to think Mary Berry is at best naive, and at worst deluded, about feminism?

[MardyBraWouldDoEddieRedmayne]

Times link if you can get through the paywall
free Daily Mail link

Apparently feminists are shouty. We should enjoy being "looked after" and gently persuade our menfolk with our feminine wiles to do what we want. It's alright if you're surrounded by well-meaning malleable blokes.

No mention of equal pay, equal voting rights, equal employment opportunities, freedom from sexual discrimination or harrassment, etc. No - all you need to do, is "persuade them [men] gently to do things and, of course, when they come back they say, ?Oh, wasn?t that fun?? Try telling that to victims of domestic violence Mary...

[Bobbybird40]

I actually liked what she said the DM interview - the commonsense face of feminism I would say.

[AllYoursBabooshka]

She thinks Feminism is about shouting at men and she "doesn't like to shout"?

...Golly.

[MardyBraWouldDoEddieRedmayne]

Good point AnyFucker. I didn't ask to hear her reactionary views but the papers like to stir up a bit of controversy.

[BupcakesAndCunting]

She's just confused and unclear on what feminism is.

I think that she thinks that if she embraces feminism that she will be unable to accept offers of chivalry, which simply is not true. I will allow a man OR a woman to offer to open a door for me. How does that tally with my thoughts on equality of pay or the women bishops issue?

[MardyBraWouldDoEddieRedmayne]

I'm not going to link to it, but I've just made the mistake of looking at Melanie Phillips' column in the Mail.

[AnyFucker]

She doesn't come across as stupid normally.

[SolidSnake]

Bupcakes I never understand women who say "I'm not a feminist because I like men opening doors for me". Um, opening doors for anyone, men or women, is just being nice and polite, no matter what your gender is!

[MardyBraWouldDoEddieRedmayne]

Exactly Bups.

Can you explain exactly what is "commonsense" about it Bobby?

[MoominmammasHandbag]

Noooo this is so disappointing. She always comes across as so kind and decent. Hope Mel and Sue can educate her a bit.

[MardyBraWouldDoEddieRedmayne]

I presume you mean Mary Berry, not Melanie Phillips. She always comes across as stupid.

[AnyFucker]

Yes, I meant MB

[fromparistoberlin]

well she is same age as my aunt, who is disgusted from tunbridge wells, literally!

I get more depressed by the young uns to be honest

[BupcakesAndCunting]

Exactly, Solid! Good manners and a willingness to help others transcends gender, surely?!

I am surprised by her.

[MoominmammasHandbag]

So many people who appear to be otherwise intelligent have no fucking idea what feminism is or how it has benefitted us all. We need something like a TV programme with a "cool" presenter with populist appeal to educate people.

[atthewelles]

I think a lot of people associate the word 'feminist' with being anti-men, strident, angry, objecting to terms like 'manhole' and 'chairman' etc. I suspect a lot of the people who deny being a feminist would, if asked if they believed in equality between men and women, would say 'yes'.

[Bobbybird40]

The reason for thatatthewelles is that feminism has as it's cheerleaders people like Harriett - do as I say not as I do - Harman.

[MardyBraWouldDoEddieRedmayne]

You keep contributing with one-liners which don't actually explain your views Bobby.

[Tailtwister]

I read this yesterday and was a bit confused tbh. I particularly disliked the bit about women in her business taking a year's mat leave.

I do like her and think she's a pretty tough cookie. She's overcome a lot in her life, not least the loss of her son and I do feel a lot of empathy towards her. I was quite disappointed when I read this about her, but she could well have been misquoted.

[PessaryPam]

There is nothing wrong with feminism, but there are some people who describe themselves as feminists who are unpleasant, similarly some who would never describe themselves as feminists can be pretty foul too. The principle of feminism is really about equality of women AFAIK, politically, socially and economically. It's equality of people of whatever gender.

[Tabliope]

I think the journalist was crap. If I was a journalist and a high profile figure that I was interviewing said she wasn't a feminist I'd be asking questions like so you don't believe in equal pay? etc. There's none of this in the interview just a snapshot of a couple of old fashioned views. Poor journalism. She didn't exactly challenge her on this view. I can't believe it's Mary Berry's complete view - what woman is ever going to say no, I don't think we should get paid the same as men for the same job.

[HanneHolm]

agree with AF "Why is anyone asking this woman for her views on feminism ?"


my mother is the spit of berry in looks and age and would be similarly clueless despite being a rare graduate of the 50s

[MoominmammasHandbag]

Well my mum is a working class secondary modern graduate of the same age and she would think Mary Berry was talking a load of bollocks. (She is actually a massive Mary Berry fan and goes all misty eyed about some daytime TV programme called "Houseparty" that Ms Berry was on in the 70s)

[SolidSnake]

Don't tell your mum about her views moom, ignorance is bliss

[MoominmammasHandbag]

I imagine that she is being asked her views in feminism because ignorant people think baking a cke and wanting equal pay are mutually exclusive.
(Whistles the Red Flag as she removes scones from the oven)

[MoominmammasHandbag]

Obviously baking of scones is detracting from my spelling in the above post.