Anyone else left wing and gender critical?

[Kendodd]

I'm to the left politically.
Support BLM and was at anti apartheid demos even back in the 80s
Fully support gay rights and again, have marched in the street for them from back in the 80s.
Strong feminist, attend feminist meetings.
Support refugees.
Very anti Brexit.
Feel ashamed of the levels of poverty in the UK.

I'm also gender critical and although I do support trans rights, in that, wear what you want, TWANW and have different needs and don't belong in women's sports, prisons etc. When I look around and see who I'm standing with on this though, I feel really uncomfortable.

When it comes to voting, no way would I vote for someone with Farage like views just because they were anti self ID.
Anyone else with similar views?

[RufustheFloralmissingreindeer]

The vast majority of posts ive seen on here from people who don’t usually vote tory has them saying that they have held their nose or are unhappy that they are voting tory

ive not seen one single post from a ‘left wing’ poster saying that the tories are best for womens rights

[noborisno]

What's "left wing"? It feels like it's been turned into something completely different to what I grew up as.

I was always "left politically." but that meant

Freedom of expression and speech
Non-totalitarian
Courtesy and kindness to all
Fairness in society and fairness in income (not meaning equal pay)

I support black rights and racial equality but do not support BLM (why should one organisation take control of a basic message? This leaves the message completely open to corruption)

I support gay rights but "the left" are vehemently against the right of people to be exclusively same-sex attracted.

I agree with equal treatment of the sexes and women having the right to work but really don't align with many things people who call themselves feminist believe.

Support refugees but not unchecked immigration or immigration of those we cannot track for the safety of our citizens and the refugees themselves. So for border controls and for refugee detention until they are given a proper identity for the country etc.

"wear what you want" has nothing to do with trans rights. Any rights for trans people are already covered in racial and sex equality. I cannot say that I support "trans rights" because they have no clear definition.

I won't vote again. It's clear that policies come from an overarching political body and local governments (those of specific countries) follow their direction with messages tailored to the specific area.

[RufustheFloralmissingreindeer]

What's "left wing"? It feels like it's been turned into something completely different to what I grew up as

literally no idea

loads of words and phrases seem to have changed meaning recently

[TheGoogleMum]

Yes I think a lot of GC women are actually left wing, it's the TRAs that like to pretend we're all right wing (some are but I think we might actually be mostly left wing?)

[funnelfanjo]

@KimikosNightmare

There are a lot of people on the right who are GC, but not necessarily for the same reasons as us left wing GC feminists. It can make it uncomfortable when you see people arguing for the same as you (eg same sex spaces), but for the “wrong” reasons (discriminatory rather than safeguarding, privacy, dignity)

Do you have any idea how self-righteous you sound?

So say I go to a hypothetical event for GC women, and find that some of the women there are arguing for single sex spaces on the grounds of misplaced homophobia, mocking the appearance of transwomen, saying they’re going to hell and advocating violence, even genuine transphobia, can I not say that these are not values that I hold, and to my mind these are the “wrong” reasons to justify same sex spaces? The “right” reasons being the dignity and safety of the women using them.

if that makes me self righteous, well then I’ll take it.

[ScreamingMeMe]

So say I go to a hypothetical event for GC women, and find that some of the women there are arguing for single sex spaces on the grounds of misplaced homophobia, mocking the appearance of transwomen, saying they’re going to hell and advocating violence, even genuine transphobia, can I not say that these are not values that I hold, and to my mind these are the “wrong” reasons to justify same sex spaces? The “right” reasons being the dignity and safety of the women using them.

if that makes me self righteous, well then I’ll take it.

But these people aren't gender critical in the true sense of the word. They sound pretty keen on upholding gender stereotypes and roles. So why refer to them as such? That is a TRA trick.

[RufustheFloralmissingreindeer]

Left wing people are perfectly capable of being racist, homophobic etc

[KimikosNightmare]

@funnelfanjo

So say I go to a hypothetical event for GC women, and find that some of the women there are arguing for single sex spaces on the grounds of misplaced homophobia, mocking the appearance of transwomen, saying they’re going to hell and advocating violence, even genuine transphobia, can I not say that these are not values that I hold, and to my mind these are the “wrong” reasons to justify same sex spaces? The “right” reasons being the dignity and safety of the women using them.

if that makes me self righteous, well then I’ll take it.

And have you ever actually encountered that? Or is this some imaginary virtue boosting scenario?

Let's take that FWR favourite of Baroness Emma Nicholson. She's a Conservative. She held conservative views in the past about gay marriage but I think she has conceded times change.

You still sound sanctimonious.

[KimikosNightmare]

@RufustheFloralmissingreindeer

Left wing people are perfectly capable of being racist, homophobic etc

And misogynistic e.g support for prostitution and pornography.

[RufustheFloralmissingreindeer]

Yep

knew i was missing one kimiko

actually ive probably missed a few 🤔

[ScreamingMeMe]

There seem to be some pretty simplistic and stereotypical ideas about what it means to be left or right wing and I think that's half the problem, along with the tribalism.

[ScreamingMeMe]

And misogynistic e.g support for prostitution and pornography.

Good point.

[DontLikeCrumpets]

The reason you, Kendodd as well as many others have the impression the GC are conservative/right-wing is the institutional capture of genderwoo ideology. Before genderwoo took hold, people relied on left-leaning journalists and academics to expose narratives pushed by the Powers That Be.

After genderwoo took hold they are all on the same page, for instance zero concern voiced about the profit-motive of Big Pharma from these people who in any other circumstance would have been raging from the rooftops, demanding proof, raising questions, demanding answers,demanding accountability. Canadians would have relied on the CBC is get to the bottom of what is happening but no more because the CBC is no longer what it was, it is now a mouthpiece for genderwoo. To get any critical media coverage of genderwoo in Canada one has to read extreme right-wing media like the Post-Millennial which reinforces the false belief that only RW people oppose genderwoo.

[Fifteentoes]

Why would people on the left accept identity politics? It's not leftist.

Why not? To me it's the most obvious thing in the world to go from acknowledging and caring about structural economic, class-based inequality and its effects upon the economically disadvantaged, to similarly acknowledging other forms of structural inequality (racial, religious, sex or sexuality) and fighting to end them.

In fact I don't see how you can do otherwise without feeling like a hypocrite. And I certainly don't see why some people here seem to see them as mutually exclusive. That has no basis either in logic or in my empirical experience of left wing activists.

[Fifteentoes]

I support gay rights but "the left" are vehemently against the right of people to be exclusively same-sex attracted.

"The left" are, eh? What, all of them, or only most?

This is a ridiculous statement.

[SmiledWtherisingsun]

Yes. Me too op.
Same as most of my friends.
People are just weary of being called bigots.
That's why the more people who speak out against this assault on women's rights, the better!
And please keep letting people know you are left wing too! 🙌🙌🙌

[Floisme]

We’ve now got two threads on here about trade unions trying to stop women standing up for their legal rights. And you wonder why we’re pissed off with the left?

[nepeta]

I have now seen one study from 2019 and one Wall Street Journal exit poll from the last US elections suggesting that transgender people in the US, at least, are politically to the right of even men (and men in the US are politically to the right of women because white men are and whites are the majority).

This I find fascinating! The 'most marginalised minority' might not have as many people with left-wing values as the activists assume.

[SerotinaPickeler]

I've just filled in a questionnaire from our local constituency Lib Dems about local matters. It was also asking if I'd prefer a Lib Dem or Conservative govt. I'd actually prefer neither of those (want Labour to step up), but it felt good to tell them why I'll never vote for them because of their stance on TWAW. Lots of writing along all the margins to ram the point home.

And I returned it freepost so it will cost them. A tiny bit of activism but it feels good.

[IcakethereforeIam]

I think the Venn diagram of the different values held by GC people could look like it was drawn by a spirograph. The circles would overlap slightly in the centre.

[KimikosNightmare]

I'd place money that those in charge of the NUS , have , or consider they have, impeccable left wing credentials.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/government-severs-ties-with-nus-over-antisemitic-rot-at-its-heart-m28gqsgd5

[ScreamingMeMe]

@KimikosNightmare

I'd place money that those in charge of the NUS , have , or consider they have, impeccable left wing credentials.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/government-severs-ties-with-nus-over-antisemitic-rot-at-its-heart-m28gqsgd5

Oh my word.

[Sazzasez]

There are loads of us - some lefter then others.

The Communist Party of GB is quite clear that you can’t change sex or identify out of your sex class.

Lots of Green Party Women have been fighting the Gender Ideology Theorists (GITS) & supporting Emma Bateman & Sharar Ali. They managed quite well recently against some dreadful motions at their conference.

Women’s Equality Party has a GC grouping.

Lots of Labour Party women still hanging in there, trying to get a hearing (I’m one, & I’m quite left by Labour standards: I’m a socialist). Labour Women’s Declaration & Lesbian Labour are unofficial groupings - but not banned yet.

if you look at groups like Women’s Place UK - the founders are all lefties, though some have been expelled from the Labour Party. But they’re still left wing.

Then there are left wingers like Linda Bellos - she’s not going to start voting Tory at this stage.

So don’t give up!

[Sazzasez]

@SerotinaPickeler - good for you! We need this message to get across at every opportunity.

In my area we (bunch of leftie GCs) tried to coordinate a bit of ballot spoiling for the council elections in line with the #RespectMySex campaign.

We knew we could do it without letting the Tories in: nobody votes for them round here.

Candidates & agents see the spoiled ballots.

Council publishes the no of spoiled ballots, but not HOW they’re spoiled... but in one ward the number of spoiled ballots was nearly 3 times what it was last time (on a lower turnout), & I know a chunk of those will have said Respect My Sex. On a tight election that could make the difference between win & lose.

It’s not much but it’s better than nothing.