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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

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Original poster

Has anyone else been forced to become Conservative after all of this?

357 replies

ponderingsoul · 22/04/2023 11:31

Probably the wrong wording, but I'm curious - after always considering myself fairly left wing/ liberal and generally voting Labour (or tactically Lib Dem when I was in the SW), I no longer really consider them a valid option for me because of their gender views/ inability to take a view.

Has this happened to anyone else? Never thought I'd be a Tory, but now feel like I have no choice as this issue is so important to me.

OP posts:
Cherryblossoms85 · 22/04/2023 22:58

Nope, I'm just spoiling my ballot instead. They can all fuck off.

Thelnebriati · 22/04/2023 23:05

No, I'm still left wing. Its just that the Labour Party isn't, and I can't vote for them.

AutumnCrow · 22/04/2023 23:12

I'm going to collect some ballot-spoiling haikus.

women shine, children
too. My vote was bright but you
covered us in bile

AutumnCrow · 22/04/2023 23:15

I am still left wing
The Labour Party isn't
I can't vote for them

DojaPhat · 22/04/2023 23:52

Yup. The tories are the only party who give a damn about women. I don't want to risk what Labour would do to gut the material conditions of women. Maternal care might be woeful, the NHS on its knees, there might be more food banks and an increase in child poverty, maybe even some women feeling unsafe on the streets but the tories know we have vaginas and that's the important thing that I wish more people understood. I have a vagina and I need them to scream it from the rooftops of Parliament!

Anklespraying · 22/04/2023 23:56

Most of those things you complain about are left wing DojaPhat. The majority of NHS staff are left wing, the standard of work they provide is the standard you get from a million left wing people working together. Not very good.

Thelnebriati · 22/04/2023 23:57

The NHS does not recruit based on how staff vote, the idea is ridiculous.

NatashaDancing · 23/04/2023 00:14

Gingerkittykat · 22/04/2023 19:02

I am a former SNP and Yes supporter. The shitshow around Brexit has made me change my mind about independence and I won't be voting SNP or Green for obvious reasons.

I will never vote Tory or libdem so my only choice is Labour, I want the tories out of UK government and they are the best chance to get the SNP out in my area in the Scottish Parliament.

I've been voting Tory in Holyrood and Westminster elections since the inception of the Scottish Parliament.

DojaPhat · 23/04/2023 00:27

@Anklespraying Exactly my point!!! If just 4000 nurses on circa £30k pooled their salaries they could afford to buy an MRI machine for a hospital. Moaning about long shifts and parking is a waste of the energy they could spend organising to club together! But that's left wing for you, just moan about everything then go on strike! Perhaps if nurses made a flask of soup at home instead of shelling out on Costa sandwiches they'd manage to make their salaries go further!

MyMarmite · 23/04/2023 00:32

Yep. Lifelong labour supporter here prepared to vote Tory because of this. At least Rishi knows what a woman is and it isn’t someone with a penis.

BreadInCaptivity · 23/04/2023 00:41

I've spoiled my ballot for the last 5 years on the basis of self id rather than vote Labour (writing why in my ballot).

This time, well I'm still considering my options.

As stands Labour will not get my vote.

However this time round I'm prepared to go further and if it looks like a tight Tory/Labour fight in my constituency - then I'm ticking the blue box for the first time in my life and I won't lose any sleep over it.

I don't give a shit about past policy- I care about what the parties are saying now and only the Tories are being clear on no to self id and protecting single sex spaces.

I'm also way over about "the bigger picture". Personally I think screwing over 51% of the population is the fucking picture as is voting for a party that's be captured by an ideology that defies reality.

If other people want to vote for a party that can't grasp basic biology and think they have credibility over any issue whilst their politicians are making tits of themselves (or putting their misogyny on full display) to justify the erasure of women's rights then they can crack on, but they won't make me feel guilty about my voting choices.

SammyScrounge · 23/04/2023 00:51

HathorsFigTree · 22/04/2023 12:12

I’ve become more of a small c conservative. All the radical changes which have been pushed through in the last couple of decades, I now understand what conservatives are on about when they speak about the importance of family life, preserving culture and tradition, etc.

All the stuff about re-naming everything, throwing statures in rivers, endless ruminating and grovelling about past misdeeds instead of honouring what has worked to bring us to a pretty fair and decent here and now. I’ve got a real distaste for it - it just seems like angry mob rule.

This makes me appreciate the Tories a lot more, even though I do believe in redistributing wealth, having generous, well-maintained municipal facilities and effective and transparent regulation, so I am still more left.

Well put. I feel the same. The way I see it, the economy the NHS and other issues present us with fixable problems. The treatment of so called trans children is irreversible and can leave a child with permanent health problems. Really, there is no choice but a Tory vote.

HarrietSchulenberg · 23/04/2023 00:56

No. There is literally nothing that would ever make me vote for the Conservative party. Nothing. I would spoil my ballot first.

sashh · 23/04/2023 02:34

I'm politically homeless. I have my postal vote for the council election, I will be spoiling it.

I contacted the three labour candidates about something that had been put through my door from them and also asked what a woman was, I got a reply from one saying all discrimination is wrong one way or another and the other two didn't reply

I replied tot he one that did saying I could not vote for him and that he hadn't answered the question and that a lot of discrimination is actually good eg we don't let people drive on public roads until a certain age and with an appropriate licence and a couple of other things.

3 days later, no reply so I'm deciding what to write on my ballot.

For anyone thinking that is a waste of a vote, all candidates read / look at spoiled ballots as they have to agree they are spoiled.

AGovernmentOfLawsAndNotMen · 23/04/2023 02:36

I’m completely torn on this issue.
I have never voted Tory but they seem to be the only ones at the moment who at least know who / what I am.
The issue of womens rights is very important to me but not the be all and end all.
At the moment I am, however, thinking I’ll probably go Tory
If Labour come out with a better stance on biological woman's rights then I’ll vote for them.
It shouldn’t just be about one issue, I know, but I don’t want to lose everything we have fought for.

DemiColon · 23/04/2023 02:54

AutumnCrow · 22/04/2023 17:47

Fact: Penny Mordaunt, when representing the government from the despatch box, said 'TWAW and TMAM'. She was 'Paymaster General' at the time.

Fact: She is still in government and has been made the Leader of the Commons by Rishi Sunak.

Yes, the Tories have tended to let MPs have their own opinions o this and to speak about the.

I think it's clear by now that this is a good thing, even though it means that sometimes some MPs might not share your viewpoint.

Cheekymaw · 23/04/2023 03:55

Forced to vote Tory my arse . This has all been happening under their watch or have you forgot. Families can barely afford to hear their homes and feed their children because of those maniacs and they have wrecked the NHS , so no, I won't be voting Tory. I don't you ever voted Labour anyway, OP.

blackpearwhitelilies · 23/04/2023 04:08

Cheekymaw · 23/04/2023 03:55

Forced to vote Tory my arse . This has all been happening under their watch or have you forgot. Families can barely afford to hear their homes and feed their children because of those maniacs and they have wrecked the NHS , so no, I won't be voting Tory. I don't you ever voted Labour anyway, OP.

Well said.

Floisme · 23/04/2023 07:16

How predictable, putting the blame on women. Here's an idea: if you're feeling angry, go ask Labour what they've been smoking, and why they'd rather let the Conservatives regain ground than say something out loud that everyone knows to be true.

If Labour knocks on your door, show them clips of Lloyd Russell-Moyle yelling at Miriam Cates in the Commons and ask them how they think it makes them look.

Ask Keir Starmer why he's too big a scaredy cat to be seen in public with the utterly reasonable (but far too accommodating) Labour Women's Declaration.

Tell them they've still got time to sort this out but they won't for much longer.

ILoveTulipsandDaffodils · 23/04/2023 07:21

I completely get where you’re coming from. I grew up in a northern working class town where historically the conservatives did a lot of damage and was taught to hate them from an early age. But the GC issue is the number one issue I feel most strongly about and as such I feel like I’m left with no choice but to vote for them 😔

FOJN · 23/04/2023 07:58

The majority of NHS staff are left wing......

How do you know this? I worked in the NHS for years, all the people in senior positions read the Telegraph not the Guardian.

PatientZorro · 23/04/2023 08:24

Yes OP. I’m a floating voter and I am leaning towards voting conservative because of this very issue.

Both Labour and Conservative policy have many many flaws, so I might as well differentiate between them on a subject which I view as of fundamental importance - if I cannot trust a political party to protect my sex based rights then the rest of their policies are meaningless because nobody can confirm how they would apply to women.

DojaPhat · 23/04/2023 08:27

Cheekymaw · 23/04/2023 03:55

Forced to vote Tory my arse . This has all been happening under their watch or have you forgot. Families can barely afford to hear their homes and feed their children because of those maniacs and they have wrecked the NHS , so no, I won't be voting Tory. I don't you ever voted Labour anyway, OP.

But look at the bigger picture! Not only do the tories understand basic biology they are also against the change that's been happening in the last decade or so. I don't think it's right that like a pp said we're still grovelling over past "misdeeds" or throwing statues into rivers - slavery might have been bad but it's in the past and it's not like anything that bad really happened.

Also unless you're forgetting it doesn't actually matter what the tories do or don't do to improve the material conditions of women. All that matters is that they have understood it is politically expedient to say 'women don't have penises'. Who cares if women's lot is still in the gutter thereafter, it's important that they know we all have vaginas. Whether you as a vagina owner can afford to heat your home, feed your children and access healthcare is really not the point of a government.

DojaPhat · 23/04/2023 08:27

This board makes me so glad to be a feminist. It's opened my eyes to a way of thinking that took me far too long to get my head around.