😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂!!!!!!!
EastLondonObserver really is the gift that just keeps on giving!! 😂
I have probably missed some in this thread so apologies if full credit is not given.
There was the always-welcome reminder that the best argument ever for "Transwomen are Women" is "Because arm creases" courtesy of "Katie-from-Wales" 😂
Now, an introduction (at least to me) to the extraordinary "transgender fascist" Colonel Leslie Ivor Victor Gauntlett Bligh Barker, christened Lillias Irma Valerie Barker, adopter of numerous other aliases, un-earned military ranks and self-identified aristocratic titles.
Thank you so much TheClogLady for explaining who that person was! 💜
Following up that story took me down some fascinating rabbit-holes. I won't derail by detailing them all here.
One that is worth mentioning for contemporary relevance involves DH Lawrence.
DH Lawrence cited the fraudulent marriage between "Victor Barker" and Elfrida Haward when arguing that young women might avoid becoming victim to "sex by deception" if only they were to read "Lady Chatterley's Lover" at age 17!
He also suggests that "there are thousands of women today who might be so deceived, and go on being deceived". Mmmm . . . "might" doing a lot of heavy lifting there!
"When we read of the case of Colonel Barker, we see what is the matter. Colonel Barker was a woman who masqueraded as a man. The “Colonel" married a wife, and lived five years with her in "conjugal happiness”. And the poor wife thought all the time she was married normally and to a real husband. The revelation at the end is beyond all thought cruel for the poor woman. The situation is monstrous. Yet there are thousands of women today who might be so deceived, and go on being deceived. Why? Because they know nothing, they can’t think sexually at all; they are morons in this respect. It is better to give all girls this book, at the age of seventeen."
DH Lawrence, "A Propos Lady Chatterley's Lover", 1929
babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000007188109&view=page&seq=18
to
babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000007188109&view=page&seq=19
(Whether Elfrida thought she was marrying a man or a woman is another matter altogether. Nobody knows for sure because both she and "Victor" changed their tune so many times.)
To return to the purpose of this Topic: I really appreciate Kellie-Jay Keen (AKA Posie Parker) travelling around the UK (and the rest of the world), simultaneously encouraging women to speak out in public and exposing the misogynistic mobs, who try to silence those women, as the real fascists.
Sunday 15 Jan she was in Newcastle upon Tyne. The speeches were as outstandingly informative and moving as ever. The raging protesters as ludicrous as ever.
Thankfully only one act of violence - the woman attacked was not harmed and she pinned her male assailant down in a bush until the police arrested him. 💪🙆
The police did a great job keeping the mob at a distance BTW. The attack happened after the event as everyone was leaving. Two men tried to wrench the beautiful banner she had made off her and pushed her onto the ground. Big mistake! 😂
The sound in the first video here is a bit sketchy but the second one is great!
www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4713540-let-women-speak-2023-newcastle-london-glasgow-and-in-march-australia-and-new-zealand?reply=123112205
If you are on Twitter the hashtags are #LetWomenSpeakNewcastle and #LetWomenSpeak #Newcastle