Do we want men to speak up for women (House of Lords today)

[IsitM]

From a Twitter thread just now:

"How do women feel about men speaking up for women's rights?

(Today in the House of Lords, during a debate for International Women's Day 2022), Baroness Thornton (Labour) said:

(Referring to the three Lords Farmer, Clement-Jones, and Sandhurst) "It's great that you feel as strongly as you do, but hey, please support me and my feminist friends in any way you can, but actually, the fight is ours".

Here at CFW we don't agree; the fight for the rights of women and the safeguarding of children is for ALL of us.

CFW thank @TheLordFarmer , Lord Clement-Jones, and Lord Sandhurst QC for speaking up today; have a listen to the speeches from the IWD debate in the HoL today and let us know what you think"

twitter.com/CforWomenUK/status/1504539229912719360?s=20&t=Q6wdmtMnSEaB_rYhKSDS5w

I don't agree with her comment at all. I am always very pleased to see men or women standing up for women's rights

Yes. We all need to fight. Gender ideology disproportionately affects women but it's not just a women's rights issue. For starters, anything that affects children is everyone's business. It is also a free speech issue and this affects everyone.

In terms of men who hold political power and actually make the legislation in this country I'm happy for any of them to speak out. We just shoot ourselves in the foot otherwise. The men in opposition to us don't keep quiet do they?

Also it's not like all the women in the HoL or HoC will speak in unity- whether it's because they support gender ideology or because they are afraid/prevented from speaking.

Joe Bloggs on the street centring himself in women's activism is a different matter.

Is there a choice?

This has exposed to me more starkly than I ever would have believed: that no one listens to women. No one respects women's voices. Not even when these awful policies are leading to raped women.

And the massive majority of women who claim to speak for women in parliament are all frantically rushing to be good girls who signal that male people are absolutely at the front of their priorities. And this is how they were allowed into male dominated posts in male dominated parties and permitted to rise through the ranks in the first place. Most of the women who have played the game of Patriarchy and won to get into positions of power have done it through being no friend to women or having any contentious views that inconvenience the owners of power.

We are reliant on men speaking out for women because at least they get listened to and no one threatens to rape them for saying things that present boundaries to other males.

And that's the UK of 2022. Isn't it a fantastic time to have been born with the burden of female biology?

What has pissed me off far, far more are the many times the BBC has aired a group of male people of varying identities sitting discussing together what a woman is and what they think variously that they should permit women to have.

And the BBC seem to think women should somehow be ok with this.

Yes, we NEED men speaking up for women's rights. What we don't need is men hijacking the entire narrative.

Exactly. We want men to consider and speak up for women, but not to speak over us.

I want men to support us when we speak about women's rights. I want them not to talk over women. But without men being on board we're on a hiding to nothing

I welcome men who speak out against misogyny.

@Artichokeleaves

Is there a choice?

This has exposed to me more starkly than I ever would have believed: that no one listens to women. No one respects women's voices. Not even when these awful policies are leading to raped women.

And the massive majority of women who claim to speak for women in parliament are all frantically rushing to be good girls who signal that male people are absolutely at the front of their priorities. And this is how they were allowed into male dominated posts in male dominated parties and permitted to rise through the ranks in the first place. Most of the women who have played the game of Patriarchy and won to get into positions of power have done it through being no friend to women or having any contentious views that inconvenience the owners of power.

We are reliant on men speaking out for women because at least they get listened to and no one threatens to rape them for saying things that present boundaries to other males.

And that's the UK of 2022. Isn't it a fantastic time to have been born with the burden of female biology?

Completely agree.

Yes so do I.

I suspect that the people upset at GC men supporting women are fully supportive of people being trans "allies"

Guess I'm doing it all wrong then. Wrote and thanked Bernard Jenkin and Danny Kruger today for their contributions to safeguarding women and children!

@Signalbox

Yes. We all need to fight. Gender ideology disproportionately affects women but it's not just a women's rights issue. For starters, anything that affects children is everyone's business. It is also a free speech issue and this affects everyone.

Exactly.

And unfortunately — shamefully — as ArtichokeLeaves says, the massive majority of women who claim to speak for women in parliament are all frantically rushing to be good girls who signal that male people are absolutely at the front of their priorities.

So yes, we need men as well as women to stand up and speak the truth.

Very much appreciate make allies.

Other than through violent revolution, no under-privileged or oppressed group ever achieves equity without individuals with privilege and power advocating for them.

I disagree with her. There are certain places where women only discussions are appropriate, but I don't think politics, or the media, are those places. We all live in society, men also have an interest in justice, in their mothers/daughters/sisters/wives and female friends.

And there are lots of men who have useful things to say that maybe someone else will not have thought of, or put the same way. Why would we want to not hear those things?