Feminist Pub 17: The Bluestocking frolics in the fells and fens of feminism

Jeanne by all means moan It seems MN is one of the few if not the only place online where we can - so far - debate these things without being shouted down or labelled TERF or whatever.

I've found the various gender/trans threads fascinating and helpful. Of course it's personal - for all of us.

I'm on a large red, with lots of salt and pepper posh crisps. I have been supporting the patriarchy all day and now it's time to have a rest. DH gets to support me tomorrow by looking after our dcs while I work

doctor - fair enough. I was probably reading it wrongly.

May I moan? In a really minor way?

I am not catching a great deal of flack about signing the Observer letter (largely because I'm nobody but possibly also because I think my ideological position is pretty un-threatening too). But someone has just had a go at me over whether sexuality and gender are innate. I'm perfectly willing to chat about whether they are or not, and I do reckon there's a spectrum, with some people being very sure they are one thing or the other, and more of us in the middle who're mostly shaped by nurture. But it seems even saying that is unacceptable.

And (I am being petty and gossipy), the ticking off came from someone who said they have a gay family member and therefore the debate is personal for them. Cos it couldn't possibly be personal for me, ohno.

Sorry, I know that was all a bit rambly and self-involved. Just picture me as the over-talkative woman at the bar with a half-drunk martini (instead of the coffee I've actually got in real life).

This made me smile. DD posted today to entertain me.
www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1636923793115163

How is the hangover Hoppy? I'd consider doing the run anyway. In my experience, exercising through a hangover makes it go away more quickly (because you naturally want fluid and sugar after exercise I suppose). Although if you have the same weather we are experiencing (horizontal hail) then I'd definitely stay at home and hibernate

Nothing broken then Dragonlette? I'm hope her toe heals quickly - sandals in winter doesn't sound fun.

Sorry Hoppy, you probably don't want to be reading all about toes when you're hungover. Did you enjoy yourself last night?

A friend of mine had the hole drilled through a nail thing done. Apparently a stream of blood shot up about 4 or 5 feet. She said it was ace.

Reading this may not be making Hoppy feel better.

All done now. In and out in less than 2 hours, better than I expected. 2 holes drilled in her toenail, lots of "yak" came out and she now has a bandage the size of a house on her toe. I don't think she'll be wearing normal shoes for a while, sandals in winter, what fun.

Eeek at hole in toenail.

Two Have seen that comic before. Bit much, isn't it?

How it works :o I wasn't trying to discriminate, so apols if I did. I have noticed, as per that cartoon, that women in male dominated sectors absolutely have to get everything right otherwise all women get damned for their inability so they cross every i and dot every t whereas many men will happily cut corners and still get it right.

ooh that toenail hole thing makes me feel funny

i'm generally pretty immune to squeamish stuff, but when my friend's toenail came off when she tripped on a rock and i had to help her bandage it all back together so we could get her to a hospital i came pretty close to fainting

We're at A&E now. She didn't even get up til after 10, so my plan of coming early didn't happen. We're in the children's section which seems weird seeing as she's so much bigger than the toddlers who are the other patients (she's 15) Everyone is rather impressed by the giant black toe she's showing them. She's had an xray and we're just waiting for them to drill a hole in her toenail There was a suggestion that dropping the other plates on it would burst it.

Ahem. Sorry about that. If anyone would like to come and quietly put me out of my misery, perhaps smother me with a pillow? That would be fab. May have to do the run tonight on the treadmill, when my body has forgiven me for soaking it in wine and then gin. I'm too old for this.

Dragon how is your DD today?

dragonlette hope your dd is ok - if you're in A&E right now hope things move quickly!

there is a v good stickied guest post at the moment about heavy periods. it goes to show how much bollocks was on that thread a couple of weeks ago about periods no longer being taboo

Oh Hoppy

Dinner plates on foot sound painful.

I. Am. Drunk. Really quite horribly drunk. This was a mistake and ibhave a half marathon training session tomorrow. fuck. Fuuuuuck.

Yes. Go first thing. We once had to go at 10 am on a Sunday. Really quiet.

If you do go to A&E, then tell them you've already seen your GP who advised you to go. Last time I had to get DD x-rayed I'm sure the fact that the GP had sent her reduced our waiting time (it was stated as being ~3 hours - we were seen within 60 mins).

I hadn't thought of that Kickass. Yes, we'd better be there early, but really I just want it to all be fine and not need us to waste Saturday at A&E. I don't think that's going to happen somehow.

my nearly two year old would have pink, frilly, and above all soft missiles with which to pelt me.

You've never been jabbed with Sindy's feet.

I have some painkillers here for you?

Dragon letter get there before the footbal and rugby plying injuries arrive,

(That came out arsier than I meant it - I've been in the middle of very tedious and antagonistic debates all day, and it's creeping into my posting. Sorry!)

Mmm. Ok, you've had a rubbish time so I overlook the generalization, but I do think positive discrimination is a problem, and I wonder if you're not indulging in that?

Anyway. Glad you are ok. That sounds really horrible. Are you looking after yourself? If it were me I'd be really shaky.

breaking - oh, that's really nice.

Thanks all, yes I have recovered slightly. The more I think about it the luckier I realise I am. Had I tried to swerve I'd not have hit it head on and could have turned the car over. Looking at the front end this morning I noticed the bumper is shattered and a couple of false louvres have popped off. Also, I limped in to work and once there the car died. The driveshaft has gone, and I'm glad it dropped out at 5mph and not 50, otherwise I'd probably not be typing this.

So a man in a rush has made me about £350-£400 out of pocket, what with £200 to get the driveshaft replaced, train back here, taxis to and from stations and a night at a B&B on Sunday night. It'd be nice if work compensated me for the travel costs etc but I'm not holding my breath.

Yes, I know the driver could've been a woman but somehow I doubt it. Women in male dominated work sectors tend to be utterly meticulous in their work and are often better than their male counterparts.

We only ever use our kitchen table for jigsaws (well, once in a blue moon DH and I have dinner there if the kids are out). Mainly because we I don't trust the very messy DC on my beautiful cream leather chairs. Therefore we always eat at the dining room table. It's quite handy - partly finished jigsaws can live there as long as necessary and it is v. handy for the kettle gin when we fancy a drink.

We only do children's jigsaws in our house, mainly Frozen ones because that's what dd2 got for Christmas. Dolls aren't necessarily soft though Stormy I once got a black eye when dd2 hit me in the face with a really hard plastic doll.

ISay I remember those sort of tantrums all too well I hope your dd grows out of them soon.

Doctor I hope you've recovered from your scarey car problems

I'm likely to be spending tomorrow at A&E with dd1. She dropped a pile of plates on her toe on Wednesday (she broke ALL my dinner plates, we're now eating off side plates til we can replace them ). I took her to the GP today because her toe is now a very odd purple colour and twice the size of her other toes. The GP said if it gets any worse we should go to A&E, but try to avoid going tonight because we would be stuck there for hours on a Friday night but would probably be seen quite promptly on a Saturday morning.