Why I'm voting Conservative

[jomartin281271]

Firstly, let me say, it pains me to admit this because I’m not a Tory. I’ve always looked upon myself as a slightly left of centre, live and let live, community based, floating voter. But the more I look at this election campaign, the more I’ve realised that, to me, this is a one issue election. Women’s rights.
Starmer has been asked countless times about women’s private spaces, on radio and on TV. Each time he’s done everything he can to avoid answering the question. In any one of these interviews, he could have made his position clear, particularly on that phone in last week where the caller Jane said she was sick of the twaddle that comes out of his mouth.
Now he’s being quoted in the Telegraph as having said that biological males should not use women’s public toilets. This is a typical move by a politician. Leave it until the last minute, so he can’t be quizzed on what he actually means and then twist and deny it afterwards. I don’t trust him.
I don’t want to vote Conservative. After Partygate and the chaos caused by that idiot Liz Truss, they need a good kicking. But they’re the only party that have consistently come down on the side of women. If Labour get in and shift the gender landscape, the changes they make could be irreparable.
In the Victorian era, they didn’t build public toilets for women. It was a way of keeping women chained to the home. This is the direction we’re heading in if we don’t stand up and put a stop to it. And I don’t want to look back on this in years to come and realise I could have voted against this shift, but I let my political views get in the way.

Well the Tories have had 14 years to protect women and girls and did fuck all. Do you really think we’re stupid enough to vote for more Tory shit

If only all of the parties took an interest in us, then we would be in a far better position, but we are disregarded by most of them. Many can't even bring themselves to use the word 'woman' so although I agree with you in sentiment, the state of modern politics for women has never been worse. And indeed things could much much more unpleasant very quickly if Labour win.

This has been addressed many times.

They have turned a corner, which the other main parties evidentially haven't.

Yes, they've done a lot of shit.

However, they have commissioned the Cass Review and plan to implement it.

They have committed to clarifying the law on single sex spaces.

Do you really think any of the others would have done those things? In fact, they are very clearly telling us they will do the opposite.

We know the conservatives will not be forming the government tomorrow because all polling indicates a massive labour majority and although polls can be wrong, the chances of them being that wrong are miniscule.

We need plurality of votes among the MPs who will be elected.

It's worth considering the big picture.

I'll be voting Tory today, much as it pains me to do so and concerns me as to how I'll deal with the political conversations around me (it is not at all acceptable to vote Tory according to some around me; it's akin to saying you thought Hitler had the right ideas).

I admit to only having skim-read this thread but it's not surprising to see the usual scolding going on. It's absolutely the attitude of "We on the Left know what is best for you because we are morally superior and have the correct views" that makes me loathe so much of Left wing politics. And I say that as someone who has voted Labour for years (and Green/Lib Dem before that). The misogyny and patronisation of the Left can't be unseen once you see it.

I agree to some extent that it is about safeguarding - though I am not voting Conservative and I cannot vote for Labour.
But it is about toilets as well. Toilets for women - or lack thereof - are a very easy tool for men to use to control women and they are used in this way all over the planet. If we have nowhere to urinate in the public sphere in safety and privacy we cannot be there - bear in mind that women use toilets for more than peeing, for menstruation, for dealing with children, for dealing with effects of pregnancy. Also that childbirth's effects on our bodies mean we need loos far more frequently than most men (unless they have a prostate problem!) and not having one available makes life both miserable and impossible. I remember travelling through India and how the lack of usable toilets made life so difficult, to the point I dehydrated myself because eating or drinking was going to cause an embarrassing problem down the line. So it is about toilets - toilets exclusively for women allow women out of the house and into the public sphere where our voices can be heard.
No women's toilets = no freedom for women.*
*I wish it were unnecessary to say women means biological women, but I do need to, and it's about that, too! My words have been stolen and I want them back!

It's absolutely the attitude of "We on the Left know what is best for you because we are morally superior and have the correct views" that makes me loathe so much of Left wing politics.

Yes. This is what turns me cold too.

Fantastic post.

Actually, 'we on the Right also know what's best for you'. We are ruled by a technocracy, benevolent dictators who treat us as children to be corralled into what is good for us (because left to ourselves we make the 'wrong' decisions) and this is one reason the current election is so boring. Not one candidate has ideas or ideals or a vision of how they would like the future to be - though some are ideologists of the worst kind (the technocratic kind). I hope Rosie Duffield keeps her seat.

True

I’m 70 and I voted Tory for the first time in my life today. I feel really bad about it but there seemed to be no other option. I did write #LabourLosingWomen along the side of the ballot paper!
My female Tory MP is not a particularly great MP, but she has responded promptly and positively to my 2 emails on women’s rights. On the other hand the young Labour candidate has not responded to 2 polite emails querying his views. But he did have he/him on his Twitter bio and came out with the usual guff about the poor discriminated-against transgender lot at a hustings, so his views are pretty obvious.
What tipped me over the edge was David Lammy and his rude misogynistic ranting plus sheer biological stupidity in his interview this week, together with Starmer’s endless mind-changing.
I suspect we’re going to have to spend the next 5 years, kicking up a fuss, writing letters and much gardening. We’re 51% of the population and we can’t be ignored!

@Grammarnut I'd say at least the Tories, with their belief in small government and lower state intervention, are more likely to leave people alone. The Left (and I say this as someone who is a naturally leftish person) very much seems to like looking down on those for "wrong" opinions. Look at the demonisation of anyone who voted Leave.

But I completely agree with your post above, it's known as the "urinary leash". It was very much in evidence during Covid too, when public loos were closed. I walked across central London to find a loo that was open, then didn't dare have anything else to drink until I was home. Men can just pop behind a bush in a way that women can't.

Historically, the urinary leash was used to keep women in the home. It's why department stores and cafes becoming more prolific made such a different to women - they could leave the house further and for longer because they'd be able to go to the loo.

I’m 70 and I voted Tory for the first time in my life today. I feel really bad about it but there seemed to be no other option. I did write #LabourLosingWomen along the side of the ballot paper!

I think writing on your ballot paper invalidates it?

I think it does, but I guess if there was one vote in it the Conservative candidate could correctly argue that the vote was intended for her - which would actually make a brilliant news story and further the cause.

I admit to only having skim-read this thread but it's not surprising to see the usual scolding going on. It's absolutely the attitude of "We on the Left know what is best for you because we are morally superior and have the correct views" that makes me loathe so much of Left wing politics.

You would think that people would have learnt from the whole Brexit fiasco that calling people names and deliberately misinterpreting their position does nothing to change minds. And when you kid yourself into thinking that the only reason someone is voting in a particular way is because they are stupid or hateful you close your mind to the actual reasons that people vote the way they do.

I don't think people who think like this believe there's any reason to understand why others vote the way they do other than they're stupid/racist/bigoted etc. They just need to be educated!

<sigh>

Just left the house and got collared by Lib Dem minions leafleting the estate (for about the 5th time).

Took great pleasure in telling them I voted Conservative for the first time ever as I couldn't in all conscience condone what LDs are doing to women's rights.

He replied 'takes all sorts'.

I wish I'd been quick enough to respond 'it does indeed, but your party seems to think that 51% of all sorts don't need their sex based rights. Rights should be for everyone, not just the special cool kids. '

Good work AstonScrapings!

We've been knee-deep in leafleters this time round, I collared the Labour ones the other day and told them I would be an ex-Labour voter all the time they failed to protect women's sex-based rights. They said they'd pass the message on but I doubt they did.

The Greens knocked jauntily on the door earlier, sadly he got away before I'd found my keys. I'd only located one shoe else I'd have followed him down the street.

It doesn't, as long as the ballot paper shows a clear preference they will get the vote.

Precisely.

I chased the Lib Dem canvassers down the street a couple of weeks ago but they got away 😆

Wanted to give them a grilling.

I caught up with him outside the polling station and told him why I won’t vote Green. While carrying my “Woman: Adult Human Female” bag. He gave not one shit.

Labour were out leafleting as I left the house but I’d run out of time to harangue him too

I'm in a safe Labour seat, so rather than voting Tory, I've just spoilt my ballot first time ever.

Of all the parties I've written to in the last 6 years on this issue, the Lib Dems have consistently been the most offensive and childish.
In that context Ed Davies stunts are a continum.
£1.4 million they got from puberty blocker manufacturers.
Even the GP hasnt sunk that low.

No, writing on the ballot paper does not invalidate the vote. The ballot will be put in the spoiled ballots pile but each of these is viewed and it will be clearly seen that a valid vote has also been made - the comment will be read out to make sure everyone agrees it does not invalidate the vote.

I had an experience in Windermere after Covid. I went to the loo and found I needed 50p to get through the turnstyle. I had it, but my (late) DH and our male friend both declined to pay and found a tree. Woman in front of me had children with her, and had I been her I'd have lifted them over the turnstyle. Bless, she paid. But had I no money I'd have been stuck - also, some of the loos only took a card!