Would you vote Conservative at the next election?

I might vote for them.

They are the only party willing to stand up for single sex spaces - my liberal political parties don't give a shit about my safety and hard won rights.

But, yes, I feel dirty about even considering it - but, I find these are strange times.

It's not only the left's attitude to women that has alienated me, it's the authoritarianism.
I grew up in the height of the Cold War so I always knew the tendency was there but, to my shame, l let it go because I wasn't on the sharp end of it. Well now I've had my comeuppance and it's hard to convey how disturbing I've found it. It has shaken me to the core and made me question everything I used to believe.
Totally agree.

I might vote Tory. I wouldn't vote labour again until Keir Starmer has demonstrated that he's rid the party of the authoritarian streak which has been exposed and which I find very frightening.

For me now the central issue is free speech. Above the GRA or women's rights, as it's the removal of free speech and the shutting down of valid viewpoints with insults (as seen on this thread BTW) is what has led us to this position of the definition, and therefore rights, of women being eradicated.

That has become for me above all else. I used to think free speech as 'a generally good thing' but now I realise to a free society it is everything.

I won't vote for a party that won't allow dissent, and indeed seeks to expel those who voice it. They've turned on Trevor Phillips and Karen Ingala Smith. People who achieved more for the vulnerable than they ever have, will or could. But they are insufficiently ideologically pure, and must be punished to warn others to remain silent.

My husband's Jewish. We're both feminists. We're both wholly committed to freedom of conscience, belief, and expression. There is no possible way either of us can vote for Labour right now.

Silencing dissent and demonising views that differ to your own, and claiming that people who deplore transphobia and racism, but disagree on the wisest means to redress those are bigots and must be silenced at all costs and everyone else re-educated into their own way of thinking... that's not morally virtuous. It's totalitarian, and therefore intrinsically and inherently evil. It's as though the student union idiots you recall from college days just never grew up, and are now running Labour.

I'm not willing to sign over the country to a bunch of zealots with contempt for everyone else. If Starmer can turn the ship, nobody will be more delighted. But that's an open question, and if he doesn't, then they will never be electable again. Blaming women for voting for what we regard as the least awful option doesn't change that.

Never have, never will.

No. Their values are in no way aligned to my own.

We didn't forget. It was already mentioned upthread. But at least they pulled back they saw the harm it will do, or just the political disaster it would be with their core voters. The rest of the parties have jumped on it, big style.

I think some of the anger in the thread is because it was assumed that any manner of shit was expected to be thrown at women and they would simply take it... left wing women would never defect. Well no, this is a protest vote from my perspective, and if enough women do it too, it will be a fairly clear message.

I'm not alone in this by any means.

Waiting for the 'scab" thing next, I care not a jot.

The other thing that strikes me is that you couldn't put a slip of paper between Tory austerity and Labour largess, not when they've actually governed.

No. I'm a lone parent.

Maybe they will give an Asda style apology like the one they’ve just give Baroness Nicholson. That would be nice can you imagine!

Tories gave us Maria Miller and the GRA reform in the first place.

Why do people keep forgetting this?

None at present. Like the very large majority of the UK population

47,587,254 voted on 2019 GE
13,905,520 voted for Cons
10,282,632 voted for labour.

Every one else got squashed.

So not sure where you get the idea from that the large majority of people have no party.

Any way have a good night ...

Is it impossible to have any threads on feminism, politics or serious women's issues without certain posters resorting to personal attacks?Reducing everything to personal vendettas is tedious for those of us who do want to engage with the issues.

I couldn’t vote Tory - it’s women staffing the NHS, disproportionately using it, needing the welfare state, using SureStart that the Tories dismantled.

I don’t think they are allies of women. It’s luck that we have someone against TWAW in Women and Equalities; thenTories gave us Maria Miller and the GRA reform in the first place.

I’ll keep badgering Labour, WEP and others to represent the interests of women over TRA, and hope the wind changes.

Dance the superiority complex runs strong through PrincessConsuelaVaginaHammock -who ever they are.
Pot, kettle, taking it on yourself to give opinions about whether other people should post

I just thought maybe you should step away as your posts were getting odd. Your last posts confirm that tbh.

What party do you stand with and I’ll make sure I never align myself with it if this is the standard of members they have

Thanks Saucery

Yes. Trans ideology is terrifying. This whole debacle has made me a Tory voter. I know they are not perfect but they are better than the far left which seems to be what labour, Lib Dem and greens have become.

It was a quoted post, Dance, so it bolded the bits the original poster bolded.

I’d like to think the Conservatives would stand true on the issue but I’m doubting that now, as they haven’t stood true on much else.
Case of “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me” afaic.

Yes I spoiled my vote in the last one Lounge but given the announcements on the GRA I will vote for them unless there is movement from another party. Which I doubt.

Why did you bold me in that last post?

No absolutely not. I would never have considered voting conservative anyway but I do agree with your points re women’s rights and I can see that the conservatives are the only party standing up for us at present. I just think they will continue to shaft us and the country in every single other way at the same time. I have voted labour the last few elections and Lib Dem’s or Greens in the past but unless Labour sort themselves out soon I honestly think I’ll be spoiling my ballot next election for the first time in 30 years.

What doubts are you having about me and what false claims have I made? What do you mean ‘getting perilously close to bad faith territory’?

Actually on checking it was just the one false claim, the one about calling everyone who disagreed with me stupid. I thought you'd claimed I voted Labour but while one of your posts indicates you may have made that assumption, you didn't vocalise it. So it is just the one false claim, apologies for incorrectly pluralising.

Either way though, that combined with you taking it on yourself to tell someone who disagrees with you whether they should post and one actual invention, plus the failure to acknowledge what Tory economic policy does to women, doesn't paint you as someone who's willing to engage with that aspect of the issue. But if I'm wrong and you understand how austerity has made women suffer and acted as a tool for abusers and will continue to do so, plus you feel it's an important part of the discussion, do state that.

I would never vote for them but when you refer to "...if the parties maintain their current positions", I don't think it's at all clear what their current positions are. The Tories haven't announced what legislative changes, if any, they are proposing, and Labour haven't announced whether they will support those changes. Presumably, things will become clearer by the time of the next GE.