Feminist Pub IX. Newbies and regulars welcome - pop your cognitive dissonance down outside and have a gin.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

Right, thought I'd better start a new pub. I warn you, my knowledge of Roman numerals conks out shortly after this one, so either buffy will have to start the next thread, or we'll have to go Arabic.

Everyone is welcome in - if you want to chat, or just jump in with a question/link/gin, please do. Especially if it's too small for a thread or you don't feel up to thread-starting.

The old thread has, at my count, about 9 posts to go, and it was here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/2126791-Feminist-Pub-VIII-not-as-prolific-as-the-Swaggerers-but-there-are-cushions-and-consciousness?

We were just chatting about feministy light reading, and will doubtless meander onto other topics shortly.

[UptoapointLordCopper]

As you can see it's the special holiday dispensation for short practices.

I periodically look at threads in Extra-Curricular Activities and panic because my children don't practise without prompting.

[PenguinsHatchedAnEgg]

I don't like marmalade. Or babies and that much (except my own).

I am not helping my case on being female am I? Shall I talk about my pelvic floor for a bit?

[UptoapointLordCopper]

Hah! These days everyone knows about pelvic floors.

[PetulaGordino]

i'm very suspicious of your "pelvic floor" penguins

[ABlandAndDeadlyCourtesy]

Men have pelvic floors too! Ha!

[UptoapointLordCopper]

I remember being on a chat thread with some fun folks and it was only until somebody talked about swiping smart phones with willies that I realised one of the posters was a man. Or it might have been about teacups as willy shields? I forget. One of those things.

[ABlandAndDeadlyCourtesy]

iPhone swiping and willies? Is this a thing?

Care to comment, Doctor ?

[PenguinsHatchedAnEgg]

Yeah, but becoming a parent doesn't generally stuff up men's pelvic floors. I was at a party at the weekend where parents were offered a go on the kids bouncy castle and not one mum did, but all the dad's did. Made me sad.

I am feeling a bit picked on now. It is nearly as bad as the time I had crap wifi and posted the same thing about 17 times.

[ABlandAndDeadlyCourtesy]

Yy to bouncy castles etc. I do wonder how much declining fitness in women with age is down to pelvic floor stuff.

[UptoapointLordCopper]

There was a very silly thread about swiping phones with various body parts. Willies, tongues, nipples, toes. I think there was even a suggestion of labias ... Not sure if anyone did... I did not read closely, having no interest in swiping phones with anything other than fingers.

[PetulaGordino]

sorry penguins

that's a really good point blandy. my mil started going to a gym for the first time when she was about 55. she hadn't done any physical exercise beyond gentle walking since she was at school, and has had pelvic floor problems since having children in her thirties. she got herself a personal trainer who conformed to your stereotypical early twenties muscle-pumped male. it was a massive learning curve for him, finding out that actually he needed to think outside the box in terms of appropriate and varied exercise routines for a woman in her situation

[ABlandAndDeadlyCourtesy]

It's a point about sports though, isn't it? It's reasonably rare (I think) for top sportswomen to return to sport after having kids. Paula Radcliffe did. Chris Evert-Lloyd maybe?

I know that a lot of male athletes are past their peak by 30-33ish anyway... But Roger Federer has had two sets of twins (don'tcha know!) and can still reach grand slam finals.

[DoctorTwo]

Swiping phones with willies? Not something I've ever thought about. Mind you, I don't have a smartphone. So it's a no from me. It has a touchscreen but no, just no. Not right.

Waiting for Derval/Dervel to saunter in.

LRD, thank you. I am so chuffed you assumed I am female. I have used 3 different NNs on this site and have been referred to as 'she' or 'her' with each one and that makes me happy, even though with each one I've been openly male. It's flattering for a bloke to be thought female on a female dominated site.

[kickassangel]

I noticed that Doctor was male. Actually, it felt like he managed to self identify as male (thereby giving relevant context) without saying, "speaking as a man".

[grimbletart]

Jo Pavey just won the bronze medal in the Commonwealth 5,000 metres last week, aged a week under 41 mum of 2, baby born only 10 months ago. I imagine she has a pelvic floor built out of titanium.

[kickassangel]

I think if you can get back into exercise it really helps, so long as there wasn't extensive damage. I had a c section and still needed to do a lot if Pilates after having dd.

But a we all know, I went on a bouncy castle just a few days ago. At least my pelvic floor held up even if the castle gave way.

[UptoapointLordCopper]

Kickass' pelvic floor 1, Bouncy Castle 0.

[PetulaGordino]

Haha Lordcopper

[DoctorTwo]

Bloody hell kickass, if I ever use 'speaking as a man' I will have to name change and lie low. :o

Yesterday I got banned from, and called a bigot by, an anti transphobia group on the Facebooks for pointing out that lesbians who refuse to have sex with transwomen aren't bigots but are in fact lesbians who don't want a penis in or around them. So there you go. I'm a bigot. Flame away...

[Dragonlette]

My pelvic floor stands up to most things. What stops me doing much exercise is the time factor. Dp finds it so much easier to fit in some exercise because I do all cm dropoffs and pickups, so he is able to fit the gym in a few days a week on his way home from work. But apparently that isn't because I'm the woman, it's purely because I have the car. I'm not so sure. So I think the decline in women's fitness might be partly due to pelvic floor issues, but is just as likely to be because women are trying to fit exercise around childcare responsibilities in a way that few men have to consider, and then once you are our of the habit of regular exercise its difficult to get back into it.

Anyway, what I came in to say is that I'm on holiday in a caravan park and a few things have annoyed me.

1. In the pool area there are 2 "pirates" , lifesize statues, one man and one woman. Guess which pirate is fully dressed and which one is exposing most of their torso and looking "sexy"
   
2. We've played guess who a few times this holiday, having not played it for years. There are only 5 women in the version we've got (a card game one that we got free from morrisons last week) compared to 11 men. There are as many men with beards as there are women, so the message dd2 has picked up is that if you want to win, you need to be a man

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

Dr - sorry, TBH I hadn't thought whether it was flattering or not!

I think sport is a tricky example, because it'll have developed to value trad male strengths/skills, won't it? As far as I understand it, it's the sports that are closest to 'the shit you would to do move fast anyway' (swimming, running) are reasonably interesting for men and women. Whereas when you move into more complicated, 'artificial' things, there are bigger issues.

[PetulaGordino]

i'm always amazed by pole vaulting. i am a daughter of the fens

[PetulaGordino]

can anyone cleverer than me work out the rationale behind this book cover?

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

WTF?

[CaptChaos]

I thought it might be supposed to be Verruca Salt, but no, apparently not. That's really, really horrible.