David Cameron tells Angela Eagle to "calm down dear" at PMQ

[Bennifer]

I posted this in feminism but think this is appalling, if true.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13211577

I was at the same school as Angela Eagle. I doubt she is at all worried by anything David Cameron says.

forkful - thanks for your posts. Very informative.

I think it was funny

It was just a jokey remark quoting the Michael Winner advert. That is all.

Of course Labour wants to jump on it and blow it out of all proportions because that is what politics is like.

Funny how the House of Parliament and Govt in general is dominated by men on all sides and the likes of Ed Balls don't seem to be jumping up and down campaigning on that issue.

Clarence - you love Cliff too, right?

I'm sure Angela Eagle isn't "worried" or "blubbing in the toilets" about this either.

The point that is being made is that the PM saw fit to make this sort of a remark to a female MP during PMQ. The sort of remark that millions of women are subjected to on a daily basis by men and we all are expected to SHUT UP AND TAKE THE JOKE or are HUMOURLESS HARRIDANS if we object. Jesus, it's not rocket science is it?

The fact that DC has made this remark before (ever heard of a joke losing it's sting, Dave?) to a Male MP makes me think that he truly believes he is a) HILARIOUS to ape Michael Fucking Winner Five Years Ago in which case - FAIL or b) He was calling David Milliband a Big Girl's Blouse.

I personally go with b) as after watching his face and the uncomfortable body language of all the women on the opposition bench, I believe that this kind of insidious BOLLOCKS runs through every single sector of society and is particularly prevalent in parliament - Old Boy's Club that it is.

This thread has been very revealing.

Oh bless - I have just read some more of the thread and my DH has just told me about the youtube posting, causing hilarity at his workplace, Amongst MEN!!!. Poor old DC, reduced to recycling lines written for Michael Winner - apparently he has done this TWICE. He really needs some new speech writers. I maintain Ms Eagle will be entirely un-fazed. In the end it is what you do that counts (rather than what you say). I speak as a political neutral, I'm not too taken with the other side either actually but DC needs to get some rather more sensible, statesmanlike 'doing' under his belt I think, so far it has not been fabulously impressive has it? .

As I just read on another blog.

"Lets hope that someone doesn?t say Go Compare at the dispatch box next week."

This totally faux outrage makes me sick. There are far far more important issues that Pariament needs to address on sex equality than this.

JamieAgain
Cliff does not hurt my ears

Quelle - true. Angela has probably kept her mouth shut about this sort of thing for years and years for fear of being labelled.

Not sure I understand the feminist angle. As far as I can see it is a phrase that either sex could (and would) say to the other if they thought they were getting rather too agitated (although I understand it was popularised by an advert).

It expresses a rather patronising condescension, but patronising is part and parcel of putting down the opposition at PMQ's. Is the argument that he should promote equality by treating this woman with kid gloves?

david cameron is a knobend

MoreBeta- can you not see there's a thin-end-of-the-wedge here. It's not faux outrage. It's genuine frustration.

So you patronise someone by referring to them as a woman. Ergo woman =someone not to be taken seriously.

Simples

Another big up for forkful.

Interesting, calmly stated posts.

Also, to anybody on this thread who has taken the stance that just because we knock Cameron we are therefore Labour voters - get to fuck. The three mainstream parties are all sell-out shitehawks. I wouldn't vote for a single one of them, sat up in the House of Commons squawking like idiots whilst the country falls to shit around them. We need decent representation and none of them - Cameron, Clegg, Milliband, Eagle, Cooper, male/female is good enough for the job.

Faux-Outrage again?

FAUXtrage surely should be the word of the thread?

Imposing one's own subjective feelings on another is surely oppression?

It's like talking to moss (actual MOSS not a person called Moss, actual MOSS) - Can you not see that people are pissed off and to just deride that feeling is like saying that they are not entitled to the same emotions as people who don't share that opinion?

Unbelievably arrogant and regressive.

JamieAgain - there is rampant sexism in Govt and Parliament. No question. However, it enrages me that people there who clearly dont give a toss about the issue of sex equality choose to cause a scene over this remark.

They are only doing to try and extract a tint bit of political advantage and not because thay actually care one bit about how women are treated in Parliament or outside it.

JamieAgain - "dear" is used by both sexes in reference to the other, and by parents to children (hence patronising). Nothing specific to women in there?

If anyone is interested in more 'everyday' acts of sexism being encountered by MNers recently - then come over here and feel free to add your own stories in.

MoreBeta - and you know that, how?

I have been thinking about sexism for the last ten minutes and you know there is a lot of hidden sexism isn't there? My DH and his workmates call DC 'Ken' and say things like 'What do you expect from a girl's toy?' when he does something unnecessary such as ... well there is a long list now. But you know that is sexist too. I shall tell DH off for his sexism later.

Its incredible arrogant to suggest that someones opinion is faux outrage

IMO it was a patronising sexist remark ,and I would think that about any
man who said it

Nesbo - in this case, the remark is taken from a sexist advert - Michael Winner playing on his image. DC uses it towards a woman. So in this context, yes, sexist

No, it is not just a joke and it is not acceptable. It is a crude and sexist comment that women are hysterical, should calm down. He didn't just say 'calm down', he said 'dear' in a completely patronising (pater/male) way. It is as bad as if he had been racist to a black MP or made fun of someone's disability. Before the election I thought he was kind of normal, but he is not. He is as bad as any caricature of a Tory toff that can be imagined, and the longer he is around the more apparent it becomes. It just comes out, that feeling of entitlement.

morebeta, Labour have actually done more than any other party to address the shocking under-representation of women in parliament. The worst culprits are actually the Lib Dems. Think they have just seven women out of 58 MPs (or it could be eight out of 57, can't quite recall).

Labour introduced all women-shortlists and it worked, substantially changing the composition of the House of Commons. You can, of course, argue for and against all-women shortlists, the point is the Labour party has actually done something meaningful about the lack of women in parliament. And of course the Tories gave us the first woman PM ? although the current cabinet is overwhelmingly male.