Mary Harrington on KJK

[NotHavingIt]

https://unherd.com/2023/03/what-posie-parker-learnt-from-brexit/

Mary Harrington writing about KJK in Unherd. Interesting points and analogies, as usual.

I think this article brings to the fore some of the strategic disagreement and tensions that have become quite common for people involved in the push-back against gender ideology - and so is worthy of a thread of its own, rather than being subsumed into what went on in N.Z.

Thanks OP. I feel the same way - that we need both Posie Parker and the grassroots groups with their legal knowledge, resource packs, political party connections, opinion pieces etc etc etc in this fight.

Really interesting piece, I hadn't thought about it from the Brexit / Nigel Farage angle.

No reason why different groups of GC women can't work side by side while disagreeing on politics.

Thanks for sharing OP.

Mary Harrington suggsting KJK is in the populist mode is interesting, because it is true; and perhaps one of the reasons that some have an issue with her style.Have to say she also reminds me of Sarah Palin ( U.S Republican runner for leader at one point). she has that down to earth, straight talking way that people respond to. She also riles up 'the opposition' too which is perhaps another reason that some of the more cerebral activists have a problem.

Populists speak the language of the people. It is uncloaked and direct and can be confrontational.We do need public opinion on side in order to turn the tide - but many people automatically shrink from populists because they can be coarse and un-refined. Not diplomatic.

Populists speak the language of the people. It is uncloaked and direct and can be confrontational.We do need public opinion on side in order to turn the tide - but many people automatically shrink from populists because they can be coarse and un-refined. Not diplomatic.

I really like your take on this OP. What would you suggest the best way forward is for those people targeted by the wrath of the populists?

What should the mealy mouthed head girls do when they are accused of inciting male violence? What should they do when the populist says they will be annihilated? And what should they do when the populist says something they are fundamentally opposed to?

Should they simply ignore the populist? Argue with the populist? Acquiesce to the populist?

Genuine question, I am wondering what the best way forward is for the greater good?

I love JKR, Jo Bartosch, Helen Joyce, Eliza Mondegreen, Abigail Shrier, Jane Clare Jones, Victoria Smith, Kara Dansky etc, Mary Harrington as well. Big call out to my XY side Dennis Noel Kavanagh, Gareth Roberts, Graham Linehan, Malcolm Clark, Simon Edge etc.
But seriously, who other than Posie is gonna get the base rising and attending in numbers?
She is absolutely the lightning rod, the brave one at the head of the queue, the rouser.
Love her or loathe her (I personally adore her), she's the figurehead of this movement, with serious intellectual firepower behind her, and the implacable rock of JKR.
Currently it's Posie making waves. And she may be the one that breaks thru.
Numbers needed, and ever increasing numbers. For a simple triple outcome. To lance this boil of TRA activist stranglehold on media, institutions. To lock down the Conservative Party to it's increasing GC direction. To hold Starmer and Labour Party feet to the fire, to leave them in no uncertain terms that they need the GC vote, and that any move to Self ID, legal gender/sex conflation, is electoral suicide. For now, and forever.
Right now, the best thing that could have happened is millions seeing the unhinged violence and rhetoric in NZ, Speakers Corner and the Lesbian Project meet. And Humza winning in Scotland and pushing on to appeal S35 on the Self ID bill.
This will keep the madness in the news, create a whole new series of logic traps for him and other progessives to fall foul of (does Humza really think Her Penis won't as ugly as ever just ramp up in the debate?), forcing Sunak to batten down the hatches, and Starmer to have to take unambiguous positions rather than vague platitudes.
All the while hero Posie will be driving bigger and bigger kickback to the madness.
I've never been more confident the battle is being won.
But it needs Posie.

There also seems to be a class issue, taking to the streets, wearing straightforward slogans and be willing to talk to any media outlet across the political spectrum, is considered distasteful and crass by certain quarters. But politics as usual, at least the institutional kind, just seems to be populated by a middle class urban elite who talk in jargon and a wanky communication style that is highly irritating to the majority. With KJK the public debate is being had and she is drawing attention to the extremism and outright violent misogyny at the heart of this ideology for everyone to see.

Sarah Palin ( U.S Republican runner for leader at one point)

Palin was a vice-presidential candidate.

Agree 100%. JKR comments always newsworthy, and get plenty of attention. Everyone knows her, TRAs have dialled her visibliity in this area to Eleven.
But other than her or Posie, who else in the movement is REALLY known?
I'd say no-one.
I mean, I devour Spiked, Quillette, The Critic, The Spectator, so I know all about Joyce, Bartosch, Harrington etc. And for my sins I lurk on many Substacks, so know Mondegreen etc.
But not many in the real world does. Even the GC women that I meet in my work and socially, they're mainly unaware of anyone other than JKR and Posie.
Between these two icons, the progress is being made, with all the other honourable mentions putting in the serious intellectual heft behind the scenes.

Fascinating analogy with Farage and Brexit.

There was a piece in the Guardian today said the Red Wall voters will decide the next general election. I think that's why there's been pushback from Labour on Self ID. They know they can't sell this in the Red Wall and by the way I live close to Stoke on Trent where there are three Red Wall seats. There was a massive outcry when the shopping centre put in gender neutral toilets. The local evening paper - The Sentinel - covered it running polls and complaints poured in. They had to reverse it. This stuff doesn't sell in the Red Wall. Posie cuts through the way no one else can. And could she be the reason there is pushback on Self ID!? Her and Nicola Sturgeon?

Why don’t they just concentrate on their own audience?

Those who like Posie’s style can’t be arsed with reading a copy of The Radical Notion and while there is some overlap, in the main, those who travel to Feminist Conferences aren’t really into Posie’s unticketed outdoor events where anyone can turn up and have a say.

I’ve got a fancy university arts education which should, on paper, make me favourable towards to the JCJ style of doing things.

In reality, I’m poor, I need to stay near home for high needs kids and I’d much rather spend my little bit of child free time listening to short, heartfelt speeches outdoors and then going to the pub.

I’m never in a million years going to organise a child and dog free weekend and spend my limited free budget on going to a Filia style conference, I’ll prioritise a music festival everytime.
I’ve already wasted six years of my life on pointless highfalutin Critical Theory at two universities and I’m certainly not doing it for fun with women who dismiss me as a domesticated zombie.

Posie’s way of organising just fits in much better with the reality of my life.

The overlap between the two audiences is becoming a smaller and smaller percentage of the overall audience because more and more people from all sort of backgrounds and entry points are finally seeing the GenderBorg for what it is.

I don’t think Posie would mind if the whole overlap went your way.
She might not even notice.

As it stands, the ‘Mealy Mouth Head Girls’ as you refer to them are actively repelling more and more women OUT of the overlap.

Whether they care not it’s hard to tell from
all the way over here 🤷‍♀️

Such a shame because it was one of The Real Feminists of Be Right On who peaked me about 6 years ago.

I was actually thinking of the way that these days everyone rushes to condemn populists. 'Populist' has become a dirty word; one that many associate with the political far right - although of course we know populism is not just of the right - but of anyone who captures the popular mood and articulates it in plain language for the common man and woman.

The Labour party no longer speaks for many of its old demographic - including many of those in the those in the, now, red wall constituencies, and I suspect they have under-estimated the concern of this block of voters, once again, when it comes to the subject of migration, and other contemporary cultural issues. In Italy Georgia Meloni has articulated the concerns of many Italians along many of the same lines The same in the U.S. Those referred to by Hillary Clinton as a " basket of deplorables' went on to like the plain talking of people such as Sarah Palin, and latterly Trump.

The thing about any resistance to so called progressive doctrines ( such as gender identity ideology) is that those who resist are cast as right wingers and/or conservatives. Resistance is about boundaries, about limits, about pushing back. This is seen as reactionary. Western culture has become dominated by, and fixated on, the doctrine of progressivism - which is now associated with the Left. Anyone who articulates the voice of the people in the language they speak is seen as being right wing - and as such a populist.

Heated confrontation is where it is all at present ( France, Israel, The U.S, or at any event where 'women speak') I'm not sure how or when this is going to resolve itself. I guess we can look to history and see if where can see the same sorts of patterns occuring, and see what the outcome was then.

I’m NW and gender neutral everything has been foisted on us by Labour councils who are overly influenced by Young Labour.

I bet the NE isn’t very happy either.

Labour are definitely thinking about how to win back the Red Wall, but they need to be aware that they are in danger of losing support in strongholds further north.

There are parts of the North that have never had anything but a Labour ward councillor, a Labour MP and a Labour controlled council.

Up north, we can be as thoroughly sick of Tory shitshow as people elsewhere, the difference is that for us, voting Labour isn’t a vote for change, it’s just more of the same old shite.

Same for Wales.

I don't think the head girls need to worry about this, they have effectively written themselves out of the script.

No one wanted to pick a side as it was obvious that there was room for everyone and that multiple different approaches would be necessary but they insisted it was their way or the highway, I chose the highway.

KJK knows exactly what role she is playing in the fight back against gender ideology and she is not trying to step on the toes of people with narrower campaign aims, KPPS for example, and greater expertise. She's passionate about a single issue, likes public speaking and isn't easily intimidated; she's found the perfect niche for this skill set.

@CryptoFascistMadameCholet "I’m NW and gender neutral everything has been foisted on us by Labour councils who are overly influenced by Young Labour. I bet the NE isn’t very happy either."

Absolutely this! Starmer needs to stop listening to the mostly young, mostly metropolitan, mostly London-based activists and get out into the country and listen to voters! I think this is already happening. He's not a stupid man - tho I do think he's a very weak one. He will listen to pollsters who tell him this stuff doesn't sell among the vast majority of voters. If he wants to win he'll have to listen to us! Blair knew electoral victory lay with courting middle aged and older women. Starmer must know he can't ignore us in favour of the youthful ones who call us bigots for wanting to protect women and children and indeed everyone from an ideology that at its extremes we perceive as harmful. We are NOT bigots! We are concerned citizens and we've a right to be heard.

What's that line from GK Chesterton that Martin Bell quoted when he won in Tatton?

SMILE at us, pay us, pass us; but do not quite forget.For we are the people of England, that never have spoken yet.

I actually think that Labour people are still under-estimating the red wall and other conflicted voters. That they are so far ahead in the polls at present is down to the impact of the 'cost of living crisis', but increasingly people are also concerned by social and cultural issues. These issues tend to get dismissed as irrelevent side shows or culture wars - but I suspect that that big lead will gradually whittle away if some of those issues are not dealt with head on and in the plain and simple language that people feel they can trust.

No! We also very much need those who know what they are talking about when it comes to law and policy; who understand the ins and outs of institutional practice. If there hadn't been any push-back in the form of legal cases and tribunals and committee hearings we wouldn' be where we are now.

I think you might have misunderstood my post, I agree with you.

👌

So interesting. It's true that Posie (and I'd argue organisations like Safe School Alliance, Transgender Trend, Fair Play for Women, Keep Prisons Single Sex) are making a significant difference - not just with awareness but with some policy changes in their areas (slow as that is).

In contrast, the impact of the sad head girls (the ones who pop up on here to lecture us about how awful KJK is & how important it is that women shut up and do politics their way).
Do labour now allow women to speak freely? Has Starmer finally spoken out about the bullying of Rosie Duffield or LRM's bullying behaviour? Has Karen Ingala Smith been allowed to join the party? Has the LWD finally been offered a platform at any meeting / conference? Have Starmer, Lammy, Nandy etc clarified any of their inane comments about cervixes, rapists or dinosaurs?
Nothing. Nada. No impact. No change. Just the unleashing of the bullies to literally terrorise women.

I'm surprised there hasn't been a stronger 'Come back to Labour' push in red wall constituencies. They just seem to be assuming the voters will drift back, and to be fair maybe their polls are indicating that's the case. But now they've broken the habit of a lifetime those votes will surely be much more precarious, regardless of what they're telling pollsters.

There are loads of brilliant, professional, expert and academic women engaged in this struggle who aren’t the self appointed ‘Real, Actual Gender Critical Feminists’ who we jokingly refer to as the The Head Girls.

Look at the Sex Matters open letter in support of Posie.
The tiny number of orgs that are missing from the signatories list are the ones run by The Real Feminists.

There are many women, of course, who wouldn't call themselves a feminist, or who haven't identified with that label for a long time. I'd include myself in that. A feminist is for me simply a woman who thinks that women matter; who appreciates the female perspective, and who says so. Certainly not a 'professional feminist'.

Absolutely.