are “bigots” who should expect ‘to be challenged on their prejudices’.
Mridul Wadhwa, head of Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, is a man who identifies as a woman and made his remarks while discussing transgender issues on The Guilty Feminist podcast.
He said that those holding “unacceptable beliefs” who sought help after being sexually assaulted would be encouraged to “reframe their trauma”.
‘Unethical’
Women’s rights group For Women Scotland said: “The ‘bigots’ Wadhwa identifies are women who want female-only spaces in rape or domestic violence shelter and female-only counselling”.
It added that therapy “is not supposed to be a vehicle for re-education or for making victims think they carry ‘prejudice'”.
Dr Jessica Taylor, founder of VictimFocus, added: “Pushing a political view on to a woman at a time of profound trauma and crisis is not only inappropriate, unethical and unprofessional…It’s just selfish.”
The ‘bigots’ Wadhwa identifies are women who want female-only spaces in rape or domestic violence shelters and female-only counselling
Silenced
Earlier this year, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde abandoned guidance which branded women “transphobic” if they complained about sharing a ward with biological men.
According to The Times, the Trust decided that its Gender Reassignment Policy, which compared such women to racists, should be “shelved indefinitely”.
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