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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Why I am not applying for the Fawcett Society CEO job - Maya Forstater

122 replies

stumbledin · 16/06/2021 15:23

When they first advertised for this job in October 2020 I applied, in order to make clear to the Fawcett Society Trustees the choice they had. Would they go ALL-IN with gender ideology, would they be BRAVE and hire someone willing to stand up for women’s rights or would they try to be CAUTIOUS and hire another fence sitter?

mforstater.medium.com/courage-calls-to-courage-why-i-am-not-applying-for-the-fawcett-society-ceo-job-52f96de21e05

(For whatever reason Fawcett appointed an interim CEO last year.)

There are loads of threads about Fawcett but this was a recent one www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4234244-Fawcett-Society concering interim CEO

And Maya attends Fawcett AGM (to be read with added perspective!) www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4091698-Maya-attends-the-Fawcett-Society-AGM

About previous CEO leaving www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4072069-Sam-Smethers-CE-Leaving-Fawcett-Society

OP posts:
JustcameoutGC · 17/06/2021 10:16

She has accessorised herself with a fictional transwoman, shitting on the other women in the group and also not doing TW any favours. There is no difference between a TW in a group on menopause than one in a group for pregnant women.

This seems to have tapped into a seam of pure anger in me.

NecessaryScene · 17/06/2021 10:16

So, in effect, slandering transwomen by suggesting they would such invade women's spaces?

That's allyship!

JustcameoutGC · 17/06/2021 10:13

Ahhhhhhhh. Making up TW to demonstrate just how fantastic you are. I am RAGING.Angry

PronounssheRa · 17/06/2021 09:54

More on the misunderstanding

Why I am not applying for the Fawcett Society CEO job - Maya Forstater
OvaHere · 17/06/2021 09:52

Does she realise that Millicent Fawcett wasn’t in it for the sash and the brooch?
Grin

Beamur · 17/06/2021 09:52

If that Twitter comment is accurate, that takes craven to a new level in the interview. Imaginary, cherished, well accessoried transwomen...

Melroses · 17/06/2021 09:50

Floisme Excellent.

Sums up the whole sorry episode.

StandUpStraight · 17/06/2021 09:42

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

PurgatoryOfPotholes · 17/06/2021 09:31

A woman who is part of a menopause support group with Ayesha has expressed confusion about Ayesha's description of the group's make-up. She says there are no transwomen in it.

I'm sure it's all a big misunderstanding.

twitter.com/StanFastic/status/1405299321688498186?s=19

Why I am not applying for the Fawcett Society CEO job - Maya Forstater
OvaHere · 17/06/2021 09:25

@Floisme

I'm trying to imagine how it must feel to be on the board of a society named after the woman who coined the phrase 'Courage calls to courage everywhere'. Maybe in your dreams you and Dame Millicent stand together shoulder to shoulder, maybe you fantasise sometimes about all the brave things you would have done yourself if only you'd been around then, maybe you even feel a twinge of regret at being born at the wrong time.

And then one day you wake up and realise that the struggle of the century has been going on all the time, right under your nose, and that a 40-something former tax researcher is kicking your sorry arse all over Twitter.

Yes it's exactly this.

Have a Star in lieu of a clap emoji

NecessaryScene · 17/06/2021 09:24

This is a woman who is on the board of THE society with the sole purpose of defending women's rights. And in one piece of fluff article she shows just how unfit she is to discharge that duty. Her response on twitter is beyond pathetic. If she had a scrap of decency she would resign.

Every single effing "left-wing"-ish organisation seems to think they exist to conform to the party line. Rather than to fight for the specific thing they were founded to do.

Same problem as the ACLU in America. If you don't want to be fighting for women's rights, or for civil liberties, or whatever, go off and join another organisation and don't block this one.

Floisme · 17/06/2021 09:18

I'm trying to imagine how it must feel to be on the board of a society named after the woman who coined the phrase 'Courage calls to courage everywhere'. Maybe in your dreams you and Dame Millicent stand together shoulder to shoulder, maybe you fantasise sometimes about all the brave things you would have done yourself if only you'd been around then, maybe you even feel a twinge of regret at being born at the wrong time.

And then one day you wake up and realise that the struggle of the century has been going on all the time, right under your nose, and that a 40-something former tax researcher is kicking your sorry arse all over Twitter.

StandUpStraight · 17/06/2021 07:58

yell that would make sense. It’s not what she said, though.

“I’m part of a wonderful Facebook group of older women celebrating confidence in our “hot girl years”, AKA the menopause. Trans women are not only welcome, they are cherished — we have all learned from their stories and world class ability to accessorise.”

Always a good idea to read things properly before accusing others of wilful ignorance.

JustcameoutGC · 17/06/2021 07:37

Ooooh so nice to see her getting her arse handed to her. My rage is back.

So many things in this sphere have made me angry. Indigenous women losing a place at the Olympics to a male, lesbians being told to accept lady dick, women raped in prison by men masquerading as women. But for some reason this really set me off.

This is a woman who is on the board of THE society with the sole purpose of defending women's rights. And in one piece of fluff article she shows just how unfit she is to discharge that duty. Her response on twitter is beyond pathetic. If she had a scrap of decency she would resign.

MNybvcx54 · 17/06/2021 07:33

That comment about accessorising tells me everything I need to know about the author. Pathetic.

TheRebelle · 17/06/2021 07:25

@YellWat have you read the article? It’s clear she’s talking about transwomen, and how much better at woman if they are than plain old women.

YellWat · 17/06/2021 07:20

Oh my goodness, the amount of wilful ignorance going on in this post is excruciating.

Here's a little hint for you. Maybe, just maybe, the menopause project is talking about transmen rather than transwomen. Ie, those transmen who experience menopause.

Farwest · 17/06/2021 07:12

I haven’t even said anything on the topic. Why would I?

Because you are on the board of a feminist charity meant to advance the rights of women and girls (human females). That's fucking why. You should be able to define the terms women and girls, and you should support Maya, who has taken on the misogynists and won.

The next sentence is just factually incorrect. She is an idiot.

Resign, the lot of you, and turn your funding over to Sex Matters if you are too scared to do your job.

highame · 17/06/2021 07:07

I am assuming that anything to do with women is now going to become a Rau Paul extravaganza. That's great isn't it, we no longer need to worry ourselves about women's subordination or FGM or DV, we just need to get out the lippy and a nice pair of earrings and we'll be sorted. Who'd a thought it could be that simple

PronounssheRa · 17/06/2021 06:41

@AnneLovesGilbert

AH is rightly getting an extremely hard time. Someone asked why a transwoman would join a menopause group and the answers are stunning. David Aaronovitch was very good.
mobile.twitter.com/ayeshahazarika/status/1405193997828698113

AH writes an article referencing maya, but gets snarky when maya responds.

NiceGerbil · 17/06/2021 01:44

Loads of blokes accessorise like mad though.

In my old suited and booted job. Fancy watches. Shirt and tie carefully coordinated. Pocket square sometimes. Fancy shoes. Cufflinks. Expensive bags.

Is the idea that men don't accessorise?

Or aren't they accessories if a man type man has them?

EsmaCannonball · 17/06/2021 01:04

Ayesha Hazarika has always struck me as one of those people who knows how to get on in life by saying the right things. She would never challenge an orthodoxy and is a poor excuse for a feminist. She just seems like such a trivial person. In the week of Maya and Sonia and Chimamanda, she's going all giggly over accessories. It's a cringeworthy form of pandering.

Enough4me · 16/06/2021 23:52

Maybe I should label myself a non-woman because, although I have periods and a menopause group would be relevant for me in the future, I don't accessorise so won't get the point of those meetings.

I just need to accept I can no longer use the word woman to represent me.
Sadly all woman are equal but some TW are more equal than others.

Stopsnowing · 16/06/2021 23:32

I can’t accessorise. Yet another way I have been doing womaning wrong!

stumbledin · 16/06/2021 22:47

FOJN - our posts (just after op) must have conincided with each other.

By the way I am not totally on board with MF comment / article. I absolutely think she has been brave and resolute in terms of her own court case and standing up for women's sex based rights.

But its a bit of a leap to then say that makes me the best choice to be a CEO! (said in the most friendly of ways)

But yes, which is why I posted the links to the earlier threads about Fawcett, they seem to have been shifting further and further away from women's sex based rights. So if Sam Smethers had hinted at that it was no doubt a coup for the other side that she left and then so did Jenni Murray.

I wonder what they think there purpose is now and if they even consider that they might find themselves of the wrong side of history.

I can remember in the early days of WLM conferences Fawcett would often have a stall, but the organisation seemed to just consist of a quite elderly couple keeping the embers of what had been a forceful organisation staggering along. At some point it re-invented itself as a safe MOR equalist group and started to get more funding. Funnily enought because radical Women's Liberation reawakened women's fight for their rights. But they were always at arms length.

And now, not even sure what their purpose is. It doesn't seem that they are thought of very highly by Government.

And I suppose with a Board of Trustees and an interim CEO probably thinking more in terms of how will this look on my professional CV I suspect it will never be anything more than an women's organisation that can turn up at events as toke feminists.

OP posts: