to think the 'F' word is one we should be proud of......

[PosieComeHereMyPreciousParker]

Thanks to MN, especially dittany, Lenin, BoF and Anyfucker, I have been made aware of my casual attitude to misogyny. This short journey in my reclaiming my old values recently lead me to the London Feminist Network Conference on Saturday. And Oh my God it is one of the most inspirational things I've ever done.

Having money and being relatively attractive in my younger days I was mislead into thinking that being a feminist was irrelevant, after all we had a female PM and then 'girl power' where we were fooled into thinking with the right body shape and a little wit the world was our oyster (farm).

My husband's and friends' response to my recent activities have ranged from being mystified to mockery, from resentment to full on stereotypical prejudice. I am alarmed that barely any of my friends think feminism is relevant.

Am I being unreasonable to reclaim the word feminist to mean a person that wants to rid the world of gender prejudiced?

Yes im most def up for that.have attended some very illuminating talks on the myth of gender diffs.neuro-psychiatry has much to offer

when/where ?
what do i have to do

What's the book of the month on the Chicken Keepers forum?

'Is Heninism fowl?'

neuro-psych to debunk gender myths is v hot at the mo

have read papers etc not book will try buy asap

have read her papers,and she is well regarded,good debunk to men frm mars women from venus guff

funnily enough i discussed that very topic start of this thread

Only in a particular sense, which still does not apply to your comments. Unless you can explain how a focus on the single biggest defined group in the world ie women can be a narrow one?

...

If I may go back to what was discussed earlier, on whether MN discussions have changed one's beliefs or ideas. On one of my first ever posts I had a strong disagreement with dittany and I used hard and unfair language. In time, I got to learn a lot from her so some of my ideas changed and some developped in a new direction because of that heated conversation.

Still, dittany, apologies to you for those misguided comments.

Lenin, you always put things so well. Perhaps, in the interest of keeping the thread on track and not being sidelined by such attention seeking posts, any contrary point scoring posts should just be ignored like I do my children when they behave that way.

dittany, I think your posts are always true to your view point, never malicious and refreshing. In fact many of the regular posters on this board are insightful, thought provoking and intelligent...I feel like a childish imposter by comparison. It's good company and unlike a previous poster said I don't think this is a place where everyone agrees I see it as a place where we have common routes of enquiry and that we exchange ideas, which is why the disagreeable AIBU like response are very unwelcome. This is not the 'come and disagree with feminists' section, this is a section that explores feminism.

I think you put it very well Lenin, that out there in the rest of internet-land (and to some extent in RL) there's plenty of idiotic, fruitless, point-scoring ennui.

I think that's what pisses me off about sm's posts - she reduces any thread that is genuinely exploring, interesting and thoughtful, to a mass of idiocy (which I admit I get drawn into). I don't mind anti-feminist arguments so much, that's fine, if someone takes that view, you can argue with it, but with sm there's nothing to argue with, it's jsut peck peck peck and to some degree her behaviour is trollish. I'm with Posie on this one I think one should ignore her as far as possible, unless she's actually putting forward a proposition that needs to be refuted.

And re changing your mind due to mumsnet - god, I've changed my mind on masses of stuff due to being educated round here - breastfeeding, full-term and otherwise, WOHM/SAHM, smacking, naughty steps, stickers, pasta jars and other reward systems... oh god loads.

But then, I do engage with an open mind.

I just get annoyed about being called "hen" - I can get patronised anywhere thanks, I come to MN to talk.

posie youre suggesting ignoring my posts you dont like?well what self congratulatory back slapping is this -do you only wish to discuss with your acolytes and all tell each other how great your respsective posts are

so lets see according to some of you
snide
contrary
attention seeking
and posie suggest ignoring posts
so is easier to just rubbish and deride.you are all so particular about alleged slights you perceive from me,but have not refained from commenting about me amongst yourselves

godness howevere do anmy of you cope in rl,do you stick your fingers in ears and go la-la-la lets ignore if you dont like an opinion

feminism topic is for talking about feminism and im talkin.now perhaps explore what is so intolerable amd cannot be contained that you need to suggest ignoring or the metaphorical naughty step

for you see you can label my opinion as anything you want,you can chose to studiously ignore,you can call me snide/attention seeking/contrary and explore motives.you can paint me as a pantomine style baddie

this all serves to protect and distracts from contrary opinion.defence mechanisms are powerful

however i can and will continue to post on an open topic.regardless of how you all you all decide to post in response

perhaps you might even join in the neuro-psych discussion.as i alluded to in this topic is a very pertinent topic

You don't express an opinion sm, you just sneer at others, it's not really the same. Also some of your posts are incoherent, like the last one. I can't see how the neuro-psych does anything other than support a feminist stance.

Basically sm I avoid unpleasant people in my life and I wish to continue doing so online.

And finally you remind me of daftpunk who wades in spouts nastiness and then whines that people are being mean when they call her on it.

posie you have chosen to cast me as a big pantomine baddie.for whatever reason you have shut down and you justify this to yourself as my issue.when clearly it is yours

and it is bad form to name call and drag other posters into it

i can think of plenty posters whose opinions i dont concur with however i dont disengage or incite others to ignore them

some of the best threads are ones were i may not agree with other posters but their vigour about topic is stimulating.