50:50 Parliament Campaign to Encourage Women in Politics now have TWO Transwomen on the Panel

[gardenbird48]

I saw 50:50 women tweet to Sue Pascoe Chair of the Conservative Women’s Organisation some time ago on their #askhertostand, but then I couldn’t find the tweet and thought maybe they’d realised their mistake (can you guess?) and deleted it.

However, how wrong I was! There are now two people that have extremely limited ‘lived experience’ as a female (Sue was a married father and successful businessman and Master to Foxhounds until a few years ago). The other person has said hi on here recently.

I don’t mean to be rude but surely the whole point of encouraging women to stand for Parliament is to help overcome the barriers women face in entering politics. Any barriers that trans people face are rather different. It is also interesting that on a panel of three for their ‘Encouraging LGBT+ Women to Stand’ campaign, there us only one person with actual lived experience of being a woman (I am hoping that Mandu Reid of the WEP was born female at least...??)

Regina George...

Ova- I was about to delurk to post the exact words you beat me to.

That’s it in a nutshell. I think this thread has made that crystal clear.

Irreconcilable differences. Plain to see in 903 messages.

Clean break needed.

I'd like to thank every contributor on this thread. I've read every post, on every page.

I am a long time lurker and listener and thinker. I'm a mother of daughters. I'm absolutely terrified and so frustrated and angry at the situation we find ourselves in as biological women.

To have caught up just in time to read a patronising post (from someone who purports to be prepared to listen) suggesting that these 35+ pages of considered, cogent, honest and heartfelt posts are just misguided mad feminists obsessed with TW and neglecting the 'real issues' is the icing on the cowpat quite frankly.

Quite KindKylie I am in a state of total impotent rage right now.

Thank you to all the thoughtful, highly intelligent posters on this thread who care about women. I can see who cares about women and who doesn't so clearly from this thread.

is the icing on the cowpat

a new phrase. I might steal that one KindKylie

Some trans women have the view that radical feminists are obsessed with trans women rather than focussing on the many real issues facing women in our society. Would the fact that this thread will shortly pass 900 posts tend to support that opinion?

Women, why are you so obsessed with us?! Look! Over there! Focus on that!

Don't mind me, I'm just here, minding my own business... What? Well..... yes, I have just made myself comfy on the 50:50 Parliamentary Campaign, but.....What are you doing?! You're supposed to be looking that way!

Can anyone more tech savvy than me archive this thread up to this point?

OvaHere it kind of spluttered out as I struggle to articulate just how distressed I am by the supercilious, disdainful tone RMW has adopted on these pages (never heard of RMW or almost any of this political stuff before but my eyes. have. been. opened). I'm not unhappy with the mental picture it creates and feel, as you say, it may be useful again as a saying

Hey, this thread must be the hot ticket.....there was a queue to access the site.......

RobinMoiraWhite I'd like to flip the question.

Are some transwomen obsessed with becoming women rather than focusing on the many real issues facing transwomen in our society?

I am certain that transwomen would have truckloads of support and practical help from women in setting up services, spaces, shortlists, sports facilities and teams. A lot of us have fought long and hard to do those things for ourselves. We've suffered the knockbacks, borne the blows and worked out the hacks so you can have the benefit of our experience and our cheerleading and our support.

What you can't have is the spaces we've fought tooth and nail to create for ourselves.

If ever there was an argument for why transwomen should not speak "for women" it is this thread. Pages of women saying you do not represent me ignored because we're not saying what is wanted.

And on top of this, women pointing out why someone is not a good representative for women deleted because they are reported by the very people who claim to want to listen to us.

Please can we all be careful, no matter how exasperated, not to push this thread to be deleted. It is extremely useful evidence

Agreed!

Not too many posts to go, either, before it is at its completion ( 1000 posts). It has been very revelatory.

Some trans women have the view that radical feminists are obsessed with trans women rather than focussing on the many real issues facing women in our society. Would the fact that this thread will shortly pass 900 posts tend to support that opinion

That would suggest that this is not a very real issue. For many it is absolutely a fundamental issue - on which all the others rest.

Plus, what people need to understand is that this forum seems 'obsessed' - because it is one of the very few open forums in which a diverse group of people can gather to discuss this precise issue. That is not to say that a multitude of other issues are not discussed elsewhere. They are.

I've archived.

Very well put kindkylie.

I can’t even be arsed to get into “not a real issue”, it’s just such a miserably silly position to take, and couldn’t have demonstrated more clearly someone who’s looked at this thread and gone “blah blah women something something biology blah biogoty bigoty BORING”. Thanks Robin! Super helpful. And I really mean that

@RobinMoiraWhite

Some trans women have the view that radical feminists are obsessed with trans women rather than focussing on the many real issues facing women in our society. Would the fact that this thread will shortly pass 900 posts tend to support that opinion?

You can only write that comment, robin, if, seemingly out of the blue, you decide that radical feminists are women, and transwomen aren't.

Otherwise you are saying that some women seem to have the view that women are obsessed with women, rather than focus on the many real issues facing women.

It seems that you are happy to weald the power of distinguishing between the sexes, instead of waiving it, but we cant.

Good point, Datun. As always the tells are illuminating.

Thanks Arabella and yes I totally agree Sophocles that's exactly what they've done. So many eyes will have been opened from reading this, I've already shared it with someone I was in a conversation with about barriers for women in politics last week. This sums up the point I was making perfectly!