Turns out Hampstead swimming ponds are single SEX after all ...

Increasingly I'm finding myself with one particular song stuck in my head. I've not seen Mary Poppins for years but #ManFriday does so often make me feel like singing in grateful chorus "Well done, sister suffragettes!"

for everyone involved!

@YesItsADebate : please tell me your knitted beard specifications/visions, and I shall do my very best. Seriously.

You have done so much to move the debate forward into men's spaces - and in such practical ways. It is inspiring!

Respect!

(And please post the specs for your knitted beard, I shall do my utmost!)

@LightOfASilveryMoon I would love a knitted beard 😂

Exactly right. They are inspiring. Thank you

YesItsADebate : serious thanks to all of the ManFriday crew for what you have done and are doing. You have pitched it perfectly! Thanks for being so inspiring!

@BettyBaggins Certainly! Are you thinking smooth and sleek (think eyelash yarn for a long and glossy version; or eyelash yarn clipped and sculpted with nail scissors for a more hipster vibe?); or alternatively, a wild and woolly "hide a ferret" job?

Harking back to a point made earlier, everyone’s contribution is valuable. I was really sad reading a few days ago that @hear_roar was told that their contribution to another cause was worthless. It’s just not true. I can’t make up brilliant hashtags. I’m crap at telling witty anecdotes. I’m not wealthy enough to throw funding at causes. I’m time-poor. But I’m good at putting people at ease. I couldn’t give a toss about wearing ridiculous outfits in public. And I hate injustice and will just not ever go away until it’s sorted. If everyone was like me, the whole thing would be crap, but I’m good at my bits. Sweary and roar are fab at big groups and stories. Other members are good at talking to people, or handing out leaflets, or running the Twitter account, or the website, or coming up with ideas, or giving expert legal advice, or drawing, or or rallying the troops, or handling the media, or proof-reading, or telling a hard truth, or making us laugh and reading and supporting. No one is more or less valuable and I love and appreciate them all. I’m very lucky to be surrounded by such inspiring, incredible women.

Light - I may order one for me and DH. Me, so I can express my inner manliness and him so I don't have to keep finding his fecking beard pubes all over the bathroom even though he swears he's cleaned them all up.

@Lightofasilverymoon could you look at ones I can stroke in a musing, manly and intellectual manner

Gotta love Mumsnet.

I'm a knitter, desperately looking for decent small knitting projects at the moment, and love the idea of knitted beards for women to wear on Fridays!

There are so many lovely yarns and textures and colours that could be used!

Am free on Thursday, so shall look into knitted beards a bit more, and experiment with odds and ends in my yarn stash!

This thread is moving so quickly but just wanted to lately pop by to punch Amy and Sweary on the shoulder and give them a big man hug. You are truly inspirational. Modern day Suffragettes indeed.

If you want to share a doc on googledrive with people you dont know you might have to share your email address. Or you could create the doc in google drive, export it as a pdf or even a pic file and post it easily without identifying yourself via a personal email address. Check if the email address has to be public too. stay safe.

I'll give that a go. I owe you a pint and other such manly greetings.

you could use google drive upstart

Dammit, its only Tuesday or I could have done it myself.

Dunno Upstart.

You'd need a man for that.

I've typed a transcript. Can anyone tell me how to file share?

So let me get this straight - a trans person can be trans sometimes, all the time, or whenever the mood strikes, but only non-females. If females follow their example, they are clearly not trans.

Their logic is built on shifting sands.

The Independent: "Trans rights campaigners say 'Man Friday' Hampstead Heath protest was 'transphobic'
'It makes fun of those less fortunate as the people taking part are clearly not trans and will not be affected by any changes to the law'"

(extract)
"Susie Green, the chief executive of Mermaids, which campaigns for trans equality, said: “Our organisation finds this kind of demonstration worrying as it targets a marginalised and discriminated group of people.

"It makes fun of those less fortunate as the people taking part are clearly not trans and will not be affected by any changes to the law.

“It’s clearly transphobic - they’re mocking trans people.”

Pro-LGBT+ rights advocates also say that groups like Man Friday are conflating the Gender Recognition Act and the Equality Act"
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/man-friday-hampstead-heath-protest-transphobic-lgbt-rights-a8374651.html

There are gender-critical corners of the Torygraph - the Alex cartoon in the business section has been quietly making fun of the excesses of the trans movement for ages (if you have a subscription, check it out - you will find Steph strangely reminiscent of someone who has been mentioned in FWR ), and I get the impression Michael Deacon may be quietly GC. But you're right, they haven't really published any decent stuff tackling the issue head on (which is surprising, as they do have feminist writers who write for them regularly - including Julie Bindel).

I rarely read the Telegraph, I will if I see something on Twitter or here. I have had my account quite a while it's free I've just paid for a Times subscription.

Never thought I’d say this but the Telegraph has really gone downhill since Murdoch left. (Not that one, the CEO McLennan).

I hope I meet you one day, @SwearyG - and Amy - and get the chance to write about you and record this piece of women's history.

It is a bit sneery. The telegraph doesn't take it seriously in the same way as the Times.