Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think Ann Widdecombe is truly vile

233 replies

BlueSkiesAndWhiteCliffs · 27/01/2018 23:00

Celeb Big Brother.

Anyone else saying the things she has said would have had people screaming at them.

She doesn't think women should work if they have children.

She doesn't agree with gay marriage.

She thinks being gay is disgusting.

She is so backwards in her thinking, she is truly horrible.

Now whilst I don't agree with the language that Andrew used about her, I agree with his sentiment and I can't believe everyone is pussy footing around her!

OP posts:
InfiniteSheldon · 28/01/2018 07:23

Your OP contains outright lies

whoareyoukidding · 28/01/2018 07:28

Since when was Anne Widdecombe a celebrity?

LizzieSiddal · 28/01/2018 07:58

“Why on earth would anyone disapprove of gay marriage? It’s not like it affects anyone except for the people themselves who want to get married.”

The Bible states marriage is between a man and a women. As a devoted catholic, AW chooses to follow that. I disagree with her absolutely, but she’s entitled to hold that belief, as do other religions.

Boulshired · 28/01/2018 08:32

She didn’t just hold these beliefs, she used her beliefs to try to stop others having rights. If she campaigned for the Catholic Church to refuse gay marriage then that is holding her beliefs. But to put them beliefs on all those of different religions and not religious is not the critical think I would demand from an MP.

LifeBeginsAtGin · 28/01/2018 08:42

Ann's no snowflake. She has her opinions and does bow or conform to public pressure. Unlike most of the world now which is too afraid to say anything but the 'right' thing.

And she is a devout Catholic - she believes 'marriage' is between a man and a woman.

Chipstick10 · 28/01/2018 08:46

To the person that said she was racist re Markle. Where is your proof of that? There is now a theme on twitter and in the media that we assume, make witless allegations and shake our heads in faux outrage on someone else’s behalf.
If you don’t believe the allegations of the Presidents Club or you did believe Chad Evens or you don’t think the BBC China reporter done a really brave thing then you may as well have drowned kittens . Well I’m not a sheep, I can take Balls Coopers disapproving looks and I hold my own opinion no matter how unpleasant others may find it because it doesn’t conform to the moral fauxrage on twitter . Ann has a right to those views. And I don’t believe they come from hate

charlestonchaplin · 28/01/2018 08:48

Crunched
the seven Scriptures sometimes claimed to be about homosexuality are not at all related to the consensual, committed homosexual relationships we see today.

You present this as fact. It is not. It is a minority opinion.

IfyouseeRitaMoreno · 28/01/2018 08:50

The Bible states marriage is between a man and a women

Well there’s your problem right there. She’s not exactly a critical thinker if she blindly accepts doctrines that were written for ancient cultures without being able to judge for herself whether they are morally correct.

Original poster
BlueSkiesAndWhiteCliffs · 28/01/2018 08:53

Well I don't agree that churches should be forced to agree to marry gay couples as that is their religion and you can't force them to change their beliefs but why is two people getting married in a hotel or a garden or a beach etc wrong?

Ann has also said a lot of nasty things about women, she IS VERY BACKWARDS in her thinking about women's rights... why shouldn't a woman go back to work after having children?
What she was saying about Weinstein aswell was victim blaming BS!

OP posts:
Feelitstill · 28/01/2018 08:55

Anyone else saying the things she has said would have had people screaming at them

I find this attitude deeply disturbing.
Having a different view on homosexuality should not warrant getting abused.

BeyondThePage · 28/01/2018 08:55

I'm sure the program is edited to only show what a person is really like, a nice balanced approach, for people's education rather than entertainment. Hmm Hmm Hmm

LifeBeginsAtGin · 28/01/2018 09:01

She’s not exactly a critical thinker if she blindly accepts doctrines that were written for ancient cultures without being able to judge for herself whether they are morally correct.

Er, OK then. Have you ever been to church? Hmm

IfyouseeRitaMoreno · 28/01/2018 09:07

Having a different view on homosexuality should not warrant getting abused.

Well no, but religion isn’t a get out of jail free card for espousing viewpoints that are nasty. Especially when as a politician she can use her viewpoints to damage other people’s lives.

It’s not only that. Her views on women and Harvey Weinstein were just reactionary nonsense. She kept saying “why don’t they walk away? They have a choice!” which indicates to me that she’s not a deep thinker. Not only can she not understand the complexity of the unequal choices that women face but she’s also not bright enough to seek out the facts. Many women did walk away. That doesn’t absolve HW of his heinous actions.

People who blame victims for their reactions rather than the perps for their actions are either hard of thinking or haven’t hung round Mumsnet enough Smile

LifeBeginsAtGin · 28/01/2018 09:08

Chipstick

I agree.

Not every man at the Presidents Club that night was letching and sexually assaulting the waitresses.

Not every waitress was a naive little girl, some knew it was a quick £200 (exc tips!!) and was prepared to put up with it.

Maybe Carrie Gracy just wasn't as tough at negotiating her contracts?

But you can't say these things, you have to tut loudly and shake your head because that is what everyone else is doing.

latara23 · 28/01/2018 09:09

I disagree with Ann's politics & views but I totally don't think she's in the closet!

I know at least 2 women who are definitely straight but still virgins & celibate- one is a best mate of mine.
One is very religious & won't have sex outside marriage or marry outside her religion so basically she's in her 50s now & probably won't ever have sex.
My best mate is physically disabled & it makes her too shy to approach men or go OLD. She's never had a long term boyfriend also due to being very shy around men. I would really like her to meet a decent man - she's 41 now so it could still happen. She definitely fancies men & has had crushes so she's not asexual.

I think Ann is just very religious with old fashioned morals.

InfiniteSheldon · 28/01/2018 09:10

She did not say women shouldn't go back to work she said it was a shame they couldn't afford the choice in our modern world
She wasn't racist about MM she was possibly judgemental about Divorcees
She doesn't think gay people care disgusting she just doesnt approve of gay marriage, wrongly imo but a view held by a sizeable chunk of our multicultural population.
You on the other hand are showing zero critical think skills, amazing examples of fauxrage and a stunning level of shudup shudup shudup I'm enjoying my baseless lies

DullAndOld · 28/01/2018 09:14

honestly if people don't have 100 per cent 'correct' opinions these days, then you get a crowd of screaming 'liberals' howling abuse at them.

She seems OK to me, a bit old fashioned but so what?

IfyouseeRitaMoreno · 28/01/2018 09:17

Er, OK then. Have you ever been to church? hmm

Of course! Many times. And met people who see the overriding ethos of Christianity as one of inclusion and love. And of accepting people who are different to you, or who have made different choices to the ones that you would’ve made in that same situation.

But AW isn’t one of those people.

DullAndOld · 28/01/2018 09:17

Blue skies you sound a bit simple tbh.
re HW there are lots of women who could have walked away but chose to 'eat the biscuit' in order to get the part...now they are crying about it.
Sorry but I agree with her. Are you suggesting that women are so weak and stupid that they have no agency? What kind of 'feminism' is that?

hooliodancer · 28/01/2018 09:18

I agree, she is awful. She has a very closed mind.

For me, the worst thing about her is how she doesn't believe that women are at a disadvantage in the workplace. She dismisses sexism completely.

She thinks that everyone is like her. She says she never experienced sexism so there for no one does.

And yes, her views are backward. She is the ultimate reactionary.

DullAndOld · 28/01/2018 09:20

" She is the ultimate reactionary."

you lot sound pretty 'reactionary' to me tbh. If more women ignored sexism in the workplace and just got on with the job, then the world of work would be a better place for all of us.

LifeBeginsAtGin · 28/01/2018 09:28

IfyouseeRitaMoreno

That's not what you said. You said she should question the church but the whole point is you accept it. She is celibate as she does not believe in sex outside of marriage.

But you've change believing in the doctrines to being kind and Christian to others - Ann does both. She believes in the bible and interacts with gay people.

k2p2k2tog · 28/01/2018 09:33

She has very fixed opinions and is not scared of expressing them. No she doesn't believe in same sex marriage, or abortion, or sex before marriage and a whole lot of other things that most people think are OK. She is obviously very uncomfortable with public displays of affection of any type and thinks that should all be behind closed doors.

However while she has been in CBB she has been happy to spend time with the gay people in the house - Amanda, Wayne, ShaneJ. She's never been cruel or unkind to them or called them names. She's respectfully disagreed with them, and that's fine.

She's not "vile". She is a much nicer person than someone like Andrew who has been horribly sexist throughout and Anne was quite right by saying his mother would be horrified. I would if my son was on telly making those types of comments.

JJPP123 · 28/01/2018 09:39

I met Ann when having a manicure done in Debenhams close by to Westminster Cathedral. I was about to go to my adult confirmation class and she chatted to me about it and seemed to be a lovely woman.

Thierryhenryneedisaymore · 28/01/2018 09:47

Rainbow
Your post is very interesting, it's based on up close experience.

Eleanor -
Where is your evidence that AW made racist comments about Meghan Markle? I didn't think she had but wasn't certain i hadn't missed something... other posters seem to agree she wasn't racist so come on. Can you stand by that post or do you just like getting the boot in to follow the pack?

I have not watched BB but unless she has changed her views recently IIRC she was actually in the past quite supportive of the struggle to juggle and outspoken that mothers should be able to spend more time at home and have better options to support that choice. Many many people think like that. I say that as a working mother.

But why not just attack her on that too if it adds to portraying her as a monster, regardless of whether based on fact or not??

Rita
You clearly do think she is fair game and anything goes in terms of attacking her because her views differ from yours. She is a devout catholic. Maybe you don't like that she follows those teachings. But she is entitled to her views as you are yours.

Your statement about her not being a critical thinker and blindly accepting doctrines is utterly utterly ridiculous. I can't even find the words at this time of the morning to articulate how silly that statement is. Maybe someone else more awake than me can! I am not quite sure where to start ....

She has her own moral compass and it isn't the same as yours. Big deal. She has an opinion on gay marriage that is different from yours. Get over yourself.

The vitriol against AW in some of this thread is apalling. Like a pack mentality.

Swipe left for the next trending thread