Eton College has a Feminism society

[GabrielleNelson]

... and they had an outing recently to a girls' school to explain gender theory to them. Not a joke, it seems.

www.etoncollege.com/newsarticle/etons-feminism-society-meets-with-students-at-st-marys-ascot

Glosswitch has a good thread building on Twitter about this. Julie Bindel says she is going to use it for the start of her next book.

“I'd think, myself, that the beliefs are more important than quibbling about the name of the society”

But they are very different things. And as you are such a spelling purist, I assumed you would get it right. An all boy’s school having a feminism society is one thing. A feminist society quite another.

Personally I think sex-segregated education during adolescence is a good thing. It helps children not take decisions that may affect their whole lives on the basis of not being mature enough yet to resist sex stereotypes (no need to fear being the only girl in your physics A level class, or for that matter the only boy in your English class). And the more I hear about how relations between the sexes works in mixed schools at that age the more I think there's a lot to be said for keeping apart till university and then meeting as adults. Worked for me, anyway.

It's a Feminism society according to the official list. (I assume that's the right answer for you, Bertrand? Can't get excited about it myself.)

Interested to know about the girls’ schools that confer the privilege the top boys’ schools do. Are there, for example, two women in the cabinet, or even in the top tier of the governing party that went to the same school? Have there ever been?

www.etoncollege.com/newsarticle/feminist-existentialism--or-existential-feminism-

we talked in groups about the idea of gender, and indeed sex, as social constructs, and what the term “woman” actually means, and whether it should be abolished - but is that an existential question? De Beauvoir certainly might have wanted it to happen.

Really?

I didn't imagine they would be EtonianMother. Like I said, pointless.

@BertrandRussell I think you're overlooking biology. Until boys can have babies, there will always be an 'imbalance'.

What’s your q. ScottishDoll? The interpretation of De Beauvoir or the contents of the discussion?

@Erythronium why did you ask, then?

Until boys can have babies, there will always be an 'imbalance'.

Fuck! How depressing!

There will never be a society that values mothers enough to ensure they are not at any disadvantage due to being essential in the 'bun bkaing' department!

Or to value fatherhood enough to enthusiastically support men being primary carers, taking meaningful paternity leave, and not losing their foothol don that seniority ladder - and of course conferring that same support upon mothers!

No. What we need is medical intervention and womb transplants... and willing female volunteer doners, of course!

Both!

De Beauvoir has been done to death by transideology as a convenient misinterpretation obviously but aside from that a discussion about just doing away with us all together pisses me off.

As said above this is queer theory not the centring of women's sex based rights and equality.

But ScottishDoll they are schoolboys, not adults! They didn’t arrange the meeting to piss you off. They arranged it as part of their extra-curricular education. Like learning and stuff ...

To underline how pointless and anti-woman this society will be EtonianMother.

If they can't address the most glaring inequality they as Etonians take part in - the fact that girls are excluded from Eton - then they're going to be pretty useless to women and girls either as "feminists" or as allies.

More like a TRA Society

Interested to know about the girls’ schools that confer the privilege the top boys’ schools do. Are there, for example, two women in the cabinet, or even in the top tier of the governing party that went to the same school? Have there ever been?

But the school isn't the cause of the problem. Neither closing it nor allowing girls in would do anything to get more women in cabinet.

Well TIL that male teenagers discussing the abolishment of women (with the implied conclusion that Simone De Beauvoir would agree) is so totes feminist that it is unashamedly published on their school website.

That pisses me off. I am allowed to be pissed off every time I am reminded of the abject indoctrination going on to perpetuate the war on women regardless of source.

There are some really weird posts on here!

They’re children, learning about feminism. They also happen to be privileged boys.

Personally, I think every schoolchild should learn about feminism.

Lots of bonkerosity on here.

Eton is a boys' school. If I could invent the most brilliant school, it would be Eton. It is absolutely superb in every possible way.

It's for boys. There is nothing quite the same for girls, but there are loads of excellent girls' schools. Should these be abolished/censured too? Are we to assume that the girls who attend them can have no opinions about gender and society? This is all completely ridiculous.

The short version is: until you have a son at Eton, don't start pontificating about it.

I think boys learning about feminism is a good thing.

Especially ones in all-boys schools (whether uber-privileged or not)

Amazing how people cling to privilege!

Oh really, EtonianMother. The school that produced nineteen male prime ministers? The school that literally trains boys to rule? I think we're all entitled to an opinion about that.

Boys schools perpetuate inequality between men and women and reinforce and institutionalise male power. They shouldn't exist. This isn't complicated on a feminist board.

Did you really just show up for this thread to defend Eton? How bizarre.

“@BertrandRussell I think you're overlooking biology. Until boys can have babies, there will always be an 'imbalance'.”

Oh! That’s why there isn’t an Eton equivalent for girls!

Until men and boys stop being violent to women and girls there will always be an imbalance. It's got nothing to do with being the sex that can have babies.

Hang on. They are discussing whether the term woman should be abolished? I think there's an awful lot of ground work to be done in terms of learning about feminism and the realities of the lives of women before they get to that point!

@Erythronium Do you have a son/sons at Eton? If not, how do you know that the school "literally trains boys to rule"?

I can sort of see what you're getting at. However, the school also teaches boys that they are absolutely fine, whoever they are, and whatever they do. If they love English and write poetry in their spare time, that's celebrated. If they are Maths geeks, that's celebrated. If they want to be Prime Minster, that's celebrated.

The greatest thing about the school is that all the boys who are there are valued for being, well, who they are. Without any of the sexist crap attached to being male (namely: you have to be good at/like Science and sport, because Arts subjects are for girls. And so on).

It's also worth mentioning that the boys themselves are responsible for the societies - there's no list of teacher-devised 'activities' which might just include a feminist society. If there's a society, it's because the boys are genuinely interested enough to start it themselves. The speakers are pretty good, too.