Where did all the Feminists go?

[Portofino]

MN seems to have had a reorganisation of FWR when I was on holiday and me no-likey. Why do we now have a Rad fem section and Feminist light chat. So many of the dynamic, knowledgable and interesting posters have disappeared. I have to say that some of the more radical stuff posted really made me think about my views and re-align them. There doesn't seem to be much of that anymore. I am disappointed to be honest.

Milly, you felt the need to stir things up. You completely missed the point of this thread and decided it was about an old argument. Before you did that, it wasn't the topic.

Beachcomber, I really don't think its a good idea to keep goading like this.

For the benefit of people like me who aren't in FB groups but saw the whole thing erupt without understanding why, could you all take it back to FB. As fascinating as it is in a car crash type way, it's also old news.

And what lrd said.

And I also agree with blistory. Not helpful. A lot of people were hurt.

WidowWadman wrote - "The problem with radical feminism as I see it is that it is just as oppressive as the system it seeks to overturn."

You have lived in the Radical Feminist Republic of ... where, to know this is/would be the case?

Yep, agree vesuvia.

I don't see how radical feminism can be oppressive - as an ideology, it says women and men should be treated with equal respect, right? Potentially any ideology could be implemented in a twisted or oppressive way, but I'm struggling to see how this one lends itself to oppression more than the patriarchy!

LRD, how is it not the topic?

The topic is presumably where did the feminists go - I've explained where many of them went and why, based on speaking to people who did post here all the time and are not here anymore.

There are perhaps people who have left for a multitude of other reasons, with it being an internet board where people come and go, after all.

I am pretty sure this thread was initially talking about the FWR board, not facebook.

I do wish we could stop going on and on about it. It is very obvious that some people do not know what's going on, or are lying about what they do know, and it's fucking tedious for everyone watching who can't be expected to know any of it.

About this man-hating thing. Messy posted: it appears to generalise about men and this is probably down to a lack of word in the English language for "some men, not all men, maybe not even the majority of men but a sufficiently higher number of men than women in a comparable situation for it to be considered a social pattern"!

I find this very likely. I had difficulty understanding how feminism came to viewed as man-hating (except by sexist pigs) until the internet revealed a prevalence of feminist statements that "Men ... "

Whilst I understand why this happens - Messy explained - it's bald, inaccurate and grossly sexist statement. In the main, it's pretty easy to add the qualifier - men in government; the men with the money; some men; a male-biased society; etc - with a few more keystrokes. I think this little extra care would be good for feminism's reputation AND for feminist thought, which is lazy when generalising.

What happened with the FB pages debacle FGS?!! I feel so out of the loop that I missed it all but I must have been on at Cure-Myself-From-My-Addiction-to-Mumsnet rehab at the time. As you can see, it didn't really work...

Can someone quickly tell me in a quick potted history what happened, and I'll read it before it gets deleted...

Ta, awfully!

LRD - I read stuff with my own eyes.

Stuff that shocked me.

I don't say things I'm not sure of. Nobody has fed me a pack of lies. I don't take people's word over these sorts of things. I read stuff with my own eyes that I really really didn't like.

And I have communicated with MNHQ over it thank you.

Will really bugger off now as there is no point in all of this. It should have been sorted out at the time and wasn't.

WidowWadman - I don't think that's the case that anyone who doesn't agree 100% is attacked or patronised. I said the other day that I had an issue with class analysis in radical feminism, and had a good discussion.

Dunno messy. Pm someone that was involved if you really, truly have to know.

Ah, yes. The private conversations, hand-picked snippets of which were fed to you.

I'm certainly thrilled that you have seen them with your own eyes.

Anyway. Toodlepip.

Okay, so if you want to answer the OP's actual question, but only within the context of the FWR board, then the most you can say is:

OP: Where did the feminists go?
Responding post: they're not on FWR anymore.

And if you then want the thread to be about FWR, then it has to be about creating something positive with the posters who are actually using it now and contributing to it now, not about how much better it was in the olden days.

Mmm. Not quite sure what you read, beach, but you did lie about trollhunting of bereaved mothers, so I'm not sure what you think you read.

FTR, yes, a while back several posters, most of whom never post in FWR and have nothing at all to do with it or any FB group I know of, did get concerned that someone posting might be a troll. They did exactly what they're meant to do, which is to get in touch with HQ and with each other, and to keep all their concerns off-board.

Trolls do target the bereavement boards. It was not wrong of those posters to be concerned. I wasn't one of them; I've (luckily) not had call to use those boards, but I do see why people would worry, in the light of known past trolls.

HTH.

Milly, my posts on this thread (esp. re. Blackcurrants' thread) are about creating something positive with the posters who are here. That's why I'm fed up with it being derailed to rake over an old story.

Wonders if above post will get deleted.

Read my post. Please. Just read it, it's not long.

Why you felt like snooping on conversations I don't know, but if you had been more honest and got in touch openly, I'm sure people would have explained why they (and, at the time, MNHQ) were concerned about trolling.

This is what we are supposed to do FFS. We are supposed to report someone we suspect and to shut the fuck up on the thread in question.

Maybe MNHQ will put it in their annual newsletter? Or it will someday make it to "Mumsnet, the Movie" and we will all smoke our pipes and say "ah yes I remember the RadFem Wars of 2012"....

Except I don't. So someone bloody tell me!

My answer to the opening post would be we're still here but sorry if you don't think I'm a feminist.

The post implies yet again that there's a right feminism and a wrong one. So to be honest, I'm glad that they're gone and think it's for the best in the long run. Beach' unwillingness to forgive or forget Demi states why. Too many hurts and too many confusions that the rest of us will never understand

(And why you imagine it has to do with Artex, I really do not know, since it doesn't.)