AIBU to tell you that Boris Johnson hates women, with evidence.

[EmmaGellerGreen]

Here it is. Utterly beyond belief. How is it possible that women chose to vote for him.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnson-branded-children-single-20977406

He is an utterly abhorrent misogynist. Among other things.

It was a column from 1995 - general views have changed - maybe his have?

???

'Changed' so that in 2000, shortly after his youngest child with Marina Wheeler was born, and with 3 other young children, he started a 4 year affair with Petronella Wyatt, which resulted in her becoming pregnant?

'Changed' so that in 2008, while Mayor of London, he was so enthusiastic about single mothers that he decide to have an affair that resulted in the birth of a child, but deny paternity?

These weren't private views. They were expressed in a national publication that influences Conservative policy. It is outrageous for him to claim that they are irrelevant. It is possible that his words had real life consequences for single mothers, but he won't even admit how many children he has.

Imagine being a female MP, let alone PM, and not acknowledging all your children?

Yawn....

I can see that it is frightfully boring and inconvenient to have to acknowledge that the man who is likely to be Prime Minister for the next 5 years is a hypocritical arsehole with no discernible moral values.

Please do not respond with Whataboutism about Corbyn. There are 650 MPs in the House of Commons and many of them are Conservatives. It should be possible to find one who doesn't treat women like dirt.

Glad you think politicians’ integrity and decency is so boring @MaryBerrysChutney. Your input on political threads is usually so insightful and thought provoking.

Do we have a link to BJ’s original article and not a secondhand account please? I’m surprised (not surprised) people make judgement without reading the source material for context.

It's from 1995 and behind a paywall - one partial extract I can see;

"I blame male Tory MPs"...
"They have banged on about one parent families, while getting their research assistants pregnant; or they have been uncovered in French hotels sharing beds with other men; or that they have had their toes sucked"...

So yes, I would say you are being unreasonable - the article (from 1995) doesn't show Boris Johnson hates women - it's satire and ridicules everyone, even Tory MPs.

satire:
"the use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues."

Boris hates women? I think he loves them too much by the amount of children and ex lovers that he has. I personally find him unattractive but as long he makes Brexit happen I don't care how many women or children he has.

It's from 1995 and behind a paywall

It should still be possible to provide a link.

archive.spectator.co.uk/article/19th-august-1995/6/politics

Yes, he blathered context, even he didn’t try to protest satire as an excuse. I’m so glad I didn’t read that pile of excrement in 1995, I’d have hunted him down and ripped his head off. No excuse for it whatsoever.

Actually, I can see 90% of the article on a different device - there is obviously a computer program that detects how many times someone has visited the site and increases the size of the blackout.

What a load of codswallop that Boris Johnson hates women - the article even starts with, "I blame the men.'"

Yes, he blathered context
Here's some context - Tony Blair the same year;

"Tony Blair will tomorrow turn the bitterly controversial political argument about single mothers on its head, by pledging a new Labour programme aimed at taking 1m lone parents off benefit and into work."

"Only 40 per cent of British lone parents are in work - the third lowest level in the EU."

Tony Blair 1997;

"For part of a generation of young women early pregnancies and the absence of a reliable father almost guarantee a life of poverty."

"Behind the statistics lie households where three generations have never had a job"... "There are estates where the biggest employer is the drugs industry."

"Blair backs Harman over cut in lone-parent benefit."
"A group of women protesters shouted "Labour scum" when it was approved."

www.independent.co.uk/news/blair-backs-harman-over-cut-in-lone-parent-benefit-1295256.html
www.independent.co.uk/news/blair-jobs-plan-for-1m-single-parents-1575504.html
www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/news/06/0602/blair.shtml

@Clavinova, I think you’re losing the plot. There’s no comparison between Blair’s statement of facts and Johnson’s hyperbole. This is twice today that you’ve made no sense at all. Maybe take a break?

I didn't really want to vote for Labour in this election. I don't think the Corbyn anti-Semitism claims are without merit. While I don't believe for a second he would implement anti-Semitic policies, I can't imagine giving my vote to a man who I do believe holds prejudices against any religious or ethnic group.

But the only other realistic alternative is sexist, homophobic, classist and islamaphobic and has made distrubing statements about black people. If ever we have had a 'lesser of two evils' election, this is it.

Calvinoa, I actually found your post enlightening in that it reminded me of the prevailing opinion of single mothers in the mid. 90s.
Context is very important in this discussion, unless you are as old as me and can remember male attitudes of 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s towards women and what was counted as the norm in these days you really can't judge BJ's satirist writings.

I am as old as you @Doubletrouble99 and was a single parent throughout the 80s. That appalling article was most definitely unacceptable in the mid 90s.

More of his journalistic follies seem to be coming home to roost ...

amp.businessinsider.com/boris-johnson-said-britain-poorest-chavs-losers-criminals-addicts-burglars-2019-11?__twitter_impression=true

Alsohuman
This is twice today that you’ve made no sense at all.
I disagree of course.

Doubletrouble99
I was a teenager in the 80s - I remember the 90s well.

Here is some more context:

"1993 has been described as the ‘year of the lone parent’, a key year in the ‘moral panic’ surrounding lone parents (Mann and Roseneil 1994)."

"A combination of factors not only put lone parent families in the spotlight, but blamed them for both the burden on the public purse and the perceived upsurge in juvenile crime."

"The increase in the numbers of lone parent families was seen as key to the burgeoning social security budget, with the result that the Child Support Agency was created to recoup money from absent fathers."

"In addition, concerns about juvenile crime and poor parenting were prevalent in the light of the murder of the two year old James Bulger in February 1993 by two ten year olds (one of whom was from a lone parent family, the other whose parents were separated (Faux 1993)."

link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-63295-7

**Context is very important in this discussion, unless you are as old as me and can remember male attitudes of 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s towards women and what was counted as the norm in these days you really can't judge BJ's satirist writings.

Mr Johnson is three years older than me - sorry most of the men I know do not now and did not then believe this patronising misogynist rubbish. He isn’t 85 (with apologies to 85 year olds). He is a modern man who happens to have vile views despises anybody who isn’t rich and probably most women even rich ones

And if you don’t want to look back it is surely reasonable to ask how many children he has and whether he at least bothers to see them? I Can’t imagine Jo Swinson or Nicola Sturgeon being able to get away with having kids they never saw. (Nor indeed Corbyn who I otherwise massively dislike but think the media would be all over him if he had 3 unrecognised children ...)

It seems Momentum is getting more and more desperate with every passing hour..

I'm not suggesting that BJ's articles in the past wouldn't hurt single mothers at the time. The point I was making is that it was the prevailing opinion at the time of both Labour and Conservative politicians and accepted as the norm in the news papers he wrote for.
I was a teen in the late 60s/ 70s, I remember being wolf whistled all the time, I remember having my bum pinched. I remember being described in a condescending way when I was the manager of large retail units in the 80s and 90s. I very much doubt any of these people who reacted in that way years ago would do that now. People's attitudes have changed massively in that time. That is the point I am trying to make.