Conservative landslide - how are we feeling as feminists?

I'm very relieved.

I know a lot of us have been extremely angry at Labour, to the extent of cancelling memberships. I think of Lilly Madigan, of Munroe Bergdorf being drafted in as an advisor etc.

If I'd had the capacity to deliver a big Fuck You to the Labour party based on my feminism, I would have liked to have done so.

Well now the country has done that, and I hope that in part, this result is in some small way due to this issue.

Self ID was not at the top of the list for what stopped me voting Labour. That was Corbyn, Momentum and their policies that were too far left.

Self ID did stop me voting Lib Dem. I was considering it until I heard the R4 interview.

Well I hope all you so called feminist who voted Tory are happy. Housing is a feminist issue. Having enough to eat is a feminist issue, the NHS is a feminist issue. Children are a feminist issue. Being a carer is a feminist issue. Being a refugee is a feminist issue. I'm at the bottom of the pile too, megletthesecond. I feel very very depressed. Very scared and I don't actually think those who switched to Tory know what they have done. The working class ones certainly don't. I never knew we lived in such a horrible country.

I feel thrown under the bus by the selfish, selfish, selfish women who voted Tory over trans issues, frankly. I don't for one minute actually believe most of them care about trans issues. I think it was an excuse to vote Tory without feeling bad about it. For a lot of straight, white, middle-class women, voting Tory as a protest is how they justify the fact they secretly don't really give a fuck about a welfare state or a better deal for people of colour, and deep down they feel outraged that a younger generation of feminists feel differently from them.

I don't think that's anything like the only reason this country went Tory, of course. But it is the thing that upsets me most, as a feminist.

As a lone parent I'm worried. I'll be near the bottom of the pile.
Self ID might be reined in though.

Still can’t believe it!! Absolutely fantastic!
Siameasy Couldn’t agree more..my DD lives and works in London and I’m proud of her that she’s been interested in BOTH sides of the argument, doesn’t always agree with mine or DHs politics, but isn’t so hardline either way as to lose all perspective, as we’ve seen with so many.

I dillied and dallied before voting Labour, mainly because I didn't feel I was in a safe enough seat for a protest vote.

I'm relieved that we should now get some breathing space from self ID as it wasn't in the Tory manifesto. But it hasn't gone away and institutions remain captured.

I'm glad Sophie Wilson lost. I think misogyny is misogyny whether it comes from Boris Johnson or Momentum.

I didn't expect Labour to win but I'm staggered at the ineptitude of losing seats like Rother Valley, Blyth Valley, Darlington and Redcar.
I would like to think this would herald a period of self reflection but, as I understand Momentum has a grip on the Labour National Executive, I can't see that happening.

Am I alone in feeling less confident than many here that self-ID is no longer an issue? It wasn't in the Tory manifesto but so far as I'm aware it wasn't in the last one either, or the one before that, and yet the rise of Stonewall and Mermaids, regulatory capture of public bodies and schools and self-ID in all but law have all happened on the Conservatives' watch.

You're not alone. Boris doesn't care one way or the other about women. Or child protection. He'll kick GRA reform into the long grass because it's clearly not a vote winner, not because he thinks it's a bad idea. And it will be very difficult to persuade the Tories to unpick what's already been done since again, they don't care enough to spend any time on it.

I would suggest anyone with a Tory MP gets busy hassling them so that they are motivated enough to do something.

Gutted

Labour members will vote in their own image for a leader which is why someone less woke is unlikely to win a leadership election.

Could Lisa Nandy be a compromise candidate, do you think, Red?

Some understanding of town vs city dynamics and neither Woke nor anti-Woke.

I voted Labour but didn't think they would win.
I am glad that the paralysis around Brexit will be broken even though I would prefer Remain. No point crying over it any more.
Perversely I think the large majority that the Government hold could be good news overall. I think the politics around Brexit have been toxic and divisive and going forward there will once again be parliamentary time for other issues.
Labour have tried very hard to make the more left leaning side of their ideology popular and it has failed. A major rethink is needed. Not more of the same.

Am I alone in feeling less confident than many here that self-ID is no longer an issue? It wasn't in the Tory manifesto but so far as I'm aware it wasn't in the last one either, or the one before that, and yet the rise of Stonewall and Mermaids, regulatory capture of public bodies and schools and self-ID in all but law have all happened on the Conservatives' watch. Why do we think the next five years are going to be any better, when there are so many other reasons the defeated parties can point to before they get to the opinions of us uppity T*RFs?

If it had somehow been a Labour or a LibDem landslide result today I would have felt scared and down for different reasons. I didn’t really know what to hope for today.

I feel pretty dismayed - but as a centre-ground remainer in a safe Tory seat there were no good choices for me at the ballot box.

We have a known womaniser and possible perpetrator of domestic abuse in 10 Downing Street, having been given the largest Conservative majority in a generation. Yet it is clear that there was no electoral appetite for the socialist project set out by Corbyn - who, by the way, was my MP for five years and was utterly invisible at a local level. Man of the people he is not.

The NHS, adult and children's social care is on its knees. Schools are struggling. There is a rising tide of violence against women and children. Self-ID definitely isn't the only feminist issue.

I live in hope but am not sure what is next.

Relieved

How am I feeling? Unapologetic but wary. And I still feel politically homeless, and hope that the non party political discussion on FWR can continue. Monstering your political opponent is not a winning move.

I wanted to but could not vote Labour or Lib Dem. There were many little incidents that made it impossible for me.

• patiently explaining my concerns to my Lab MP (who pretended to listen) but then being fobbed off with the party line
• actually reading the Lib Dem manifesto
• the treatment of prominent women who carefully voiced their opposition to the idea of 'gender essence' (Jenni Murray)
• being given the silent treatment by 'friends' simply for saying that I thought it was important to see the issue of gender self-ID from both sides
• the institutional capture by unaccountable organisations such as Stonewall, which I saw first hand and so on ...

For most voters, this election was about Brexit, though, and Britain is now certain to leave the EU. This has many implications for women, and the fight for women's interests has to continue. But we have to be clear about what those interests are. They cannot be about denying our own lived realities, in our sexed bodies, and all the consequences that this brings.

On a lighter note, I had to share this quip a friend put on her Facebook.

“Be fair now ... you Swinson .... you lose some 😂😁🤷🏼‍♀️“

I voted Labour as the least worst option because I felt the Tories would be an economically polarising disaster for so many of us. Now I feel scared at what’s coming for us all with Boris speeding us towards Brexit. Just when we need a strong opposition, Labour and the Lib Dems will now be focused inwardly on their party.
I am happy to see women on here planning activism within the Conservatives grassroots because we really need to moderate their policies as far as possible but I fear that will be just a drop in the ocean of what would be needed.

As a side note, I feel that FWR as the place for non party political feminist discussion action and organising may change, given that the previous solidarity between a lot of us of being in a state of ‘political homelessness’ has now diverged into all of our different responses at the GE.
I really hope I’m wrong about that and we can stay focused on our issues and not factionalise on here.

The only inspiration I am taking from this (personally) deeply depressing outcome is to note how leavers in the Brexit Party put their single issue before party loyalty to get their issue through. We will need to do the same and all actively get the new government and the other parties on board with issues affecting women.

The underlying problem is that the First Past The Post system doesn't allow the electorate to vote for the party that most reflects their views. And it also leads to small wins being translated into a large number of seats. Neither Conservative nor Labour are principled enough to seek genuine improvement in this area.

Will there be a new contingent of the Tory party that has previously not really been heard from much - the working class Tories - with all these new northern MPs? That could be a good thing

Yes, but the thing is they are not really tories at heart - but now the responsibility for their neglect is going to lie at the tory door.

Dominic Raab is a total dim-wit. He seems to think they voted Tory because they were 'aspirational working class communities'. That's not it at all. They are simply desperate for change.Labour governments have not delivered it to them, either.

The Rother Valley result is good (that tweet really does encapsulate it).

I fear Momentum have got such a stranglehold on Labour that we'll have another unelectable far left candidate in 5 years time.

just want someone in power who cares about the most vulnerable on society

The Tories are going to have to listen now. They represent many of these people for the first time ever. It can't all just be about tax cuts now.

The mistake that's likely to happen is mistaking a lack of female leader as the problem for the party rather than Labour's problem with small town versus metropolitan centres. It's the social justice warrior issue which fails to bring along people and instead imposes ideals and values

Exactly! What is needed is quality and capability; people prepared to listen and to represent - not just candidates who tick intersectional boxes. Unfortunately, some good people MPs have now been lost, or forced out.

I’m depressed. The things that matter to me, social and affordable housing and a having working adult social care services, they are going to be forgotten and pushed under the carpet, until we hit breaking point, which we have, then the government blame demand on services on the people who need, demonising the poor and those who have the audacity to live to long and need care. I wanted more affordable housing built and a proper social care service to be set up for people in desperate need. I don’t give a fuck about Brexit. Or renationalising the railways and free broadband. I just want someone in power who cares about the most vulnerable on society. And those people are usually women.