Conservative landslide - how are we feeling as feminists?

[Cwenthryth]

I feel very mixed this morning. So worried about what this means for public services, policing, NHS, social care, mental health services, housing, in-work poverty... all of which disproportionately affects women, either as those needing these services or picking up the pieces when dependents cannot access what they need. We now have an openly misogynist prime minister (we did before, but now he has a secure mandate), who won’t even acknowledge all of his children whilst slagging off single mothers, and has had the police called out due to neighbours fearing for the safety of his partner from what they could hear through the wall.

But there’s a tiny silver lining of it seeming that it seems very unlikely that self-ID would be brought in under this government, at least in the form the Lib Dems were touting for, so we are probably more secure on retaining sex-based rights than we would have been with any other result.

To be honest it’s not really much comfort to me right now.

Well, we had our say in the polling booth and yes, it feels good right now.

As a remain voting Corbyn despising London living Labour voter, I think Timelady is 100% right. If you talk about the electorate being ‘stupid’ and ‘racist’, don’t be surprised they don’t want to vote for you.

Thanks for the share of Janice’s article errolthedragon. I thought the analysis was spot on. I see this tweet from Helen Joyce is also getting a lot of positive responses:

twitter.com/hjoycegender/status/1205504436849840128

I wonder if the election result will prick that bubble of purity politics to which Janice refers.

rural & commuter suburbs in the South

I grew up in one of those (agricultural working class) and it’s ALWAYS been Tory. Still is now.

The next constituency over went Lib Dem yesterday for the first time over Brexit (Liberal Party won in 1904 and it briefly had a labour MO after the new Labour landslide). It’s more commuter/less rural than my him constituency.

It's the Coogan brand of know it all arrogance that gets me. How dumb do you have to be not to realise that insulting a large proportion of the electorate on the eve of voting is not a good move? Just like Hilary "basket of deplorables" Clinton. Or the LibDems who turned members away for wrong think? But he'll have had likes from his mates in the bubble so that made it acceptable, I suppose. I doubt even now he considers it a mistake.

Tony Blair, John Major, Hugh Grant, Lily Allen, the list goes on and on. All thought they could re-educate the ignorant. Well guess what, none of their votes was any more right or important than mine.

(Sorry about the ranting. Can you tell I'm still fuming ? )

I suppose the split used to be more industrial vs rural/suburban. So the former would include mining towns and northern cities. In the 'post industrial' age, those have diverged.

This is a bit of a muddled thought, it's not something I'm at all knowledgeable about, but it occurs to me that the current state of labour may be related to the change in unionization. Do poorer working class people typically belong to unions nowadays? When there's 'industrial action' nowadays, it's almost never in industry - it seems to be mostly in the state sector (teachers, lecturers, doctors ). The main exception is railways, which although not state sector now operates as natural monopolies.

I think Margaret Thatcher understood the working classes a lot better than Labour do now.

I think Margaret Thatcher understood the working classes a lot better than Labour do now.

I agree. I read an analysis yesterday saying that the current Labour leadership still views those textile, automotive, mining and steel communities somewhat nostalgically as 'industrial' not realising they've had to move on. I grew up in a steel town where most of the workers, including my dad, were made redundant back in the 80s. It's changed changed dramatically in the interim as those living there have been obliged to take on completely different types of jobs

Just read the Benn speech. Probably the only time I've ever agreed with him. Pity his son didn't take the reasoning behind it on board. Tbh, I think too many politicians in all parties viewed the EU as a lucrative personal gravy train rather than applying critical thinking.

It’s a shame the very real concerns of women who are going to be affected by 5 more years of Tory rule and Brexit, are being ignored on this thread, while you are all congratulating yourselves on aligning with so called marginalised Brexit voters. There have been single mothers, carers, parents or SEN children, some of the 89% affected by austerity cuts coming on here to say how worried they are and are met with a wall of silence. Are the only feminists worth noticing the GC feminists? How do you see that playing out?

It's the Coogan brand of know it all arrogance that gets me. How dumb do you have to be not to realise that insulting a large proportion of the electorate on the eve of voting is not a good move? Just like Hilary "basket of deplorables" Clinton. Or the LibDems who turned members away for wrong think? But he'll have had likes from his mates in the bubble so that made it acceptable, I suppose. I doubt even now he considers it a mistake.

And yet Boris Johnson insult and insight hate about Muslim women and single mothers and he gets to run the country.

I grew up in a Tory safe seat, I live in a different one now (faux-affluent places with lots of grim council estates and farmland with million pound houses dotted about), I'm surrounded by fairly poor Tory voters and I'm not surprised by this outcome at all. Basicly....nobody in either place actually knows what the EU even is, can't be arsed to google it, they think Labour is a communist party despite not knowing what communism is, worry saying "black" is racist and still think Muslims are actually banning Christmas.
Meanwhile Labour supporters on social media seem to spend about 3/4 of the time telling each other off for not being woke enough, and the other 1/4 telling everyone else they are a Nazi because they don't meet current woke standards. Difference of opinion or suggestion that trying to force sociological concepts on people is a waste of time in a political campaign is met with accusations of racism and/or being told to join the LDs. It's embarrassing.

I suppose the split used to be more industrial vs rural/suburban. So the former would include mining towns and northern cities. In the 'post industrial' age, those have diverged

Not wanting to be overly pedantic, but Liverpool, for one, was never an industrial city. It was/is a port city and an important commercial one too. Any industry was mainly port and dock related.

It’s a shame the very real concerns of women who are going to be affected by 5 more years of Tory rule and Brexit, are being ignored on this thread, while you are all congratulating yourselves on aligning with so called marginalised Brexit voters

Don't really require moralistic lectures. I'm well aware of the effects of austerity. The problem for Labour under Corbyn ( & under Blairism to be frank) is that Jeremy thought he knew what the disenfranchised needed and wanted more than they did.

There have been single mothers, carers, parents or SEN children, some of the 89% affected by austerity cuts coming on here to say how worried they are and are met with a wall of silence

No, they haven't. It is just that not everyone saw the Labour party as the solution. Also what we saw - on here- were numerous people trying to shame people for spoiling their ballot, or for not voting Labour.

And yet Boris Johnson insult and insight hate about Muslim women and single mothers and he gets to run the country

'Whataboutery' doesn't remove the reasons that people could not vote for Labour'. You do realise that the reason Labour didn't win was because its traditional voters, plus Scotland, had abandoned it.
The reasons that people on this forum spoiled their ballot were entirely valid. however, it was not spoiled ballots that were responsible for Labour's loss.

Go and tell that to Momentum, SinisterBumFacedCat. I would quite like a Labour party I and a lot of other people will feel they can vote for next time pls.

the reasons for which people spoiled their ballots

Go and tell that to Momentum, SinisterBumFacedCat. I would quite like a Labour party I and a lot of other people will feel they can vote for next time pls.

Yep

I think the fact that Boris is such an obvious reprobate makes the question of why so many people chose to vote for him anyway all the more pressing and it's unlikely to be usefully answered by writing them all off as thick racists.
Labour at the moment seems to despise the ordinary people and be ready to believe the worst of them.

It’s a shame the very real concerns of women who are going to be affected by 5 more years of Tory rule and Brexit, are being ignored on this thread, while you are all congratulating yourselves on aligning with so called marginalised Brexit voters

Emotive claptrap. The Labour manifesto spent 4x the cash on cancelling tuition fees for middle class kids than it did on fixing UC for working class mothers.

Some of us actually read the manifestos. Some of us are actual socialists who can see through posh people LARPing as such. Some of us are capable of making calculations about the best way to use - or spoil - our votes depending on the constituency we live in.

You're talking to a forum full of intelligent and politically engaged women. Half-arsed scoldings from a position of obvious ignorance cuts no mustard hereabouts.

so called marginalised Brexit voters.
Even now, more than 3 years later, not a flicker of understanding. Not even any sign of wanting to understand.

It’s a shame the very real concerns of women who are going to be affected by 5 more years of Tory rule and Brexit, are being ignored on this thread, while you are all congratulating yourselves on aligning with so called marginalised Brexit voters. There have been single mothers, carers, parents or SEN children, some of the 89% affected by austerity cuts coming on here to say how worried they are and are met with a wall of silence. Are the only feminists worth noticing the GC feminists? How do you see that playing out?

I agree with this. Feminists only seem to care about rich women and their petty little nonsense.

Relieved but it’s a hollow victory. A plague on all their houses.

To the poster that told Babdoc to move south, you are what’s wrong about today’s politics. She disagrees with you, she’s not coming round to kill your pets ffs. Shame on you.

I love you, Lang

while you are all congratulating yourselves on aligning with so called marginalised Brexit voters

SinisterBum

Here’s a sample of the numerous constituencies that voted Conservative. Some of them have been Labour for over a hundred years. Bishop Auckland, Blackpool South, Blyth Valley, Burnley, Darlington, Great Grimsby, Keighley, Rother Valley. The latter had as its prospective Labour MP a 23 year old whose antics included demonstrating to keep a strip club open and calling women offensive names familiar to the trans lobby. Upshot? Rother Valley voted Conservative. The authoritarian, identity politics obsessed Momentum crew have caused Labour to be obliterated in its former heartland. If Labour don’t stop blaming voters for their own epic failures, their sojourn in the political wilderness will be prolonged

Labour at the moment seems to despise the ordinary people and be ready to believe the worst of them.

The high-handedness has been increasingly apparent since ‘97.

But LOL at Labour turning on Corbyn like the last two decades didn’t happen.