Want to be Politically active - despairing over which party

[Blessingsdragon1]

I'm probably naturally a Libdem or Green - as a radish femenist have issues with both parties. I want in the face of brexit and the Tories to become a member of a party again. Are you still a member of a mainstream party and how do you square your rad fem ideals?

They are all awful. I despair.

The national parties will not budge their position before May, in the hopes that the GRA reform will be kicked into the long grass. Local parties haven't had to consider the matter at all.

By targetting the local council elections, we put pressure on the people who work to get MPs elected, and give the national parties due notice that we are serious.

The Lib Dems, Greens and Labour are expected to capitalise on the mid-term dissatisfaction with Conservatives' handling of Brexit. They aren't expecting the 'Woman Question' to rear its head.

There is another reason why I will protest at the ballot box, in May.

My council is a top Stonewall Champion. It will not restore the word 'sex' but stands by the concept of 'gender' and self i/d. It promotes a Mermaids-type resource pack and training. Umpteen schools, including primary schools, are Stonewall Champions. Control switches between Lib Dems and Conservatives, on a very low turn out, but a few votes here and there would make all the difference to every single one of the main parties.

The council works against women's interests and I won't stop telling them that. They need to get up to speed on the 'Woman Question' or this movement will grow even more hostile to the state.

If I had to vote tomorrow it would probably be for the Monster Raving Loony party too.
There is Renew. I seem to keep bringing them up lately. They are new, and are pro-EU and seem to be pro-women.
The only question is how quickly they will dump 'principles' for a narrow group providing more votes the same as all the others do.

The Women's Equality Party is the biggest political disappointment and misnomer of current politics I feel.

I left the Labour Party today. As in cancelled my direct debit, emailed head office. I recently moved to where I live now and went to a few meetings. The last meeting I sat in there was an ‘emergency motion’ to effectively circumvent an all woman shortlist. Reasons given (generally by the men in the room) there are ‘enough women in power’ in my local area.

I have only ever voted Labour and was a party member since I was 15. I won’t stand by while they trample over women’s rights.

@neurotrash - quite.

If every woman, critical of the gender policies of the major political parties, didn't vote at all....

Would anyone notice?

And would anyone care?

I think I’ll have to spoil my ballot for the first time ever. I have voted in every single election for the last twenty years. Will be quite sad to do so but I don’t know what else to do.

The Lib Dems, Greens and Labour are expected to capitalise on the mid-term dissatisfaction with Conservatives' handling of Brexit. They aren't expecting the 'Woman Question' to rear its head.

Agree. I don’t think most political commentators are aware that this will affect how people vote. For me, while the consequences of Brexit may be dire, I honestly believe that they are time limited (even if it takes a century to recover).

On the other hand I don’t see how women can recover from the legal enforcement of gender stereotypes and the loss of ability to recognise sex.

Women gained the right to vote on equal terms with men in the current Queen’s lifetime.

The link between marriage and access to contraception was removed in my lifetime and I am in my forties.

Obviously women still don’t have access to abortions in all parts of the U.K.

We haven’t made enough progress to take anything for granted.

Nobody will notice if you just don’t vote. They will see spoiled ballot papers. They may also take notice if you say which party you would have voted for.

Best idea for spoiling papers was that one about putting a sticker on it. Or writing 'women don't have penises'. If they get enough it might get noticed.

There's an informative piece on the right way to make a protest vote count and newsworthy. There is also a wrong way of going about it.

www.votenone.org.uk/protest_votes_count.html

The Tories single handedly took us from a country that was considered to have outstanding practice on disability rights to a country that is culling people with disabilities, even when the UN declared we are the first ever country to have violated the constitution on the rights of people with disabilities directly because of dc policies disproportionately targeting the tiny vulnerable% of the population we make up the Tories didn't apologise or take steps to correct the massive harm they have done. As any woman with s brain knows disabilitie issues and disadvantage woman much more than men as obviously it's almost always mothers who give up paid employment to care for family members with disabilities and it's almost always mothers who become single parents when families break down, as there's a much higher seperation rate for families effected by disability.

The Tories hate women, they just don't gaf about looking cool to the trans kids like labour.

I think I will spoil my ballot, actually I think I will write exactly why I can't vote for any party - Brexit, wiping out women's rights and culling the disabiled. Then I think I might post it on social media. Every time I email my mp I point out how many female voters feel displaced and how our votes are up for grabs, may be we should start writing that all over social media. Instead of petitions and emails etc just a long list of women who find we can't vote for any party, see who first realises they'd have a record breaking landslide if they listened to us?

Lifetime Libdem voter here. Told the local councillor at the last local election I couldn’t find vote for them because of this. My Labour MP is Gender Critical but the party line from Labour is so awful I don’t know if I can support him. Marginal Labour Lib Dem constituency. Might possibly vote Tory as I hold out most hope of them u-turning on self id.

Lib Dems turned a blind eye to Cyril Smith, for a start and are happy to welcome Aimee Challoner.

Labour have accepted transwomen are women and are more than happy to be represented by Lily Madigan (who's recently 'come out' as a lesbian to 'her' dad) and the Greens have been ruined by the Baloo and Aimee double act.

The Conservatives just don't care who's affected by their policies.

mobile.twitter.com/PankhurstEM/status/1020205979521159168?s=19

Spoiling my ballot... unless Greens get their shit together, which is currently very, very unlikely...they should have been far stronger over the safeguarding concerns raised by the Challenors. Leaving this long and down to a report...well just very poor.

theOtherPamAyres that's an informative link to vote none. The representative parliamentary system has rarely represented the wishes/needs of the people, democracy remains fragile and elusive against corporate power. Mass none voting protest would be well worth trying...now dreaming of getting the political system to be accountable, responsible and responsive! 🤣

Anyone here fancy standing themselves?

In the film 'Brewsters Millions', in order to inherit a fortune, a guy runs a 'None of the above' political campaign.

That's who I feel like voting for : None of the above.

None of the above.

With a protest vote it has to be clear that you reject the lot of them, drawing a line through the candidates and writing 'NONE' is the recommended way of getting noticed.

(You can write something else, in addition to None, but the word None is critical)

Otherwise, the returning officer puts it in the basket marked 'unclear as to choice of candidate'. So we have to be clear. None of them. None.

There are local elections coming up in some places in May. It would be wonderful if some women could stand as independents, or single issue candidates if only to get publicity. It's a big ask I know.

Another Alex deletion...

If our Female Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (who I really admire) and the Labour led Government goes along with the self ID proposal here (put in by the Green Party) without protecting sex-segregated spaces and without condemning the hate speech towards those of us in NZ who have dared to ask that the unintended consequences of the proposal be discussed nationwide then that is it for me. I will be cutting up my Labour Party Member card, writing a strong letter to the Prime Minister and stopping my monthly financial contribution to the Party. Our local MP who is also the Minister of Health is well aware of the issue and has been alerted to the dangers of puberty blockers and cross sex hormones for children. I will vote for him as our Local MP because he is a good man, but not for Labour as the Party vote. We have MMP here, we have two votes, individual and party. It will go against the grain as I have been Labour all my life but this trans-gender ideology, particularly for children is dangerous. I don't care how people wish to live their lives but the extreme activists seem hell bent on eliminating the idea of woman as a distinct biological sex. If I posted on the Facebook's of 3 women MPs here, one Labour 2 Green what I thought about the trans-gender issue I would be attacked, called trans-phobic, the usual rubbish, especially if I said, I do not believe trans-women are women if by that they mean, the same as a biological woman, (which is patently absurd) I would be flamed. It wouldn't matter if I then went on to say I welcome trans women who genuinely wish to live their lives as women, who understand as far as they can what it is like to be a woman in today's society and are supportive of women in their concerns around the self ID issue. It wouldn't matter because I had uttered the ultimate heresy first. I cannot understand the craven capitulation of institutions such as Universities, Councils, Government Departments to the demands of this small hate filled group of men and I say men not women. They seem to hate that which they wish to become which is extraordinary. I will carry on discussing the issue with like minded people here in NZ but the self-ID proposal is very much largely unknown to the general populace. Anyway, discovering Mumsnet and feminism chat has been wonderful. I will keep on looking and contributing.

Illyria47
Well said.