Most gender critical/female rights party?

@1hello

local council elections (30 unitary authorities have whole council up for election & more have 1/3). We could practice our influencing skills on candidates in those

Absolutely spot on. It would be useful for local parties to be made aware of the strength of feeling. After all, they do all the hard work and fund raising to get their MP and local councillors elected/re-elected.

Traditionally, there is a low turn-out at local elections. Canvassers concentrate on the demographic that is most likely to vote (ie older people). It would be great to see women of all ages galvanised into probing candidates and then attending the vote to make their mark.

*Now I have a tory MP who is very TWAW, and no one will tell me who is standing against him

Local parties wait until an election is due before they select a candidate to run against a sitting MP. You may not get a name until 2021 (the next General Election is on 5th May 2022, unless the Conservatives go belly-up).*

May 2019 has a round of local council elections (30 unitary authorities have whole council up for election & more have 1/3). We could practice our influencing skills on candidates in those. Do not underestimate that MPs listen to leaders of their local councils / local party chairperson. Local councillors should be aware of safeguarding but are also those who nod through unisex changing at leisure centres at planning.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/694598/Election_Timetable_in_England.pdf

Now I have a tory MP who is very TWAW, and no one will tell me who is standing against him

Local parties wait until an election is due before they select a candidate to run against a sitting MP. You may not get a name until 2021 (the next General Election is on 5th May 2022, unless the Conservatives go belly-up).

The trouble with a newly elected MP is that they spend 12 months learning the job and finding their way around Westminster, Whitehall and the constituency - and seem disinclined to put their head above the parapet unless they have some particular expertise/background in the subject.

On the plus side, they may well be so ignorant of the issues for women that they might appreciate a good briefing - like a leaflet from Fairplay For Women.

I’ve never been a political party type person, being of the view that they are essentially all like each other. I have matured over the years, though.
I started off voting for the name I liked most (a hard choice!), moved onto voting for my local Tory because he actually took the time to talk to me. Very annoyed about the ‘whoever voted for the Tories is evil’ stance. I didn’t vote for the party, I voted for my MP.
Now I have a tory MP who is very TWAW, and no one will tell me who is standing against him so I can ask them.

Ihaventgottimeforthis the Lib Dems are awful, their official lgbt twitter account is just disgusting, young libdem is not Greta but not as vile as their lgbt account. Brian Paddick was so unpleasant to the women who came to talk to him about their concerns over self id (after he'd asked people to talk to him) that he issued a blanket half hearted apology but didn't approach them individually. They have declared 50% TW MPs would represent gender equality and of course most recently welcoming A Challenor with open arms

I think spoiling your vote just means people who do vote get to determine who represents you. Because the election winner does and if thats UKIP you didn't even attempt to prevent that.

Vote for the least bad option or just on one key issue, but don't waste your vote. Contact those standing and find out their position. A mass action on raising the importance of the GC view of self-ID would surely be more effective upfront than an after the event explanation of low votes.

A year or so ago I was convinced nothing would ever make me vote conservative in my lifetime then I came across 'Dr Drew' on twitter started following more feminist accounts and came here. I was already concerned about the attitudes of transwomen I'd encounterebut I had no idea of the scale of the problem and the shutting down of debate within the political parties. The news about the expulsion of Venice Allan from Labour whilst I'd not previously heard of her was shocking. Seeing photo after photo of Corbyn with Sophia Botha, Heather Peto, munroe Bergdorf, and many others was disturbing when he was photographed so rarely with adult female humans. I still struggle to understand how the political parties went so deep down the rabbit and how they've managed to do that without most voters realising

Thanks ROwan and Mrs Fogi I'll check those out.

Should say lib dem in first sentence

If anyone is considering voting lib dplease would you ask them their views of the lib dem lgbt twitter account, whether they agree that 50%male and 50%TW MPs would represent equality ( it would solve the MP pairing problem when MPs are due to or have recently given birth mind) and how goo dthey are at seeing into souls

I would echo what others are saying about emailing each of the candidates in your area to voice your concerns and ask what their view is (great time to do it even if there isn't an election because the more people who contact them about self-id the more they will realise that it is a concern). I did this and got a really encouraging response from my Conservative MP (rubbish response from other parties) so if there is an election soon he will get my vote (and I will email him to tell him why just to keep on raising the issue).
In the past I have often written "None of the above" however I think there is more to be gained by entering into a dialogue with candidates and sitting MPs given that spoilt ballots are simply binned so the candidates will not know why they have been spoilt unless individuals contact them and tell them. In the absence of that there is little more value than not voting (and I will never, never not vote given the work of the Suffragists and Suffragettes).

Also Fairplay for Women have some leaflets which are available to distribute. They're just sarting to send them out so will be current (eg post GRA consultation)

Their site has lots of information:
fairplayforwomen.com/

jamrollyolly welcome!

There were some useful threads on FWR chat during the GRA consultation where women described effective meetings with their MPs so within the last 6 months.

They should be easily found using advanced search although there seem to be some glitches.

What some women have found is that MPs are really poorly briefed and so often starting with very simple questions gets better results.

Hello, I'm a lurker who hit peak trans a couple of months ago. I am rather in awe of the wisdom, compassion and humour I've read in these pages!

I love the idea of approaching my local candidates to pressure them and find out their position on GC issues, either by letter or in person.

Are there a set of bills ( apart from the GRA) that I should ask about opinions or voting history on? I feel that there may be many other women ( and sensible men) who could use a cheat- sheet on this issue.

Is there such a document already, that I could use and say, how about here? Or post with a letter, what is your opinion on...?

Thanks.

Have checked and he won by a very small margin, his closest rival, the Labour candidate, was really rude to me on self id, and unsurprisingly had no intelligent arguments, just a bullish TWAW stance, seemingly based on lumping it in with gay rights 🙄. She didn’t seem to grasp (or care) about the bullying and gaslighting of lesbians. Would definitely vote for him over her if they both stand again.

I have a Conservative MP at the moment. I will have to check who his closest rival was last time.
Anyway, I am another who will vote with this issue at the forefront of my mind. That definitely rules out Labour.

I just don't know! I have an anti-Brexit, anti Self ID MP (aren't I lucky!). But they are Labour and I just feel that Labour are an utter disaster on both Brexit and Self-ID, which are my only criteria to vote on. I live in a Lib Dem/Lab Swing seat and on Self ID the Lib Dems may be even worse!

current thread:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3480876-Fairplay-for-Women-petition-Review-rules-that-allow-male-prisoners-who-identify-as-female-in-womens-prisons-reaches-10-000-so-Govt-will-now-respond

The petition has reached 10 000 and so 'Government will respond'

Those who may be seeking to form any future Government should also be aware of this.

I think it needs to refocus and MPs need to be challenged as to whether they are giving away women's rights and support the damaging of safeguarding etc.

Its a mistake to centre Transgender self-id when starting conversations.

We could revive #No2SelfID. It's not ideal but it's short and is clearly related to a particular issue.

My MP is anti self iD. Unfortunately, he's a massive tool

Re spoiling ballots - can we all agree on a slogan/something to use?

I've never even considered spoiling a ballot. It makes me feel really uncomfortable. Dirty, actually, it makes me feel dirty.

To help that, I'd like to draw penises on the paper or write "womens' rights are human rights" "139 women know why we need women's only spaces, and none of you feckers are standing up for them" "Transwomen are not female"

I'm so angry about this. Actual rage.

It's all very frustrating. I live in an extremely woke Labour safe seat so, tbh, I don't see any point in meeting with my MP plus I am terrible at getting points across in person. I'm with nauticant and Call MeSirShotsFired. Any party that stands up and says 'Women have the right to set boundaries' would get my vote.

I can't even vote Tory because my MP has a terrible track record when it comes to women's issues and I got a distinctly pro-TR response when I wrote to him earlier this year.