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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Welcome to the Bluestocking! It is celebration time for everyone!

501 replies

MyrtleLion · 13/10/2026 18:05

Welcome to The Bluestocking, the best (perhaps only) online women’s pub. The sign on the door says CELEBRATION, in glitter, and the gerbils have been told they may use as much glitter as they like.

The champagne is flowing, and it is the good kind. Every bubble is perfectly fizzy, every glass is bottomless, and nobody wakes up with a headache or a vague memory of singing to a coat rack. You may toast as many times as you wish and remain entirely clear-headed, sharp-witted and ready to explain your point again, louder, with hand gestures.

The gerbil crew has gone all out. There are bunting-laden tunnels, a tiny brass band that knows many tunes and play them with total conviction, and a head gerbil in a waistcoat who will announce your achievement to the whole room if you hand over a sunflower seed. Several gerbils have been practising a synchronised pouring routine. Two of them have already collided with the canapés, and the canapés are fine.

Whatever you are celebrating, a win, a finish, a survived meeting, a Tuesday, pull up a stool and raise a glass. The corks are popping, the confetti is mostly staying in the building, and everyone here is on your side.

Any curious menfolk are welcome at the Staunch Ally down the road, where they are invited to cheer from a respectful distance.

Cheers, everyone. The next round is on the gerbils.

Previous thread is here:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5582462-the-bluestocking-where-we-look-forward-to-good-things-happening-both-soon-and-later

The Bluestocking, where we look forward to good things happening, both soon and later. | Mumsnet

Welcome to The Bluestocking, the best (perhaps only) online women's pub. Nothing in the food or drink can harm you, everything is served by a very ent...

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5582462-the-bluestocking-where-we-look-forward-to-good-things-happening-both-soon-and-later

OP posts:
Thread gallery
62
Boiledbeetle · 14/10/2026 22:01

Marie needs to be careful. She should phone for gerbil back up.

EmpressaurusKitty · 14/10/2026 22:06

The churchwarden seems lovely though.

Davros · 14/10/2026 22:12

@WearyAuldWumman I am classic Davros but hoping to be able to pass as New Series Davros after I get me a new wig.
@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius is that you Seethlaw? I do hope so.
Tardis

MyrtleLion · 14/10/2026 22:22

AMansAManForAllThat · 14/10/2026 21:52

There must be a reptilian brain area that thinks keeping an eye on sporn is vital. It’s compelling, if you’re wired that way.

Then I will crop them, and post them and tag you, you very strange person...

OP posts:
JanesLittleGirl · 14/10/2026 22:32

MyrtleLion · 14/10/2026 21:33

Did you think I'd forgotten?

Or were teasing you with making you wait for the next chapter?

Of course not. It turns out one aspect of womanning in the arena has resulted in an ACTUAL RESPONSE. I fully expect that it will end up being ignored or minimised or reduced to nothing, BUT action has been taken and I can expect an investigation AND a written response.

Also we have booked a Friday to Monday weekend break in a lovely hotel on a beach and the deal includes dinner and proper breakfast. We will leave late afternoon on Monday once the Walrus has had his back cyst drained and dressed for the zillionth time - hence we won't be going to a spa or a hotel with a pool because other people might object. But we are going away and it will be lovely and I hope to have enough peace and quiet to write more Gosie chapters.

Anyway, Gosie's on her way, sorry it's quite late...

You have earned your break. I do hope that 'a proper breakfast' is exactly that. I have been disappointed in the past with reconstituted orange juice, soggy cereal and a 'full English' consisting a rasher of shoulder bacon, a frozen supermarket sausage, a badly fried egg and something that I was assured was a hash brown.

I really hope that you are presented with:

A half grapefruit
Porridge with cream and Drambuie
A cooked breakfast of 2 rashers of back bacon, 2 Lincolnshire sausages, 2 slices of black pudding, 2 fried eggs (crispy on the underside but with runny yolks), a grilled field mushroom, a fried tomato and 2 slices of fried bread.

EdithStourton · 14/10/2026 22:43

AMansAManForAllThat · 14/10/2026 20:08

I’ll try not to talk too loud or spread myself about, Gracie! I checked my Wooly name, I was PrizedPickledPopcorn.

Ah, now I recognise you!

EdithStourton · 14/10/2026 22:45

Boiledbeetle · 14/10/2026 22:00

Do you think they would like it?

They'll want to name you in their wills.

The best sporn I ever witnessed was an abscess on a sheep. About the size of a golf ball, loads of greeny-yallery gunk.

More than 40 years ago, and nothing to match it since.

EdithStourton · 14/10/2026 22:46

MyrtleLion · 14/10/2026 22:22

Then I will crop them, and post them and tag you, you very strange person...

Oooh, and me.

I know quite a few churchwardens. Most of them are lovely, but they can be very stroppy.

Boiledbeetle · 14/10/2026 22:49

I have been known to spend way too much time on YouTube watching spots being squeezed.

MarieDeGournay · 14/10/2026 22:58

Boiledbeetle · 14/10/2026 22:01

Marie needs to be careful. She should phone for gerbil back up.

No I'm grand thanks.... I think😦but maybe I should send for the gerbils just in case..

, a woman in a tabard carried an urn from her car into the church and placed it next to the other urn.
Because one good urn deserves another😂

MyrtleLion · 14/10/2026 23:02

JanesLittleGirl · 14/10/2026 22:32

You have earned your break. I do hope that 'a proper breakfast' is exactly that. I have been disappointed in the past with reconstituted orange juice, soggy cereal and a 'full English' consisting a rasher of shoulder bacon, a frozen supermarket sausage, a badly fried egg and something that I was assured was a hash brown.

I really hope that you are presented with:

A half grapefruit
Porridge with cream and Drambuie
A cooked breakfast of 2 rashers of back bacon, 2 Lincolnshire sausages, 2 slices of black pudding, 2 fried eggs (crispy on the underside but with runny yolks), a grilled field mushroom, a fried tomato and 2 slices of fried bread.

I can choose the following:

  • Scottish Smoked Salmon with scrambled eggs
  • Porridge with honey
  • Warm Buttermilk Pancakes
  • Eggs Benedict with smoked ham, poached egg, hollandaise sauce
  • Cooked Breakfast, eggs, poached, fried or scrambled, sausage, smoked bacon, grilled tomato & mushroom, black pudding, hash brown, baked beans
  • Veggie Breakfast eggs, smashed avocado, grilled tomato, flat mushroom & wilted spinach on toast
  • Grilled Smoked Kipper

So a proper breakfast indeed. I am an eggs benedict fan, and smoked salmon with eggs and pancakes and a cooked breakfast, though I won't have the black pudding or baked beans.

OP posts:
MyrtleLion · 14/10/2026 23:05

I've tagged @EdithStourton and @Boiledbeetle but the images are still under review, so I suspect they are particularly juicy gross.

OP posts:
AsWithGlad · 14/10/2026 23:14

65: Stansted Airport

Just when I’m getting comfortable with how things are going, then there’s a completely different episode!

What excellent writing, Myrtle.

Just women, no special Bluestocking entities this time. How much I enjoyed reading of the generous volunteer women with the soup, especially woman with tabard.

There’s never any reason to send apologies my way, Myrtle. I’m always pleasantly surprised with each new episode but I don’t expect one.

Boiledbeetle · 14/10/2026 23:21

MyrtleLion · 14/10/2026 23:05

I've tagged @EdithStourton and @Boiledbeetle but the images are still under review, so I suspect they are particularly juicy gross.

Looks like viewing will be carried out over breakfast!

Hedgehogforshort · 14/10/2026 23:21

Just popping in, I keep sitting at the end of the bar not joining in

so consider this a mutter into my gin.

i have been trawling camper vans with a view to some buggering off, filling my diary, to escape some grand hedgy duties, and actually taking some we time.

It has become campervan porn to me.

JanesLittleGirl · 14/10/2026 23:22

MyrtleLion · 14/10/2026 23:02

I can choose the following:

  • Scottish Smoked Salmon with scrambled eggs
  • Porridge with honey
  • Warm Buttermilk Pancakes
  • Eggs Benedict with smoked ham, poached egg, hollandaise sauce
  • Cooked Breakfast, eggs, poached, fried or scrambled, sausage, smoked bacon, grilled tomato & mushroom, black pudding, hash brown, baked beans
  • Veggie Breakfast eggs, smashed avocado, grilled tomato, flat mushroom & wilted spinach on toast
  • Grilled Smoked Kipper

So a proper breakfast indeed. I am an eggs benedict fan, and smoked salmon with eggs and pancakes and a cooked breakfast, though I won't have the black pudding or baked beans.

Edited

Yep. Breakfast is definitely covered. Enjoy your break. You have earned it.

For some reason, autocarrot thought that my last sentence should read: You have eaten it.

AsWithGlad · 14/10/2026 23:31

I appreciate the tractor love here, but how about earlier farm equipment? Any fondness for a Massey Harris seed drill?

Article here.

For anyone who doesn’t know Cambridge, Parker’s Piece is a large flat grassed area fairly close to the city centre, with trees along two edges but little other planting. A local secondary school uses part of it for Games lessons, and various events are held there during the year.

We’ve been used to harvesting the wildflower meadow at King’s College, but I don’t remember reading about the earlier stage, of seeding it. King’s does give away (?) the harvested bales but I don’t know what you have to do to get one if you’re a private person.
Edit: the harvesting article was about the first year, in 2021, and it’s happened every year in the same way since, as far as I know.

A team of shire horses pulling a red seed drill at Parker's Piece, Cambridge, through brown soil. The horses are brown with white flashes on their noses and white fetlocks. There is a man on the left, whose head and torso is largely hidden by one of th...

Shire horse teams help plant Cambridge city wildflower meadow

The meadow will be a fantastic sources for pollen and nectar, says Cambridge college gardener.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8x23ezl0579o

ErrolTheDragon · 14/10/2026 23:55

That’s a nice story, Glad!

I found myself wondering what some of the Bluey crowd would think of the exhibits in the tank museum we visited while in Dorset. Colours not suitable for nail polish I fear, but they have a lot of tanks, well presented with their history.
So many that in a gallery about their place in popular culture, the exhibits relating to toys such as Dinky models and Action Man’s vehicle didn’t just have the toys, but the real thing.

Hedgehogforshort · 15/10/2026 00:08

Another mutter In to my gin, i am reliably informed that the school run I engaged with, amounted to 8,000 steps, there and back, which I did twice. So 16,000 steps. I have no idea what that means. But apparently it was good for me.

what i do know is I carted a toddler along on a pedaless bike who fought his inability to sustain this mode of transport to the bitter end. Whilst i also had to manage a much more suitable way of getting to our destination called a pushchair.

in the end half way there I had to wrestle said toddler into the pushchair (he did a marvellous impression of a screaming ironing board) and i resorted to a dummy to relieve my earache.

so for the rest of the journey all was well apart from steering a pushchair whilst carrying a toddlers bike.

I did somehow make it to the school on time to meet the five year old,

he had a bicycle, to go on our way home with….

WearyAuldWumman · 15/10/2026 00:12

Davros · 14/10/2026 22:12

@WearyAuldWumman I am classic Davros but hoping to be able to pass as New Series Davros after I get me a new wig.
@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius is that you Seethlaw? I do hope so.
Tardis

You'll need a bit more than a wig, I should think!

AsWithGlad · 15/10/2026 00:15

@Hedgehogforshort , congratulations on a successful round trip.
2 went, 3 came home, so that’s a definite win.

a screaming ironing board
Such a graphic description, which many women who have had cause to wrangle a toddler will immediately recognise.

WearyAuldWumman · 15/10/2026 00:17

EdithStourton · 14/10/2026 22:45

The best sporn I ever witnessed was an abscess on a sheep. About the size of a golf ball, loads of greeny-yallery gunk.

More than 40 years ago, and nothing to match it since.

The only thing that I know about sheep medicine is what to do for bloat if you don't have modern medicine. I once shared a flat with a Glasgow Vet School student.

The only other thing that I learned about vet medicine was: do not give a cow an internal just before you're in a hurry to get ready for the Daft Friday student ball.

How well do I remember those immortal words: "Weary! I need to get in the bathroom NOW! A cow shat on my head!"

WearyAuldWumman · 15/10/2026 00:19

ErrolTheDragon · 14/10/2026 23:55

That’s a nice story, Glad!

I found myself wondering what some of the Bluey crowd would think of the exhibits in the tank museum we visited while in Dorset. Colours not suitable for nail polish I fear, but they have a lot of tanks, well presented with their history.
So many that in a gallery about their place in popular culture, the exhibits relating to toys such as Dinky models and Action Man’s vehicle didn’t just have the toys, but the real thing.

I've been twice with DH. He got very nostalgic - he was a tankie and spent a summer as a gunnery instructor in Lullworth.

AsWithGlad · 15/10/2026 00:51

Ahem.

King’s College Cambridge posted this on Facebook on Wednesday morning.

“New wildflower meadows are taking root on Parker’s Piece, with some very special helpers leading the way! 💪

Heavy horses Cosmo and Ron were spotted carrying out preparatory work ahead of transporting 30 bales of green hay from the established meadow in front of King’s College Chapel. Look out for them as they return today from 11am.

This exciting partnership with @camcitco will create two new native wildflower meadow areas near the University Arms Hotel on Parker’s Piece, helping to boost biodiversity and create beautiful habitats for wildlife. 🌱🦋

We can’t wait to see the result!”

#Ilovehorses #cambridgeuniversity #mylovelyhorse #kingscollege #horselover

Video.

I’m not quite sure how to comment here… This is a genuine post from a serious Cambridge college, as far as I know. Take it in the spirit it was made?

AsWithGlad · 15/10/2026 00:57

The video in my last post amused me, but its style was unexpected.