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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

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Original poster

Austin Mitchell and Louise Mensch

17 replies

TheDoctrineOfSnatch · 30/10/2012 08:15

Austin Mitchell's tweet about Louise Mensch saying she stood down for family reasons:

"Shut up Menschkin. A good wife doesn't disagree with her master in public and a good little girl doesn't lie about why she quit politics."

Apparently it was a jest. Ha-de-fucking-ha.

Angry
OP posts:
inde · 30/10/2012 09:22

Somebody will have to explain the joke then because I can't see how posting misogynistic drivel is a joke.

BegoniaBigtoes · 30/10/2012 09:27

When I read that she stood down for family reasons I assumed she meant her kids, not the husband who lived in a different country.

That tweet is horrendous.

OTOH I don't think she's done feminism any favours herself recently. It's so annoying that she was a highly successful author andkept her own name until marriage no 2 when she transformed into someone who is giving an impression of trying to be a little wifey (which I'm sure she isn't). IME when that happens the marriage doesn't usually have legs. Like when Mel B became Mel "G". I knew it was doomed.

inde · 30/10/2012 09:42

The worst thing about Ms Mensch IMO is that she did her best to stick up for Rupert Murdoch on the committee she was a member of and now she has walked straight out of that job and into a job writing for one of his newspapers.
That doesn't excuse Austin Mitchell's tweet though. I would like to think he was joking but I can't see anything funny about what he wrote at all.

KRITIQ · 30/10/2012 09:44

Regardless of what Ms Mensch did or didn't do, or why, or whether or not folks like her political stance, Austin Mitchell's outburst on Twitter was ghastly.

Whether on the net or in real life, it's very common for a person to make a provocative or offensive statement, then wait to see what the response is. If supportive, they feel validated and may push it further. If it's negative, they can always fall back on the "it was just a joke, have you no sense of humour?" defence. Perfect example here.

Lottapianos · 30/10/2012 09:47

A joke? A JOKE?? People like him are absolutely pathetic, nothing better than playground bullies. I am no fan of Louise Mensch, she has the gall to call herself a feminist when she's clearly anything but and I completely agree with Begonia's point about name-changing, but she does not deserve that.

Angry
BegoniaBigtoes · 30/10/2012 11:05

I think looking at the tweet itself, it's classic woman-hating and more specifically woman-fearing. He sounds absolutely desperate to stamp down on her with the sneering and "-kin" and "little girl" stuff. It's infuriating to be on the receiving end of this kind of shit, but actually it shouldn't be because it's just an old fart laying out the terrors that haunt him for all the world to see. That a woman should be successful, powerful and have a public voice.

I think it's funny that he's attacking her for lying as well. All politicians lie and particularly around the issue of why they step down from a post. If he hasn't lied as a matter of course in political career I'll eat my hat.

grimbletart · 30/10/2012 11:52

Looks like his fellow lefties are not too impressed though....

www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/oct/30/louise-mensch-austin-mitchell-twitter

Original poster
TheDoctrineOfSnatch · 30/10/2012 14:10

YY KRITIQ.

If he had posted a similar statement about a black man or a Jewish man, I predict the whip would have been withdrawn by now.

OP posts:
EldritchCleavage · 30/10/2012 17:29

It was horrid, and the 'joke' excuse is hopeless. He meant that.

Original poster
TheDoctrineOfSnatch · 30/10/2012 17:41

Exactly, if he'd meant that he thought she was running scared of losing her seat sth like "LM says she's resigned for family reasons; her husband says she's scared of losing; I know who I believe" or whatever.

And don't get me started on what possessed her husband to stir this pot in the first place, hopefully just a leading question badly answered.

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WidowWadman · 30/10/2012 22:32

Doctrine - Aye, I hope she had a serious talk with her husband - I'd have been furious if I was her.

Original poster
TheDoctrineOfSnatch · 30/10/2012 22:40

Hmm. Seems mr mensch was pretty foolish - but from the point of view of considering where a couple live, relative longevity of career and career prospects do seem reasonable things to consider.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9639537/Louise-Mensch-her-hasty-husband-and-two-stories-of-why-she-threw-in-the-towel.html

OP posts:
WidowWadman · 30/10/2012 23:02

Of course they are a reasonable thing to consider, and it's not as if she had given up her political career to become a housewife either.

If two people who live in different countries want to be together in the long run, at least one of them will have to move. There's nothing wrong or unfeminist about that.

The comments he is quoted to have made are undermining her totally and he comes across as a bit of a twat.

IsBella · 31/10/2012 13:20

He has totally blown any credibility anywhere. His blustering that it was humour makes it clear what a pathetic excuse for a man he is. "It was a joke" is the refuge of bullies and bigots everywhere.

PosieParker · 31/10/2012 14:38

Why is married to a 59yr old? How old is she?

TheDeathAndGories · 31/10/2012 14:43

41 I think

He seems like an idiot but she's not better

Austins comments were horrendous though

grimbletart · 31/10/2012 14:48

I'm fed up - Mensch's resignation (she was my local MP) means we have to go to the polls again (the day of the Police Commissioner elections) and choose from among this disparate lot of band wagon jumper ons....

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-19635837

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