#RepealTheGRA apparently 'hails from the right

[TheShadowyFeminist]

Tweet by Ruth Serwotka

Does this have any basis in fact? I know plenty who think the GRA should be repealed. None have been right wing, ring leaning, aligned with the right or even come close to what Ruth states here.

This tweet is a flavour of what I've seen. And I think the sentiment is fairly accurate IMO.

What do others think? Do you think the GRA should be repealed? Are you or have you ever been, right wing, right leaning, right adjacent or meet the description Ruth has for women who have said the GRA should be repealed?

[NiceGerbil]

@ViperAtTheGatesOfDawn

The problem with socialist feminism for me is that it expects every adult to be working, and for 'society' to produce good workers. This is detrimental to children (through breaking the mother-child dyad and denigrating mothers who choose to mother) and disabled people (let's not forget that eugenics came from the left and its goal of creating a strong worker class).

Both socialism and capitalism align in expecting people to be economically active and both are detrimental to mothers and motherhood. Which isn't a surprise as both are patriarchal political constructs.

Dunno.

There's loads of different systems. And they don't all fit into neat boxes.

In Germany I think women get paid to be at home. They are a bit worried about their birth rate I think.

Is Germany socialist? I think most people in England would think so. But. They do trains and benefits and medicine and what not. The locals have to open 51% of football clubs so they can't be sold/ ruined etc. Socialist? A bit communist? Just savvy?

Dunno.

But. The party is a Christian party. They do religion. They have been (I was surprised) rubbish on sex offences. Only a few years ago rape law was changed. Because it said there had to be proof the victim fought back...! Outdated. Awful.

Socialist? Right wing? Left wing? Capitalist (they have success with loads of exports widely eg cars).

So. What?

This left right stuff is. Lacking. Well. A lot.

Esp when we get USA stuff here all the time. And our left and right are totally massively different.

Annoying.

[NiceGerbil]

Re traditional/ nuclear family- mum dad 2.4 children being oppressive for women. It's a fair point. And men too.

Lots has been written about it. It's. Thoughts. What ifs. Why is it this way. Who wins and who loses. Etc.

There have been other set ups in the past. And still are around the world.

If interested then Google feminist theory. Some you will think. Hmm. That's a point. Some. That's impractical, pointless, sounds even worse, and is just shit.
That's fine. Interesting ideas though.

[NonnyMouse1337]

The flaw with these sort of communes based on some kind of secular political ideology is that they don't scale up well and naively assume human nature is easily malleable.

It might work for a smallish group with grand aims of breaking up the nuclear family etc, but humans have evolved to live in relatively stable family units. The nuclear family is a relatively recent, atomised version, but in many parts of the world people live in extended structures called joint families. There has to be some sort of familial connection to encourage loyalty and longevity, along with a paternal or maternal head.
You can't just throw a bunch of random people together and expect deep ties to emerge, even if they really believe in a cause. People have to suppress and sacrifice a level of their individuality in order for any collective to work, and this is much easier to do when you are all related in some way.

Which leads to the scalability problem. There is a constant tension between the individual and the collective. Humans have individual tastes, desires and preferences. For any kind of political ideology to scale up, it has to suppress this variability in human nature, hence why such groups have a tendency to resort to more and more authoritarian methods to keep a grip on cohesion.

Ironically, it seems the types of communal living that appear to be the most stable and with substantial longevity are those based around some sort of religious belief!
I thought this article made an interesting observation and I wonder if there are academic studies comparing secular communes vs religious communes in terms of stability and longevity.
unherd.com/2021/05/woke-communes-are-doomed-to-fail/

[OldCrone]

@BaronMunchausen

Eugenics didn’t come from the left.

It was certainly supported by many on the left in the early part of the 20th century.

And thousands of people (mainly women) were coerced into being sterilised under a eugenics programme in Sweden (with a left wing government in power) which continued into the 1970s.

[ChattyLion]

Political eugenics (selective breeding of humans) was actively campaigned for up until the postwar period by both left and right.
This focus of politics appealed widely to both eminent and ordinary left and right wing thinkers. There were lots of members of the societies that were formed to campaign on this. It wasn’t hidden or fringe. It’s very recent history as PP have said and lots of has been written about it. Short article here as an example: www.newstatesman.com/society/2010/12/british-eugenics-disabled
We don’t like to think about it now but it will have shaped or informed some of the dangerous and dehumanising experiences that many disabled people today have been subjected to. It feels dangerous not to look at it.

[WhatKatyDidNot]

Political eugenics (selective breeding of humans) was actively campaigned for up until the postwar period by both left and right.

Correct. It was the pet project of elite progressives - more usually of the left than the right if we're talking about numbers.

PBS has an excellent documentary on it, which is periodically shown on its UK Sky channel. I recommend watching it if you ever get a chance. Trailer here:

It's chilling if you watch it with what, in my opinion, are parallels with the elite progressive priorities of today.

[WhatKatyDidNot]

Back to Ruth and her obsession with the idea that anything varying from her extreme socfem views on the family must hail from the right...

For me, we have probably reached the point where we say to her, thank you for your service. You spoke up and put yourself in the firing line when few others were brave enough. We are grateful. But you can stand down now. We are moving past you. We're not interested in left and right or who voted for or against Brexit or who's for high or low taxes, good or stripped back public services, for or against covid vaccines, wears lipstick or doesn't, or sock colour preference.

We are now for women, child safeguarding and free speech under the law. And if anything gets in the way of these things - including the GRA - we're going to campaign against it, whether you like it or not, or have fever dreams about right wing bugaboos coming to get you, Ruth.

[Ereshkigalangcleg]

Completely agree, WhatKaty.

[Datun]

Me too WhatKaty.

It's beyond politics. Way beyond. And I for one, can't be doing with anyone who wants to actually pull back on women's rights, due to their politics.

[BernardBlackMissesLangCleg]

elite progressives

and I think this is the dimension Ruth possibly misses

she's a member of an elite. A lot of the women who try to tell other women how to feminist are. I'm thinking Kathleen Stock, Julie Bindell. They're amazing women. I buy their books and donate to their organisations.

But they are members of an elite and behave as such. It's a bit tiring.

[Tibtom]

And I for one, can't be doing with anyone who wants to actually pull back on women's rights, due to their politics

Absolutely this. I want women's rights protected regardless of where they sit on the political spectrum. And at the moment it is the Conservative government so I am hardly going to get anywhere if I refuse to engage with right of centre politicians.

[Rosebed]

Ruth puts “hails from the Right” in inverted commas because whilst it’s clearly nonsense, many trans rights campaigners repeatedly state that opposition to self-id and calls for GRA reform are from the right wing. Ruth doesn’t believe that calls for GRA reform are right wing any more than I, or many other left wing women, do.

[TinselAngel]

@Rosebed

Ruth puts “hails from the Right” in inverted commas because whilst it’s clearly nonsense, many trans rights campaigners repeatedly state that opposition to self-id and calls for GRA reform are from the right wing. Ruth doesn’t believe that calls for GRA reform are right wing any more than I, or many other left wing women, do.

It's not in inverted commas is the tweet linked in the OP.

[Abhannmor]

I was a member of Ruth's Union long ago. My politics haven't really changed much in the intervening years. Back then I was pretty mainstream ; vote Labour and hope for the best. Now I would be regarded as a crazy far left loony for having the same views as some Tories of my youth had. I see the GRA as a threat to women's rights , their privacy and safety. Perhaps Serwotka has the key to an executive bathroom far removed from the plebeian masses?

[PurpleHoodie]

Perhaps Serwotka has the key to an executive bathroom far removed from the plebeian masses?

A valid question.

Disappointed. Disappointed!

[R0wantrees]

What do others think? Do you think the GRA should be repealed? Are you or have you ever been, right wing, right leaning, right adjacent or meet the description Ruth has for women who have said the GRA should be repealed?

I think the GRA must be repealed in order that we re-establish Safeguarding for children and women.
I have never voted Conservative but can confirm that I know and love people who do.
Ruth may be surprised to realise that a great deal of Safeguarding/ Child Protection legislation has been passed under Conservative governments. It is not a framework only 'hailing from the left'.

[PurpleHoodie]

Yes.

[SmallPug]

I think the GRA should be repealed and I've always voted Labour (didn't vote in the last local one). It's where the rot set in, legally speaking.

[Ereshkigalangcleg]

Completely agree with R0 on all points.