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?

Also centre left and as a feminist I am by definition critical of gender, as the hierarchy that is used to subordinate women.

Do people who believe that being critical of gender ideology means you are right wing think JK Rowling is right wing and anti-choice?? Not just her of course but (nearly) all the other women who have come to prominence over their stance on this issue?

But, I can believe it, if people don't think critically about what they consume, read widely or bother to check facts/sources themselves.

@Oddessafile I dislike pretty much everything about the Tories and their policies since they came into power in 2010. I completely disagree with all of the cuts to all public services that they have made. I had no legal aid myself when l left my abusive ex husband and had to engage a solicitor. I was unemployed, with two young children at the time, not exactly in a position of privilege.

To me personally the most pressing issue politically is women's rights and they won't come back if they are stolen away. I will vote accordingly. I want to see women's rights protected and once this happens, other issues will become more important to me again.

Lefty feminist TERF here 👋

one of the problems I have with the whole “how could you vote Tory” message is that who really believes that Starmer, Rayner et al would do SO much better in other areas that it negates the concerns over the rights of women?

The Labour Party has its own issues with racism and sexism to contend with and plenty of local Labour led councils, and Labour MPs of old, have demonstrated that it’s not just the Tories who know how to do financial backhanders and sleaze.

This. And tbh I really dislike all the vitriol that is directed at people who choose to vote differently- I've noticed that a lot of the time it's directed from the left towards conservative voters.

90% on MN regulars I'd say. The right don't own being GC, transactivists have successfully positioned it as a right wing stance because they know that will scare left wingers off.

I agree.
Boris Johnson reduced the GRC fee to £5 and yet somehow he's seen as womens saviour on this.
And is anyone ever refused a GRC when they apply?
I think overall, Tory policies do a lot more damage to women than transwoman do.
Personally I think self ID could be the best thing to happen , if loads of women, and sympathetic men, just self ID as the opposite sex (why not) it would show what a complete nonsense the whole thing is faster than anything else.

transactivists have successfully positioned it as a right wing stance because they know that will scare left wingers off.

They do this because they know that they don't have any credible arguments and would lose any serious debate on this issue. So they have to resort to flinging shit and hoping some of it sticks, and one way of doing this is to position GC as a 'far right' ideological stance.

Absolutely. It’s rife on here and I usually avoid it as the threads are bad with it.

I am very relieved to see other GC posters that get it though

@Kendodd I don't think anyone views Boris as a 'saviour' of women's rights. I agreed with his comments recently about women's rights, biological males in women's sports etc. I want to see the Tories back up recent comments with more action.

He's no saviour but on this one particular issue he is better than Keir Starmer.

This.

The Tories know the definition of woman, doesn't make them GC. Doesn't make them pro women.

I understand the argument that you can agree with some things a party stands for but not all. Pretty normal tbo. I just don't believe the Tories are GC and I don't believe they supports women's rights. Or at least not in a way that I would support womens rights.

I dont think anyone does believe labour would do better. Hence the politically homeless problem.

Not intended as vitriol to either side.

The issue for me is that Labour’s direction would erode my rights as a woman

Personally I think self ID could be the best thing to happen , if loads of women, and sympathetic men, just self ID as the opposite sex (why not) it would show what a complete nonsense the whole thing is faster than anything else.
Op if this is the level of your response to women who have made over 200 posts explaining their concerns to you, then frankly I regret the time I have put into reading and engaging with this thread. Have a nice evening.

Until The Labour Party changes its position on supporting reform of the Gender Recognition Act they will never receive my vote either in Local or General elections.

The government has thankfully blocked reform to this act.

I'm not sure the GRA provides much in the way of gate keeping anyway. For a start, you don't even need one to access opposite sex spaces, including prisons anyway. Man Friday have done a great job highlighting this. Also, the hurdles to get a GRC aren't very high.

I'm one of the lucky ones.
I'm a leftie currently with Rosie Duffield as my MP.
That means I can vote Labour again knowing she will (hopefully) continue to fight for our right for separate safe spaces.

You'll find some good info here
fairplayforwomen.com/campaigns/gra-reform/

Yup absolutely left wing - 70s born eco socialist feminist and lesbian ally - and GC AF!
I’m agog that so many millenials have drunk the gender koolaid, I support XR but their trans pandering is odd given their “Tell the Truth” demands and the fact the environmental movement in the U.K. at least owes SO MUCH to women - and lesbian women especially.

Well OP, I am a bit late to the conversation, but it seems to me that you are equating left wing with progressive. BLM is id politics, not left politics.

I think though if we take a serious view of politics, rather than a check-list approach, we could ask whether those publications are really of the right and left in the way we imagine. The Guardian promotes a certain kind of liberalism and make-nice social redistribution, while being generally pretty liberal economically and radically individualist socially. And consistently shutting down ideas, either editorially or in BTL comments, that it is uncomfortable with. Which is to say, ideologically authoritarian.

Is that really the left?

I personally only know lefty feminists and lefty men who fight for this cause, indeed most appear to be in the greens.

Any green who understands and agrees with the values of the deep green resistance is both a true green and also knows what a woman is.

I’m left wing and GC. I’d rather vote for a banana than a Tory. I’m happy to continue voting Labour (though would vote for the British Communist Party if they stood in my constituency - though oddly, imo, on here, there seems to be only reference to the known scumbags in powers as an alternative! Madness!)

Mumsnet is one of the UK's busiest online chat sites. Do politicians ever bother reading threads like these I wonder?

If the Guardian or any other left-leaning news source were writing articles about these issues, we'd be sharing them too. Personally, I'd be delighted. But unfortunately they don't.

I have been a Guardian reader for decades, literally, but my oh my, they have really drunk the Kool-Aid on this one. Suzanne Moore got chased out some time ago, and do people like Zoe Williams, who I used to like, really think that someone with a penis and testicles, is anything other than a man?