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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that Lady Thatcher was a great feminist icon

95 replies

kitty1976 · 08/04/2013 14:07

Sure some people don't like her but she was a great example of what can be achieved with determination in the very male dominated world of politics.

OP posts:
WilsonFrickett · 08/04/2013 14:08

That doesn't make her a feminist icon. It just makes her an example of what can be achieved with determination in the very male dominated world of politics.

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 08/04/2013 14:09

She was a successful woman in a very male world, but not a feminist icon by any stretch.

twinkbat · 08/04/2013 14:11

i do get what you are saying. As a girl growing up with a queen and a female PM i never thought i couldnt do something because I was just a girl IYKWIM. But i dont think a feminist icon in the true sense no.

ParadiseChick · 08/04/2013 14:12

Absolutly not.

gordyslovesheep · 08/04/2013 14:13

YABU

"I owe nothing to women's lib. The feminists hate me, don't they? And I don't blame them. For I hate feminism. It is poison." - Thatcher

joiemecconue · 08/04/2013 14:13

Since when does acting like a man and not in women's best interests make someone a feminist?

AltogetherAndrews · 08/04/2013 14:13

Um no. She succeeded in a male dominated world, sure, but led a government which vilified single mothers and trampled on the rights of the vulnerable. Not a feminist bone in her body.

shesariver · 08/04/2013 14:15

She hated men and women equally, doesnt exactly make her a feminist.

lastSplash · 08/04/2013 14:15

Hah, YABVVU

HoHoHoNoYouDont · 08/04/2013 14:15

Just the same with Obama in a way being the first 'African American' president. Clears the way for others to do the same. People will aspire to be as successful in their careers and climb to the top.

timidviper · 08/04/2013 14:17

Absolutely not. She achieved what she did by virtue of the fact that she married a multi-millionaire and was able to afford to pay for things. She then claimed that other women should be able to do the same whilst destroying any support for those who weren't married to millionaires.

Spitting Image didn't show her as more of a man than the men in the cabinet for no reason

Birdsgottafly · 08/04/2013 14:18

Well then by that reckoning so were the women who were high up in the Third Reich and who were at the top of the Nazi party and in the camps.

Birdsgottafly · 08/04/2013 14:18

Well then by that reckoning so were the women who were high up in the Third Reich and who were at the top of the Nazi party and in the camps.

LineRunner · 08/04/2013 14:18

She was a throughly deluded, damaging and divisive figure. More an icon for the war criminal class than feminists, I think.

LRDtheFeministDragon · 08/04/2013 14:21

YABU. I agree with line.

I do feel uncomfortable with some of the vitriol directed at her, which sometimes is misogynistic. But that doesn't mean I have to admire her as a feminist, it just means that even bad people sometimes get targeted by misogynists just like good people.

badtasteflump · 08/04/2013 14:21

YABU.

But AIBU for already being bored stiff with the whole subject of Thatcher only a few hours after the announcement?

ComposHat · 08/04/2013 14:22

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by Mumsnet for breaking our Talk Guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

Original poster
kitty1976 · 08/04/2013 14:23

As much as people don't like her, to speak of the Third Reich is frankly lazy and ridiculous. She proved what could be achieved with determination in a very male dominated world and as such should get some respect for that. At least she had beliefs which could not be said of other politicians. Do people dislike Tony Blair as much after he sent our troops to a phoney war?

OP posts:
SueDoku · 08/04/2013 14:23

She was a woman who took pleasure in keeping other women down - and the person who engineered the destruction of the heavy industrial base of this country and caused the present housing crisis by selling off council houses. Sign petition here
submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/45966
if you oppose her being given a state funeral.

Or you could join with Mark Thomas and walk along the route singing 'Ding Dong the Witch is Dead'.......

WilsonFrickett · 08/04/2013 14:25

Oh don't get me wrong, I hate Blair equally. At least with Thatcher, you always knew what you were getting.

Thing is, having strong beliefs, that's not always a good thing. It can blind you to other, better, ways of doing things. One definition of assertiveness is: as the facts change, I change my mind.

MrsBungle · 08/04/2013 14:25

She is not a feminist icon to me, far from it.

joiemecconue · 08/04/2013 14:26

In accordance with her own wishes she's not having a state funeral so I don't see the point of that petition!

Viviennemary · 08/04/2013 14:27

She certainly wasn't. She married a rich man which made her entry into politics a lot easier in those days.

motherinferior · 08/04/2013 14:27

"There is no such thing as Society."

The whole point of being a feminist is that you do believe in society, and that it needs to change.

HairyGrotter · 08/04/2013 14:29

Phahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

No

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