Why I'm voting Conservative

I’m 70 and I voted Tory for the first time in my life today. I feel really bad about it but there seemed to be no other option. I did write #LabourLosingWomen along the side of the ballot paper!

I think writing on your ballot paper invalidates it?

@Grammarnut I'd say at least the Tories, with their belief in small government and lower state intervention, are more likely to leave people alone. The Left (and I say this as someone who is a naturally leftish person) very much seems to like looking down on those for "wrong" opinions. Look at the demonisation of anyone who voted Leave.

But I completely agree with your post above, it's known as the "urinary leash". It was very much in evidence during Covid too, when public loos were closed. I walked across central London to find a loo that was open, then didn't dare have anything else to drink until I was home. Men can just pop behind a bush in a way that women can't.

Historically, the urinary leash was used to keep women in the home. It's why department stores and cafes becoming more prolific made such a different to women - they could leave the house further and for longer because they'd be able to go to the loo.

I’m 70 and I voted Tory for the first time in my life today. I feel really bad about it but there seemed to be no other option. I did write #LabourLosingWomen along the side of the ballot paper!
My female Tory MP is not a particularly great MP, but she has responded promptly and positively to my 2 emails on women’s rights. On the other hand the young Labour candidate has not responded to 2 polite emails querying his views. But he did have he/him on his Twitter bio and came out with the usual guff about the poor discriminated-against transgender lot at a hustings, so his views are pretty obvious.
What tipped me over the edge was David Lammy and his rude misogynistic ranting plus sheer biological stupidity in his interview this week, together with Starmer’s endless mind-changing.
I suspect we’re going to have to spend the next 5 years, kicking up a fuss, writing letters and much gardening. We’re 51% of the population and we can’t be ignored!

True

Actually, 'we on the Right also know what's best for you'. We are ruled by a technocracy, benevolent dictators who treat us as children to be corralled into what is good for us (because left to ourselves we make the 'wrong' decisions) and this is one reason the current election is so boring. Not one candidate has ideas or ideals or a vision of how they would like the future to be - though some are ideologists of the worst kind (the technocratic kind). I hope Rosie Duffield keeps her seat.

Fantastic post.

It's absolutely the attitude of "We on the Left know what is best for you because we are morally superior and have the correct views" that makes me loathe so much of Left wing politics.

Yes. This is what turns me cold too.

I agree to some extent that it is about safeguarding - though I am not voting Conservative and I cannot vote for Labour.
But it is about toilets as well. Toilets for women - or lack thereof - are a very easy tool for men to use to control women and they are used in this way all over the planet. If we have nowhere to urinate in the public sphere in safety and privacy we cannot be there - bear in mind that women use toilets for more than peeing, for menstruation, for dealing with children, for dealing with effects of pregnancy. Also that childbirth's effects on our bodies mean we need loos far more frequently than most men (unless they have a prostate problem!) and not having one available makes life both miserable and impossible. I remember travelling through India and how the lack of usable toilets made life so difficult, to the point I dehydrated myself because eating or drinking was going to cause an embarrassing problem down the line. So it is about toilets - toilets exclusively for women allow women out of the house and into the public sphere where our voices can be heard.
No women's toilets = no freedom for women.*
*I wish it were unnecessary to say women means biological women, but I do need to, and it's about that, too! My words have been stolen and I want them back!

I'll be voting Tory today, much as it pains me to do so and concerns me as to how I'll deal with the political conversations around me (it is not at all acceptable to vote Tory according to some around me; it's akin to saying you thought Hitler had the right ideas).

I admit to only having skim-read this thread but it's not surprising to see the usual scolding going on. It's absolutely the attitude of "We on the Left know what is best for you because we are morally superior and have the correct views" that makes me loathe so much of Left wing politics. And I say that as someone who has voted Labour for years (and Green/Lib Dem before that). The misogyny and patronisation of the Left can't be unseen once you see it.

This has been addressed many times.

They have turned a corner, which the other main parties evidentially haven't.

Yes, they've done a lot of shit.

However, they have commissioned the Cass Review and plan to implement it.

They have committed to clarifying the law on single sex spaces.

Do you really think any of the others would have done those things? In fact, they are very clearly telling us they will do the opposite.

We know the conservatives will not be forming the government tomorrow because all polling indicates a massive labour majority and although polls can be wrong, the chances of them being that wrong are miniscule.

We need plurality of votes among the MPs who will be elected.

It's worth considering the big picture.

If only all of the parties took an interest in us, then we would be in a far better position, but we are disregarded by most of them. Many can't even bring themselves to use the word 'woman' so although I agree with you in sentiment, the state of modern politics for women has never been worse. And indeed things could much much more unpleasant very quickly if Labour win.

Well the Tories have had 14 years to protect women and girls and did fuck all. Do you really think we’re stupid enough to vote for more Tory shit

Exactly this.

It's not a "single issue" on so many levels.

On the general issue of women's rights, if you cannot accurately define a woman, how can you make things equal for them?

Example - reducing the 'gender' pay gap... If transwomen (ie men who have not faced sex discrimination, career breaks due to maternity leave, part-time working, caring responsibilities, time off due to female health issues/menopause) are recorded as females, then you are artificially closing the gap; therefore it will look as though further initiatives to reduce it are not required.

And also on integrity/common sense/intelligence/honesty - if a politician either does not believe/lies about who an actual woman is, how can you trust them on anything else?!

I just think it’s wonderful that all you lovely women on here are such engaged voters. It’s not so long ago that we were denied the ballot because our voices were supposedly politically irrelevant. So whoever you are voting for, peace and well done!

I have posted on other threads about the dilemma in my constituency so won't repeat everything I said previously - but I did want to say that I sympathise entirely with those who have an awful choice. I have contemplated spoiling my ballot for the first time in my life. I feel very let down by the left wing parties for putting us in this position. And I hope the researchers for those parties read these threads and see how difficult some of their policies and spokespeople have made it to vote for them.

They guy that says you and I have penises!!

At this point it's just sounding more and more like that kid on the Simpsons who just shouts "penis!" on here.

Bloody wake up before it is too late folks

Scare mongering tactics aren't gonna work on me.
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And you know that how?

That's irrelevant - the Tories are not going to win; what we're trying to do is prevent a Labour super-majority so there's still some GC voice in Government.

And Starmer is? They guy that says you and I have penises!!

I mean seriously. The greens can't even bring themselves to use the term 'woman' that is what we are up against!

Bloody wake up before it is too late folks.

My current (probably former) MP wasn't invited to any parties. If Boris was standing in my constituency I would burn down my house with my vote inside it before I'd vote for him. Fortunately, he isn't.

And Labour are going to form the next Government, which makes not voting for them much easier.

Voting for an MP of a particular party does not mean you condone every thing that party has ever done.

Obviously.

"Hadn't had a birthday cake" 🙄😂
Brilliant minimising there lol.

I voted cons. They're still the least worse option from my perspective.