Over the weekend, a protest turned violent for the second time outside Wi Spa in Los Angeles, which has been at the center of controversy over the (alleged) presence of a transgender customer with a penis in a female-only area that has nudity. The protests on behalf of women-only spaces have drawn a weird coalition of radical feminists (not my favorite folks) and radical right-wingers including QAnon types (ditto). But the mainstream liberal and progressive response to this incident has been a frustrating combination of diversionary tactics, gaslighting, and dogma that a few years ago would have been seen as a parody of “political correctness gone mad”: Don’t want to see male genitalia in your all-female space in a spa? Don’t look—or deal with it!
First, the story. It started with a two-part video posted on Instagram on June 24 in which a social media user who goes by “cubanangel” confronts spa staff about “a man with a penis” “exposing himself” to women and young girls. She is told that “if they identify as female,” the person is permitted to use the women’s section and that “under the law, we cannot discriminate against gender identity.” (Wi Spa has gender-segregated saunas where guests are asked not to wear any clothing.)
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