Issues of poverty are being neglected by social justice movements because of the overwhelming focus on sexuality...

[MaryRoseSatOnAPin]

...a comment heard at a conference today.

Would you agree? The person who made the comment was speaking from a Latin American context, criticising the Western focus towards the developing world. Has the West disappeared down a wormhole of LGBTQ+ rights whilst people in the global South, ignored, continue to starve?

I'm an avid lurker on the feminism boards, but haven't posted before. Asking here because you are a knowledgeable bunch - someone, somewhere must have written articles on this, but I can't find anything! It is a controversial viewpoint, but I'd be interested to read more.

Yes!

Not just elsewhere in the world but here too. Identity politics (of all kinds) are forefront and actual societal issues such as poverty and homelessness and crime is pushed to the back burner.

It’s infuriating.

Yep. Completely.

There is a thread on here somewhere where a woman claims to feel 'under attack' because Always took the fanny symbol off the packet.

It's insane.

And class is also ignored in favour of idpol.

Link?

Unfortunately, the only publications who are commenting on this phenomenon are dismissed as ‘right wing’ so getting people to look at the bigger picture is very hard.

The Spectator and Brendan O’Neill’s Spiked website are unafraid of controversial topics and the Heterodox academy is trying to address the problems of rigid intersectionality-obsessed thinking within universities: heterodoxacademy.org/the-problem/ and you might find stuff that interests you on Quilette:
quillette.com/

There are lots of podcasts around this topic (I listen to stuff on YouTube all the time whilst doing other stuff). Douglas Murray is currently promoting his new book, The Madness of Crowds, so is on all of them. I’m going to buy the book as an audio and listen to it (renovating a house alone = lots of time for thinking about things).
m.youtube.com/channel/UC7oPkqeHTwuOZ5CZ-R9f-6w

Lisa Muggeridge writes and speaks on this topic but mostly in a personal capacity these days - she is the person who has most opened my eye to the damage interscetionality is doing to truly vulnerable people:

www.trebuchet-magazine.com/intersectionality/

I think the left has lost the plot but, it has always had a habit of getting distracted by pointless causes.

Palestine, trans stuff, occupy, extinction rebellion...

The right seem more focused which is why they are winning and we're all fucked.

On ER: www.spiked-online.com/2019/10/17/finally-a-rebellion-against-extinction-rebellion/

Spiked is not worth reading

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/07/us-billionaires-hard-right-britain-spiked-magazine-charles-david-koch-foundation

Does anyone have a link to that brilliant letter from the (Deptford? Dartford?) women's group when they were dealing with this as a local issue?

All sources, left and right should be approached with skepticism. Including The Guardian.

Old thread on the Deptford People’s project:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3203804-The-Deptford-People-Project-and-the-impact-of-self-ID-and-transactivism-on-working-class-women

I don't think you can compare a venerable old actual newspaper to the likes of Spiked 😆

All written sources are biased- because they're written down... Spiked is along the lines of Britbart though. I'd be embarrassed to link to it.

I used to think like you,

Then I started to pay attention to individual writers, rather than publications.
I started to read the sources that stories were based on.

And I stopped apologising for sharing links that other people didn’t approve of.

I’m bored of guilt-by-association, and more importantly I’m worried by the lack of intellectual curiosity exhibited. Telling people not to read or share sources, rather than engage in the actual topical debates has shades of authoritarianism.

Sexuality (in the media) is all about glitter and rainbow flags and fabulous people. Whereas poverty is about depressing stuff like malnutrition and bad housing and people in cheap clothes who don't know the latest woke buzzwords. So of course sexuality is the "sexier" issue for the young idealist of today.

There is a thread on here somewhere where a woman claims to feel 'under attack' because Always took the fanny symbol off the packet.

I agree that trans people attacking anything that even hints at being for female only use is a disgrace and would like to know what that young female bodies person is doing for people with serious problems, such as poverty, the high numbers of females killed by males, the increase in sexual assaults on females, etc. I trust you do mean that you’re disgusted that the TRAs are causing such a fuss, aren’t you?

I do think that poverty, etc is being neglected because of the push from TRAs and wish they would do something more to help those with genuine issues, rather than bullying and manipulating schools, sports Cubs, etc into spending thousands extra on publishing literature pushing trans indoctrination. That money could be better spent.

I would agree. It infuriates me that so much energy is expended on what are, essentially, ideologies of extreme individualism when we face very real political and social challenges.

I don't give a shit if you want to blame TRA's, Terfs or the tooth or the tooth fairy. It was bollox

Agree all kids are talking about it at school, even over taken green issues. It seem to be the in thing.

Meanwhile I would prefer them to be talking about issues such as the poverty trap cycle, homelessness, animal cruelty, 3rd world suppression and a lot more...

Yes, OP! I agree!

Social justice movements are overrun with bourgeois fools banging on about "western colonialist" attitudes while exemplifying those attitudes themselves. Wouldn't know proper leftist internationalism if it got up and slapped them in the face with a wet fish.

And it's not better on the domestic front - hopelessly classist, as the Deptford People's Project thread above illustrates.

I’m bored of guilt-by-association, and more importantly I’m worried by the lack of intellectual curiosity exhibited. Telling people not to read or share sources, rather than engage in the actual topical debates has shades of authoritarianism.

I'll join that club. Message, not messenger. Substance, not smear.

I’m bored of guilt-by-association, and more importantly I’m worried by the lack of intellectual curiosity exhibited. Telling people not to read or share sources, rather than engage in the actual topical debates has shades of authoritarianism

Yes, I couldn’t agree more

Turgid group think and refusal to engage

How dull

Although having said that I’m listening to Douglas Murray’s book at the moment and some of the things he says make my eyebrows recede into my hairline

Nevertheless, it’s an entertaining listen, although I feel I’m mostly being educated about Murray’s opinions

I’m bored of guilt-by-association, and more importantly I’m worried by the lack of intellectual curiosity exhibited. Telling people not to read or share sources, rather than engage in the actual topical debates has shades of authoritarianism
Sign me up too. I reckon we are quite a large number.
I refuse to apologise for the source of my links now. If journalists were doing their jobs properly this would be all over every form of media.

Makes me feel nostalgic for the News of the World

Wow @tumbleisatwat interesting to see you think Palestine is a “pointless cause”. Children and healthcare workers being assaulted by soldiers and protesters killed and families banned from ever returning to their homes is something everyone should be concerned about, especially when our governments (Britain, US, Australia) support and fund Israel and never once ask for any accountability, because the US has its military bases in the Middle East.

Thank you for the Deptford link DuMonde