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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Older women should step aside says Laura Hudson

106 replies

IrkThePurist · 18/01/2018 22:56

Laura Hudson says;

''Take comfort in knowing this not a new development: feminism has evolved over the years from concerns about suffrage, to concerns about reproductive rights, to concerns about including ALL women in its mandate''

''I have great respect for the contributions that many older women made to the feminist movement, at times when it was harder than I have ever experienced. It is also time for them to listen, to learn, to step aside''
twitter.com/laura_hudson/status/953707342951981056

Laura hasn't actually set an age limit for stepping aside (Or the 'Logans Run' mandate as some Twitter users are calling it)
Laura seems blissfully unaware of The Equality Act, its become irrelevant now all the lesser battles have been won. Ageism doesn't concern her at all.
She's said we can rejoin feminism when we catch up.

OP posts:
JessicaEccles · 19/01/2018 12:55

It is quite galling to be told you have nothing to worry from job losses from people who have been retired this past decade

Even more galling to have worked for years, have no pension, no chance of ever earning more- and be moaned at as 'rich baby boomer'.....

Deadlylampshade · 19/01/2018 12:57

Excellent post cat

JessicaEccles · 19/01/2018 13:00

It is also time for them to listen, to learn, to step aside''

Isn't always time for women to SHUT UP? I was told to shut up when I was younger, now I am older I am told to just 'listen'. Fuck that.

jaybay46 · 19/01/2018 13:02

EURef ageism is still going strong this week. We’ve been told to push off and die, even the remainers! Well, I’m pushing off nowhere.I’ll wait to be pushed by the guy with the scythe, not by ageist 20 year olds.

thecatfromjapan · 19/01/2018 13:03

The one thing I'd like to add (sorry - I'm almost ranting now!) is that, I think, there is something essentially 'post-vernal' about feminism.

In 'post-vernal', I'm trying to find a word that means it comes to fruition slightly late, seemingly anachronistically.

This is, I feel, an effect of discrimination, which erects real barriers in teh lives of real women. Feminist thinking is marginalised: it's not as easy to come across and read and discuss with others as mainstream thinking; it's therefore trickier to develop feminist thinking - as an individual and as a group - certainly when younger; women tend to have other responsibilities, that take time away from developing feminist thinking (and I'm not even thinking about becoming a 'professional feminist', I'm thinking about the fact that there is enormous social pressure on women to 'give time' to lots of social things, and to other people. This may be a good thing [women tend to be more other-oriented and not sollipsistic], it may be a bad thing [women are rarely allowed to get away with 'Oh, that's because he's a genius' behaviour] but it is definitely a thing); women from mid to late life tend to have actual, real caring responsibilities, which massively eats into the time you can spend thinking, exchanging, organising.

So, that's not an exhaustive list, but you can see why feminism itself - with all these impediments - might be 'slow'. These are material factors, impacting on real women, which have an actual, real effect on the development of calls for political change - and the development of activity which might make political change actually come about.

And you can see why individual women might be 'slow' to actually be able to have the time and desire to actually get out there as self-identifying feminists.

And that, I think, is another reason why it's just so crazy to ask 'older feminists' to step aside. 'Older women' may well be old in years lived but may perhaps only just have achieved the personal power to enable them to step forward as feminists. Or to gain a voice as a feminist. Or to have gained a public voice as a feminist.

And the ideas themselves: older feminism. Who can place a temporality - old feminism/new feminism - on a political discourse which, precisely because it is formed to oppose oppressions, exclusions, exploitations and real-life barriers, and which is therefore subject to these very same barriers, etc, itself - on a discourse which is going to have elements which simply take longer to gain a platform? Which are always going to seem anachronisitic?

Weezol · 19/01/2018 13:03

My mum is a fairly new feminist, maybe been an 'out' feminist for two years. She's 72. Where does she fit then Laura?

SpartacusReality · 19/01/2018 13:05

Ridiculous ageism. Of course older women should listen and learn, as should younger women, but that doesn't mean stepping aside. Women have been listening and learning a lot recently - unfortunately for Laura Hudson lots of people have learnt that the trans activist demands are in direct opposition to women's rights. It seems that the more people learn about it, the more they see the emperor's new clothes. It's Laura who needs to do a bit more listening.

MaureenNervosa · 19/01/2018 13:09

Ageist nonsense that brings to mind how older women were seen in Victorian times.

Deadlylampshade · 19/01/2018 13:15

Yes I agree cat I was lucky enough to be brought up by radical feminists and therefore Andrea Dworkin and Germaine Greer were my bedtime stories and me and my Mother often comment that actually feminism was only allowed to come into the manistream once it stopped being feminism and became ‘equalism’.
Lots of the younger feminists have joined the conversation halfway through, they don’t read the seminal texts or understand about the structural elements of feminism and therefore don’t share the same language as the radical feminists.
They are standing in their shoulders and kicking their heads in at the same time.

AnnaMagdalenaGluck · 19/01/2018 13:18

Reminds me of a tweet from a TA I read after Maria MacLachlan was attacked at Speaker's Corner. It went something like What was a woman of that age doing at there anyway? Hmm

marillacuthbert2018 · 19/01/2018 13:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

OlennasWimple · 19/01/2018 13:39

Yy cat

Weezol · 19/01/2018 13:40

cat I think 'slow feminism' is definitely a thing. Your post is really good. Both my folks have become more aware of feminist issues in the last few years.

My dad has always been an unwitting ally. He's an engineer and always believed that merit and ability trumped the sex of the applicant. He got a lot of stick for this in FE in the 80's and 90's, but didn't crack.

In modern parlance I was brought up to be gender non conforming. They didn't do that as a conscious thing, they just thought encouraging kids in any interests they show made sense.

We've been talking about the gender construct and they both think gender is a load of old pony, always have. It's just they now have terminology to use when explaining their views. They think gendered expectations are harmful to boys and girls.

So, that's two 72 year olds and a 43 year old who should just stfu then by Laura's standards.

badabing36 · 19/01/2018 14:25

I’m 31 she’s talking shite.

terryleather · 19/01/2018 14:55

I saw this video by Penny White last year.

She waffles on quite a bit but her central idea of leaving the hard graft of women's liberation to the older women and the reasons why really made me think.

terryleather · 19/01/2018 14:59

For the TL;DR version of the video I linked to above then view the first 3 minutes and the last 3 minutes.

SandAndSea · 19/01/2018 15:35

She sounds like an idiot. (Drops mic and walks off.)

SandAndSea · 19/01/2018 15:36

(Comes back on again.)

I was referring to the original post, not any subsequent references.

(Drops mic and goes off again.)

Thermostatpolice · 19/01/2018 15:47

Sandandsea Grin

I find that Penny White video very reassuring. She seems to be saying 'Older women have got this. Stop worrying, gather life experience,' which I think makes sense in theory.

In practise, it's a shame that society routinely dismisses older women, especially older feminists. They are a dangerous lot. Too much experience and insight. It might upset the status quo if we listened too hard...

Lots of the younger feminists have joined the conversation halfway through, they don’t read the seminal texts or understand about the structural elements of feminism and therefore don’t share the same language as the radical feminists.

So true deadly

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 19/01/2018 15:58

sandandsea

When did you pick the mic back up

Did you have two mics Shock

Now thats hardcore

terryleather · 19/01/2018 15:59

Lots of the younger feminists have joined the conversation halfway through, they don’t read the seminal texts or understand about the structural elements of feminism and therefore don’t share the same language as the radical feminists.
They are standing in their shoulders and kicking their heads in at the same time

Deadly I think you've put that beautifully.

The young always reject their elders it's the nature of things but I do think there has been a conserted effort to marginalise, dismiss and now in the time of libfem and TAs to downright demonise what the feminists who've gone before have had to say.

It's not really surprising because ideas that really threaten the status quo have to be dealt with and short of banning them (which draws attention to them and would be seen as illiberal) the next best thing is to consign them to the dustbin of history for being outdated, old fashioned, irrelevant and probably dangerously bigoted so nobody reads them and the knowledge is lost. It's dispiriting.

*Apologies for bold fail...

Bluelady · 19/01/2018 16:08

My response to Laura was as follows:

No sweetheart, I'm not changing the habits of 64 years and stepping aside for you or anybody.

She's a fuckwit.

Deadlylampshade · 19/01/2018 16:11

Oh my goodness that Penny White video is amazing. I just cried all the way through it.

SandAndSea · 19/01/2018 16:27

Rufus - One of the stage-hands routinely puts the mic back in its stand between acts. Grin

I had hairy legs when I was young so you lot should listen to me.

thecatfromjapan · 19/01/2018 16:48

The Penny White video is truly heart-warming. Grin

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