Women's Place UK: Filia event: the elephant ignored yet again

[pattihews]

I attended the WPUK event at Filia yesterday and came out feeling disturbed by what struck me as a very heavy-handed event designed to avoid talking about the elephant in the room. For what it's worth, I've voted Labour at every election since 1979. I imagine 90% of the audience had a similar track record.

Put briefly, we had 90 minutes of:
Feminism=socialism and if you're not a socialist you can't be a feminist and if you're not a feminist-socialist you're the enemy.
The right is sly and will lie and try to draw you in (illustrated with a video from the US about the right-wing origins of many apparently liberal groups, including the Heritage Foundation) and you must resist any temptation to get involved with them.
The way to do it is to join unions and change them from within, hold socialist women's salons to recruit and inform and get involved at grass roots level.

There were also regular warnings about racism, which seemed odd and extraneous because WPUK is all about gender ideology.

And then the penny dropped. Though her name was never mentioned, I suddenly realised that the whole tightly-managed event (no talking unless you're holding the microphone) was a warning not to fraternise with Posie Parker.

At lunchtime I encountered several other women, all of them furious about what they'd sat through. Furious in particular because of course the elephant in the room was the fact that the Labour Party, to which WPUK is loyal to death, is the biggest threat to women's rights in this country. And they'd used PP to deflect from that.

I'm not a Posie fan. Posie's clear she's not a feminist. She says things that make me cringe. I have doubts about her motivation and we wouldn't be friends in RL. But I went to one of her events when she came to my area and she can mobilise women the left will never reach and for that she's important and valuable. When I go canvassing for Labour I meet working-class as well as middle-class women who vote or have voted Conservative. They include aspirational minority ethnic women. They have their reasons, and some of them I can understand.

A woman I've never seen before and may not see again joined my table for lunch and explained why so many women were feeling really disturbed. These are TRA tactics.
The huge issue that concerns so many of us (should we vote Labour?) was avoided and we were instead lectured on how to be good socialists and feminists.

Was anyone else there? What did you make of it?

So conference organisers have to read what people on Mumsnet say about presenters at their conference? That sounds like a bizarre condition

If you are wanting feedback, why wouldn’t you take on board comments from a feminist board on Mumsnet?

Why is looking at discussion on social media ‘bizarre’ to analyse informal feedback?

Where have FiLiA posted in this thread?

WPUK.

The criticism of the weekend is solely about the WPUK event.

If I was the conference organiser (not presenter/panelist) I'd do some sort of survey of attendees.

I wouldn't look at some random internet forum on the off chance that people had put feedback there though.

Where have FiLiA posted in this thread?

Are you being deliberately disingenuous? The thread is about a WPUK event at FiLiA, (as per the thread title) the discussion has been about that event and WPUK, members/founders of WPUK have come on this thread.

Cool.

Please feedback to both WPUK and Filia as if they do that we won’t need to waste as much time and bandwidth on these sorts of threads in future.

I wouldn't look at some random internet forum on the off chance that people had put feedback there though.

and yet members of WPUK have.

I will say this very slowly.

I. AM. NOTHING. TO. DO. WITH. FILIA. OR. WPUK.

What a depressing thread.

I must be the worst kind of feminist…I don’t think I am even a feminist after everything I’ve read today. Here’s my wrap sheet:

I never used to worry about feminism until my daughter and son came to us. I put up with all of the everyday sexism, I was kind and didn’t want to upset people.

I am a domesticated zombie - I’m not very good at the domesticated bit either. My husband is away for the weekend and the kids said to him before he left: ‘who’s going to cook us nice dinners?’

I’m a SAHM - my kids are adopted, they needed me at home, my husband earns much more than me, it would be foolish for me to go back and him to go part time. I am at college though trying to fashion something that will fit around my kids - even the thought of me being at college for 9 hours a week freaked the kids out.

I used to be a Labour member, joined because of JC. 12 years ago I paid for a £1.20 train ticket - and got told off by the conductor because it was in pennies and 2ps. I was struggling - no one was there to help. Labour have abandoned women…I direct my subs to women’s causes now, I won’t pay for Labour to dismantle my daughters rights. Working from the inside isn’t working, they wouldn’t even allow stands from women’s organisations at their conference - change is a long way off. We don’t have much time.

I took my husband’s name. Didn’t particularly like my old one, and I wanted the kids who we knew we were going to adopt in the future to feel part of a family.

On the outside, I’m middle class now to others, we have a fairly big house and I have the privilege of being able to be a SAHM and go to college..I even have chickens! But 12 years ago I got a CCJ, couldn’t afford to eat properly and had work shoes that were falling apart. Thankfully women took pity on me and gifted me items without being patronising. Free Tampons in the toilet was a revelation - I used to take a whole loo roll from work sometimes, just to get by when I was on my period.

I do what I can now, I donate, write, I’m in a local women’s group, I baby sit for free for other women where I can (because I never know when I may need help) - but clearly to many, I am no feminist. Because I’ve given up on the left and I appreciate KJK, I’m a SAHM and we are not in financial crisis. I have a lot of professional skills to offer, but clearly it’s not wanted. The amount of effort that FB group has gone to, to slag off other women off is crazy…imagine if that effort had been poured into their own movement instead! I thought the first rule of feminism was to fight foe all women, even if you didn’t like them. You have to take people with you, not rail road them!

Some of the groups mentioned as being ‘not feminist’ in that FB group have done such sterling work in both legislation and raising awareness. But if the ‘real feminists’ are happy to carry on exerting energy slagging others off and navel gazing over what feminism means and who meets the criteria then I’m happy to leave them to it. I’ll just focus on the causes that will help my daughter to live a fair life without misogyny (well as little as possible).

I didn’t think you were.

🙈

some random internet forum on the off chance that people had put feedback there though

😂

Oh my! MN is now some 'random' Internet forum.

😂

My mood 😂
My tone 🤣

If I was the conference organiser (not presenter/panelist) I'd do some sort of survey of attendees.

And so they should.

I wouldn't look at some random internet forum on the off chance that people had put feedback there though

And as an event organiser, I have looked at informal feedback such as social media. Because it often comes after people have thought and pondered.

some random internet forum

So you think a forum with a well known feminist board is not worthy of consideration as a place for feedback about a feminist conference and the sessions?

ok. Seems you have your own prejudices to deal with there.

I know. There is some interesting dynamics at play on this thread.

I wouldn't look at some random internet forum on the off chance that people had put feedback there though.

Some random Internet forum? How very dare you! Don't you know that accosting to some American dudes Mumsnet is what put the Terf in Terf Island?

I know. There is some interesting dynamics at play on this thread.

There is:

I wouldn't look at some random internet forum on the off chance that people had put feedback there though.

Members of the group who held the event have done

I'm not one of them

As you say interesting and not a little odd.

Just for clarity, as it was mentioned upthread, Conservatives For Women did not have a stand at FiLiA last year. They attended as part of the cross-party group Women Uniting on a joint stall.
They now use every penny of their limited funds to concentrate on their Parliamentary work, but obviously can’t say much about it even though they have clearly been incredibly effective.

Good to hear.

I'm fairly sure I'd strongly disagree with a fair few conservative women (as I did when I spoke with one Tory MSP about GRR bill - we went a bit off topic & discussed a wide range of things) on a number of topics, but honestly? I'm more appreciative of women getting shit done. So well done 👍

Feminists don't call other women domesticated zombies or poundshop marine Le pens.

I find it hard to understand why these things were said.

Are you blaming the panelists for other people's words now?

That FB group is shameful. Post after post trashing the same woman over and over again ... for how long now? The group seems to go back a while.

KJK drew her boundary ages ago when she said she was not a feminist and explained why. The socialist feminists are on the other side of her boundary.

Apparently that wasn't good enough so the socialist feminists drew their own boundary as well, with KJK on the other side. This was a redundant gesture as KJK had already distanced herself from them, but if it makes the socfems happy then whatever.

But even that has not made them happy and was not good enough. It appears that despite the mutual distancing, and despite the widespread stating of positions and drawing of boundaries, KJK must still be continuously, permanently denounced. Even though she is simultaneously 'an irrelevance'.

How long will this go on for? It's fucked up.

It's also a massive, massive waste of energy. Socialist feminists have done really important work over the decades. I wish they would extricate their heads from the posie hate cult they have created for themselves and get back to the work they do so well.

The vast, vast majority of women will never be 'socialist feminists'. The socfems need to get used to women they don't like agreeing with them on some issues. Or if that's too distasteful they need to ask themselves some hard questions about who their feminism is for.

Not sure where you got that idea from @CrossEyedPanda. I thought this discussion had widened out.

We've had the bizarre assertion that feminism doesn't happen on FWR any more and it's just become a forum for gossiping about other women. And as far as I can see, that's the entire remit of that Facebook group.

Not any kind of feminism I want to be a part of. Nor any kind of socialism I recognise either.

I've often said that the male Left feels like splitting up with an ex-boyfriend who tells all his mates he absolutely doesn't want to get back with you, but who also texts you at all hours demanding to know who you were with last night. He keeps saying he doesn't want a relationship, but he still feels entitled to dictate who you talk to...

I'm noticing this dynamic in other places, too.

Apologies @clymene, I thought this thread was about the WPUK panel at FiLiA so I assumed you were referring to that. 🤷‍♀️

I always think of these forums as being 'feminist' in that they are broadly about feminist issues, rather than being deeply feminist. I lurk here a lot.

I think that WPUK are feminist, and do amazing work. I think it is very easy for the keyboard warriors here to tell them to 'do better' (this is not aimed at you), but what have these people done themselves? WPUK have helped to shift the Overton window back.

I think it is very easy for the keyboard warriors here to tell them to 'do better' (this is not aimed at you), but what have these people done themselves? WPUK have helped to shift the Overton window back.

Is this the line being taken now? <sigh>

Yes, we're actually all basement dwellers in need of some vitamin D supplements cos we never venture outside into the real world & do anything significant at all.

Do you even hear yourself?

My mood 🤪
My tone 🤦🏻‍♀️