Who to vote for as a feminist

Lightning, it is a very salient point. Is it OK if feminists who are not recognised as regulars express a viewpoint?

Or must they inevitably be accused of being men who use prostitutes?

I'm not the kind of feminist who is only interested in myself. I don't think feminism which is purely self-interested is feminism.

Did anyone accuse you of being a man who uses prostitutes? Missed that.

Come on, everyone, settle down, hackles away. Peace love, sisterhood. Back to the voting question?

"I am more than happy to explain my meaning, if my attempts to convey the signified via the imprecise medium of inscribing the sign has failed to reach the lofty levels of discourse expected."

That is a very clear sentence. It doesn't explain the use of "so-say".

What is the meaning of "so-say"???

Is it empowering of women to gang up on individual women on an internet site (which was set up expressly to be supportive of parents) and accuse them of being men who use prostitutes - just because they express an opinion different from that of the gang?

i assume "so-say" is the same as "so-called" in that context. my own "say-so" was lazy typing. i'm not sure why you're focusing on this? it makes sense to me - women are frequently told that things are "empowering", but when you analyse them they align with patriarchal values and serve to keep women down. ergo not actually empowering at all.

didyouwritethe do you now understand the difference between empowerment and the intentionally made-up word empowerfulising? because puffins used that made-up word deliberately and did not need correcting

i'm going to do as cailin suggests and email candidates - i want to hear their own reasonings and motivations and that will help me decide

That's a valid approach, imo, NetballHoop. As long as you avoid the BNP and other parties which close down debate and prevent free speech by using fascist bullying.

I no longer vote for a party. I look at my local candidates and pick the best one of them irrespective (with some limits) of which party they are linked to.

This is really interesting, and very relevant.

Thanks, Phaedra. Literacy is a wonderful thing.

But Petula, read Buffy's sentence: it still doesn't make any sense, even if you insert "say-so" instead of "so-say", which is what Buffy wrote. What IS that sentence supposed to mean? You are berating me for not understanding what you are writing, but I don't think any of you understand. If you do understand, explain.

An enlightening question to ask is, this power that is so-say newly available to women, do men seek it?

I don't understand "say-so" in that sentence either. Typo for "some say"?

Caroline Lucas didn't give a terribly convincing answer to Andrew Neil on This Week to his question about the inconsistencies in wanting to ban page 3 but legalise brothels.

"Lib Dems and Greens want to legalise prostitution which in my view will lead to greater exploitation of women."

For what it's worth prostitution is already legal in GB and AFAIK no party (other than the BNP) is in full support of the Nordic model/criminalisation.

Is your not being able to understand "say-so" within the context of the post inhibiting your ability to understand what the difference is between "empowering" and "empowerfulising" (which has been made up for a particular purpose)? If Buffy's post is too tricky I also outlined the differences in my own post above

I'd settle for the earth. I'd like the dc to have one to live on.

I was aiming for patronising…

Well you certainly achieved that but to be fair you were not that you were the only one. I think I may have missed some the nuances of who was being rude to whom due to post deletions.

I haven't looked at The Greens' policy. They didn't impress me at all during the Scottish Independence Referendum and seemed oblivious to the irony of hanging on to Salmond's coat tails whilst he was hanging Scotland's future on the (now very shoogly) peg of oil. Their former leader Robin Harper eventually cracked in the final week and launched a diatribe against the current leadership and Salmond's bullying bluster.

However as the Greens support independence and would side with the SNP I would never vote for them.

Someone posted that the Greens want to introduce mega-brothels like they have in Germany. There was a recent (Channel 4 ?) documentary which featured these; the interviews with the women were some of the most depressing things I've heard in a long time.

Are the Greens the new Lib Dems? Promise the earth (no pun intended) knowing they will never be called on to deliver? The Lib Dems have done so well haven't they when they were put on the spot.

And "so-say" means....

did there's no such thing as an unbiased opinion. The testicles of objectivity may be obscuring this obvious fact for you.

"so-say" - what does it mean?

Yes, what does this mean:

"this power that is so-say newly available to women, do men seek it?"

I really want to know!