Hi friends, and welcome, newcomers!
The new face of feminist fury is a candid, courageous, forty-two-year-old, Los Angeles-based, Black singer, songwriter, and rapper who has gone viral this month for publicly objecting – loudly, repeatedly, defiantly – to males in women’s locker rooms.
Did Gold’s Gym (now EōS Fitness) react with, “Yikes, what were we thinking?” No. They revoked her membership.
But this story isn’t about gym policies. Or California state law, which allows even belligerent, violent men to waltz into women’s spaces if they use what I call the Open Sesame password: “I’m trans.” Nor is this story about the entitled men themselves.
It’s about a new, charismatic leader who’s producing a succession of videos that are igniting a new audience of indignant women and men. I don’t want you to miss out.
Hyman’s attitude is as shocking and exhilarating as a cold plunge — with little resemblance to the also-brave but safer tactics of myriad competitive athletes, recreational swimmers, parents, and high school, middle school, and even elementary school girls and boys who have been protesting, boycotting, reporting, speechifying, and pleading with states, counties, and school boards to give them (us!) safe, private, single-sex locker rooms.
A product of the foster care system, a childhood sexual abuse survivor, a former drug addict, and a high school dropout, Hyman’s tactic of choice is direct confrontation. She raises her voice. She calls BS on men claiming “I’m a woman.” She does not back down. And she shares her story on social media, earning more than 3.6 million views — and countless kudos — on X alone.
To fully appreciate Tish, you must watch at least one of these embedded videos. From one of many fans:
“Our US equivalent of JK Rowling: a brilliant poet/wordsmith whose fearless truth-telling and uncompromising defense of the safety and rights of women and girls is electrifying.” — Elizabeth Moorchild
One of the Men
Here’s the man in Hyman’s first video:
His name is Alexis Black, alias Grant Freeman, a convicted felon who, the New York Post reported, pleaded guilty in 2022 to beating his wife, breaking her jaw, and causing other injuries. He was sentenced to a year in prison — and has previous convictions for domestic violence and drug trafficking. His wife’s name is Alexis — so that makes two identify thefts.
Here’s Hyman reporting from her car (it’s LA; she’s often in her car) with raw emotion, from fear to rage to trauma to indignation:
Warning: If you ever encounter a man in your locker room, keep in mind that direct confrontation can be dangerous. In this separate incident, a group of women team up, rugby-scrum style, and encircle a half-naked man in the women’s toilet stall as he frantically dresses and grabs his tube of lube. (Why was he there? Why were his shorts off? What was the lube for?) He flees — an inspiring ending — but only after assaulting at least one of them.
I’ll step aside now so Tish can tell her story herself, with quotes I collated from her numerous videos and media interviews:
He Goes, ‘Don’t F**king Talk to Me. I’m a Woman.’
I go to the gym to work out every day. It’s my meditation. Today I was in the locker room. I turn around and there’s a man. Boy clothes, lip gloss. Standing there looking at me. I’m buck naked. I think, Maybe there’s a worker in here? I say, “Sir, what are you doing in here?”
He goes, “Don’t f**king talk to me. I’m a woman. I have a right to be in here.” He called me a bitch in front of everyone.
How can you say you’re a woman but you don’t care how women feel?
There’s nothing more manly than not giving a f** how women feel.
I’m Like, You Can’t Be in Here, Sir
The next day I went to the same location. That’s when I ran into the one that’s on the video [Black].
I’m like, “You can’t be in here, Sir.”
He literally said, “Bitch, you can’t tell me nothing. I’m a woman.”
I’m like, “You’re a whole man. You got a big f**king d**k. What is wrong with you? You cannot be in here.”
He’s like, “I’m a trans woman. I’m not going anywhere.”
I called the police. He left. The police never showed up.
A Woman Would Never Say Nothing Like That
Two days later, I go to [a different Gold’s location] to try to avoid this. I’m talking to a girl in the sauna. We’re skipping around, just being girls, all happy. I was telling the girl: I came to this location because in the last location there was a man in the locker room.
She was like, “What?”
The guy in the video comes around the corner. He’s like, “You talking about me, Bitch?” He came out of nowhere like a f**king bully. It was insane. I wasn’t even talking about him. I was talking about the other guy. The girl froze.
I start going bananas because we’re both undressed. I’m like: “You need to get the f**k out right now.” I raised hell. He would not leave.
I get angry every time I talk about it because I feel f**king violated.
Another thing he said: “Straight women like to see d**k so they’re probably looking at me more than you.”
As if there was a competition of who’s looking at who in the restroom! You can’t tell me you’re a woman because a woman would never say nothing like that.
Why Is He in Here with Us?
I complained to staff. No one would believe it if I didn’t have that [first] video. They’re like, “He’s not doing anything. Is he doing anything to you?”
[I said] HE’S IN HERE! WHY IS HE IN HERE WITH US? It’s a full-blown man. What the f*** is going on?1
There Are Men With Big D**ks in the Women’s Locker Room!
Today as I walked into the locker room, a man came in behind me and called me a bitch in a deep, angry voice. I was terrified. I ran out, screaming.
[Gold’s Gym staff] removed [Black] — but then they turned around and terminated my membership.
[Addressing everyone in the lobby]: GROWN MEN WITH BIG D**KS IN THE WOMEN’S LOCKER ROOM! THAT’S WHY I’M GETTING KICKED OUT! I WANT TO MAKE SURE ALL THE GIRLS KNOW!
Where Will We Go? We’re Being Forced Out
I’ve been told I could lose my music career if I speak out. I love my music, but I’m a woman before an artist. I don’t give a f*** how scared I am. The fact that I had this experience on four different occasions in a fourteen-day span says to me, God is like, “Hey Tish, you need to do something.”
Can you imagine what this is going to turn into if we don’t get this under control? Where will we go? We’re being forced out.
Black people have nothing to do with this [trans] movement. We don’t wake up like: “I’m gonna go to the doctor and get black. I feel black today.” We just are.
I spent the day connecting with amazing groups who have been fighting to protect women’s spaces. Most of them are white women. Up until now, they haven’t had someone from our culture step in.
They Are Acting Out Their Thought of What a Woman Is
I’m a lesbian. I’m not racist or sexist or homophobic or straight phobic or transphobic. People live all kinds of lives. But transwomen have nothing to do with women. They are acting out their thought of what a woman is but there’s no possible way that they can know what a woman is.
I don’t want to hear a f**king thing about how they’re scared to go in the men’s room because they’ll get raped. We’re scared for the same reason.
To you, Trans: You’re not getting the “woman” title from us anymore. It’s over.
Sign My Petition
If you agree with me, sign my petition to protect women’s-only spaces nationwide.
Follow Tish or buy her music: @listen2tish on X or Instagram
See Tish Hyman performing on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert Series
Support Jennifer Sey and XX-XY Athletics for supporting Tish Hyman
Thoughts? I’m always curious. With love and courage, Mariah
Golds staff said their hands were tied by law. Yet Black admitted to TMZ that he has now been banned from Gold’s, Planet Fitness, and Crush.
Last night, Tish Hyman, charismatic new star of the modern feminist, female-only sports-and-spaces movement, attended a Town Hall with CA Senator Weiner. For three minutes, the two of them talked and argued, and when the crowd tried to shout her down with "Trans women are women," she stood, faced them, essentially told them to shut up, and it worked! Who else has that sort of personal power? If you're a Tish Hyman fan, you've gotta see this video too. Thanks Sasha Aguilar, who attended the meeting & met Tish.
https://x.com/listen2tish/status/1988286400828240218?s=46
Tish is amazing, not only is she speaking up for so many of us, but she manages to capture the TIM admitting the quiet part out loud: “Straight women like to see dick so they’re probably looking at me more than you.” This is why they are so keen to get into changing and locker rooms; nothing to do with being vulnerable or gender dysphoric.