Who to vote for as a feminist

[WorkingBling]

I am really struggling ahead of the elections. I have decided that commitment to feminist principals needs to be a strong part of my voting decision making process. But I honestly am not sure this helps.

Lib dems have terrible track record and while I like nick's wife, I can't vote for a party where there's only one woman I am impressed by.

Instinctively i am more of a labour supporter but with the exception of Harriet H I honestly feel underwhelmed by their female representation and view on women.

This leaves the conservatives. There are a number of woman in the party who impress me. But Dave doesn't strike me as a man who really believes in feminist principals.

Help please. All you lovely informed women must have some thoughts.

I can still see it, right above mine.

ah, it has reappeared. clearly a weird blip

There is a thread in Site Stuff - apparently this is happening on a number of threads.

fayyive and Lion, you might find these two blogs useful:

"How TERF Works" by Sarah Ditum: sarahditum.com/2014/07/28/how-terf-works/

and "Documenting the backlash": documentingthebacklash.blogspot.co.uk/p/transgender-identity-politics-rely-on_24.html

I see people saying "it's just a descriptive acronym"! but that ignores both that many really horrible slurs are just "descriptive", and that TERF is used against any women, whatever her views, when the speaker wants to make them an unperson. You can't tell anything about a woman's political viewpoint by noting that they have been called a TERF, only that the speakers (often lefty men) want to dehumanise them and shut them up.

It's ironic but I also see many people who identify as "cis" calling gender-critical trans women "TERFs" (and "truscum"), too. Which makes it very clear that they don't give a shit about trans people, just that they want to shut up anyone that disagrees with whatever they are pushing.

Fuck me. I feel ill. I mean, I knew TERF was a slur but that second link is mind bogglingly full of hatred.

I just can't get my head around people getting so wound up about their personal cause that they think it's okay to threaten other people who don't agree them with rape and death.

But never mind, as long as we all know it's feminists who are being unreasonable around this particular issue.

They're not threatening "people" though Annie, just women. None of this rage is directed at the men who actually do assault and murder transwomen and none to men who are so dangerous to transwomen that transwomen can't use men's bathrooms.

Annie - yes exactly - A lesbian porn star has been called a TERF because she won't have sex with Transwomen because they still look like men iykwim. (will carefully look for a link & post later ..!) So essentially this is now coming down to women not being able to say who they will have sex with. MtF trans who are attracted to women then identify as lesbian. Lesbians who don't want to be in a relationship with them are labelled Terf. This is referred to as cotton ceiling.

As if a porn star is a radical feminist - so the term TERF has become a catch all phrase to fling at anyone who questions gender. So the argument that it is a descriptive phrase is bullshit.

Just a random titbit of info- the Green membership has now overtaken the membership of UKIP and the Lib Dems

So?

fayyive: and here's another random titbit of info. In order to vote green I would feel the necessity to don a diaphanous gown, thread daisies in my hair and dance barefoot through a field of buttercups.

The Greens are lovely (well except for the fact that they think prostitution is a good idea) but they have a rather tenuous connection with the real world.

lol Grimble!

I would have voted Green, but for their anti woman bent. A lot of their policies, while a touch out there, make a lot of sense.

A couple of weeks ago I wasn't just going to vote for them I was about to join, no more.

I'm going to take a few more weeks researching but for now I think I will re-join the co-op party, I can't quite bring myself to financially support the main Labour party but I like the co-op strand of their politics.

Oh. Righto. I've stumbled into a mire of new ideas (for me) here. I haven't given transgender rights or their effect on feminism much thought . I think it is perhaps a relatively new gender argument that is in a huge time of change and evolution, and one I am not at all qualified to give an opinion on at the moment. I've got the gist though, I think! Thank you for explaining a little to me.

OddBoots that's not a bad compromise. I will look into it, too.

I'm another one who was thinking of voting Green (I did the policies not parties poll and came out 75% Green and 25% Labour) but I've been put off by the stance on prostitution and the whole "TERFs" debacle.

They're really good on other feminist issues though such as abortion.

That second thread is appalling. The irony is the very male language and actions depicted when they appear to be saying they are women. Is femininity/compassion/elegance not part of being a woman? It certainly doesn't put trans people in a good light, which is really sad considering they want to use loos etc because they FEAR men!

Interestingly (certainly in relation to this thread) my local Labour MP has just tweeted this "If you think decriminalisation will make prostitution safe, look at Germany's mega brothels. www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/02/if-you-think-decriminalisation-will-make-prostitution-safe-look-germanys-mega"

His wife has done some excellent academic work in relation to sex trafficking, I'm not sure I should really take that into account when voting but it does influence me.

Robin 4 has s good point, there's no point in voting for a woman if she's gone over to the dark side - the patriarchally identified side . Think Margaret thatcher!!! I'm going to have a mooch around the main parties manifestos and vote for the one that is pro actively delivering on the The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). I want to see policies that support woman into work or to stay at home and raise children, the criminalisation of purchasing sex, accessible free childcare, investment in woman's aid services and several other gender equality policies. If not - I might just start my own independant feminist party