What is a woman under Australian law?

In 2020, Sall Grover launched Giggle, a women-only app designed to give women a space to find flatmates, build networks, and connect without men. Access was verified using selfie-based AI at sign-up.

When Roxanne Tickle was denied access, a complaint was filed under the Sex Discrimination Act. What began as a startup dispute became the case of Giggle v Tickle, now before the Federal Court, testing whether Australian law still recognises biological sex.

In Part 1, Sall Grover explains how she went from screenwriting in Hollywood to building a tech startup, what happened when thousands of men flooded the app on launch, what the Australian Human Rights Commission demanded she agree to, and why she refused.

This is one of the most significant legal tests of sex, gender identity, and women’s rights currently before an Australian court.

A judgment from the Full Federal Court is now pending.

00:00 — Introduction

04:39 — What is a woman?

05:49 — From Hollywood to building Giggle

09:26 — Launch day: the app is overwhelmed by men

11:02 — Discovering gender ideology for the first time

12:17 — How the AI verification actually worked

14:10 — Why this is harder to defend than flat earth theory

15:51 — The complaint: Tickle v Giggle explained

17:35 — What the Human Rights Commission asked Sall to accept

22:30 — The 2013 amendments that removed 'woman' from the Act

26:06 — What 'gender identity' actually means in Australian law

31:00 — The first hearing and the judge's reasoning

37:00 — The appeal to the full federal court

41:59 — The Sex Discrimination Commissioner's role

47:10 — An accidental culture warrior

Follow Sall Grover: https://x.com/salltweets

Sall's Crowd Fund: https://gigglecrowdfund.com

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