The WI were at Brighton Pride today with a big sign saying "the WI is for all women"....

[itsjustlikeyousaiditwouldbe]

....girl guiding also had a stall.

Not seen either of them there before.

Not sure what to make of that.

This.

'All women' is achieved by unwomaning all the inconvenient ones.

This works to the benefit of those biologically male and to the detriment and exclusion of those biologically female.

It is therefore logical to summarise that extending the term 'woman' to mean 'those of any sex who wish', benefits males and harms females.

<slow handclap>

It just means that women and girls aren’t allowed to have anything for themselves. And some women fa imitate this.

They are just setting up a new WI near me and the article in a local mag explicitly says : "We welcome anyone who identifies as a Woman."

Will be interesting to know if that will put off real women..

@GreenShadow Maybe you need to quote the ‘No men’ mandate to them as posted above from the WI website.

They'll just tell her there are no men. Just various types of women... Isn't that the whole problem? Men wearing skirts declaring they're women are perfectly welcome.

Oh god that’s a total typo🫣 I really should proof read/wear my glasses!

Yes apologies very stupid typo 😩 have deleted my post to avoid further confusion!

The problem is that one of the organisers ( and the one who wrote the newsletter article) has a daughter who now likes to be known as a male. So really hard to criticise as she takes it personally.

Helen Joyce talks about this and the toxic impact these parents have on organisations - along with the terrible long term outcomes for them and their children:

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2023/07/19/helen_joyce_the_parents_of_trans_children_will_not_be_able_to_move_on.html

Maybe people working with parents like this working in public sphere while pushing an ideology on behalf of their own self interests could introduce them to the Nolan Principles of Public Life - especially Integrity:

"Integrity – Holders of public office must avoid placing themselves under any obligation to people or organisations that might try inappropriately to influence them in their work. They should not act or take decisions to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends".

Thanks for both your posts on lack of impartiality MrsOvertonsWindow

I was trying to write something and couldn't express it.

But yes, so improper.

You’re welcome @ResisterRex - it really is an astonishing screeching reverse from “we might have to ban [adult] lesbian Members because male sex offenders in Scouting” to rolling out the welcome mat for male sex offenders. Alongside being astonished binning off God from the Promise i. lost them volunteers & ii. did not bring in an influx of new volunteers but did iii. start up rows over the use of Taps & Brownie Bells & iv. caused problems because the “One Promise For All” is clunky & so nonsensical that no resources have ever been produced for activities to help girls understand “to be true to myself & develop my beliefs”. (Yes, they used that bit of “Hamlet”; apparently nobody thought to check Spark Notes or give it a quick Google.) Chief Exec who oversaw Programme & Promise-trashing & making Girlguiding mixed-sex openly said she didn’t care her decisions were excluding lots of Muslim girls from the Movement. (Orthodox Jewish girls usually belong to closed Units, which means Membership is limited to [Orthodox] Jews. There aren’t many around & you can’t create them any longer - I don’t think there are any other than Jewish & Catholic ones. Which was about a weird mix of enabling those girls to take part in Guiding where families/communities didn’t feel comfortable with them having to Do Protestant Things - & conversely; enabling them to take part because antisemitism & anti-Catholicism/sectarianism were & are issues in the UK & parcelling girls off into their own spaces meant they didn’t experience [much of] it in Guiding.)

(For avoidance all doubt, I do not mean all TW are [would-be] sex offenders &/or paedophiles nor all males who wish to be Unit Helpers nor fathers who choose to fill slots on parent rotas when female relatives are available to do so.)

@NitroNine if I understand you correctly, you hit the nail on the head here.

Did you use to be a leader?

Please don't send your daughter to Guides. There is no guarantee they will keep her safe.

Personally think it would be best if it were just Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, seems unfair that boys don't have a single sex group, and perhaps if they did it would prevent a number of boys trying to get into the Girl Guides?

"the WI is for all women"

including the ones who aren't women at all. Bless.

Scouts only started letting girls in because not enough boys were interested and they had to do something to keep going. Guiding is pretty much always oversubscribed, we can't get all the girls in that want to join so no need to accept boys unless they say the magic words

In fact it is now exclusively for women with the privilege of being able to indulge in a luxury belief that enables men at the expense of excluding many women.

From the women's institute.

The WI identify as this being 'inclusive'. While closing their doors to many women such as ones from different faiths, cultures, beliefs, disabilities, traumas..... it's not like they matter or should have access is it? #onlywomen

@Eggybrains
I am indeed a former Leader. I believe deeply in Guiding; but Girlguiding (with the racism, ableism, sectarianism, classism etc etc) has abandoned everything Guiding is meant to be about. It’s an absolute disgrace of an organisation.

If Girlguiding & WAGGGS would support another Guiding group forming in the UK using the single sex exemption I’d be there like a shot. As long as I got to [help] design the Programme I mean 😉

If JK Rowling feels like funding a single sex Girl Guides Association that’d be just grand. Maybe we could buy Foxlease from Girlguiding as a start 🤷‍♀️

@TWETMIRF But Girlguiding is operating at a loss and isn't financially sustainable as matters stand....

But period products are for ‘people’? I just don’t get it…

@NitroNine where are you based?

I don't see there being a hope of "Foxies Future" successfully buying and running Foxlease

I'd join you if you did the above re new organisation! It would be brilliant. Does it need to be part of WAGGGS? Have you approached them to discuss?

I want to leave because of this but I'll do more good staying and challenging it. One woman said it's ok as it's only men who have had the full op, I asked how they'd know and if we were checking at the door?

Is this WI? Not Girlguiding?

Cos if you're talking about Girlguiding you'll be thrown out for even asking questions about keeping girls safe, as I understand it. So you can't do more good by staying and challenging it. So much for Girlguiding encouraging girls to "Speak Out". You can speak out, but only if you say what Girlguiding want you to say.

WI,sorry,should've made that clear but was too busy frothing .