Sall Grover

Last updated

Sall Grover
Sall Grover (cropped).jpg
NationalityAustralian
Alma mater Bond University
Occupation(s)Journalist, writer, app developer
Known forCreating Giggle, a social media app for cisgender women

Sall Grover is an Australian businesswoman, self-identified trans-exclusionary radical feminist, [1] and the founder of Giggle, [2] a female-only social media app. [3] [4] Prior to this endeavour, Grover worked in the film industry in Australia and in the United States as a production assistant and as a screenwriter. [5] [6]

Contents

Giggle was subject to a high-profile legal challenge known as Tickle vs Giggle when a transgender woman had her access to the app revoked. In August 2024, the Federal Court of Australia found that Grover had contravened the Sex Discrimination Act by carrying out indirect discrimination on the basis of gender identity, and ordered her to pay A$10,000 plus the legal costs of the plantiff. [3] [4]

Early life and career

Grover grew up on the Gold Coast, Queensland. [7] She studied journalism and philosophy at Bond University. [8] She initially worked as a production assistant on a short 2005 film, The Vanished. [5] She then moved to work as an entertainment journalist—first in Australia, then the UK—before moving to Los Angeles to begin to work in the film industry as a screenwriter. [9] Grover collaborated with Australian screenwriter Emma Jensen who had also moved to Los Angeles. [10] Together they wrote a script for a romantic comedy film titled Sex on the First Date, and a novel, The LA Team, for the purpose of adapting to television. [11] [10] [6] After experiencing sexual harassment while working in the American film industry, Grover chose to return to Australia. [12] Encouraged by her mother, she planned to build a social networking app for women. [13]

Giggle app

In 2020, Grover founded Giggle for Girls, a mobile app designed as a social networking platform for cisgender women. [14] The name, Giggle, is described as a collective noun for women, [15] with the app presented as catering only to cisgender women, offering a safe online space for them to connect and find support in various areas such as finding roommates, freelancing, emotional support, and activism. [15] [16] Grover has said she was driven to develop a digital platform for cisgender women by her desire to guard against the advances of predatory men, a view that was informed by her experience with misogyny and sexual violence. [17]

The app's membership policies restricted access to adults assigned female at birth. [17] To verify users' birth sex, it relied on technology developed by Kairos, a company that offers facial recognition software. [17] [1] The software was criticised by Giggle users for failing to identify women of colour as female. [1]

The app was particularly criticised for excluding transgender women. [18] In response to criticism, Grover said that the exclusion of trans women was intentional, began self-identifying as a trans-exclusionary radical feminist, [1] and referred to trans women as "males". [19]

By 2021, the app reportedly had 20,000 users from 88 countries. [20] [13]

Grover decided to shut down the app in July of 2022. [12] She has alleged that transgender activists have sent numerous rape threats and death threats in relation to the app's membership policy. [21]

Grover's efforts to create Giggle for Girls led to legal proceedings to determine the legality of the trans-exclusionary membership policies used on the platform. [22] [23] The plaintiff, Roxanne Tickle, also alleged that Grover had harassed her online after she complained about Giggle's policies. [24] [25] The case has become known as Tickle v Giggle. [26] [20]

Responses

The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) participated in the legal case by sending representatives to the court, including Anna Cody, the Sex Discrimination Commissioner. [40] The Commission's role in the case was extended as a ‘friend of the court’ ( amicus curiae ) to clarify the provisions in Australia's Sex Discrimination Act. [40] While the Commission sought earlier conciliation between the parties, it declined to offer submissions to the case. [28]

Reem Alsalem, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls, was asked to provide input in the form of a position paper to the Australian Human Rights Commission. [41] Alsalem's paper discussed the definition of "woman" in international human rights treaties, particularly the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). [42] Alsalem argues that while CEDAW does not explicitly define "woman", it refers to individuals assigned female at birth and that sex and sex-based discrimination in that context is understood as a biological category. [42]

Personal life

In July 2022, Grover gave birth to a daughter. [14] [15] Following the birth of her daughter, Grover shared her experience of completing Australia's Medicare forms, where, instead of asking for a "mother's name" it used the gender neutral term "birthing parent". [43] After sharing her experience, the Minister for Government Services, Bill Shorten, reversed the department's naming policy to its previous position, as he wished to defuse public conflict. [44] [45] [46] Grover continues to live on the Gold Coast. [47]

Related Research Articles

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References

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  2. ↑ Also known as Giggle for Girls.
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  5. 1 2 "Cast and crew." The Vanished (2005 film). Retrieved from www.nathanross.net via Archive.com. Accessed 12 April 2024.
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  7. ↑ Austlit. "Sall Grover | AustLit: Discover Australian Stories". www.austlit.edu.au. Archived from the original on 2024-06-17. Retrieved 2024-07-05.
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  11. ↑ Both of these efforts appear not to have resulted in a final production.
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  25. ↑ Murrary, Duncan (11 April 2024). "Transgender woman seeking $200k in discrimination case". The Canberra Times. Archived from the original on 16 August 2024. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  26. ↑ Formally, Tickle v Giggle for Girls Pty Ltd.
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  31. ↑ "Roxanne Tickle v Giggle for Girls Pty Ltd & Anor." Archived 2024-04-07 at the Wayback Machine Federal Court of Australia. 22 November 2023. Accessed 7 April 2024.
  32. ↑ Bastiaan, Stephanie (2024). "Tickle v Giggle womens rights on trial." Archived 2024-04-09 at the Wayback Machine Women's Forum Australia. April 08, 2024.
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  41. ↑ "A fight for the future of women's rights". The Spectator Australia. 2024-04-17. Archived from the original on 2024-06-12. Retrieved 2024-06-12.
  42. 1 2 Alsalem, Reem (2024). "Position paper on the definition of “woman” in international human rights treaties, in particular the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women." Archived 2024-08-27 at the Wayback Machine Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). 4 April 2024. Accessed 11 April 2024.
  43. ↑ Bourke, Latika (2022-07-24). "I was trying to shut down a culture war, Bill Shorten says". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 2024-05-27. Retrieved 2024-06-12.
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