Women's rights general conversations - Thread 8

[Kucinghitam]

Continuation of Thread 7.

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 think it's this (from Wikipedia)

University members
editMain article: University constituency
The two ancient universities of Cambridge and Oxford elected two members each from 1603. The franchise was restricted to holders of doctoral and master's degrees, which excluded the great bulk of graduates (mostly Anglican clergy) holding bachelor's degrees.[citation needed] Both universities had about 500 electors in the 18th century, rising to 800 by 1832, but at most elections a much smaller number actually voted. After the Act of Union of 1801, Dublin University also elected one member.

I presume if any woman obtained a Doctoral or Master's degree she would have been in danger of being eligible to vote for the members elected by the Universities. Possibly not the only reason for blocking female graduates, but probably a reason.

Only abolished in 1948!

Shoulder to Shoulder is on iPlayer at the moment and is a reasonable dramatisation and good introduction to the suffragette movement

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0h845dz/shoulder-to-shoulder-1-the-pankhursts

I just came to post that clip, but see its already here. I never thought I'd find myself on the side of Ted Cruz. But God that was a good watch

I don't think I could watch that. Ted Cruz is, if possible, maybe even a bigger shit than Donald Trump. But hey-ho, if it gets the right result.

I am distinctly uneasy to find myself supporting anything Ted Cruz says, and I certainly won't vote Republican in November, but he's absolutely right on this one.

Deleted.

I hope that woman was thinking 'Dear God, I've put Ted Cruz....Ted Cruz! on the side of the angels. How fucked up is that?'

Bet she isn't though. They'll be a glitter family ready to tell her what she wants ...needs to hear. Perhaps it'll help her sleep at night. Not sharing her room with a 6ft rapist will help too.

Way to go U.S. liberals, it takes a special kind of genius to manage handing the moral high ground to Ted Cruz. TED FKN CRUZ. I can see why the Australian left looks up to you so much and emulates all your activism.
That said, I don't think this kind of judge is a new phenomenon. There was a female judge in Queensland who, it must be about 20 years ago now, gave six Indigenous men who had gang raped a 12 year old girl non-custodial sentences. Which was somehow super liberatory because black men's lives are often ruined by rape accusations. And, as she explained in her judgement, girls in that community become sexually active earlier than others so she probably would have started having sex soon anyway (the victim was First Nations too). The mainstream media were all over it like a rash, of course, and she was stepped down in ignomy after a massive public backlash.

Oops, no, that's right, nary a peep in the broadsheets was made, and she stayed on her three-quarter-of-a-million dollar salary and retired in luxury (I guess, unfortunately, the Ted Cruzes of Australia don't give a shit about poor black girls either).
My ideal, at my true core, is to live up to Adrienne Rich's rallying call to work for the liberation of all women, even those women I dislike, even those poor little rich girls who shit from a great height on the most vulnerable women and girls in our world. But I suspect, if it was actually left to me and my baser instincts, they'd be the first against the wall and I'd hold all the rifles myself.

12 years old. Dear God.

Is this doable before the election? I hope so!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5081487-victoria-atkins-to-introduce-a-banning-order-on-puberty-blockers-under-section-62-of-the-medicines-act-1968?

Hopefully she has already done it. If not as Labour were not disagreeing it may still be possible.

bignosebignose · Yesterday 14:03

Did you by any chance happen upon that via the Wings piece on that Adam Ramsay chap? If not, also worth a read. A throwing down of the gauntlet to sue for calling him a liar.

I think that was the route, yes.

I'm not sure it is doable. I think today is the last day of parliament so it would have to be done by, well already given the time now.

I'm less worried about this than I was. The good thing about Starmer being someone who turns in whichever direction the wind is blowing is that the one thing you can trust him to do is not have a real solid opinion about anything. Labour were worryingly GI but the Cass report has really changed that. I have no doubt that if the ban hasn't happened today it will happen under the new Labour government. The GI-ers are now totally outnumbered by the people who know which side their bread is buttered on even though they may have no spine or real conviction.

@MouseMinge The good thing about Starmer being someone who turns in whichever direction the wind is blowing is that the one thing you can trust him to do is not have a real solid opinion about anything.

Arf. That's the barrister training: argue for whichever side is paying you.

@MouseMinge !

Good to see you!

I was just reading an interview with Mehdi Hasan in the NS. I always had a lot of time for him; smart guy. The piece is mostly about MH's recent history, and Gaza. But at the end of the piece, he is asked:

Mehdi Hasan walks away from no debate, so I asked him to resolve the fraught issue of those born male competing in female sports. “I start from a position of inclusion,” he said. “I read a piece that said actually a lot the swimming stuff is exaggerated.” I asked him about other sports. “Why are we even talking about this? I don’t give a shit about weightlifting.”
I suggested that the right have seized upon such equivocation on this vexed issue in order to hit the left. “You get around them by questioning the entire premise of the debate,” he replied. But should rights be based on sex or gender? “Your rights should be based on your humanity.” After a pause: “I haven’t thought long and hard about this. Perhaps I should. It’s a big issue, apparently.”

it seems a lot of smart guys (and a few smart women too) have somehow not really thought about the issue at all, even now, as he actually admits.

Apparently his book states that debaters should both prepare thoroughly and listen carefully. He has clearly done neither.

He may be 'smart' in the way many public schoolboys> Oxbridge grads are taught to be but on close examination that often turns out to be a rather superficial layer of confidence and debating.skills rather than true intelligence (and frequently hamstrung by prejudice). Based on the above he lacks either the intellectual curiosity to engage with the question, or the capacity to understand it.

That's me told, then.

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You know when you've been Bintold!

Arf! 😃

Threads about the election are now proliferating all over FWR, too many to link, but I'm finding myself unable to look away. I expect the level of squirrel-pointing, forced-teaming, vote-scolding and Righteous lecturing to go through the stratosphere by election week.

I'm finding it very hard to care. Turn on the TV, and it's windbaggery and gaslighting the public. Fuck them all, not least the Andrew Marrs and Laura K's and the rest. "A duty to inform"? I wish.

https://bikepacking.com/plog/man-or-bear-debate

This is a really great post by a woman who has done an awful lot of solo travel, very interesting, recommended

Just a general reminder that it’s half term, it’s crap weather in lots of the country with not a lot to do.

Have been reading threads elsewhere on the site and thinking WTF? at half the replies until I remembered. Brace yourselves for incoming.

Just came across this in the DM

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13468453/Sex-predator-wig-fake-breasts.html

The pronouns! They use the word 'transvestite' <gasp>. He is a man preying on other drunk, probably very drunk men but he seems to me to be as much a transwoman as any other. He's even quoted saying a version of the mantra!

I hope his victims are able to recover from their ordeal.