The most pernicious secret about Reform

[SeriousFaffing]

The results from a YouGov poll in December show quite a large difference between men and women of those who would vote Reform at the beginning of 2026.

This has got me thinking about the split and women’s awareness of Reform.

Agree or not, I’m sure that everyone is aware of the links made between Reform and racism… However, I think that a just as big elephant in the room is what appears as pernicious and deep rooted misogyny… I think that the YouGov poll appears to show that women are subliminally - or very - aware of this fact.

When I think of Reform, I see images of white men chanting “we want our country back”. I think of Farage cosying up to the anti abortionists in the USA (many news articles on this) and I think of Reform’s policies to boost the birth rate.

I wonder about wanting ‘our country back’ being as much about harking back to a time when women were not out at work (taking up jobs) and expecting dinner to be on the table when he comes home. No answering back at home or in the work place. And, you know, ‘Protecting our women’ as though a commodity or object… But only when it suits.

What do you think? Am I unreasonable as a woman to worry about Reform getting into Government?

You are unreasonable - no, as a woman, I am not worried about Reform getting into Government.

You are not being unreasonable - I am worried too.

Image Of YouGov poll result pending when under review.

So what is the "pernicious secret" about Reform? I can't tell from your post.

Personally, I find the political parties who have been undermining women's rights by trying to include males in the category of women more concerning.

@YouAndMeDays i think that the outright misogyny is a step too far for them to say. I think it’s ’we want women at home, where they should be’.

The links made between racism take the headline. The fact that that this could have a huge impact on women’s lives in the UK is relatively unspoken.

Because it only affects women, not real people so its not important enough for headlines

You are not being unreasonable to worry that reform is misogynistic, I don’t think it is particularly a secret or hidden away, though.

https://inews.co.uk/news/reform-candidate-james-gunn-women-promiscuity-election-3136773

I do think a lot more men buy into what seems simplistic solutions- and usually are anything but . Wealthy men think itsall about cash and if they have and keep tons of it ( regardless of how they get it ) their world will all be well, those not in that position want to find someone else to blame for their situation or poor decisions, so better to blame it all on those ‘not like them’ -

@totk it’s such a fractional part of society. I agree, I believe that protection and consideration of women’s spaces is important, but I’m talking about a complete rolling back of women’s rights here.

@Hedgehog23 I’m really glad that you don’t think so. I really do hope it is as clear as day for everyone- because it doesn’t feel that way for me right now.

It is a complete rolling back of women's rights once that category is blurred or treated as optional?? It isn’t a marginal issue affecting a tiny group; it affects the foundations of every protection women rely on. It's disingenuous to pretend it's only affects a fraction of society.

It’s not a surprise, surely, that people who are racist and want to take Britain back to the 1950s are also likely to be sexist. The Venn diagram of racism and sexism is known to have a huge overlap.

I have no idea why any woman would support Reform. But then I have no idea why anyone would male or female.

totk are you saying you’d support Reform because they don’t believe TWAW?? I sincerely hope not? I’m as GC as anyone but there’s no way a single issue I agree with Reform on would close my eyes to the rest of their abhorrent ideas.

Reform will tell us they care SO much about women and girls. They want to protect them from brown boat men. At the same time there’s quite a few Reform members who have criminal records ? Some for DV / assault. Maybe it’s men with brown shoes we need protecting from (did you see the recent photos from their gathering !) ?
Farage has some strong views on abortion as well, not as extreme as the views in the US but you can see how he would start with minor restrictions and escalate, imo a much bigger threat to women and girls than anything else.

Any right wing party leans to the conservative and traditional rather than the progressive. Its always about power and privilege being retained by those who traditionally held them, and 'wanting things back' rather than believing its right that other groups have begun to share them. It should therefore come as no surprise at all that Reform would want to roll back progressions women have made that challenge the old order and that a cohort of males believe has been to their own detriment.

Women are not a fractional part of society. I am not sure of your point? What is your current alternative to Reform?

Literally anything is better than Reform IMO.

Thanks for the chart, OP. I am shocked by the number of Reform supporters among over 65 men. How depressing.

I will be voting Reform. Like most people, I will do so out of desperation. Mainstream politicians have contemptuously ignored our concerns for decades. A speechwriter for Blair said that New Labour’s plan was to use mass immigration to “rub the right’s nose in diversity and render their arguments out of date.” That has been achieved. As Starmer said, this is now an “island of strangers.”

Unfortunately, however, though I no longer have any sense of national identity/belonging, I still have to live on this island, and I cannot stand the overcrowding. My local woods have been hacked down and replaced with two giant new housing estates, a second estate has been built at the other end of the village, and now we’ve been told 400 new homes are going to be built in the centre of the village. It just never ends. The traffic is so awful I rarely go out.

Judging by the languages spoken, I’d say at least half the people who’ve moved onto those new estates weren’t born in the U.K. My quality of life has massively declined over the last two decades. Even driving to the supermarket is now an ordeal. I don’t care about Reform’s misogyny. If a centre-left party gets back in at the next election, and mass immigration (including illegal immigration, and people cheating and exploiting the system) continues, rural Essex is going to be uninhabitable.

Men are not studs some are just complete slags attempting to sleep with anything that has a pulse. then slagging them off calling THEM slags for sleeping with a man.

I'm also worried by the Greens and their 'progressive' misogyny among other things.

Really? More concerning than taking away rights to abortion? Than stopping any “DEI” initiatives to improve working pay and conditions for women? Than rolling back the Equality reforms that have been hard won?

Give your head a wobble.

We have it in action in America. The current government have rolled back trans rights.

However, they have also made abortion illegal in many states even for women who will die without intervention and for child rape victims. There are people aligned to the ruling party openly calling for only the head of the household (explicitly the man) to be allowed to vote and for women to not be allowed to hold positions of authority. They are removing sex based protection in employment. They kept a dead woman alive so her 9 week old fetus could be incubated.

These things seem pretty existential threats to women's rights to me and reform is engaged with the same people.

And what when Reform do absolutely nothing to reverse any of that? When you realise the problems you’re facing have absolutely nothing to do with those non English speakers? What then?

Desperation suggests you think there is a real alternative who will do something to help you. Who will you turn to then?

Wow. Let’s hope you don’t need the NHS, pension payments or anything else that’s being propped up by immigrants whilst the UK birth rate drops off a cliff.

You really think Reform is going to improve your life in any way? They don’t care about anything except getting voted in and saying whatever is needed to get there. None of what you are complaining about will change under Reform. Other things will definitely get worse.

I probably sound ageist but I am sick and tired of older people voting for shit and then they don't even live long enough to have to deal with the consequences e.g. Brexit. They have zero consideration for those generations following. Those 65+ men who are choosing to vote Reform are probably largely the ones who think it's only 'banter' when they sexually harass women. It's so grim.