Brighton libfems attempting to ban women from wearing pussy hats on Trump demo

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

It's too vaginacentric apparently

In case the thread hasn't been deleted by the time you see this, it's here

'Ooffii Hardwick
1 hr ·
Message from the organisers: Our intention is to make this march intersectional and inclusive for all. For that reason we respectfully request that people ensure that their signs and apparel reflect that. We ask that you do not wear pussy hats or carry "pussy power" placards. The vagina centric theme of the Womens' Marches was offensive and entirely exclusive of our trans sisters. Genitalia does not equal gender. Whilst we understand people's desire to fight back and react to Donald Trump's horrendous misogyny, we believe the best way to do this is to fight together and for each other in a space where no one feels unwelcome, and where those spaces do not exist for us to be the ones to forge them.'

There are some very pissed off feminists in Brighton now, judging by the thread.
It's meant to be a demo in support of Muslims against Trump's racist immigration policies so I am not sure why anyone would be carrying a vagina placard anyway, but not being allowed to wear the hats seems a bit extreme.

Trump is being divisive isn't he - by bringing out so many different orders one after the other, each new one distracts from the previous, and prevents a cohesive opposition.

It wouldn't surprise me if this was entirely deliberate.

I think overall the opposition are doing ok at being cohesive tbh. Yes there was this row, and others, but it was still a successful protest and there have been lots of others. I think he is enough of a common enemy that overall there will be unity.
I do think it's very interesting what happens when people actually start to turn out on the streets for protests as opposed to just fighting on the internet. In RL people are better at working together and not letting little differences get blown out of proportion. The pussy hat wearers and non-pussy hat wearers might block each other on the internet but in practice they have been standing side by side shouting the same anti-Trump slogans.

Thank you Countess, that sounds more positive- think I had read a few too many online articles criticising the protests!

It will suit Trump very well if there is in-fighting amongst his detractors about who is suffering the most (I was thinking about one post on that Facebook thread which said trans people were 'the most vulnerable' - it's not a competition!)

There have been two articles recently (HuffPo and Buzzfeed, I think) saying basically that even though DT has upheld LGBT rights, "he's not an ally". Firstly; no shit Sherlock. And secondly; making it all about that when he's ACTUALLY hurting women and immigrants? I think they are trying to say, 'don't stop centering men, even when it's not about them'.

That's so true about women's bodies being unspeakable. After I gave birth I had a health visitor ask me 'is everything ok down there ?'. This was basically an appointment about my vagina, and we couldn't even say it? I laughed at the time, but looking back there was very little aftercare for me. I just sort of became the thing feeding my baby. I was always a feminist, but becoming a mother has deepened my understanding of it in a way I couldn't have imagined.

That's before you get to the comments about how your vagina feels for men having sex with you after you have had a baby. Or was that just my ex?

This is bloody offensive. I've read stuff over the past few days about people being raging about the White House leaving out any mention of Jews in its post about Holocaust Memorial Day in favour of a general 'lots of people died' type statement. People's anger was all over the Internet, and rightly so. The White House was accused of 'All Lives Matter'-ing the Holocaust.

But nobody stands up for women when our protests about what has been and could be done to our bodies get 'All Lives Matter'-ed.

The world has gone mad.

I think, I hope, I pray that the basic goodness in humanity will prevail. But I also realise that I grew up in an era of hope with a belief in progress that is now eroded.

It's an interesting one, progress.
I have always been fascinated by the way women had a relative freedom in the Georgian era which became more constrained in the Victorian age by ever more idealised notions of femininity, ideas of women as pure, weak, etc, and I always wondered why that happened - why would you give up freedom?
It had never occurred to me that our age would become more prudish, and yet here we are, with women being told not to mention their bodies - the pretext is different but the message is the same. I saw a screenshot the other day of someone being told not to use the word female.

I agree Countess. I think we should stop sparing people's embarrassment so much (and allowing this Trojan horse of misogyny to erase us) when talking about the natural biological elements of our lives.

I agree Countess. I think we should stop sparing people's embarrassment so much (and allowing this Trojan horse of misogyny to erase us) when talking about the natural biological elements of our lives.

I couldn't agree more.
New banner:

Female genitalia - out and proud!

I have always been fascinated by the way women had a relative freedom in the Georgian era which became more constrained in the Victorian age by ever more idealised notions of femininity, ideas of women as pure, weak, etc, and I always wondered why that happened - why would you give up freedom?

Protestant views on alcohol and the growing popularity of coffee houses (male spaces, pubs were mixed, women often brewed beer); the Enlightenment including views of philosophers such as Roussaeu who argued that there was a natural and hierarchical order, also later in 19th century social Darwinists argued similar; the hierachy had rational thought for men and emotional nature for women, citizenship seen as male, ditto politics and business; Evangelical Christianity; industrialisation which separated work and home and defined male and female roles accordingly; changing understandings of medicine and the rise of medicine as a (male-dominated) profession (eclispsing herbalist and alternative healers, often women); I am sure there is more...

...not sure if it was giving up freedom as such, rather the gradual creation of a gilded cage which was also enforced by legal and economic inequalities.

plus, i think we can over-emphasise the extent to which women did have freedom (although I note you say relative freedom).

it may well be that the 20th century, from the interwar period through to the 1990s, become the historical anomaly (depressing thought)

A new take on the WW2 iconic image, Rosie the Riveter, is on the cover of the New Yorker. It's a WOC flexing her biceps and wearing a pussy hat.

I still can't see the point of anti-Trump marches here, but if I were American I'd have loved to go. They say that the US women's march was the biggest demo the world has ever seen.

They say that the US women's march was the biggest demo the world has ever seen.

Despite all the controversy about intersectionalism and what was the goal, I still think this is brilliant.

Women are obviously awfully pissed off about an awful lot of stuff.

A march like that has a knock on effect when women realise they garner that much support.

I'd happily go on an anti Trump march here. I have lived in the US, so maybe I feel more connected than most, but our government is going to do business with him, and I want them to know that falling in line means they won't get my vote. If the background noise is that we don't like him, then our politicians will hopefully be pressured into doing the right thing, just for popularity's sake. I don't know how much influence it would have, of course.

I don't think we can legitimately complain about the results of another country's elections. The UK has a long relationship with Saudi Arabia. We sell them a lot of arms. Do we march against Saudi Arabia? Do we march against Putin? Given that we don't march against all manner of nasty regimes I can't see what makes Trump different. It's the same about the state visit. We will want to maintain as good a relationship as possible with the USA. We are very long term allies and, with Brexit kicking in, we need all the friends we can get, particularly friends with deep pockets.

Like I said, were I American I would have loved to go on the Women's March. But I'm not. It seems unreasonable to protest about another nation's politics. I think how it would be if the position were reversed. If people in another country marched against our election results it would seem weird and presumptuous. Pointless too.

An anti Trump march prior to him taking power - no, wasn't in favour of that because it would have been simply a protest against another country's democratically held election. (And I said as much at the time).

An anti Trump march now he's in power and we've seen what he's up to - I am well up for that. Because my government is doing business with this man as he systematically undermines the democratic political checks and balances of the most powerful country in the world, one which has always prided itself on its democratic tradition - and I want to tell May when she holds that fucker's hand "not in my name. NOT IN MY SODDING NAME!"

It's not about him himself (though, like protesting apartheid, it makes a difference to the people who are suffering to know that there are people out there in other countries who are watching, who care, who are prepared to stand up and say "this is morally wrong" - I have friends who are scientists in the US who fear they will be sacked for doing the "wrong sort of science", I have friends in the US who are terrified at losing their abortion rights). I see it as being about trying to influence my country's foreign policy stance towards him.

But hold on a fucking second. Who said the people with pussy hats on identify as women? How do the transactivists know they're not misgendering them?!

The slogan Pussy Power has no explicit reference to women, it's people with pussies standing up to Trump.

How do the transactivists know none of them are transmen, eh? Or non-pussy owners in solidarity with pussy owners?

And why are the Brighton feminists going along with this? Shame on them.

What fucking bullshit.

So are we not even allowed to mention our body parts now - without reference to sex or gender - for fear of offending the transactivists?

With this, Brexit and Trump I'm more convinced everyday that I no longer live in the real universe but have somehow slipped into Armando Ianucci's mind and am living in one of his bad dreams.

I hate to say this, but I hope this comes back and bites them on the arse! It's the only way they'll reach peak trans!

The Facebook page 'nerds with vaginas' was taken down by Facebook for months following lobbying by trans activists. They had to take them to court to get their page back up (it's a massive page, so makes a lot of money, essentially a business).
This was because the name of the page was thought to be transphobic, even though the page creators are self described nerds who all have vaginas. It's properly scary how much power we are handing over to the trans lobby.

I saw the Nerds WVs fiasco unfold. Unbelievable. Like the herald if a new world order quietly and systematically changing and dismantling the society around us. It's like some dystopian book or movie script. With a few women being the ones to start seeing it emmerge.

A bit dramatic but that is happening - to some degree.

Attempting to tell British women what to wear is never a good move. Bit of an own goal there, really.
If I'd been on that march I would have gone and got one of those pink pussy hats after reading that.
Reminds me of Mrs Slocombe's pussy. I wonder how that would go down with these people.