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Australian businesswoman From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sall Grover (born 11 October, 1984[1]) is an Australian businesswoman, self-identified trans-exclusionary radical feminist,[2] and the founder of Giggle,[3] a female-only social media app.[4][5] 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.[6][7]
Sall Grover | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Alma mater | Bond University |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, writer, app developer |
| Known for | Creating Giggle, a social media app for cisgender women |
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.[4][5]
Grover grew up on the Gold Coast, Queensland.[8] She studied journalism and philosophy at Bond University.[9] She initially worked as a production assistant on a short 2005 film, The Vanished.[6] 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.[10] Grover collaborated with Australian screenwriter Emma Jensen who had also moved to Los Angeles.[11] 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.[12][11][7] After experiencing sexual harassment while working in the American film industry, Grover chose to return to Australia.[13] Encouraged by her mother, she planned to build a social networking app for women.[14]
In 2020, Grover founded Giggle for Girls, a mobile app designed as a social networking platform for cisgender women.[15] The name, Giggle, is described as a collective noun for women,[16] 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.[16][17] 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.[18]
The app's membership policies restricted access to adults assigned female at birth.[18] To verify users' birth sex, it relied on technology developed by Kairos, a company that offers facial recognition software.[18][2] The software was criticised by Giggle users for failing to identify women of colour as female.[2]
The app was particularly criticised for excluding transgender women.[19] In response to criticism, Grover said that the exclusion of trans women was intentional, began self-identifying as a trans-exclusionary radical feminist,[2] and referred to trans women as "males".[20]
By 2021, the app reportedly had 20,000 users from 88 countries.[21][14]
Grover decided to shut down the app in July of 2022.[13] She has alleged that transgender activists have sent numerous rape threats and death threats in relation to the app's membership policy.[22]
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.[23][24] The plaintiff, Roxanne Tickle, also alleged that Grover had harassed her online after she complained about Giggle's policies.[25][26] The case has become known as Tickle v Giggle.[27][21]
In July 2022, Grover gave birth to a daughter.[15][16] 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".[45] 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.[46][47][48] Grover continues to live on the Gold Coast.[49]
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