Camilla Long has got it wrong

[Twigaletta]

Can we stop all the woe-is-me over our wombs? We’re women, not victims

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/d8f0b132-3157-11eb-9ce2-e80c572086aa?

My least favourite part is:

On Thursday, for example, it was reported that a teacher of an Oxford sixth form had to remind her pupils that periods were no more than an “inconvenience” and “all part of being a woman”. “Any female student asking to be sent home ‘ill’ or phoning in ‘ill’ who has a period will not find this is a suitable excuse,” she said, quite reasonably

I experienced debilitating pain with my periods from 13 to 18 when I went on the pill purely to control the pain. I needed prescription pain killers and threw up on the first day of each period because the pain was unbearable. They were more than an inconvenience; they were debilitating.

Similarly with pregnancy. I had horrendous hyperemesis and needed anti emetics throughout both pregnancies. At my work other women were pregnant at the same time and had no issues. That didn't mean my sickness was just an inconvenience. Again, it was debilitating. I literally couldn't think properly. In a project management role I could not think further than the end of the day. I honestly couldn't. I can't explain it but I know I experienced it.

So Camilla, can you imagine that not all women experience womenhood in the same way? Can you imagine Chrissie and Meghan experienced their miscarriages in different ways?

Female writers are not the voice of all females and I do wish that was made clearer in these opinion pieces.

Camilla Long is very often wrong, I find her columns to be weirdly woman hating on a regular basis. She also speaks from an immensely privileged background.

She is quite funny but almost always wrong. She is just pandering to all the male readers. She wants to be as funny as Giles but she is not. Not as good a writer either.

Camilla Long has got it wrong

Sounds like the title of a Marian Keyes novel

She’s a dick. This narrative is so bad and stops a lot of girls seeking extra help, you just need to spend 5 minutes on here to realise for a lot of women this is not the case.

She is a repellent person, just a posh blonde version of Julia Hartley Brewer: let’s see how much traffic we get if I make up some ridiculous, polarising opinion. I truly have no time for her. Years ago I watched the impression she made on Ian on HIGNFY and saw immediately where she came from and how she was going to get work for basically ever.

Bit unfair on JHB, CL is more posh Katie Hopkins.

I used to enjoy her column but like @laudemio said, she's turning into a Katie Hopkins.

Her columns are usually easy to read (as in not written in wanky language) but today's was wrong upon wrong. I enjoy different points of view and learning from debate (I am on MN afterall!) But closing down the idea that 'not all women experience things in the same way' is not doing herself any favours.

I do suspect she is child free. I am not a fan of the DoS but CLs comments about the DoS talking about her miscarriage were thoroughly spiteful.
The whole column this week was incredibly bitchy and nasty even by CLs standards. Think I'll stick to the glorious Janice Turner instead

Sorry, I meant to say I dont think any mother could say what she said about DoS but I may be wrong.

She sounds quite illiterate.

I enjoy her on HIGNFY though I rarely agree with her (probably because I rarely agree with her - it's all a bit pantomime) but she never struck me as particularly empathetic.

My periods were relatively well behaved but still wiped me out for the first 12 hours (and my pms involved a lot of painfully loose ligaments and all consuming headaches) and now that I appear to be done with them, good riddance.

She is nearly always nasty about other women. Enough said.

I stopped reading her columns when she seemed to be obsessed with trashing Meghan Markel. She does seem to be one of those women that hate most other women.

I had to take days off at school because my periods were so painful I couldn't stand up straight. CL can fuck right off.

She's awful. I read this article earlier today and it just reinforced my opinion of her.

I agreed with her and thought she was very brave for writing it as her viewpoint is not fashionable.

She has a child.

I really like her TV reviews and interviews... I always read them first on Sundays. I don't always agree with her but like the fact that someone has an alternative option and she is v funny.

However even I thought she was just plain wrong this week. Most women I know have had problems with periods or miscarriage etc at one time or another. The culture of silence and minimising of these problems does no one any favours and it should be discussed as any other health issues.

Also I don't get people's Markle obsession. Just does seem rather irritating and the miscarriage article was like a novel but don't want to read people knocking her all the time as it gets boring and v misogynistic as there's bigger fish to fry at the moment! See also Peirs Morgan.

I'm not fussed if she does or doesn't have children. I'm bothered by the fact that she can't seem to imagine other women have completely different experiences as women. I didn't like the way she basically told other women to pipe down because we should just get on with being women. But sometimes things only women can experience (periods, miscarriages) are massively debilitating.

I think to be a mother and to say what she said about Meghan Markle and her miscarriage is utterly beyond the pale. I dont even like MM, but CL has been so crass and cheap on this.