This has made me start Wednesday off in a real grump - The Pool article

[RitaFairclough]

About why we British feminists are BAD...

www.the-pool.com/news-views/opinion/2018/45/Sarah-Reed-British-intersectional-feminism-failure-for-marginalised-women-June-Eric-Udorie

How dare she dismiss my feminism as 'girl power' because it doesn't centre men?

And how can she start off making a very good, very strong point about women being mistreated in prison, and go on to ignore the massive issue that is Holloway Prison having been closed two years ago and the women moved to prisons miles away from their families? AND then talk positively about self-id which would inevitably lead to more women facing abuse in prison?

AND AND - I'm so angry, can you tell? - then she implies that women of colour didn't get the vote in 1918 which is not true. The Representation of the People Act 1918 gave the vote to all women who met a property-ownership criteria. It didn't mention race.

I'm hoping this comes up on the Facebook page so I can comment on it.

In 1989, the black feminist legal scholar, Kimberlé Crenshaw, coined the term "intersectionality". Crenshaw wanted us to use intersectionality as a means to understand the way that oppressive structures intersect with our marginalised identities, causing poor women, women of colour, Muslim women and other marginalised women to face a double or triple bind of oppression.

Yeah, she didn't mean men though, love.

Is this the latest tack, British feminists are all evil? Seems to be a theme lately.

The article ia an opinion piece, and its a mess. It starts by criticizing British feminists for not being intersectional, then the justice system as if women are responsible for that; and fails to mention Julie Bindel or the Centre for Womens Justice.
She doesnt talk about Karen White either, but does demand that women be trans inclusive

Well, maybe it's better if Britain is seen as a backwards lost cause, a bit like Northern Women.

It seems to me that it's those who are naturally expected to be nice who have to do all the accommodating.

I think I'll identify as Gruff with a Heart of Gold.

Yeah, she didn't mean men though, love.

Because Crenshaw was all about heterosexual white males getting admitted onto women's affirmative action programmes!

British feminist are getting a kicking - from the US and also from the Irish TRAs calling us colonial bitches etc. Interesting times...

Is this the latest tack, British feminists are all evil? Seems to be a theme lately.

Terrified we might be winning and winning might be transatlantically contagious.

Badly written, badly researched tosh. Yet another demand that feminists should centre bloody men in our campaigns. Yet another wilful refusal to see that trans rights impact on women’s safety, privacy and dignity. Not worth wasting time reading it.

I am pretty proud of British feminists actually. We are showing that we don’t swallow any old nonsense, can think and have our bullshit detectors turned up to maximum.

The question is why are other people so credulous? Or is it that they are being even more silenced than we are ?

Being silenced would result in you being silent. No one can force you to speak out against other women. That would be an active choice you make.

I am pretty proud of British feminists actually. We are showing that we don’t swallow any old nonsense, can think and have our bullshit detectors turned up to maximum.

Yep. And agree If we're a lost cause they hopefully don't need to waste their emotional blackmail on us benighted bigots who don't care about men's feelings.

Is this the latest tack, British feminists are all evil? Seems to be a theme lately.

I see it as a positive. We seem to be the only country with a critical mass of women actively fighting this. The British don’t like fascists, fundamentalists or being told what to think. We have a very sceptical, cynical but resilient culture. We are tolerant in the main. We have a long and proud tradition of lampooning the ridiculous regardless of how powerful they are. We don’t have a powerful church controlling us.
So yes. I can see how British feminists are leading the way here. We call a spade a spade and if you tell us it’s a fork we will laugh at you. And draw cartoons. And take the piss. And write letters. And organise. And fight. And refuse to be bowed.

Imo, any article using the word 'cis' clearly shows what side of the argument they are on.
Feminist concern for the problems that women face includes all women, globally.

Because they are women.
Not men.

Bowlofbabelfish I just had a goosebump moment. So true.

Can I recommend this article in The Spectator by way of antidote?
blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/11/mumsnet-and-the-british-media-arent-transphobic/

written in response to similar allegations by Edie Miller in Outline.
thread
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3416273-The-Spectator-Mumsnet-and-the-British-media-aren-t-transphobic

So now they're trying to shut us up and stop us from speaking from OTHER COUNTRIES?!

I agree that we should be chuffed that our success has got somebody worried. Well they should be worried because I am not in the UK, I am in one of the countries mentioned and I am actively organizing here. I also am raising three teens to be Gender Critical. You can't gaslight 50% of the world's population.

Weird article. Starts of with prisons and mental health of black women and then segues into trans. The fact that white middle class transwomen have been guilty of blatant racism seems to have passed her by.

I am also rather proud of the British feminist pushback.

Changing the wording in guidelines and policies has been deliberately kept under the radar across the world.

However, what should never happen, has happened.
In women's prisons, women's sports etc, the awful problems caused by these changes will continue to happen.

As a result, the UK has a lot of resources and hard evidence worldwide.
Bring it on.

So yes. I can see how British feminists are leading the way here. We call a spade a spade and if you tell us it’s a fork we will laugh at you. And draw cartoons. And take the piss. And write letters. And organise. And fight. And refuse to be bowed.

YYY.

So, why does it matter that intersectionality remains at the forefront of feminist activism? Because the sad result of the mainstream British movement’s inability to be intersectional means the most marginalised and vulnerable women – women like me – are being failed, and our suffering is going unnoticed.

Her suffering? Women like her?

www.rookiemag.com/2018/09/think-beyond-yourself-an-interview-with-june-eric-udorie/

Oh, The Pool....how very very disappointing your are!

The most utterly rage inducing thing about this is that they use women in the criminal justice system as an example of British feminism not being intersectional - and yet a feminist who has been fighting for these women for literally decades, Julie Bindel, is one the soi-disant intersectional feminists happily no-platform.
It is such.a.bloody.cheek.

So now they're trying to shut us up and stop us from speaking from OTHER COUNTRIES?!

I'm rather taken aback to learn that our voices are so powerful that we need to be de-platformed on a global scale.

Go Mumsnet! Go UK feminism (tho' I'm not sure how WEP or most liberal feminists feel about that)!

Another disappointing article from The Pool. I read it as I saw 'intersectional' with a picture of a black woman and I wanted to see if it would mention trans. It started off OK (although I agree there are a lot of feminist slating articles on there at the moment it seems) and then I saw 'cis gender' and knew it was going to go downhill from there. And downhill it went. Feminism must centre men otherwise its no feminism.

So cross with The Pool. Their last bloody awful about the GRA attracted lots of gender critical comments and I wondered if they were going to re-evaluate given the opinion of many of their readers. Obviously not. TWAW. Men must be part of feminism. Stupid women getting all hysterical about men in female prisons.

Goodbye The Pool.

Well i'm depressed to say i'd never heard of the case of Sarah Reed. Her treatment by the authorities and her death are incredibly shocking. That assault by the police officer

So im grateful to the author for putting Sarah Reed front and centre. It's difficult to tease apart the deadliness of treatment because of her mental health problems following the loss of her baby, her race and her sex. I'd probably put them in that order but i do think they all played a role in how she was abused and i guess that's what intersectionality means. The uk is certainly profoundly racist and being a feminist doesn't protect you from that. All agreed.

And trans isses come into it because...?