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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

'Transwomen' (though not 'transmen' welcome at Ann Summers parties. Love balls.

182 replies

Defaultname · 23/01/2021 22:19

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9179371/Ann-Summer-chief-says-transgender-women-welcome-sales-parties-wants-empower-them.html

OP posts:
Aspiringmatriarch · 24/01/2021 13:40

@SqueakyCarrots

Laughing at the terrifying reality of self id is part of coping. There’s nothing malicious at laughing at the ridiculousness of some of this reality. We’re allowed to laugh at tw ‘breastfeeding’ or ‘needing’ tampons or trotting along to parties designed for women. This is our reality they are trampling all over, we can laugh at that the same way we laugh at the pigs in animal farm who start walking on two legs and living in the farmers house. It’s laughing at the blindness, not at tw, who fwr wouldn’t bat an eye lid at living however the fuck they want if they weren’t knowingly erasing us and our daughters in the process. None of us laugh at Mir or others who stand up for us, we’re good with men in skirts and support all mh support for them, we just laugh at those who believe it makes them the same as us who erase our rights in the process. It’s choosing to laugh rather than cry.
So basically you're laughing at transwomen being included in (or trotting along to) literally anything that pertains to women? And this thread isn't about tampons or breastfeeding which are an entirely different area imo. It may be a coping mechanism but that doesn't mean it never crosses the line into transphobia.
OldFolksTalkinBoutBackinMyDay2 · 24/01/2021 13:40

Curious now.

What items of "fetish-wear" can one buy at Ann Summers parties? Anyone?

(It needn't be a long list.)

LApprentiSorcier · 24/01/2021 13:39

@OldFolksTalkinBoutBackinMyDay2

You have a very narrow idea of fetish if you think it's limited to those items.

Oh dear, you wanted a big long list!

Not a big long list, just an acknowledgement that almost everything sold by Ann Summers could be defined as fetish wear or fetish items.
LApprentiSorcier · 24/01/2021 13:38

Yes, that was what I meant, Quaagars, thank you.

Quaagars · 24/01/2021 13:36

@RufustheSniggeringReindeer

Where the fuck have i said any of that 😱
You said you invite friends and family to the parties. Which you do, yes. The poster was just pointing out anyone going to these parties could be indulging in their fetishes/fantasies, so so what if someone is trans? When biological women would be doing the exact same thing? There is a 1950s attitude to some of these posts, assuming the women there get easily embarrassed, aren't indulging fantasies etc Think that's what the poster meant anyway, that's how I read it!
OldFolksTalkinBoutBackinMyDay2 · 24/01/2021 13:35

You have a very narrow idea of fetish if you think it's limited to those items.

Oh dear, you wanted a big long list!

SqueakyCarrots · 24/01/2021 13:35

The host of the party is the person who invites everyone, but often the invites extend to friends of friends and so on- people they might not know so well- as the host gets a % of what they spend of their own order. The person who does the party, or the woman working for the Ann summers mlm, isn’t the host, they are the person the host requests do the party. They often won’t know anyone there and need the commission.

I’ve only ever been to a couple- awful and not my thing but was invited by friends and when young it was part of meeting different people when a young student somewhere new. I knew a friends mum who did them when we were kid, but that’s forever ago. But unless it’s changed that’s who the host and demonstrator/Ann summers rep would be.

I don’t think whatever women’s fetishes are catered to by these parties -and imho most of it isn’t, it’s just women thinking they should like this underwear or being free to buy a vibrator without being embarrassed or anything- is at all comparable to men getting off making the rep feel uncomfortable demonstrating equipment etc. She’s doing a job, a very poorly ‘paid’ one that comes with no respect or any real job protections. Her having Janiv or Danielle Muscato or Alex Drummond or god forbid Karen white once’s she’s released, asking her what to do with love eggs or clit vibrators or anything else while she can’t say they are men & she doesn’t fucking know, while she’s stuck playing along in hopes of a teensy commission, and very possibly stuck being physically intimidated- these parties normally take part in people’s homes, with alcohol, so no protection of any sort- is in no way similar to how she might feel explaining bdsm to another woman. It’s not at all the same.

This thread smacks of the devision of lesser women and woman who have educations and real careers and would never lower themselves to joining an mlm. Just because a woman sells other women stockings in a woman only party for a bloody mlm doesn’t mean she’s fair game for any man that might like to use her discomfort at his female penis to get off.

ItsLateHumpty · 24/01/2021 13:33

I'm hoping that Humpty is being satirical. I'm fearing that s/he is not.

I just like to keep Quaagars on the straight and narrow because they are one of our regular posters who deplores the rampant transphobia on FWR, and they don’t seem to realise how transphobic some of their posts are.

I’m a walking PSA Grin

As for AS - I’ve never seen a “banned from AS parties” list so this ‘announcement’ from them is redundant.

However if they are going to virtue signal, they best get their house in order and look at the terminology they use to advertise their toys, because as I pointed out up thread, atm they are as transphobic AF.

LApprentiSorcier · 24/01/2021 13:33

@OldFolksTalkinBoutBackinMyDay2

You are being invited to a party that sells fetish wear...

You can buy gimp-masks and pup-play masks at Ann Summers?

Who knew..

You have a very narrow idea of fetish if you think it's limited to those items.
LApprentiSorcier · 24/01/2021 13:32

@RufustheSniggeringReindeer

Oh wait...I haven’t said any of that 😀
The argument originally being made against transwomen being invited to these parties was There’s a massive issue between being happy to hand out sex toys to a group of women and potentially being used as an unwitting part of someone’s sexual fetish

Another poster said I'm sceptical that someone who is happy to host Ann Summers parties would baulk at the presence of a trans woman

You said: I wasn’t talking about the host, they would have invited them so obviously they wouldn’t baulk at it. You invite friends and people you know to these types of mlm parties

Thus suggesting that guests might baulk at the presence of a transwoman in case it made them unwittingly a part of someone's fetish.

I am saying that making others part of your fetish isn't something only men are capable of doing. You seem to think it is.

OldFolksTalkinBoutBackinMyDay2 · 24/01/2021 13:30

You are being invited to a party that sells fetish wear...

You can buy gimp-masks and pup-play masks at Ann Summers?

Who knew..

Aspiringmatriarch · 24/01/2021 13:30

But surely it doesn't have to be literally saying "I don't like trans people" to be transphobic? I'm concerned about things like safety and fair competition in sports, I'm not going to extend that to worrying about who attends a party selling sex toys. As far as I know, nobody is being forced to host/attend/invite anyone in particular to an Ann Summers party and many women would be absolutely fine with transwomen being included. So a thread tutting about it, to me, comes across as having an unnecessarily transphobic tone and intent.

PlantMam · 24/01/2021 13:27

MLM are insidious, but they prey on women. Especially vulnerable women, poorer, less educated women who having caring responsibilities at home.

Absolutely. Ban the lot of them.

MLM’s are just shitty workaround the banning of more obvious pyramid schemes, a workaround that specifically targets vulnerable women.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=0InsrAQLVDk&t=1286s

RufustheSniggeringReindeer · 24/01/2021 13:25

Oh wait...I haven’t said any of that 😀

RufustheSniggeringReindeer · 24/01/2021 13:25

Where the fuck have i said any of that 😱

LApprentiSorcier · 24/01/2021 13:23

@RufustheSniggeringReindeer

Agreed. I'm sceptical that someone who is happy to host Ann Summers parties would baulk at the presence of a trans woman

I wasn’t talking about the host, they would have invited them so obviously they wouldn’t baulk at it

You invite friends and people you know to these types of mlm parties

Yes. You are being invited to a party that sells fetish wear. Therefore the expectation is that the other guests will have an interest in fetish. How do you know what is going on in their heads - whether they are trans or not? How do you know you are not being used unwittingly as a part of anyone's fetish?

You seem to have a 1950s attitude that suggests a. women are incapable of fetishising other women and b. only go to Ann Summers parties so they can buy a frilly nurse's outfit to put on for hubby when he gets home from work.

SqueakyCarrots · 24/01/2021 13:21

And you’ve proven you don’t understand what words mean - tongue in cheek means it’s a joke.

We are allowed to laugh at what an unbearable reality self id will impose. Women are the butt of that joke, it’s ok to laugh at those who benefit from it -tw- I’m completely sure Mir and others won’t be offended we laughed at love eggs and clit stimulators.

I was just further laughing at how we all differently laugh at our situations doesn’t translate. I’m just saying different countries often have different humours, not saying everyone in Scotland sees it the same, just it’s a common trait back home, or was when I was growing up. And there’s certainly no ‘super special’ contained with in saying I come from a country where we laugh at everything in a way that’s not supposed to be offensive- just saying it doesn’t translate often. Saying we don’t take ourselves too seriously does not equal super special. It’s not a dig it’s a fuck the tone gets lost on line.

MartiniDry · 24/01/2021 13:19

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Quaagars · 24/01/2021 13:17

@MaudTheInvincible

I'm from the UK and yes, we do the self deprecating humour thing here too

Um, you do realise that Scotland is in the UK, don't you Quaagars?

Sorry, yes I do and on reading that back I did word that badly Grin I
RufustheSniggeringReindeer · 24/01/2021 13:15

Agreed. I'm sceptical that someone who is happy to host Ann Summers parties would baulk at the presence of a trans woman

I wasn’t talking about the host, they would have invited them so obviously they wouldn’t baulk at it

You invite friends and people you know to these types of mlm parties

MissBarbary · 24/01/2021 13:09

@LApprentiSorcier

There’s a massive issue between being happy to hand out sex toys to a group of women and potentially being used as an unwitting part of someone’s sexual fetish.

The whole industry of Ann Summers type businesses is founded on fetish. Sexy underwear is a fetish, sex toys are a fetish. If someone is hosting one of these parties, they can't have any idea what's going on in the minds of the guests/buyers whether they are female, male or trans. Or are you saying that only male-born individuals have any interest in fetish?

Agreed. I'm sceptical that someone who is happy to host Ann Summers parties would baulk at the presence of a trans woman.
MissBarbary · 24/01/2021 13:08

@MaudTheInvincible

I'm from the UK and yes, we do the self deprecating humour thing here too

Um, you do realise that Scotland is in the UK, don't you Quaagars?

I'm sure Quaggers knows that but Carrots thinks there is some extra special , super- duper "Scottish" way of being self- deprecating. It's tosh of course, as most self- serving, sweeping generalisations tend to be.
LApprentiSorcier · 24/01/2021 13:06

There’s a massive issue between being happy to hand out sex toys to a group of women and potentially being used as an unwitting part of someone’s sexual fetish.

The whole industry of Ann Summers type businesses is founded on fetish. Sexy underwear is a fetish, sex toys are a fetish. If someone is hosting one of these parties, they can't have any idea what's going on in the minds of the guests/buyers whether they are female, male or trans. Or are you saying that only male-born individuals have any interest in fetish?

MissBarbary · 24/01/2021 13:05

@SqueakyCarrots

It’s tongue in cheek you numpty.

But your proving my point about wit not translating.

All you have proven is your own narrow- minded view of what being "Scottish" means.
MaudTheInvincible · 24/01/2021 13:05

I'm from the UK and yes, we do the self deprecating humour thing here too

Um, you do realise that Scotland is in the UK, don't you Quaagars?

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