Page 2 | Another cancellation - ceramicist Claudia Clare

christinarossetti19 · 2022-02-09T20:48:51+00:00

From Claudia's Twitter account - [[https://twitter.com/ClaudiaCeramics/status/1491440135665512450]] Claudia has been a ceramicist for decades. Her Women@theWell work amplifies the voices of prostituted women. She was due to exhibit and speak at Ceramic Art London in April. She has been cancelled by the organisers Craft Potters Association due to threats of 'disruption'. Fucking outrageous.

Thoosa · 14/02/2022 12:42

Oh for the love of God. This Stalinist habit of silencing dissenters is never a good look.

namitynamechange · 14/02/2022 12:36

Sorry:
There were also some attacks on feminists protesting against prostitution in Spain. should read "There were also some attacks on feminists protesting against prostitution in France"

I am sure men attacking feminists who protest prostitution isn't new, but what is new is the use of clothing/identity to force people to change the language they use to describe it, and to flip the narrative on who is actually being oppressed in those instances.

namitynamechange · 14/02/2022 12:34

There were some "TRAs" filmed attacking a women's protest against sex trafficking in Spain (the women were sitting on the ground with signs and the persons involved came up, snatched the signs and ripped them while dancing around and pushed the phone/face of a woman filming what was happening.) There were also some attacks on feminists protesting against prostitution in Spain.
I put "TRA" in quotes and am saying "persons in dresses" because there is no way of knowing whether these unidentified persons were people who genuinely believed themselves to be born in the wrong body, or just regular punters/thugs hired by pimps who knew putting a dress on would give them a free pass. Either way, people have figured out the life hack that lets you attack/harass peaceful women protesters and get away with it.

Some more fun facts about Spain: the police were clearly visible nearby watching but did nothing; the people in dresses had their faces clearly visible yet it was impossible to identify them; the video keeps being removed from Youtube (but Karen Davies shows it in one of her blogs)

IntermittentParps · 14/02/2022 12:06

Is it possible at all that they can’t give proper details because the police are investigating the threats? You’re not meant to talk about ongoing investigations, are you?
(These are my straws, clutching them thus keeps them handy when I need to stick them in my hair…)

I thought that. Don't know though. I'll keep an eye on CC's Twitter.

Original poster

christinarossetti19 · 14/02/2022 11:41

That's probably wishful thinking NitroNine. They would say if that was the case.

Apparently, there was an internal vote by the CPA committee of bearded men who made the decision to cancel Claudia's exhibition.

The offer of a piece in Ceramic Review is insulting. She's written for that publication for decades. They're not offering to pay her, so it would be free copy for them. Totally exploitative.

OP posts:

NitroNine · 14/02/2022 11:26

Is it possible at all that they can’t give proper details because the police are investigating the threats? You’re not meant to talk about ongoing investigations, are you?
(These are my straws, clutching them thus keeps them handy when I need to stick them in my hair…)

That letter from Amnesty is an absolute shocker. Maybe it’s a signal from someone trapped on the inside - they’re standing over the letter because they can’t stand behind it. Patent absurdity about biologically sexed bodies not existing surely designed to highlight everything said on matter is nonsense. Unless of course over at Amnesty they are in fact disembodied souls floating about the place, being lied to that the whole world vanished in the apocalypse/all humans “achieved the next step” together?! SOMEONE PLEASE CHECK THEIR OFFICES!!! Oop, no, I think we’re probably good: there’s an impressive DARVO loop over disenfranchisement; & the standard wail about taking away trans people’s rights comes with a bonus basically you’re totally violating their human rights [but we’re not going to get into specifics] JUST BE KIND DAMN YOU.

How can Amnesty possibly expect anyone to take them seriously when this is the absolute bilge they produce? I suppose one way to stop staff from burning out in places like the UK, US & Ireland is the change of policy from never campaigning on issues in your own country & letting them focus on this

FannyCann · 11/02/2022 19:20

Well I wouldn't profess to have any special knowledge @christinarossetti19 @IntermittentParps
but now that the Trans umbrella covers about 100 identities including kink it seems that anyone who opposes some of those practices also falls under the transphobic umbrella. And as Christina says, it's a men's rights movement.
Mostly men's rights to women's bodies.

Original poster

christinarossetti19 · 11/02/2022 19:07

I think the official line is 'sex work is work'. 'Prostituted women' takes agency away from the teenagers who are pimped.

FannyCann nails it - it's a men's rights movement dressed up with rainbows.

OP posts:

IntermittentParps · 11/02/2022 09:25

@FannyCann

I think many of them simply oppose anything that might impact their access to women's bodies ie use of sex workers either directly or via porn.

Anyone who tries to rein in their rampant sexual entitlement comes in for abuse.

Try expressing concern about choking or anal sex - the usual crowd of enthusiasts will instantly appear to scold women for being vanilla/prudes/controlling what consenting people can do with their bodies etc etc

God, really? this is a whole aspect of the trans thing that I am ignorant of. I'm finding it all confusing and overwhelming and still trying to get my head around pronouns/who should use which loos etc, let alone all this. Thanks for the insight.

FannyCann · 11/02/2022 09:10

I think many of them simply oppose anything that might impact their access to women's bodies ie use of sex workers either directly or via porn.

Anyone who tries to rein in their rampant sexual entitlement comes in for abuse.

Try expressing concern about choking or anal sex - the usual crowd of enthusiasts will instantly appear to scold women for being vanilla/prudes/controlling what consenting people can do with their bodies etc etc

IntermittentParps · 11/02/2022 08:44

@christinarossetti19

IntermittentParps well, SWERFS and TERFS do get lumped together, although I think SWERF is a misleading term and it's unfortunate that it wasn't challenged when it was first used.

Feminists aren't 'sex worker exclusionary radical feminists' - they don't want to exclude sex workers/prostituted women from their feminism. What they do want to do is keep the focus on the function of prostitution in a patriarchal society and ensure that it's punters and pimps that are criminalised, not the women involved.

Lots of feminists of the sex class based kind do oppose prostitution and seek to shed light on the harms that it causes women. Although there are feminists of the sex class based kind who take more of a 'sex work is work' line.

Thank you. What I really don't get is where (some) trans activists stand on sex workers/prostituted women. I assume it's opposed to this feminist view, if it's causing friction?

Original poster

christinarossetti19 · 10/02/2022 19:59

IntermittentParps well, SWERFS and TERFS do get lumped together, although I think SWERF is a misleading term and it's unfortunate that it wasn't challenged when it was first used.

Feminists aren't 'sex worker exclusionary radical feminists' - they don't want to exclude sex workers/prostituted women from their feminism. What they do want to do is keep the focus on the function of prostitution in a patriarchal society and ensure that it's punters and pimps that are criminalised, not the women involved.

Lots of feminists of the sex class based kind do oppose prostitution and seek to shed light on the harms that it causes women. Although there are feminists of the sex class based kind who take more of a 'sex work is work' line.

OP posts:

IntermittentParps · 10/02/2022 13:43

Had a response:

'I am afraid we cannot give any further details at this time.'

Funny that.

IntermittentParps · 10/02/2022 13:31

@christinarossetti19

Me too, IntermittentParps. Received same text from Craft Potters Association.

Have also written to ask what sort of disruption was threatened, and why a major event had taken the decision to cancel an artist rather than use art as a medium for thought, reflection and discussion as has always been one of its historic functions.

It's definitely just Claudia who has had her exhibition and talk pulled. 91 other ceramicists/potters all going ahead as planned.

Yes, it's the SWERF stuff. Even if you believe that sex work is work and that the women running the HOPE campaign who were prostituted as teenagers on the whole are WRONG to want their historic convictions removed, it's a particularly distasteful capitulating to bullying by the CPA (running the gig) and St Martin's (hosting).

An article in a journal reaching 6,500 subscribers isn't quite the same as a place at a major industry-specific exhibition in the middle of London, is it?

How interesting...! No, I thought that about the journal article too

Scuse my ignorance, but does the SWERF stuff intersect with trans activism then?

Original poster

christinarossetti19 · 10/02/2022 13:21

@GeidiPrimes

I just bought a mug from Claudia's website to show my support

It was Goose mugs all round for Xmas presents here!

They are so beautiful. I love drinking from mine.

OP posts:

Original poster

christinarossetti19 · 10/02/2022 13:19

Me too, IntermittentParps. Received same text from Craft Potters Association.

Have also written to ask what sort of disruption was threatened, and why a major event had taken the decision to cancel an artist rather than use art as a medium for thought, reflection and discussion as has always been one of its historic functions.

It's definitely just Claudia who has had her exhibition and talk pulled. 91 other ceramicists/potters all going ahead as planned.

Yes, it's the SWERF stuff. Even if you believe that sex work is work and that the women running the HOPE campaign who were prostituted as teenagers on the whole are WRONG to want their historic convictions removed, it's a particularly distasteful capitulating to bullying by the CPA (running the gig) and St Martin's (hosting).

An article in a journal reaching 6,500 subscribers isn't quite the same as a place at a major industry-specific exhibition in the middle of London, is it?

OP posts:

IntermittentParps · 10/02/2022 13:06

I emailed Ceramic Art London. Got a response, clearly boilerplate, within five minutes.
Lots of waffle about it having been cancelled, nothing on WHY (I specifically asked what sort of 'disruption' was anticipated).

They have, apparently, offered instead 'an alternative platform in the form of an article in our bi-monthly magazine Ceramic Review which reaches 6,500 subscribers.'

I've emailed again, reiterating that I was asking about what sort of disruption was anticipated ie from what sort of groups/individuals with what sort of issues.
Nothing yet. No boilerplate email available for that, obviously...

DomesticatedZombie · 10/02/2022 12:41

oh, April. Seems unlikely to be covid related, then.

DomesticatedZombie · 10/02/2022 12:40

Is it not maybe covid related? Possibly? Is it just her?

CrumpetShaw · 10/02/2022 12:37

I bet it is the SWERF stuff. The two are really linked for a lot of TRAs. I still dont really understand why...

FannyCann · 10/02/2022 12:30

Well she does have dinosaurs 🦖🦕 in her Twitter bio. No doubt that alerted some of the TRAs.

GeidiPrimes · 10/02/2022 12:25

I just bought a mug from Claudia's website to show my support

GeidiPrimes · 10/02/2022 12:14

Is she being cancelled because her art doesn't include men? Is this where we are now?

IntermittentParps · 10/02/2022 12:02

I've emailed Ceramic Art London to ask what sort of 'disruption' was anticipated. I'll reserve judgement until I get a bit more clarity on it.

Torunette · 10/02/2022 10:44

Is it me, or is this all starting to feel a bit like a Western version of the Taliban?

The silencing and shutting down of women in civic space is extraordinary.