Female erasure, chapter 999: colour me genderqueer

[Thinkingabout1t]

Did you know the feminist colour-set purple, green and white is now 'genderqueer'?

I've just followed a link from another mumsnet thread to this story
www.spiked-online.com/2020/03/04/how-woman-became-a-dirty-word/
that says "We’ve all become familiar with the rainbow flag to signify gay pride. But there is also a flag for bisexual pride; a blue, pink and white flag for ‘transgender day of remembrance’; and a purple, green and white flag to signify genderqueer."

I couldn't believe that, so I looked it up and sure enough -- the top colour is called 'lavender' but it's the Suffragette colours all right. You'd need extraordinarily sharp eyesight to tell them apart.

Purple for dignity, white for purity and green for hope: this was the flag raised by the Women's Social and Political Union in 1908 as they campaigned to achieve votes for women.

The genderqueer flag represents androgyny and non-binary identity. It was invented a few years ago, without any reference to colours already in use.

I can't think of a more vivid and visible symbol of women's erasure.

That’s definitely not a coincidence is it. It’s a direct FU to women and our history.
Nasty behaviour.

Wow, that's co-opting with bells on.

Or cultural appropriation. One of the seven deadly sins.

The genderqueer flag represents androgyny and non-binary identity. It was invented a few years ago, without any reference to colours already in use.

I can't think of a more vivid and visible symbol of women's erasure.

I don't think it was necessarily deliberate, I've read an account by the American (female) person who did it and I think she's just young, extremely self centred and clueless about global feminism. She was very upset "literally shaking" etc that people called her out on it.

I remember when it was all over twitter a little while ago and someone spotted the suffragette flag. All hell broke loose as some protested that women had stolen their flag. It was almost amusing!

The person who created the genderqueer flag was told, early on, that she was using the Suffragette colours, still used by feminists today. She refused to change it, and indeed is aggrieved by "false accusations" that she nicked the idea.

She says: "I live in the US and didn’t know, and still don’t know (perhaps unfortunately), almost anything about women’s political movements in the UK and not too much more about those in the US (perhaps because of feeling discomfort around identifying as a woman) - how could I have known about this?"

This sums up a lot of the gender identity movement, to me. Don't learn from new information. Everyone else is wrong. Nothing exists or matters if it is not about you.

I look forward to seeing women's purple, green and white banners proudly emblazoned with the Venus symbol ....

Just a fucking yank behaving like a fucking yank.

Warner Bros once sent a cease and desist letter to the Australian State of Tasmania demanding they change their name because of copyright infringement.

This sums up a lot of the gender identity movement, to me. Don't learn from new information. Everyone else is wrong. Nothing exists or matters if it is not about you.

Completely agree. Wasn't defending her.

Maybe we need to identify a new colour like that blackest black www.google.com/amp/s/www.dezeen.com/2019/09/24/blackest-black-mit-material-news-vantablack/amp/
Would match my mood this week!

I remember seeing some numpty argue that UK feminists should just give it up because the genderqueer flag originates from the US and there's more of them

Isn't there a kind of ninja-infiltration opportunity here? We march into Pride parades bearing feminist banners, which identify as genderqueer if anyone asks?

A flag with the suffragette colours and a Venus symbol would be awesome to march into Pride with.... The masses would part like the Red Sea.

“ how could I have known about this?"

Well, there’s this new dangles invention called ‘the Internet’ that has all sorry if information on it. Not sure if it will take off but it’s worth a try.

Mockers "Warner Bros once sent a cease and desist letter to the Australian State of Tasmania demanding they change their name because of copyright infringement."

Totally off topic, but do you have a link to share? I can't find anything about this, and it's just... a little too bonkers.

what's one more ridiculousness onto of the mountain of ridiculous?
I recommend the looking at the Patrick Harvie thread.

@Butterer what's one more ridiculousness onto of the mountain of ridiculous?
I recommend the looking at the Patrick Harvie thread.

She says: "I live in the US and didn’t know, and still don’t know (perhaps unfortunately), almost anything about women’s political movements in the UK and not too much more about those in the US (perhaps because of feeling discomfort around identifying as a woman) - how could I have known about this?"

Never heard of suffrage cuz she never went to school I guess, and the purple green and gold flag designers is a complete stranger to Mardi Gras as well? Cool story, kid.

Mockers Totally off topic, but do you have a link to share? I can't find anything about this, and it's just... a little too bonkers.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasmanian_Devil_(Looney_Tunes)#Lawsuits

Much the same has happened to a number of Scottish tea rooms and cafes named McDonalds after the owners. This led the chief of the clan McDonald to write to the US corporate giant threatening to disavow them.

Never heard of suffrage cuz she never went to school

Sadly I suspect that she was not taught about the British suffrage movement growing up in the US. In some US states, women’s suffrage campaigns emerged much earlier than in the UK but I don’t know if they ever had a flag or particular colours.

There are lots of examples where flags are similar. Canada once welcomed the Belgian royal family with the German flag (unfortunate) because the colours are the same but the stripes of the Belgian flag are vertical, not horizontal.

I do agree with Erishkigalangcleg that it was almost certainly unintentional. Plus it is clearly meant to be lavender, not purple. Much more significant, as discussed on various threads, is the difference between the rainbow washing companies who have huge displays for Pride but nothing for International Women’s Day.

Was this 'unintentional'?

(1992 Baseball World Series)

re the Canadian flag on baseball day: if that happened in the US, I would guess unintentional. I'm not sure all USers know what's right side up on their own flag, let alone anyone else's.

I remember seeing a load of kids on the internet getting upset that UK feminists suddenly started using it in Feb 2018 and saw it as (their favourite buzz word) “appropriation“ and thought nasty t*rfs were deliberately trying to upset them. Idiots.

Mockers - I wouldn't have believed Warner Bros could patent the name Tasmanian Tiger! The animal has been called that since at least the 19th century. But I have read that US patent laws infringe many other people''s rights. And I could understand flying an ordinary flag upside down, but not one with an identifiable picture on it!