I’m still stewing

[MordenLarch]

Longish one - apologies in advance.

So several months ago we had an (online only due to restrictions at the time) event at work.

There were talks about women in the field I’m in. After the talks there was an online ‘board’ where we were invited to add the names of women we find inspiring and why.

Lots of people wrote their female family members and inspirational female public figures.

I wrote a variety of women I find inspirational and reasons why. I then wrote JK Rowling for standing up for women’s rights. I then thought ‘fuck it’ and put Kathleen Stock, Allison Bailey and Helen Joyce etc.

I thought no more about it, but then saw later that my JK Rowling had been removed (along with a JK that had been added by someone else). Helen Joyce etc weren’t removed presumably because no one knew who they were.

Even though there was nothing even vaguely contentious I’d written, i heard later that my comments on the board were deleted as they were a “transphobic dog whistle” and potentially very offensive etc etc / unsafe space etc

Apparently JK Rowling was permissible on the board only as long as her writing was referenced. Some of the organisers’ suggested inspirational women pictured on the board included the one off Orange Is The New Black and Munroe Bergdorf. I find that offensive as the latter has said some very objectionable things about gay people on the past (and the rest, which is an obvious point about womanhood I probably can’t say here).

Anyway, we will soon have a staff survey coming up where I can probably mention how ridiculous this whole thing is and how I find it sexist, offensive, 1984-esque etc. Should I bother, or let it go? With this and several other things I feel like I’m up against an impermeable wall of guano at the moment

You most definitely should bother.
Micro aggressions left unchallenged allow actual aggressions to become harder to challenge.
As someone suggested up thread, perhaps respond with quotes from both JKR and MB.
It's not for anyone else to police who we find inspiring and why.

@Gottalife

Such a shame. I mean you could have had chosen real heros like Ellen MacArthur, Amy Johnson or Marie Curie. Instead you got all political and may have given yourself a negative reputation.

Indeed. All great and inspiring women. Two of whom did their inspiring last century.

Come on women of the world, unite and inspire , don’t rest on the laurels of dead women’s efforts, oh, hold on a minute ................

What the hell is political about JKR?

I still don't see how she's transphobic at all. She's no longer a billionaire because she's given so much away and proudly pays her full tax in this country.

I think that's pretty inspiring.

@DismantledKing
That comes from quite the place of privilege. I think that her political activity is very important and resonant still.

WTAF are you getting at? That’s why I listed her as an inspirational woman that I would list if asked the question the OP was.

I like JK Rowling fine, I just think she’s not someone who will be remembered for furthering women’s rights fifty years from now. Even now most people who know of her know her as the SAHM who wrote children’s books and made a bunch of money.

However, it’s not about who you like or are allowed to like, it’s about the fact your entire list of women you posted as “inspirational” are all mired in current and ongoing political controversy and law suits. It was a dog whistle to list those names on a board where all the other participants were listing noncontroversial figures.

Yes mention it. And I would also mention how upsetting others were not removed who in fact are even more offensive

I would also mention this is a free country, our thoughts are ours, and we should not be dictated to over who we should find inspirational

@PlanDeRaccordement

So basically I read your post as you can only find woman inspiring who are dead and gone, or living but not involved in any current fight for woman’s rights

In my opinion you are wrong,

the SAHM who wrote children’s books and made a bunch of money
I don't think you can get much more dismissive than this, impressive.

Always question how JKR is transphobic, never sen any coherent answer to the question, as she isn’t

mired in current and ongoing political controversy and law suits

And if you use this as a guide, you would have to exclude Malala too.

So basically it has to be a long-dead woman who nobody can disagree with. I guess if she's dead, she's silent, right?

[quote Chloemol]@PlanDeRaccordement

So basically I read your post as you can only find woman inspiring who are dead and gone, or living but not involved in any current fight for woman’s rights

In my opinion you are wrong,[/quote]
Exactly. And given that of all the women I added, only JKR was removed. Not much of a “dog whistle”. I also added music figures and others.

I didn’t even mention the trans issue - I simply said women’s rights. She’s funded rape crisis centres and more.

Only being able to say the “right” kind of women are inspirational is sexist and idiotic.

So should we examine the political beliefs of all the women on the board and expunge those found unworthy? And who decides anyway?

It’s not like I added Myra Hindley, Rose West and Eva Braun. And if I did, so what? (although that might be a handy flag for the police)

I hope someone suggested the Virgin Mary. She's long dead and never said anything ever. She'd be perfect for your company, OP. Not sure if she would count as too political though? /s

I wonder what would have happened if you'd added Margaret Thatcher. You could hardly have a more political and divisive figure, but there are still plenty of people who think of her as inspirational.

How very, very dispiriting all this stuff is.

"Lumos was founded by J K Rowling to illuminate a path for children living in harmful orphanages and other institutions, to a brighter future. By tackling the causes of family separation – poverty, abuse, domestic violence and disability discrimination - children can be united with loving families where they can thrive and be supported to reach their full potential."

www.wearelumos.org/

How is this not inspirational as well as beneficial to women's and children's rights?

I make a donation every year on JKR's birthday - what to give the (nearly) billionaire who has everything...

I would complain. I would ask who asked / demanded the name be removed and their reasons. I would say this this is misogyny and an attack on women and your thinking / opinions. It makes you feed unsafe at work (use their own wording) as women’s rights are being ignored and pushed back in the name of ‘gender’.

@Gottalife

Such a shame. I mean you could have had chosen real heros like Ellen MacArthur, Amy Johnson or Marie Curie. Instead you got all political and may have given yourself a negative reputation.

JK Rowling has a charity that supports women and girls so I would’ve thought that makes her a contender for the list.

But even if you show all these things,you will still get ‘oh but Hitler was a dog lover/vegetarian/was good to his mum’. It’s just exhausting arguing with such idiocy.

The who trans thing has got hugely out of hand. Yes they are people and yes they should be treated humanely, I do not think anyone would dispute that. We do however have a situation where now it seems some deranged form of political correctness now imagines it has precedence over actual scientific fact and that anyone that agrees with the facts, rather than someone else's feelings is some kind of "phobic".

@Gottalife

Such a shame. I mean you could have had chosen real heros like Ellen MacArthur, Amy Johnson or Marie Curie. Instead you got all political and may have given yourself a negative reputation.

Surely the OP would have chosen those women had she found them inspiring? Instead, she answered the question and named women she personally found inspiring.

If the question was “pick your top three from this list of inspiring women” you might have a point.

But the question allowed people to make their own choices. Which the OP did.

Munroe Bergdorf is a sight more controversial than JKR, I’d say.

Plus, you know, male. Not something women can aspire to.

Definitely mention it op.

As an aside if we examined inspirational men by the same token then you can forget ever having the likes of Mohammad Ali, Winston Churchill, Malcolm X etc etc on any list but no this doesn’t happen does it?

Gosh I do find this all quite scary - all this worry (fear?), angst, ‘should we really say this’, ‘can we talk about this’.
I can’t quite believe that we, as women, literally have to consider whether we will damage ourselves if we talk about anything to do with women’s rights.
I have decided to start talking about this to people around me, otherwise the fear will lead us down a path that is unthinkable.

Op you're a woman. Be kind and silence your actual opinions. Back in your kitchen.

@MatildaIThink

The who trans thing has got hugely out of hand. Yes they are people and yes they should be treated humanely, I do not think anyone would dispute that. We do however have a situation where now it seems some deranged form of political correctness now imagines it has precedence over actual scientific fact and that anyone that agrees with the facts, rather than someone else's feelings is some kind of "phobic".

Yep.