Why Justine Roberts should not give in to demanding celebrities

[IwantToRetire]

Please note this post is NOT about the politics of the letter itself but about the ill advised attempt by celebrities to put one woman on the spot in public, and misunderstanding what the power of mumsnet is.

Irrespective of whether anyone does or does not support the letter written by self regarding luvvies https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XJv6qEHsa8XAQHfc_wjzUvNTqI2uCrvU0k45uk8H-UM/edit?pli=1&tab=t.0 they have no right to put one woman in the public spotlight by demanding Justine Roberts works with them.

So this was my first reaction to this situation. It is about as rude and unsisterly as demanding that Starmer's wife joins their campaign. Or like those immature tv presenters who long for a gotcha moment and go on and on asking the same question to try and get some celebrity or politician to make a public statement.

Secondly, with all due respect to Justine Roberts in her skill and willingness to create such an important forum for "mums", what makes mumsnet important is the wide range of contributors who do not look to JR like hive bees do to their queen!

So if these self publicists want mumsnet to get behind them, have the decency to sign up to mumsnet or request a guest post and then be prepared to respond to what will be a wide ranging and no doubt intense debate.

So not only should they not have put JR on the spot in the public domain, if they suceed in getting a "mumsnet" response via MNHQ then it leaves mumsnet open to any number of no doubt sincere campaigners demanding that they to get MN recognition.

So stop the public bullying of JR.

It is not a very nice thing to have done.

(for those who want to discuss the campaign itself there are a number of threads, one on AIBU and one on FWR)

I thoroughly object to the description of such people as Dame Judi Dench as ‘self regarding luvvies’.

You try learning 100 pages of Shakespearean text and putting yourself up for general criticism from the serious to the idiotic bitchy. Bringing intellect and intelligence to complex scripts. And working really hard into your late 80s.

In general I do not approve of press ganging and guilt tripping people into supporting causes. It is the flip side of cancel culture.

But I see this as a call to the mothers of MN, via JR. And they recognise the collective power of women on MN.

Personally while I think it is always good when MN makes a space for powerful voices and lobbyists to be heard I don’t think it is MN’s role to make official affiliations with causes.

I don’t see this as bullying JR.

I agree with TheatreTheatre. These are professionals, not "self regarding luvvies" or "celebrities", who are trying to raise awareness of a humanitarian crisis. No bullying at all.

@IwantToRetire Totally agree with you. How dare they do that, who do they think they are to demand that another woman does what they want. Ironic.

There are many older women doing really valuable work for their communities. Who work hard and do complex tasks. But we don't know their names.

Yet the luvvie enamoured MSM unfairly and unjustifiably gives those who happen to be in the establishment approved arts a voice, by comparison these women are erased and ignored.

So please got off your self interested soap box and deal with the issue.

Which is that these women could have done instead of pimping their fame to get the media to amplify their voices to publicly put pressure on another woman, and instead engaged directly with other women as their equals.

Not some silent, nameless extras, playing homage to the "great and the good".

Classic celebrity behaviour - when they risk nothing, they can champion anything and earn their status points.

Bullying? Where?

Completely agree.

I fully support the people who have signed the letter.

They are women with a public profile of some kind asking Justine to join them in speaking up for a very vulnerable group of women and children. No doubt they have asked other women too. Nothing outrageous about it. Justine is free to refuse, or to ignore their request.

I adore Judi Dench’s acting.

But I’m no more interested in or swayed by her views, or any other performer’s, than I am by those of the woman three doors up the road.

Quite. They need to watch RGervais’ GG speech again.

I agree with @IwantToRetire in finding the tactics of this public letter off-putting and detrimental to the cause they claim to support.

Also: "If they suceed in getting a "mumsnet" response via MNHQ then it leaves mumsnet open to any number of no doubt sincere campaigners demanding that they to get MN recognition."

As I've already said on the other thread, it's OK for an organisation/business to have a focus and and do it well. Mumsnet's campaigns have always been about the UK and that's OK, Mumsnet doesn't have to become a supporter of every campaign to improve maternal health in the rest of the world.

I’m so happy to see some of my favourite people signing that letter. X

They are not asking Justine as an individual to support their campaign, they are asking Justine as Mumsnet to support their campaign. But Justine is not Mumsnet. We, the posters, are Mumsnet. Mumsnet campaigns have always been driven by what the Mumsnetters discuss and want to campaign for. So these slebs need to sign up and engage in the discussion as Mumsnetters, if they want Mumsnet to support them.

Exactly.

How do you know they aren’t on here already?

I guess they want Justine to sign their letter because she founded Mumsnet which offers resources to support and empower women and, through that, to help children. There is such a range of opinions and beliefs on Mumsnet that it wouldn't be possible to say 'Mumsnet believes' or 'Mumsnet supports'.

Can Justine Roberts make any money off this?

Have you seen any such threads? Any suggestions from Mumsnetters that MNHQ should join such a campaign?

Yes

They haven't asked her to sign the letter.

That would have just been an email saying 'do you want to sign the letter?'

This is a completely different thing entirely.

I imagined that when the many signatories of the letter to Justine asked for her support, they wanted her to add her name to the list of signatories, and eventually to a letter to parliament. Perhaps I have misunderstood.

Fair enough.

But she’s a very talented hard working professional, not a luvvie.

And OP: dismissing talented professional women as luvvies is just a way of dismissing women.

It’s not a ‘soapbox’ any more than your opinion is.

I find it very difficult when celebrities who have an inordinate amount of cash asking for others with much less cash to donate. If those in the top percentage actually clubbed together and financed it themselves they’d probably go a long way in getting things done, but instead they spearhead or represent this or that. Not saying they don’t donate, but 10k from some of these women is mere pennies to them. They of course also get the kudos, the brownie points. How about they just get on with focusing on what they can actually achieve together, which looking at there list, they could very likely fund and sort. So many more women who are on Mumsnet are in survival mode right now and have to deal with enough crap on our own doorstep. That’s not to say that I am not aware of global issues, but there are issues closer to home that need my focus. I don’t have the time or luxury to start worrying about things further afield.

Did you object to MN being indirectly asked to endorse Reform @IwantToRetire? If not, why not? MN is widely regarded as being influential and asking for its support in a campaign by women to support women feels like a natural fit to me. Disparaging the talented women behind it doesn’t help your cause.

I don’t think you understand @Sparklybutold, they’re not asking for money. They’re asking for the “powerhouse” of MN to add strength to their advocacy.