I'm not a feminist because I like men

[TimeforaNNChange]

A quote from Angela Leadsom today.

I know quite a few female Conservative party members and my instinct is that they won't like that at all - as it plays to the extreme feminist rhetoric.

Can you explain a bit more?

Won't the majority of party members nod their heads in recognition of the obvious truth that feminist = whingey man hater , rather than recognizing radical feminist discourse?

Many of the ladies I know - all of them 60+ and many in their 70s and 80s, would describe themselves as feminists in the dictionary definition of the term - they strongly believe, and have campaigned for, equality for women.

ALs misrepresentation of the term will do nothing for her popularity amongst those formidable ladies!

Perhaps in the UK, most misogynists are not anti-feminists anymore, but funfems who proclaim that anything a woman does is feminist.

Expressing the things other people think and feel in other words than they do can be dangerous. Didn't Trump get some problems because he admitted that he was anti-woman in his stance on abortion, while the popular rhetoric in the US is to claim to be pro-life?

Perhaps what Time means is that this is something similar?

Ah crosspost.

So, the conservative ladies still remember that it is only because of feminism that they are even able to be party members! Great!

Have you got a link to the whole of what she said, for context?

I didn't realise the two were mutually exclusive.

The more I hear from / about this woman the more concerned I am.

The more I hear from / about this woman the more concerned I am.

This one quote in the thread title alone makes it look like she's aiming to be the UK's Donald Trump.

aiming to be the UK's Donald Trump

I thought that was Johnsons aim, but it looks like he bottled it. I agree, she's a populist aiming for the lowest common denominator, she'll unite the Tory members who are bigoted (which I imagine is a fair proportion of grass roots members).

I saw a great meme the other day which I think is quite apt - it said something like "when did a movement about removing oppressions for women become so misunderstood, that people still think its about men?"

Fuck me she's dreadful. Heaven help us all.

In all her hideous glory

I was wondering what The Daily Mail had to say about her.

Senior Tory women spearhead backlash against Andrea Leadsom after motherhood jibe at rival Theresa May | Daily Mail Online
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3682972/Senior-Tory-women-spearhead-backlash-against-Andrea-Leadsom-motherhood-jibe-rival-Theresa-May.html

Leadsom herself is now spinning that there are establishment forces at work against her.

It's a bit disturbing that she knows so little about an important political movement, even if she disagrees with it.

OK to be fair to her it's IDS who is claiming there are black forces working against her.

Leadsom 'facing black-ops campaign from may allies' | Daily Mail Online
www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-3682733/Andrea-Leadsom-Tory-version-Jeremy-Corbyn-minister-warns.html

I sincerely hope the Conservative membership remember IDS was one of their least successful leaders (although as they were daft enough to select IDS over Ken Clarke, who knows)

She's relentlessly targeting party members at the moment. And this is just the sort of remark that will appeal to them. As will the "as a mum" stuff.

I think and hope that the Tory party members will take a view on who is likely to get re-elected as well. Any talk of the parliamentary party splitting is likely to cause fear too.

And this is just the sort of remark that will appeal to them. As will the "as a mum" stuff

I'm seriously hoping enough of them will be reactionary enough to think about mum's place is in the home and not vote for her. I don't recall Thatcher playing on being a mother; she played on being a prudent housewife living within your budget.

I think and hope that the Tory party members will take a view on who is likely to get re-elected as well

Well you would hope so but Labour members elected Corbyn. Hopefully they might look at the mess Labour are in and realise Leadsom supporters won't defect if May wins but she won't appeal to centrist voters.

Agree re corbyn. Think the Tory party membership might be more pragmatic!

Really stupid comment for her to have made. As if she'd even have the chance to become party leader without feminism. Therefore likely a strategic decision as I don't think this woman's a fool.

From her Times interview with Rachel Sylvester (9th July) "I'm not a feminist because I'm not anti-men, I just see people as people. I'm never happy to see women written out of the picture...but feminism is a term that's been used to abuse men so I don't identify with it."

She's in fully fledged self destruct mode, isn't she?

It's like it hadn't occurred to her that she might be asked difficult questions. Or worse, she has prepared for the interview and this is what she thinks is a good answer. She either fundamentally misunderstands what feminism means or is deliberately misrepresenting it to appeal to the party faithful. Not sure which is more depressing.

"feminism is a term that's been used to abuse men"

Sooo.. all those poor men, abused by being called feminists?

Oh god. I seriously hope this woman is not going to be our next PM.

Man-haters is such a lazy and stupid term to use about feminists. Most feminists have men in their lives that they love and respect because those men are not complete arseholes. Feminists don't hate men, we hate arseholes, in that I doubt we're any different to most people what's different is that feminists tend to see misogyny and sexism as part of the arsehole spectrum, whereas women like Leadsom seem to think that hating the men who are misogynist or sexist is in some way abusive toward men.

There appears to be a simple remedy to this.