Feminist Pub X: Regulars and new faces welcome, consciousness raising is a possibility.

[CaptChaos]

The old pub now has less than 10 posts to go, so I thought I'd start a new one. The old one can be found here

This is a place for feminist pom pom waving and talking about stuff which might not need a thread for itself.

Fill your boots.

Or: "this seems to be yet another specifically targeted act of male violence against women and children that he thinks he owns"

Because any kind of "tragic incident" or "isolated incident" line is designed to reassure the public that they are safe from this kind of attack. But as the stats tell us, if you're a woman or child that's simply not true.

you're right

"it's ok everyone. you're safe from this specific man's violence"

But only because he's dead.

Annie, I'm not sure that's right; I do think there are men who are a specific danger of causing death to those they think they own but not to others (same as "domestic" violence)

Fab posts above about public space; I always wonder about people who grumble about children not going to restaurants until they "know how to behave in restaurants" - eh?!

did anyone else see this short drama? it was very powerful (and possibly triggering - not graphically but implied)

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p024fj2d/the-secrets-2-the-conversation

Winifred, I meant until things go wrong in his next relationship, not that he would have caused further injury to "people".

Ah, got it.

Fascinating, Bullets. I had no idea Mrs didn't signify "married" until so late. How I hark back to the days when it just meant a woman who had distinguished herself in her field!

Do any other cultures apart from ones with colonial roots have married/unmarried titles for women? And those that do, did they adopt it from us?

LRD we've watched Porco Rosso! Special dispensation for kids to stay up late. It's lovely. A bit feministy, a bit not - no spoilers. But lovely.

Interesting article about women's title.

that is a great article - I will send that to my sister, we had an argument about that and she didn't believe me (I said that I used Ms as it is the current convention for a title that doesn't mention marital status, but if someone calls me Mrs MyMaidenName (only name actually, and I am not married) I don't mind because historically it just means adult and respected woman, so I'll "wear" it in that sense, she had a fit and told me I was wrong and somehow letting the side down, I kind of shrugged)
I think we should all take it on if forced to by those who won't recognise Ms. I mean why not just take it back? Just be French about it where Mme automatically applies

she got quite cross about this idea

would any of you?

Mrs MyName rather than Mrs DHsurname? I don't know. I still rather have Ms because of perhaps more recent connotation. But if we must have titles I will have Dr please, thank you very much.

Evening all. 'Tis morning here, so I've just gotten up from a lovely night's sleep. Its been an eventful week both here and in real life . Some good news - after doing contract work for the last few years, I have a new job! It is a contract to begin with, but they have already asked about the possibility of me taking on the role permanently if it all works out. Happy days .

Although I would like one all purpose title for adult women I would prefer Mrs. I miss vowel sounds in Ms (I realise even mrs has no actual vowels).

I would live to get rid of titles altogether and just use first name last name. Then using first name when you know someone a bit better. No need to even assign male or female or adult or child or married or single to anyone. We'd all just be people.

upto - ooh, good to know! I do love Ghibli stuff.

zazzles - congratulations!

penguins - mmm, see, I prefer Ms. To me it sounds nice and crisp, whereas Mrs is too many sibilants tripping each other up. Plus, annoying connotations of being 'the missus'.

LRD thanks, the job is actually with someone I used to work with 10 yrs ago or so. They have a female for their global CEO, and when I said "Its good to see more women in senior management" re: the female CEO, they didn't discount me for the job! Yes, the company billed themselves as an equal opportunity employer in the job ad, and that was one small test to see if they really were .

"We'd all just be people."

Bloody radicals.

I loved that article. I've already sent a link to my friends at work, they'll think I'm mad but I think it's interesting. I get called all sorts at work because the pupils can't remember which teachers are Mrs, Miss or Ms. I answer to any of them but I do always look round expecting to see my mum or grandma when they call me Mrs Lastname. I also speak to companies on the phone who ask "is that Mrs dpsName?", it's not worth the time to worry about it when I'm probably going to be hanging up on them very soon anyway. All my official paperwork says Ms, but I'm really not fussed what people call me on an individual basis. I'm annoyed by the expectation that women have different forms of address based on their marital status as a class-wide issue.

I found out today that one of my ex-pupils has just been arrested for raping another of my ex-pupils :( [anger] In 10 years of teaching I have now taught 2 rapists (that I know of), 1 murderer, 3 boys who went on to abuse their girlfriends (that I know of), and 1 armed robber. Obviously most of them went on to do these things after they left school (the murderer didn't - he was arrested half way through year 11). That's 7 violent men that I taught as boys, and not a single girl that I've taught has been arrested for violence. (I teach in a small town where everyone knows everyone else, so it's big gossip if an ex-pupil is arrested) I wish I could say I'm surprised but I'm not, I'm sad and angry.

Congratulations zazzles!

Thanks Dragon (I like Dragons, I do). That's awful about the rapist, not to mention the other male pupils. Just shocking!

The whole NFL and Ray Rice thing is on the news here right now. on one of the major morning shows. They are talking about how the responsibility of men's violence against women lies squarely with men. Its about time the media here put themselves on the right side of the argument. Right now they are talking about Ray Rice's supporters and telling them they are in the wrong. Good.

Glad to hear it, zazzles.

Dragon, that's sad

Dragon - so true! 20 years of teaching, although I spent several years in a boys' school so obviously skewed stats. But yes, the boys are the ones who head towards violence. The girls get pregnant, which is, of course, entirely their own fault.

(on a personal note, I am so tired and full of cold tonight, I just made pizza without any cheese on it. At all)