WPUK meeting in London 20 May with Meghan Murphy, Julie Bindel, Selina Todd

[PlonitbatPlonit]

Tickets on sale now for London meeting just announced. Looks like a great meeting.

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-womans-place-is-back-in-town-tickets-59993907392

Agree that I enjoyed Maya Forstater and Selina Todd most. Maya gave me three of her 'Radicalised by Mumsnet' stickers!!

Unfortunately there is a right twat in my carriage who's holding forth to his poor girlfriend about the annoyingness of this 'equality thing'. I don't want to butt in so have had to block them out with Aretha Franklin. Lovely ball-busting Aretha....

If they could get a bigger venue they could definitely fill it

I recognised so many faces! Very impressed when Maya said that Francis Wheen was there-I love him!

Glad to hear everyone had a great time and no mum botherers in attendance.

How many walnut whips have you got left, Bernard?

Is there a recording on YT?

Of the meeting, not the walnut whips, obvs.

I'm sure a livestream of Bernard eating walnut whips could be arranged

What a wonderful evening.
Does anyone know how long it will take before the film of it will be online?

I’m sure there’s an audience for that sort of niche content.

I am not it

I’m definitely going to watch it again on YouTube, particularly Selina, so much to learn from her talk

In walnut whip news, there is a solitary survivor

It was brilliant! On such a high going home. Even though I couldn’t identify any of you amazing women I could definitely feel the viperish solidarity in the room.

It was a brilliant night and all the speakers were fab.

I am feeling really inspired by Julie, I have been quietly gender critical for so long worried about work but she’s right, they can’t sack everybody.

There's some shit going down on Twitter about Julie and Selina saying we shouldn't be in league with right-wingers. Joani Walsh furious that the efforts of the Times, Spectator, Mail, etc are seen as redundant. Other women saying they're Conservative AND gender-critical and why can't this be more partisan?

I'm inclined to agree, as I do think it transcends party politics. The left v right in the US is very divisive, much more so than the UK and thankfully we have no huge majority of the kind of fundamentalist religious Right in our parliament.

I can't see a problem with respectable journalists of all persuasions writing for their newspapers about a potential change in law which will affect half the population. Just because they're 'right wing' doesn't mean they've got no common sense or compassion. And it doesn't mean we automatically agree with their views on everything else.

Or am I being naive?

Anyway, it was all brilliant, and fab to meet some of you

I heard back from someone who went and she thought there was a really positive atmosphere during the speeches.

But then when it came to the questions at the end the first 2 looked planted to score points and it really bought her down. (Unless women really hadn't sent in questions)

The questions were to ask the speakers about their attitude to working with right wing groups from Jean Hackett and Rose Freeman.

The friend who was telling me about this in fact does not think it justified (working with right wing groups), but felt that it was stage managed to make a criticism of WNTT etc., and turned a positive women must come together message into the sort of political squabbling that we see in party politics everyday. The platform were heckled for this but fobbed it off with some procedural thing about the correct way to contributed was to have submitted a question.

Meghan Murphy deflected the question well apparently.

Really inspiring evening. Particularly struck by the message that individual choices cannot overcome oppression. There is such a thing as a society - and there is such a thing as a sisterhood!

I love the sisterhood. They're my friends with vulvas and vaginas. The ones with penises I call my brothers. Simple words to explain simple differences. Love 'em

What a great evening! So many lovely women

Amazing night and I was so starstruck too. Looking round the venue and then the pub and seeing all my feminist heroes was extraordinary. I especially appreciated that that Glinner came but didn’t speak or in any way attempt to take away attention from the amazing women on stage. How incredible to be in a room where only women’s voices were heard for two hours. I take some bravery away.

I heard the questions from Jean Hatchett and Rosa F but just after this there was an “outburst” or an uninvited question from a woman in the crowd to (aggressively) Julie Bindel - can someone tell me what that was about ? (I’m a little deaf)

I couldn’t work out what the interruption was about either. It passed quickly and everything else was good natured and inspiring.

Great night and probably as close as many of us will come to knowing what suffragette meetings might have been like.

The interruption was from Dr Julia Long who no doubt felt attacked by the question on whether feminists should ally with the right wing.

Great meeting. Huge numbers and a very positive atmosphere. The mood has definitely shifted from defensiveness to making progress.

Lovely to meet some people from MN there as well.

WPUK is a socialist organisation. Their manifesto, launched today, makes this even clearer than it was before. I'm not a socialist, and there's plenty I disagree with in the new, broader manifesto, but I still admire intensely all they have done to champion women's rights.

It was a wonderful night! And lovely to meet some of you.

I agreed with meghan and maya’s take on the “right wing allegiance” question, namely that talking to people who have different views to you isn’t the same as aligning on everything.

How do we change people’s minds if we no platform ourselves?

Despite the clear warning from Ruth S (who chaired the meeting), I see people took photographs of the audience and have tweeted them. This includes one of the speakers who did this.

twitter.com/MForstater/status/1130604336776699904?s=20

Oops. Sorry wasn't paying attention to instructions. Was too overexcited by the two levels of seating and being asked to be on the panel at the last minute. Have deleted

Meghan Murphy deflected the question well apparently.

She did indeed.