Basingstoke Women's Place UK Meeting 17 May - MNs SwearyG speaking (Title Edited by MNHQ)

[ReluctantCamper]

twitter.com/Womans_Place_UK/status/991343540268617728

In Maria Miller's constituency.

'A woman's place is to be enquiring'

love it!

Apparently Maria Miller declined to attend. Even though it's in her constituency. Women's views clearly don't count to Maria. Very disappointing.

What's the chatter from tonight's meeting? Attendees, spill!

God it was brilliant. All the speakers rocked. Hannah in particular was so, so sharp and funny. Lots of good questions and suggestions afterwards. I met lots of MNettere - I loved the whole evening. Am currently sitting on Woking station all blissed out by spending hours with other feminists and waiting for my connection. Will hope someone turns up who's better at summarizing stuff or have another go later. No protesters. We all went to the Queen's Arms afterwards, which seemed somehow apposite. Wish you'd all been there.

I think avoiding university cities, or holding events outwith uni terms seems the answer to protesters. It's exam time at the moment at many unis so they're maybe busy.

It sounds like a great evening!

I'm waiting for WPUK to come back to the north west again. In the meantime I'm going to try (again) to see my MP - he has ignored both of my letters and cancelled his surgery when I turned up last week. Hoping for better luck tomorrow and will look at the information on the WPUK site as preparation.

Back home snuggled up in bed and going through the #WPUK twitter feed.

It was great to meet you all. SwearyG was amazing. Funny and eloquent at the same time.

Night all

Still buzzing from a great evening in Basingstoke (things you never thought you'd say)!

Debbie - 1st time I'd heard her speak, very clear and eloquent. Emphatic about how people may say 'Transwomen are women' but she's not convinced any of them actually believe it. She presents as female but when pushed for a self-defining term later (in the pub) said she prefers 'human being'. Well, indeed

Catia - a very raw and honest account of surviving domestic violence, and the need for women-only spaces in refuges and healthcare provision. She was lovely - the room was transfixed while she spoke.

Hannah - a funny and eloquent exposition on the #Manfriday movement and how she's a bit of an accidental activist! She spoke about her own history of anorexia and how she feels it was a response to societal pressure to take up less space, to keep quiet and unobstrustive. Safe to say she's willing to be obtrusive now (in the best way) and encourages others to do likewise.

Sarah - spoke about how the legal meanings of woman and female are being messed about and how we need to push back hard against this; examples were 'A woman is anyone who significantly identifies as female' wtaf?

A group discussion followed, with us all sitting in a circle (good format!), then a large group repaired to the pub for wine/beer/orange juice and chat. There was a real buzz about it all - it felt really freeing to be able to just discuss these matters openly with people (mostly women, which was awesome) who just Get It. Met some lovely people and now have the option to stalk them on Twitter (and they me, of course).

That's my potted summary - please post others!

Sorry Rita, just realised I used the exact same words to describe Sweary as you did great minds, clearly!!

I really enjoyed it too, and got to meet a couple of MNers whose alter egos I recognised, and probably freaked them out with how avidly I read their posts .

Catia's talk was really mesmerising as it was obviously such an honest recounting of personal experience. She touched on the shelter she went to being an all female space, and how important that was. My interpretation was that it was important for her to know that it was single sex to even get the impetus to go.

I enjoyed the Q&A at the end, although I was the one running around with the mike so I didn't get to concentrate on what people were saying as much as I would have liked because I was scanning the room for other people who want to speak.

Particularly good contribution from a woman who works supporting women who have suffered violence, who said look, the small organisations can't speak up, because if we get a reputation for 'transphobia', we'll lose our funding. she even felt that as an individual she couldn't share things on social media. She asked that those of us who can speak out do so for the sake of the women that can't.

Welcome back Prawn

I didn't make it in the end, would have been complicated with childcare and if I'm honest, it all felt a bit anxiety-provoking. I'm a longtime lurker on these boards but frequently have to take time out to clear my head. Glad it went well and looking forward to posts from anyone else that went.

I've woken up with a big smile on my face this morning.

Last night was brilliant. It was my first meeting and I hadn't realised how good it would be to listen to the speakers live whist in a room full of women. To be able to talk openly feels so liberating and I met some amazing women - looking forward to getting to another meeting.

Sweary was both entertaining and inspiring and I now have a To-Do list and the enthusiasm to tackle it. Thank you

Prawn Hope you didn't have too long to wait for your train - It was great to meet you.

all blissed out by spending hours with other feminists

Still buzzing

I hadn't realised how good it would be to listen to the speakers live whist in a room full of women. To be able to talk openly feels so liberating

There is nothing in the world quite so powerfully nurturing as participating in women's activism like this, is there? It makes me unmeasurably sad that a whole generation of young women is being brought up with absolutely no experience of it because pomo.

reluctantcamper
that's interesting and as i feared re the woman that works for the small organisation supporting women. in the wake of the oxfam scandal and leaving labour, i have been actively looking for some pro women charities to donate my money to. there's a couple of health related charities i really really want to support (and i may well still do so) but their statements around trans are baffling! they seem to bend over backwards to somehow include trans women when the services offered are very much related to female sexed bodies. furthermore, they do not do anything like enough to include trans men, who may actually need these services. does that make them partially transphobic? or just sexist? and why is there no TRA outrage at the lack of inclusivity for trans men when it is rather more than validation or hurt feelings at stake.....

but in the light of what you just said, i think i will still support these charities

Really good fun, very happy to be there. Sat nav got me in the vicinity of the place and then I found it. I was really to face any opposition (peacefully) but there was none!

One thing that struck me was Catia talked about how men turned 'their women' (my words - e.g. wives girlfriends) away from women who were in need of help because of abusive partners. So knowing there would be no men at the refuge was really important.

She also spoke of someone who gave her son a toy, and it was clear that little acts of kindness like this was especially important.

Hannah was fab, very clear.

Debbie was really great, quite funny.

Lots of compassion in the room.

...a woman who works supporting women who have suffered violence, who said look, the small organisations can't speak up, because if we get a reputation for 'transphobia', we'll lose our funding. she even felt that as an individual she couldn't share things on social media.

This is totally the same as me. I run a tin-pot local women's refuge and all our grant applications/funding sources have a 'right-on' inclusivity clause. I'm not prepared to compromise the safety or comfort of the women who need our services - none of whom want to share their living space with a male bodied person - so I have to jump through various ideological hoops to defend their position and get the funding for a project they need to survive.
I'm increasingly feeling that I can't contribute to public discussion around the protection of sex segregated spaces in my own name because I'm the face of the refuge and if my personal views are deemed to be "transphobic" (which they would be, given the current agenda) then the refuge organisation will be tarred with the same. I can't risk it.

As an organisation we can't speak out. As an individual I can't speak out.

what a massive LIE that trans'women' are marginalised or oppressed in any way

small organisations can't speak up, because if we get a reputation for 'transphobia', we'll lose our funding. she even felt that as an individual she couldn't share things on social media

What a VAST amount of power

This is how women are silenced, not just with drums and whistles. She was so brave to attend the meeting and risk being photographed and outed!

@Pratchet - some transwomen may be marginalised but some people are marginalised, and transwomen are definitely people. But marginalization does not come with the label.

One thing I meant to say, but didn't, was that if 17 women had written to the Guardian with concerns about the GRA reforms their letter may well not have been taken. Ours was. That's not marginalisation of trans people.

I really enjoyed the meeting, and the socialising in the pub was just great. I feel empowered as a result.

For me the biggest impact was the woman with dark hair on the right hand side of the room (from where I was sitting) who pointed out that women's charities depended on funding from sources that may not fund charities that were not deemed to be fully "trans inclusive" (whatever that may mean). That troubled me, a lot.

It's really troubling, isn't it

For me the biggest impact was the woman with dark hair on the right hand side of the room (from where I was sitting) who pointed out that women's charities depended on funding from sources that may not fund charities that were not deemed to be fully "trans inclusive" (whatever that may mean). That troubled me, a lot.

Yes, this is a big problem.