New book coming out! "The Women Who Wouldn't Wheesht"

[howonearthdidwegethere]

Co-edited by Lucy Hunter Blackburn and Susan Dalgety.

Comes out in a fortnight:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Women-Who-Wouldnt-Wheesht/dp/1408720701/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Evn51TzBTQrJe9b9GbEHyEFxl2MMln5spNZq8KWlzZA.Z6MAj1OSoGOZ1ctUF1Qr819FGWFktyVV0qkMp_0q3pc&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+women+who+wouldn%27t+wheesht&qid=1715848364&sr=8-1

"On the 25th anniversary of the Scottish Parliament, this book captures an important moment in contemporary history: how a grassroots women's movement, harking back to the suffragettes and second wave feminists of the 1970s and 1980s, took on the political establishment - and changed the course of history.

Through a collection of over thirty essays and photographs, some of the women involved tell the story of the five-year campaign to protect women's sex-based rights. Author J.K. Rowling explains why she used her global reach to stand up for women. Leading SNP MP Joanna Cherry writes of how she risked her political career for her beliefs. Survivors of male violence who MSPs refused to meet are given the voice they were denied at Holyrood. Ash Regan MSP recounts what it was like to become the first government minister to resign on a question of principle since the SNP came to power in 2007. Former prison governor Rhona Hotchkiss charts how changes in prison policy in Scotland led to the controversy over Isla Bryson.

It is the story of women who risked their job, reputation, even the bonds of family and friendship, to make their voices heard, and ended up - unexpectedly - contributing to the downfall of Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's first woman first minister."

Features essays from JKR and others.

https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/jk-rowling-writes-essay-on-standing-up-for-women-for-new-book-on-campaign-to-protect-rights-4629745

I decided I couldn't wait for the library to get the copy I'd requested so this afternoon I absentmindedly forgot my overspent book-buying budget, and popped into the little branch of Waterstones in the southern English market town I was driving through on my way home. It didn't seem like the kind of place that would stock a book like Wheesht but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask. Lo and behold, there were three copies on a high-up shelf.

I had the feeling that the assistant was not hugely approving and that maybe the books had been put on display reluctantly, but I bought one nonetheless. She noted the purchase on her handwritten tally of books sold that afternoon just as 'Wheesht', which made me smile. That's my evening sorted!

It was a cracking read from start to finish 💜

I've just read the Jenny Lindsay chapter, and I needed to come here just to share how angry I am about her treatment. So fucking angry.

Via her Twitter, I have just read this Wendy Cope poem for the first time and thought I'd share it here, as it is extremely relevant to the subject matter of the book!

Agree, IdgieThreadgoodeIsMyHeroine, the Jenny Lindsay chapter was particularly enraging, as was the Gillian Philip one. Both were so badly treated by people they thought they could trust.

On the J.K. Rowling chapter- are we all assuming the 'young woman' who sent a handwritten note while castigating JKR in public has the initials EW?

My local bookshop has sold out.

Painful reading. It's all so local and I didn't know the half of it. And reading how these women who very bravely didn't wheesht and just tried to do the democratic thing have been ignored and overridden by the people who are supposed to represent us... It 's really got to me.

I finished it last night. What a book!

I totally agree about the Jenny Lindsay and Gillian Philp chapters, both of which had me raging. I was also very struck by the chapters written by politicians, especially the one by Pam Gosal and Rachael Hamilton, which shines a cold, hard light on the shady goings-on in our parliament, and on the extent of shameless ideological capture of those who are elected (and well-paid) to represent us. It's shocking. And what on earth's happening at Edinburgh University, which is the backdrop for several chapters. One of my daughters went there, and I'm so glad she did her degree before all this nonsense started.

I think, though, the chapters that made most impression on me were the ones by the women we never hear from, and perhaps most of all, the foreword by the woman who coined 'women won't wheesht' and her story of her daughter. We fight this cause for the vulnerable girls and women who most need not to have their rights trampled on.

@Christinapple people
like you are the reason JK was advised not to put her head above the parapet. People who aren't able to listen intelligently to an opinion. And when I say opinion, I mean the statement of incontrovertible facts: like the fact that trans women are trans women, not women.

Book launch link

Message from Filia

A huge thank you to everyone who made this important book launch possible – to the speakers, the FiLiA team and to you, the attendees.
We sold out, with 1,000 of you registering.
The feedback has been tremendous and emotional.
"Thank you for hosting this book launch. It was fantastic, emotional, empowering and inspirational"
"I am going to contact the libraries in my work area to order copies. They may refuse but as you all said 'Don't give up!'"
"What a fabulous session - thank you so much"
Apologies to those of you who were unable to access the webinar – we have written to Zoom to ask why it was impossible for some of us (including our CEO!) to join, and will let you know the outcome of that complaint.
The FiLiA team have turned around the recording quickly and you are the first to receive the
Enjoy re-watching (or watching for the first time!).
We are pleased to share a message from Lucy Hunter Blackburn and Susan Dalgety with you:
“We are overwhelmed by response to the launch, and the book. Thanks to everyone. Over the last few years all of us have been bound together by our sex, holding each up other, looking out for each other. A manifestation of FiLiA’s values - sisterhood and solidarity.”
Thank you again for being a part of this historic event.
Sisterhood and Solidarity,
FiLiA team

I’m finding it a tough read. Most on here seem to have zipped through it but I keep having to put it down because of rage or tears. Every essay is shocking.

Julie Bindel has written about it in Unherd

https://unherd.com/2024/06/why-scotlands-witches-fought-back/

Some of the comments are a bit nitpicky and, of course, there's always at least one who put the blame for the whole thing on those pesky feminists.

It was a very tough read. Quite a few bits have really stayed in my mind, including where Claire L. Heuchan describes vomiting out of sheer panic, during a talk by the Head of Security at U of E about the violence and abuse they were likely to encounter during the event titled 'women's sex based rights'. And Julie Bindel was attacked after the event.

An event simply to discuss women's sex based rights.

There were a few times I had to put the book down to have a cry.

I'm always astonished at what the fuck has happened to Scotland. 'You'll have had your Enlightenment then?'.

Yes, reading it too and wondering how this has happened. I'm determined to talk to every person I can about it, to use my vote wisely, and to make sure every candidate in my constituency knows this is important. We have a fight on our hands here in Scotland and, after Labour get in, across the country. Dig in for the long term...

Posted by Jenny Lindsay on Twitter

Thank you for link to book launch. Thought provoking and well worth watching, thank you.

https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/the-women-who-wouldnt-wheesht-review-susan-dalgety-lucy-hunter-blackburn-wvrd6q50c

Overseas member here. DHL delivered my copy on Friday! I sneaked a peek at the introduction and the first essay, but I got an advanced reading copy (?) too, which I need to read and review first...
Would have loved to make a point at the local bookstore, but as this is a foreign language non- fiction book, not much point in a rural German bookstore. Also, it's 10 € more expensive via bookstores!
From previous posters, I can see I will be in for a ride. Maybe, just maybe, German women can take advice from their Scottish sisters...

”Women’s Rights and Gender Wrongs” is another book with pieces looking at the impact of gender ideology in an international context . Also deeply shocking.

https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/sunday-times-bestsellers-list-book-sales-chart-fnxjm0bnl

Number 3

Dear @SusanSmithFWS Susan thank you so much for this book . I don’t generally read much these days but have been getting stuck into this one .

i am full of admiration for all of you and often welling up with tears as I do . I have made a point of reading this in public as much as I can . On the tube , train and in a walk in centre nursing poorly toe as my contribution to the Women who wouldn’t Wheesht .

I too am no longer going to be silent your writing has inspired and moved me.
Thank you x

Article in tomorrow's Sunday Times by the co-editors.

Will be interesting to find out tomorrow whether the book is still in the top ten Sunday Times hardback non-fiction bestsellers list.

https://www.thetimes.com/article/aa95266d-f1be-4eb8-ac0c-16fb13abd3bc?shareToken=1d465fe2435dfa9cd086189ecb9f08d8

I bought my copy today in Waterstones! Can't wait to read it. Thank you @SusanSmithFWS ; all you ladies who wrote and organised this are stars! You make me proud to be Scottish when nothing else currently makes me proud.

The book was displayed at the front of the store beside all the other new books. And this was a Glasgow Waterstones as well! I was expecting a bad reaction from the guy at the till (after all the threads I'd been reading about that said people buying books got glares and huffy staff) but he smiled and joked with me as my toddler was acting up and I couldn't get him to sit still (was also buying Bluey books).

TWWWW is excellent. And if you enjoy crime thrillers, another book I'd recommend is Drew Augustine's 'The Twenty Murders' on Amazon. It's set in Scotland and the backdrop is the battle for women's rights. Great holiday read!

Wow. It's still on the Sunday Times bestseller list (at no.9 in non fiction hardback).

https://www.thetimes.com/article/c5ffe854-28da-40b8-92d8-dc2e07dc679f?shareToken=00e8bbc7c6773bb336bb8f133b209e87