This board is the most frightening .

newbie bloke hre. 4 days in and posting on the feminsts thread today. unless there is some history, I am not seeing dittany poster as the last word on feminism, nor herre setting herself up as such.
any movement has it's nawing, difficult phases - it's needed.

What's wrong with a whole lot of people who agree with the principles of feminsim and want to call themselves feminists getting together to talk.

nothing, have i said there was dittany? if so please tell me where - re-post it in context and perhaps i can explain?

It's like saying that the conservative party should be welcoming to greens or left wingers or that the Labour party should invite the BNP in.

are you saying here that the feminist board is for feminists only?

There is lots of debate on here. If you mean is it difficult for people with anti-feminist or sexist views to air them here, then yes it is. Feminists resist those things. If we didn't we wouldn't be feminists.

are you inferring that i am anti feminist or sexist or that those views should be tolerated?

I have never seen woman= feminist on here,

please see :JessinAvalon Sat 26-Feb-11 19:35:29

feminsits are well aware that plenty of women are anti-feminist.

i don't doubt that some are, i do doubt that you are the spokensperson for every living or dead feminist.

thought i should add that i realise re posting a post can in some circles be seen as passive aggressive, i assure you that i only mean to answer posts directed to me in context.

LeninGrad Sat 26-Feb-11 19:46:31
yes indeedy leningrad your post makes sense, but i think that it is indeed hard for anyone who holds a different view to discuss it. which is a shame becuase you will effectivley have a board of people who all agree and then i am not sure that there is any debate. But my view is that debate is stifled somewhat because sometimes this section seems as though it doesn't want to listen to other points of view.

JessinAvalon Sat 26-Feb-11 19:35:29
Me too. Do you think men are innately superior to women, Custardo? That's what I think when I hear a woman say that she's not a feminist - i.e. that she doesn't believe in equal rights and opportunities for women.
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ah, you cannot be more mistaken. see previous post

LadyBiscuit Sat 26-Feb-11 19:34:32
You're welcome WWIFN I want to acknowledge the work that you do.

custardo - what do you mean? Can I ask why you don't consider yourself a feminist? I'm always a bit bemused when women say that.

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i think this proves the point of my last post. I would not identify myself as a feminist ideologically or Ppolitically. this does not mean that i am anti-feminist or that i beleive that women are treated equally to men.

dittany Sat 26-Feb-11 19:30:46
Custardo, why would you come into the feminist section and announce you aren't a feminist. It seems an odd thing to do. I don't expect every woman to be a feminist, but if she comes to this section to announce she isn't, I don't see what's wrong with asking why.

The whole rest of the world is one where other points of view can dominate and where feminism is not heard or if it is, dismissed. It doesn't seem unreasonable to expect that feminist views will prevail in the Feminist section.

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As you well know dittany, i wouldn't and indeed didn't just saunter onto a feminist thread and proclaim out of the blue that i wasn't a feminist. that would be more than slightly odd wouldn't it?

There have been threads along the lines of woman = feminist and surely every woman is a feminist...well of that nature anyway. it is in this context that i would say that i am not.

i also do not think it is unreasonable in the slightest that feminist views are held in the feminist section and i never said otherwise. But i do not think it an unreasonable statement to say that a lesser mortal than i can feel threatened if they hold a different view and come on this board.

Oops - posted too soon.

We all play very nicely here, I think, and only respond in kind when frustrated with bad manners.

Oh, I agree, LG. I don't really see a problem with how things are at the moment and was just trying to put myself in other people's shoes. I tend to think thatt if I get ignored or misunderstood, I know I need to express myself better or repeat myself. If I feel threatened, I know I need to look at my thinking first before I have a fit. I've been a bit schooled in another forum setting, though, so that helps.

I think what fucks me off is the accusations of rudeness etc that come from posters who have been blunt, patronising and dismissive towards feminism.

we just need hully

that is all

But for feminism to truly work and move us forward, we must take all our sisters with us, and everyone is at different stages of the journey and needs love whilst they travel.

Feminism always attracts strong emotions, it always has, and so I don't see it as at all surprising that a feminist board will get people quite upset. To me feminism isn't just about "supporting women" but about challenging a whole system, and questioning many assumptions that most people seem to live by or take for granted.

That's not always a very cosy position. and it does mean that people can feel pretty challenged by it. And that's even if you do manage to keep things friendly, it still touches on very personal issues.

In real life I experience my feminist friends and colleagues as massively supportive, also some of the feminists I've got to know well through mumsnet.

I like to dumb things down every so often... it's my M.O.

it's meant to reassure, but quite often unintentionally horrifies

I think that happens in other areas more, pot

as evidenced by the twitter debacle just a couple of days ago

That x post didn't help, Peter

Oh god, that was a horrendous metaphor. Sorry.

I meant ambushed.

aha

you loves the oiled-up one

I knew it

I wonder of people feel that they've been "tag teamed" sometimes on here and that's why it's scary? I imagine that if you get a flurry of replies all saying similar things in disagreement within a short space of time, that would feel quite intimidating.

A bit late, but I don't find this section scary at all, generally it seems to me that in here people listen to each other, not necessarily agreeing at all but responding.

Luff U 2 Peter

I forgot for a moment this was on the Feminism board, so sorry about that

but I wanted to reassure grace, 'cos I luvs her

grace...sometimes it's not the topic per se, but individual posters who seem to monopolise it at certain points that can be the problem

(am not talking about the feminism topic here, more a general MN thing)

there have been some very unpleasant threads recently, and some unpleasant traits appearing in regular posters

one of 'em got banned for it just a couple of days ago

I think a lot of people had their eyes opened, and I don't blame them for it

for a "support" website, this place hasn't really lived up to its tagline all that well in the last few days, tbqh

< again, not talking about the feminism topic, because I luvs it >

I do believe it will settle down though, the chippiness will pipe down, and all will be well again

perhaps when the kids go back to school, and we all get back into our normal routines > < lives in hope >