Women's rights general conversations - Thread 6

[Kucinghitam]

Continuation of Thread 5.

There is so much excellent information and so many active discussions on FWR that I wondered if it would be useful to have a thread to sort of "cross-fertilise" between them - airing little thoughts or vignettes that wouldn't themselves merit their own thread, to highlight other posts/threads of particular interest or to point to notable developments on fast-moving threads so that casual observers know where to look.

(For example, "the X thread has meandered onto a fascinating discussion of Y" or "Poster P's amazing analysis on thread Z might have relevance to the scenario in thread W" or "Has anybody noticed this recurring theme that keeps coming up??" or even "Random bloke asked me to smile while I was choosing onions in the supermarket, grr"- that sort of thing).

I'm applying for a training course at work - it's for something tangential to my main role and I've been dipping my toe into, found interesting and am hoping to move more towards. So I think having this training will be a useful step in ultimately moving sideways if an opportunity arises (I'll be able to say that I have experience of doing XYZ informally and now also have this documented training).

Anyway. The application form has got off to a surprising start. The first field is Pronouns, i.e. before Name, Contact Details, etc. Fortunately it's not a mandatory field.

I’d be tempted to put “I/me/my”, as I once saw suggested here on MN.

Good luck with the application!

I would put "Fuck/Off" but I actually want to get accepted

If ever asked for my pronouns I think I would start with I/me/my. Fortunately I quit my job before they really became much of a thing and the pandemic got in the way of me ever really looking for another one.

Talking of which this is a very entertaining and educational thread:

Asking someone’s pronouns is as important as finding out their name http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4896885-asking-someones-pronouns-is-as-important-as-finding-out-their-name

@MmePoppySeedDefage Oh god, maybe the writer of that article was also responsible for designing my application form?

It sometimes makes me sad that I am old and retired, so I have very little opportunity to self-ID on application forms or employment surveys or whatever. Because I have very much reached piss-taking point on this nonsense. Perhaps I should start some sort of campaign claiming it is ageist not to ask me to state my pronouns.

https://www.libsoftiktok.com/p/breaking-missouri-dept-of-health?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

I have no words that are printable!

Things like this make me worry about poor Mrs Overton's window. I'm (and always have been) 'liberal', leftish, a Labour voter. But I didn't sign up to defending this kind of shit. Every new thing moves the window a bit further to the Right, and that worries me. To be clear, I lay 90% of the blame for this at the cowardice of the Labour Party, Greens, Plaid, etc, who have rolled over and forgotten their broader values.

I was worried I wasn't getting notifications for the thread but we'd all just been quiet over the weekend. Phew!

Currently caught up in the RB threads. I don't know how we stand a chance when so many women are against each other. "You should go to the police, although of course I wouldn't." etc, etc, etc.

Yes, just found the RB threads, and I can see how rapists who get as far as being charged and tried (1.8% of reported cases iirc) get off, when even women jurors don’t trust their sisters can be telling the truth. “Poor bloke, imagine the damage a false allegation would wreak on his future, his prospects, his swimming career…”

In reality, almost none.

The thing that depressed me the most about the RB revelations was my own cynicism.

My initial reaction was a weary sort of "No Shit Sherlock. 'Male public figure is sexual predator' is the opposite of News. I'd frankly be vastly-knock-me-down-with-a-feather more astonished if somebody published an exposé of a male public figure for being genuinely a lifelong decent chap."

I'm baffled by the whole 'news story of the year' thing. He's never exactly hidden his views or behaviour.

And yes, I'm.a bit tempted to publish my shocking, tell-all memoir of Male Celebrities I've Spent Time Alone With Who Behaved Like Perfect Gentlemen.

(For the record: Leslie Phillips and Brian Blessed. Both absolutely lovely to a cub reporter.)

Can we get sound with these .gifs?

That's how I feel too.

I've avoided commenting about it here and other platforms because it's really awful to see people questioning the victims. Not in a legal way but in a 'well, why didn't they report it until now?'/'well I wasn't raped by him!'/'not all men!' kind of way.

Ha! He's an absolute nightmare for transcribing from a dictaphone - not the peak volume, but the range. Each sentence can go from whisper to boom and back again so you strain to hear and then get deafened. Fascinating to talk to though - if you're interested in Mars, Everest, Buddhism, dogs, deep sea trenches, yetis, more dogs - and perfect manners. He only had 1 clean glass in his dressing room, so gave me that and he drank from a vase (water for both of us).

Here's some music to start your week: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4898164-terf-anthems?

“He only had 1 clean glass in his dressing room, so gave me that and he drank from a vase (water for both of us).”

I love this!

I was reading the RB threads on Friday and Saturday but haven’t caught up since the programme went out (and I’ve only watched half of it).

As an exposé of one person who was known to be a sex-obsessed former drug addict, the ‘story of the year’ hype was over the top but it seems to me that the big story is the way the entertainment industry enables abusers and the perennial story of rape as an underreported crime for which justice is all but impossible to get. In that respect the report about the way reports of rape are being treated in universities should probably be seen as just as big a story: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/sep/17/its-a-power-game-students-accused-in-university-hearings-call-in-lawyers

Was just reading Unherd on (loosely) Brand,, and this piece jumped out at me:

in a 2020 BBC Disclosure survey of 2,049 UK men aged between 18-39, 71% said they had slapped, choked, gagged or spat on their partner during consensual sex. One third of that percentage said they wouldn’t ask verbal consent for such acts, either before or during sex.

https://unherd.com/2023/09/russell-brands-sexual-apocalpse/?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3

Blokes thinking 'consensual' means 'I enjoyed it' is Autumn 2023's least nice new thing.

I've been reading articles about the unhappiness of young girls, mostly in the Guardian. It's about everything but there's nothing about gender ideology and girl with trans identities. I can only assume that once these girls say they're trans they fall outside the scope of the articles.

I got a response (of sorts) from the Labour Party today to an email I sent to their Women's Forum asking their view on the Brighton Labour councillor who was in need of 're-education'.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4894589-councillor-removed-from-lead-role-for-engaging-with-transphobic-posts-on-social-media?latest=1

What was the response, @duc748 ?

It's at the bottom of the linked thread.

(But in summary: 'pay us to be re-educated'.)