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?

Probably. Just looked, it was spring 2018 so early days for WpUK.

They did release a statement condemning her doxxing, I recall, and saying that they were choosing not to respond to her criticisms of them on her platforms.

At the time - it was very scary, doxxing, threatening, WP having to scurry around - all about safety.

The fair thing to do is something which is actually proportional.

Speak to her one to one, tell her the optics aren’t good - put out a statement like ‘because of ideological differences WP and KJK have agreed that she won’t be platformed at WP this time’ and send it out only to confirmed attendees - don’t leave it up on your public website putting her in danger for years to come.

Even thinking about it now is pissing me off.

The question to me was always - if PP had been exactly the same personality/look, but a man in a dress, would WP have been so vocal in their distancing if she had said something they/their followers found objectionable? Say, that she (well, he in the scenario) used womens toilets, or had schoolchildren call him "miss"? 🤔

Indeed, and a wife he trapped in marriage, who has to live, not one day at a time, but one hour at a time.

Or wrote the bloody Teachers Union guidelines denying women and girls single sex spaces?

So it's WPUK's fault that people have threatened PP?

I see.

I don't agree with them giving air time to DH either btw.

Well thank you @pattihews for starting this thread it's been very informative, and judging by the reactions to it both inside and outside mumsnet, widely read by influential women.

It's been an eye opener for those of us who had not a clue about the pre-existing dynamics of the women at the Filia meeting, that's for sure.

It’s their fault every time threats towards her have been underpinned or bolstered by Wps statement and public shaming, yes.

This is the crux of it isn't it?

PP has said and done some questionable things, she has been called out and WPUK are the bad guys.

PP has said and done some questionable things, she has been called out and WPUK are the bad guys.
Given the entire subject matter of the thread this is impressive DARVO

Ain't it just @TinselAngel

But it's that stage of the thread where people say ridiculous things, hoping to have the last word.

Absolutely

Alas probably not enough time for Sappho to explain her trajectory from one of WPUK's loudest detractors on here, to one of its loudest promoters. Maybe next time.

Yup

Haha.

and my questions will have to remain unanswered.

Perhaps authoritarian purity politics, denouncements, shaming and shunning feels like a natural home.

Perhaps authoritarian purity politics, denouncements, shaming and shunning feels like a natural home.
Things change, people progress from one side of the argument to the other, but for some the hatred of Posie is the only thing which endures.

A scapegoat is always required and KJK is the chosen one.

I thought we didn't blame women for the actions of aggressive men?

<mic drop>

So did I Sunday, so did I.