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?

[redbigbananafeet]

@Random789

This is a confusing thread. Almost every gender critical person I follow on Twitter, and the tone of almost every Mumsnet gender critical thread that I read, is squarely left wing.

I'm aware that there are right wing people who have broadly similar views, but i think of gender critical beliefs as being part of a feminist analysis and therefore primarily of the left.

And yet this thread, or at any rate the OP, seems to present gender critical beliefs as primarily coming from the right. I feel that I am through the looking glass a bit.

Politically, no left party are GC though. Who would you vote for?

[PastMyBestBeforeDate]

Can you actually link to a right wing sounding post on this board?

[Flaxmeadow]

@Babdoc

If you are actually “left wing” you have no problem- the British Communist Party is staunchly gender critical. It’s just the centre left - Labour, Lib Dem, etc, who have swallowed the gender woo.
But I suspect by left wing you really just mean “moderately left” ex Labour supporter?
My daughter is a Communist party member and I’m a Tory. We are both rad fems and both gender critical.

The British Communist Party are also Brexiters. This idea that Remain is right wing is a bit weird to people outside London.

OP. Hardly anything in your OP is what I'd consider to be truly left wing, apart from you're mentioning poverty. It's more like liberal progressive ideas imported from the USA.
To me left wing is about class perspective and not really much else to it

[PrelateChuckles]

I'm a lefty and one of the few that doesn't think there's anything wrong with being woke i. e. politically aware, polite etc. I don't believe TRAs are woke, I believe they are in the same camp as MRAs.

Have never and will never vote Tory.

Any GC people I know in real life are staunchly left wing as well.

[Flaxmeadow]

'This idea that Remain is right wing is a bit weird to people outside London'

Meant to say Brexit

BTW anyone. Is there an edit function on this new format?

[Cheekymaw]

I'm a politically homeless lefty too!! And GC!! No one to vote for here! I blooming hate this Tory government as well!!

[Changeee1546789]

I am fully hard left, in my 30's, Corbyn supporting socialist and I am GC. I never used to be. Until I actually looked into it and realised that my long held beliefs on gender did not fit with the trans agenda.

[fatfrenchprick]

I used to be a leftie but now I'm more in the middle. The left have gone too extreme for my liking and have been taken over by facists

[Flaxmeadow]

I won't vote Labour over the Grooming Gang issue, as well as Labour's stance on womens issues/GC etc
Yet again we see another horrific slavery/trafficking of a child trial going through the courts ATM. What would Labour do about it? Probably ignore it, again

[nepeta]

This is my impression (not sure if it's correct) on the question of political alignment and being GC:

The concept originally comes from 2nd wave feminism(?)

It used to strongly criticise gender roles, rules, and stereotypes because they can be used to keep women the subjugated sex. (Here 'gender' is defined as the way cultures translate biological sex into accepted forms of behaviour, personality traits, legal rights and legal duties etc. depending on the sex of an individual.)

That concept of being gender critical is the one I think most feminists on the left apply to the gender identity ideology. Others who later joined that group adopted the GC label but may or may not agree with the above feminist take. So in some sense the GC label no longer is attached to its original definition but simply refers to those who have questions about the impact of the most fervent trans activism on women's rights.

[Violetparis]

OP - I have seen woke being criticised on here and I am wondering if this is where you are coming from. The more extreme elements of BLM, XR and TRAs are often seen as woke and are off putting to many people including those that are left wing. The aggressive XR tweet calling GC women terfs that others have shared is an example of what puts many people off this group. Many see XR activists in the same way they see TRAs.

[FictionalCharacter]

Yep. Very similar views to you.

[letsgetbackto2019]

Me. That's why I can't stand all of this "I vote Tory because Labour don't even know what a woman is" MN nonsense.

[Zita60]

@DomesticatedZombie

😭but then who am I going to fucking vote for?

There is no fucker! Nobody! No bastard person willing to stand up for women and take any action.

I'd made up my mind to vote Tory, despite disagreeing with them on virtually all points of fiscal policy, social strategy, economic positions, benefits, NHS - oh, god, the NHS.

Christ.

I can not bring myself to spoil my vote. There is nobody to vote for.

I've voted against the Tories this week, because overall I think they're doing so much damage to the country. In my area, that means Labour, even if I don't like their views on gender.

Not a great choice.

[CloseYourEyesAndSee]

I'm left wing BUT I don't like a LOT of the left wing buzzwords and talking points and I do think that 'wokism' is a curse. I don't want to automatically support a cause just because it's 'left wing'. I've had friends say to me 'I'm really surprised about your views on trans rights as you're such a leftie' and it's so annoying as if there is one correct 'left wing' view on every subject and you can't have dissenting views or you become a Tory or something.
I think it's fine to criticise the hard left in politics as a lot of them have lost their damn minds on womens rights. That doesn't make me no longer left wing.

[TalkingCat]

You are not alone by a long shot, I am very left wing and my stances on the things you mentioned are exactly the same and I am very strongly GC. It's devastating when you see left wing people who seem to care about everything but womens rights.

[Clymene]

I am not voting Tory but I can't bring myself to vote labour either and I've voted labour all my life. Luckily I don't have to vote in the upcoming local elections and hope that labour will find their backbone before the next general election.

I spoiled my ballot last time round.

[Ladybugzrock]

Left wing as well, have been all my life but I tore up my labour membership card recently. I'm also politically homeless.

TBH my primary politics involves sharing the wealth, well funded services, equality. I'm bored that the Labour Party ALWAYS get bogged down in infighting over every little cause there is. They lose the main thread.

That said there's no way I'd vote Tory, I'd rather stick pins in my eyes.

I know so many left wing women who are GC. We're a secret bunch though. Almost whispering our views for fear of being called a bigot. So so sad.

[TheMarzipanDildo]

@fatfrenchprick

I used to be a leftie but now I'm more in the middle. The left have gone too extreme for my liking and have been taken over by facists

But those ‘fascists’ don’t own the left. I think it’s perfectly possible to be left wing while thinking that many people who say they are on the same side are bonkers. I haven’t moved to the centre on economics or social issues as a result of the current insanity, and I won’t say I have just because I don’t have much time for Owen Jones.

[Sexnotgender]

Totally left wing. Totally politically homeless.

[Veol]

I know lots of left wing people who are pro brexit. I know lots of right wing people who are feminists and anti war. I have never met anyone on either side of the political spectrum who thinks poverty is a good thing. I think you have just discovered one of your political views isn’t considered very nice by some people. It has nothing to do with left or right.

[WalkerWalking]

I feel like either, as a society, we've lost sight of what left and right wing mean (people seem to use "right wing" to mean "selfish and bigoted" and "left wing" to mean "tolerant and kind", when I feel like the political definitions are more to do with distribution of wealth) or maybe we're clinging onto the idea of traditional left/right wing politics when it's just not relevant any more.

It's not just landowners and labourers, factory owners and workers, these days. There's a huge variety of different self-employed circumstances (some very lucrative, others really not) there are poorly paid professional jobs (mostly public sector) and there are very well paid trade skills.

Women's rights are still intrinsically linked to wealth potential, hence why most feminists I know tend to be left-leaning politically. And of those, some have fully absorbed the "left wing means tolerant and kind" message, and therefore automatically support everything and anything a "marginalised" group demand. But for some of us, left wing means standing up for yourself and your rights, even in the face of those more powerful. And we absolutely do not support throwing women's rights down the drain.

[EveSix]

Every GC woman and man I know is on the political left.

[MarshaBradyo]

@letsgetbackto2019

Me. That's why I can't stand all of this "I vote Tory because Labour don't even know what a woman is" MN nonsense.

In contrast to the op I get the impression some care about many issues as long as it’s not to do with women.

Maybe it’s a devaluation of women

[Bluepolkadots42]

Very left wing and relatively newly GC over here OP.
Agree with PPs about the feelings of political homelessness- lifelong Labour voter and would rather eat a turd than give my vote to the Conservatives, however until Labour can publicly state that a woman is an adult human female and demonstrate they understand why single sex spaces are vital for women then they won't be getting my vote. My area is always majority blue anyway.