Women's rights general conversations - Thread 9

[Kucinghitam]

Continuation of Thread 8.

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).

As this is 'general conversation' may I bring up Lidl's Parkside tools?

I'm a big fan of the middle aisle in Lidl, and always check ahead on their website to see what new thing will gather dust on my workbench will be indispensable in my DIY and craft activities.

First of all there's the face and voice of Parkside tools: Arnie Schwarzenegger. Not exactly gender-fluid, right?😏 And so it continues: this week all the photos are of men using the tools; the work-trousers are men's work-trousers; the underwear [underwear? Parkside??] is men's; the safety boots start at size 7.

There isn't even a hint of a suggestion that women might use tools, or might have jobs where they need work-trousers or safety boots. Or, presumably, underwear.

Blatant gender stereotyping has made a big come-back😠
And they wonder why more girls aren't attracted to non-traditional jobs..

@MarieDeGournay I work as a gardener and this is something I deal with all the bloody time and it drives me nuts, though the issue has improved a bit in recent years. Work shirts? If they're made for women, forget it, so I buy men's outdoor shirts from the market. They're cheap and hard wearing but made for men. I've finally found some decent trousers - hurrah! - so bought five pairs. For years, gloves were a real issue and a lot of women's gloves were really flimsy things with flowers on them. Not great if it's 0C and you're up a ladder pruning roses. Whenever I find anything decent these days I buy several of them as you just know that if they're any good they'll disappear off the market.

Tools are a problem too as so many of them are just too big for my hands, but after searching everywhere I've managed to build up a really good tool bag.

Here's an example of 'one size fits all' and one of my hands.

Even when Lidl are stocking gloves that fit me (size 7) they don't have enough of them, - all the small-handed men and middling-handed women swoop in and buy them all, leaving the 10s and 11s.

Nice to hear from you @Sammidge , hope you stick around. I am also an alumni of The Other Place (not Eton). Haven't been back, and won't be back, since whatever it was that happened ("The Brightoning"?)

Sorry to hear the viscitudes of age are biting you, wishing you to be as well as you can be for as long as you can be.

Did you have a different name back there, Bez?

Yeah was OneOfOne

Hi All I’d missed this request from SexMatters for us to email to ask for the new digital information gateway to ask for data on sex not some nebulous concept: https://x.com/sexmattersorg/status/1910762421196570956?s=61
It’s very easy to do

Just done it! But tell me, am I a paranoid wimp whenever I write/sign any of these campaigns or petitions, and I know that my name will end up on my MP's list? He's a raging TRA in our super-studenty-and-crunchy-hippy constituency.

My previous MP was like that, But I kept on emailing him. To his credit, he always replied, politely but always with gender bollocks. We now have a TERF woman which is excellent.

I’d also missed this from this Sandy Peggie thread. I have sent an email (isn’t email wonderful?).

The judge is deciding on Tuesday about access, with NHS trying to keep it behind closed doors.
If anyone wants to write in to that decision making, asking for public access and for Tribunal Tweets to be allowed to continue tweeting when the case resumes in July, the address is
[email protected]
subject
4104864/2024 - Peggie v Fife Health Board

Email sent!

Thread from the DHSC on the use of puberty blockers (including a warning about not trying to circumvent the ban by going to dodgy overseas providers - whoever could they mean?): threadreaderapp.com/thread/1911028018430046341.html

The Bad Law Project also spread irresponsible interpretations of the guidance which suggested that trans identifying children would be refused blood tests. Their whole position relies on terrifying children and their parents that they are being victimised and discriminated against to keep the whole grift going. It is so unscrupulous.

A reason I hadn't previously thought of for keeping public loos single sex.

Guide dogs are trained to find a loo on command, and in an unfamiliar place they do so by smell. Including using the smells of different hormone concentrations to find the ladies or gents, as appropriate for their owner.

That’s fascinating @NoBinturongsHereMate

That has never occurred to me but makes sense! I might ask my cousin, who has a guide dog: "Cuz, how does Flossie know which toilets to lead you to?" He'll think I've gone mad

A great day, I think.

x

Yep. Congratulations threadsters.

A good result indeed.

I'm seeing a couple of spins that are already emerging from TRSOHers.

The main one, I think, is the "nothing has changed" argument - IANAL but this is 'true' in the sense that the SC's ruling has clarified the meaning of the law rather than written a whole new one.

The next is the "ah but the SC didn't actually define biological woman so women are still a nebulous cloud of fluffy ideas" - this will presumably be the argument used for why

male people

are still going to force their way into women's spaces.

Except it does define it.

Paragraph 7 of the judgment.

I agree it's not a sound argument, but when has that stopped them before?

It's definitely one of the 'approved lines' being trotted out by multiple commentators.

Ah, but what is sex??? Eh? Eh?

Is it chromosomes or hormones or psychology or a constellation of features on an ineffable spectrum?

The argument they fall back on is that they were always a woman so were so at birth (whatever the doctors/midwives said).

I thought Upton was at least attempting to be quite clever, not beating around the bush and just going straight for “I am a woman” and the (ridiculous) robot/biological argument. First, it’s so mad it’s hard to argue against, except to say it’s mad. Second, it almost seemed to be an (ill advised, because mad) attempt to pre-empt this sort of judgement.

In case anyone missed it here is the gorgeous moment with Carla Denyer

https://youtube.com/shorts/ChPAf8GoPgA?si=4sw5Zkk2oG9qV3KH

It’s just as enjoyable the 56th time as it is the first 😂😂

This relates to Roe v Wade but the response to the comment sums up yesterday so well.

What a great response. He’s not wrong.