09/02/2026
Update on how we're keeping women safe:
Sisters Heal was set up to provide women with the option of single s*x suppport. We recognise there is a huge unmet need in Brighton & Hove and we're here to fill that gap.
Under the Equality Act 2010, the provision of single-s*x services is not only lawful but explicitly permitted where it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. This includes, in particular, services for survivors of s*xual violence and trauma. This position has very recently been clarified again in the Supreme Court, confirming that s*x in the Equality Act refers to biological s*x and that single-s*x services are lawful and protected where they meet these criteria.
This is not a matter of “belief” or ideology. It is a matter of statutory safeguarding and lawful service provision for a highly vulnerable group.
Sisters Heal exists specifically for female survivors of s*xual trauma. The clinical rationale is well established:
- Many female survivors have been harmed by male bodies, male voices, male presence, or male physicality.
- Trauma responses are not cognitive or ideological; they are nervous-system based. Survivors cannot simply “reason” themselves into feeling safe.
- For many women, the presence of male-bodied people in intimate, body-based therapeutic spaces (such as yoga or somatic work) makes the work either unsafe or completely inaccessible.
- Female-only spaces are often the only environments in which some survivors can begin to reconnect with their bodies, regulate their nervous systems, and engage in healing.
This is not about exclusion. It is about clinical safety, trauma-informed care, and accessibility.
To the people who are harrassing venues for taking our bookings: Please stop. This campaign of bullying is distressing, unlawful and completely unacceptable.
From now on all our venues will be private and only shared with the women who use our spaces. We are committed to upholding the single s*x boundary for the women who need us and we will not give in to the bullies.
