PG on Nostr: >...it’s become painfully clear how spaces once created for plus-size women to ...

>...it’s become painfully clear how spaces once created for plus-size women to celebrate our bodies and find flattering clothing have been infiltrated by men pretending to be women. This is not a trivial annoyance; it’s part of a calculated campaign of female erasure, cloaked in the rhetoric of “inclusivity.” Companies that once catered to women’s needs are now prioritizing male fantasies of womanhood, betraying the very women who built their brands.

>Take Lane Bryant, a brand I once patronized regularly. My first job after college came with a wardrobe lovingly provided by my mother—business attire from Lane Bryant that made me feel confident and capable. For years, I was a loyal customer for all my work-wear needs. But that loyalty ended in 2021 when I saw that Lane Bryant’s Pride campaign chose to elevate a male drag queen—not bisexual or lesbian women from their actual customer base—as the face of their inclusivity efforts. Instead of celebrating the diversity of real women, they erased us entirely, replacing our lived experiences with a caricature of womanhood.

>This pattern is not confined to marketing. Online reviews, meant to provide practical insights for women, have been hijacked by men in garish makeup and ill-fitting wigs. These exhibitionists turn review sections into personal stages for validation, undermining their purpose and forcing women to navigate a grotesque display of male entitlement. What should be a supportive and helpful space for women has devolved into yet another platform for the colonization of women’s spaces.

>What’s even more troubling is the strategic exploitation of marginalized groups—such as incarcerated women and Black women in addition to plus-size women—to justify the normalization of transgender-identified males invading women’s spaces. During Georgia Senate Special Committee on the Protection of Women’s Sports meetings this fall, advocates of gender ideology argued that excluding trans-identified males from women’s sports would disproportionately harm Black and brown women. As a Black woman, I found the argument lazy, offensive, and a blatant misuse of Black and Brown women’s struggles to silence discourse. Worse, it distracts from the core issue: males, regardless of their self-identification, have no place in women’s spaces.

<div class="substack-post-embed"><p lang="en">Hijacked Sanctuaries: Reclaiming Plus-Size Women’s Spaces from Male Invasion by Kristin Zebrowski, MPA</p><p>From sanctuaries to stages for male validation, our spaces are being invaded—and it’s time to push back.</p><a data-post-link href="https://peachyradfem.com/p/hijacked-sanctuaries-reclaiming-plus">Read on Substack</a></div><script async src="https://substack.com/embedjs/embed.js"; charset="utf-8"></script>