Letter writing...Do I give up?

[Leafstamp]

Looking for advice from those who I'm guessing have more experience than me....

I've written to DWP, CQC, my MP and my children's school - mainly on issue around conflation of 'sex' and 'gender' and the EA2010.

The first two have ended up saying "we have nothing more to say on the matter".

The latter two I am still waiting for replies (7 weeks and 3 weeks respectively).

Do you think I am I wasting my time?

I'm thinking maybe I should just leave it all to work itself out through the courts (Maya Forstater, Allison Bailey etc) and through larger, more organised targetting (petitions, Legal Feminist FoI project etc).

What do others think?

Maybe you can think of yourself as a tiny piece of a big movement. Your letters alone might not register, but when the same Mp gets a hundred letters in a year all drawing attention to the same thing, well he might not reply but it will draw his attention and when it inevitably comes up, he will already know how some people feel.

It is disheartening though, I know from experience, to put so much effort into objecting and to receive nothing more than a glazed look in reply.

Keep going, OP.
You may not see the results now, or next week or next year. But you can make a difference.
I complained two years ago to my professional body about extending their definition of 'woman' to include any person who self identified as such. I know I wasn't the only one. Their diversity officer tried to fob me off with the usual nonsense we've all read a squillion times. I escalated it as high as possible and was fobbed off again with some more literate and carefully worded bollocks, but bollocks none the less.
But two years on, the self ID extension has been dropped.
Drip, drip, drip.

It's not a waste of your time! It is very frustrating but think about a drop of water; it doesn't wear through stone by itself but enough drops will.

Plus I do think even some politicians haven't thought about it all properly so after having it explained may start to see what we see & make their own connections 🤞

With your MP face to face (or zoom to zoom I suppose) is far better IME they don't want to put anything on paper.

Thanks for the encouragement, you’re right, it’s drip drip drip!

When I have the energy I will book in for a face to face with my MP. To be fair, it’s not him that’s taken 7 weeks it’s Baroness Berridge, who he has passed it to.

I’ll keep going!

Good for you, OP!
It is a bit disheartening I know when you feel your letters have disappeared into a void or get batted back without any real engagement.
But on those occasions I felt that the more I write these letters , the more I hone my arguments, the more confident I feel about them, the more I have them at my fingertips whenever this stuff comes up.
It's never wasted time.

Completely agree with keeping going. The individuals raising this are each helping to get the issue discussed. It's going to take a while.

Keep going OP. This debacle has been dumped on women with no consultation or discussion and all we can do as individuals is to say 'Not in our name'.

We are moving a mountain of misogyny and prejudice against women that's trying to eradicate our very identity: Remember the old proverb:

When sleeping women wake, mountains move

Please keep going, though I know it can be disheartening. I spent ages at the start of last year reading and taking apart the CPS bullying guidelines for schools so that I could draft my letter of complaint to the CPS. I got a no-reply reply telling me that everything was hunky-dory in response. When the guidelines were withdrawn, it was down to the threat of legal action, but I still felt vindicated and that writing was worthwhile. Re waiting for a response from Baroness Berridge, it took her about a month to reply last year to a letter my MP forwarded to her on my behalf (I'd actually forgotten about it because my previous Labour MP had latterly ignored my correspondence). I hope your longer wait is because the Baroness is having to deal with far more letters from us.

@MrsOvertonsWindow

Keep going OP. This debacle has been dumped on women with no consultation or discussion and all we can do as individuals is to say 'Not in our name'.

We are moving a mountain of misogyny and prejudice against women that's trying to eradicate our very identity: Remember the old proverb:

When sleeping women wake, mountains move

That gave me goosebumps. Women are fantastic, all these small things add up, I believe British feminists saying no, drawing attention to these issues are what has helped our sisters across the world come together and organize to challenge their respective governments. It's gaining momentum across the world and British women have been very influential in this.

Thank you wonderful women

Let's all keep going!

This is amazing:

When sleeping women wake, mountains move