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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Women on the left are responsible for austerity

657 replies

CarrotyO · 17/09/2018 21:59

I've heard it said that women on the left actually support and are therefore in some way responsible for austerity. This is because both Labour and the Tories support austerity. Therefore any woman who supports Labour, or the Left in general, also knowingly and consciously supports austerity and are therefore also responsible for the 1000s of deaths of disabled people caused by austerity. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

OP posts:
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Branleuse · 18/09/2018 14:46

OK, so how does it work out that WP is shit , but there are a lot of great women in WP and its not their fault that WP is shit, but that the left is shit, and that anybody that is a left woman is also shit and responsible for austerity, and THEN also claim that purity politics is wrong?

How about we concentrate on the ones that actually ARE in power, rather than the ones who are actually doing their best to fight it, even if they do get things wrong. I see so many would be anarchists who seem to have a neverending fascination for calling out the left, and rarely the right.

AngryAttackKittens · 18/09/2018 14:50

Can someone else take this one? My coffee is looking so much more appealing than another round of EnragedAndApparentlyConfusedGroundhogDay.

deepwatersolo · 18/09/2018 15:12

And on and on it goes. When it stops nobody knows!

Well, Angry, it will stop at latest when the Bisons in Drag inherit the Earth. So we have at least something to look forward to, I guess.

AngryAttackKittens · 18/09/2018 15:14

All the pretty bison with beads (will we still be allowed beads?) plaited into their hair.

lisamuggeridge · 18/09/2018 15:17

Barneleuse you cant actually address a consensus on welfare and local authorty reform, while our welfare system collapses and whil elocal authorities collapse without discussing those systems. Sorry. Thats going to mean discussing HOW political consensus was held up and that might mean metioning that our trade unions and the labour left spent eight years abusing women to prevent them discussing that consensus cos only hte left will do. Its not about respect for difference its about women being abused so major system failure, 100k deaths, and equality being rolled back isnt discussed at the end of a political consensus. Now while I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to prioritise left wing identities over this, I wont be and that the demand is continually made, usually abusively, usually gaslighting and often with a pile on, is a DEMONSTRATION of what I am saying. As for the rest of this madass thread. Caroty was kindly demonstrating what happens when stupid people construct a false identity for themselves at the expense of real issues, and also demonstrating. Re: Foraging and agriculture, I am going to go and pick some vegetables and find a dead squirrel for tea but I think sproglet is going to be mad because she wants gammon

And as onee of the women terrorised whose name is known it is a problem when we are thrown to violent activists and our kids put at risk because people who identify as the left and identify as having the right think that is solidarity. Its not. Its not the difference between suffragist and sufragettes, its the difference between demanding people dont discuss system failure that has spo far killed 100thousand people because you want to identify as somehow representing opposition to it and er...not doing that. Power dynamics. Not equal.

lisamuggeridge · 18/09/2018 15:20

Caroty when your radical politics largely consists of student identity formation and is only used to abuse women and justify preventing women discussing ACTUAL REAL WORLD issues, its not radical, its just straight up dull dull run of the mill narcissism used to harm women. So it cant be feminism or anything closely related. Cos abuse of women is NEVER feminism nor is putting womens kids at risk and cheering it on cos it makes you feel pure. See someone about that. Am off foraging.

deepwatersolo · 18/09/2018 15:21

They will be allowed beads. And finally, we will have a noncircular objectifyable definition of 'women' again. women: those who wear beads.

lisamuggeridge · 18/09/2018 15:27

I dont have any beads, I just have this dead squirrel I found for tea. Am I doing it wrong?

AngryAttackKittens · 18/09/2018 15:29

I think you were meant to forage something bitter and witchy, like nettles, or possibly a newt.

lisamuggeridge · 18/09/2018 15:32

So what do I do with the squirrel? @caroty This is your fault. How the fuck do I cook this squirrel? Do I need to skin it?

AngryAttackKittens · 18/09/2018 15:33

A true primitivist would know, you'd think.

(I meanwhile will stick to my milking goats plan, as that I think I can probably manage.)

IAmLurkacus · 18/09/2018 15:34

What can I forage to smoke? Does Tabacco grow wild? I think I need some after reading this thread.

AngryAttackKittens · 18/09/2018 15:35

I think you're going to need something stronger than that...

UpstartCrow · 18/09/2018 15:35

It does or you could just sow some seeds and grow your own. I promise not to grass on you.

RedToothBrush · 18/09/2018 15:37

OK, so how does it work out that WP is shit , but there are a lot of great women in WP and its not their fault that WP is shit, but that the left is shit, and that anybody that is a left woman is also shit and responsible for austerity, and THEN also claim that purity politics is wrong?

How about we concentrate on the ones that actually ARE in power, rather than the ones who are actually doing their best to fight it, even if they do get things wrong. I see so many would be anarchists who seem to have a neverending fascination for calling out the left, and rarely the right.

Let's pile on.

Let's miss the point completely.

You do this through abuse, strawman or other types of propaganda technique to distract from the actual problem once again.

The crucial point is that huge parts of the left ignored socialist principles and this has left a dirty great legacy that no one really wants to admit to or do much to address, because in order to do that they'd have to admit where they went wrong in the first place.

Labour socialist principles were about understanding the obstacles and problems the most vulnerable in society have.

Instead identity ideology was given priority over a fundamental recognition of problems. What was listened to was assumptions about causes of problems rather than drilling down into the roots of problems, because the ideology was more important than finding solutions to problems.

Eg Rochdale. The thought process was 'People are oppressed because they are asian. They are more oppressed than all white people. Therefore we should not question or criticise asians.'

Without understanding that power dynamics are rather more complex and that the problem in this particular case was that child abuse was enabled because everyone was so desperate not racial discrimination. It created a massive blind spot because the politics of identity were placed ahead of actual problems.

Everyone sees the world differently to others - because of their life experience. But EVERYONE has political blind spots because of that. We should acknowledge that we do. A lot of problems are arising out of the arrogance of believing we don't.

Thus it's important to have a diversity of view points to correct that and a culture which encourages that.

Lisa's main beef has been about the efforts put into deliberately restricting this diversity of viewpoints and an abandonment of Labour principles which have put the most vulnerable at risk and the arrogance of people in saying they are above criticism.

Criticism is a healthy process as long as its focused on the central problem and the circumstances around it not point scoring.

And by God that post above was about point scoring, not having a conversation about the issues Lisa raises.

I'm pretty damn sure she doesn't think she's perfect. And the mere fact the talks she's been involved in have been named 'correcting a blind spot' tells you a fair amount.

lisamuggeridge · 18/09/2018 15:37

Cultivation and horticulture is the future economy so Caroty was right in a way. I am going to give up with the squirrel and buy a pot noodle am not cut out for stone age living.

RedToothBrush · 18/09/2018 15:40

And sorry Lisa, I didn't realise you were about.

I hope I'm not doing you a disservice in how I'm interpreting and understanding what you are saying.

My post look kinda rude with you popping in between. It's not meant to be!,

AngryAttackKittens · 18/09/2018 15:41

Am currently eating wine gums, unsure as to how these are to be provided in the ideal future.

womanformallyknownaswoman · 18/09/2018 15:41

DJLippy
Have people ever heard the phrase - debate ideas not people? Can we apply it here please?

Except when it comes to Posie Parker who is a racist homophobe. We must all publicly denounce her to prove we're not racist homophobe!

It is too early in the morning for this thread, I'm off to forage some gin

Did you find any Lippy?
Welcome back Lisa.

I find the black and white responses from OP informing as they seemingly indicate an incapacity to see grey. The Dworkin quote captured radfem exactly so I don't see how someone who purports to be one wants to throw women under the bus - like Posie and Lisa. And why criticism of WPUK is such a problem. Is WPUK beyond that? That would be concerning. All these raise red flags for me about posting in good faith.

What Lisa, Lang, Angry, Red and all the others are saying much more informed than me, is that there's an incongruency between what the "left" say and what they do. The failure to address this incongruency shines through time and time again - as the John McDonnell webchat today illustrated perfectly.

I keep saying it's not rocket science to listen to and understand your user base - but it seems many are wilfully deaf when it comes to women especially working class and disadvantaged women, their rights, their treatment and their systemic and willful abuse at the hands of many, including Labour and including those "of the left".

Women's cries of distress get drowned out by "say cheese" for the latest woke selfie.

AngryAttackKittens · 18/09/2018 15:42

(I foraged them from the kitchen table, go me!)

lisamuggeridge · 18/09/2018 15:48

Redtoothbrush you dont need to apologise to me, I have skin like a rhinocerous hide and a foot permanently in my mouth, I didnt think owt of it. Really. x

BeyondAnOmnishambles · 18/09/2018 15:49

I actually had a pot noodle. I didn't have to forage it myself, the kind Asda delivery man foraged it for me.

I don't think tobacco will grow here (or anything else smokable without uv lamps), so I may move abroad in this dystopia purely for that.

lisamuggeridge · 18/09/2018 15:50

Womanformallyknownaswomen. WPUK are above criticism because of the elite wome at the centre, and I have never ever done owt but support the masses of women involved but what they did to Posie was just what the left do and they are gearing up to turning WPUK into a machine to prevent discussion of consensus that harms the left which is prevention of discussion of austerity. You have to say no early and let covert behaviour reveal itself. I fully support women of WPUK but that behaviour was not ok and a replication and in all serious could have got someone killed and I dont feel at all bad about being the one to say thats not ok cos its not and its not happening again. I think it was valuable they showed that early and it can be nipped in the bud.

lisamuggeridge · 18/09/2018 15:51

I still dont know what to do with the dead squirrel I foraged. @caroty can you help? Do I skin it like a rabbit and treat it like conejo et salsa?

lisamuggeridge · 18/09/2018 15:55

Am going to be more explicit about WPUK. The reason this happened and I was no platformed from the start and Pisie was chucked under a bus was that Karen Ingala Smith , on the ONLY occasion a politician mentioned the way austerity impacted mothers, demanded it didnt happen again cos it made her feel excluded cos she wasnt a mother and that was even though she has Yvette Coopers ear socially, and Ruth Serwotka is scared of the fact that PCS jsut spent eight years facilitating welfare reform, preventing people addressing it, and she wants WPUK to be a power base in Labour that protects the Labour left and PCS.

It is apparently ok to put Posie at risk to punish her for racism but actively preventing discussion of equality being rolled back for women at a cost of many deaths is not verboten. Its about identity, political identity and shame. Its a timely demonstration, its not ALL WPUK womem. Its about elite women ashamed at their part in preventing opposition to austerity and wanting a conversation that doesnt involve that. Its not conscious, its reflex and its a reflex that needed to be challenged and am not even a bit sorry I did. Not even remotely.