Labour is betraying women

[IwantToRetire]

. . . If Starmer’s government has achieved so much depressing stuff in 71 days, roughly 4 per cent of the way into a possible 5-year term, what they might achieve by the end of it fills me with dread. I believe that Labour showed us, and in some instances told us, what they would do, or not do, to ensure the continued erosion of women’s rights, and they are doing exactly what they said. Why some feminist women, seemingly in a blind bond to Labour, didn’t believe them escapes me. It also infuriates me that they think Labour deserve a bit more rope to hang us with.

Some prominent left-wing women, before the election, pleaded with us to trust Labour and allow them space to make the right decisions. They suggested that it was wrong to focus on the single issue of gender ideology, because women would benefit in so many other ways under a Labour government.

I wonder, did they envisage this Labour government? The one maintaining unequal benefits, placing violent men amongst their female victims and keeping the blurred line between gender and sex embedded in law? I can understand if those women were now as dismayed as the rest of us at what they are seeing, but instead they appear to be spinning for Labour, suggesting the violent men aren’t really being released or excusing it by blaming the Tories. They suggest we should wait and see what happens, keep the faith, trust the process. After many years of being told that women are influencing Labour “behind the scenes” my faith in that has gone.

If you are a feminist woman openly critical of Labour you may now be accused of “right wing drift”. This is nonsense. Instead, should scrutiny not be focused on how far Labour have drifted from the left? This is where condemnation should be aimed. . . .

NB - these are only some paragraphs from the article - you can read the whole article here - https://thecritic.co.uk/labour-is-betraying-women/

If they don’t believe their own promises, it was highly cynical of them to make them. And ridiculously stupid political messaging because it was 14 years of broken promises by the Tories that got Labour elected.

But Lord help us if they do believe their promises. Then it’s not stupid messaging but just plain stupid. Though many in the party including the cabinet may well fall into that category. Who knows.

The terrifying thing is they really don't have a clue about the real world. Still spouting platitudes while denying unintended consequences.

www.thetimes.com/article/33115c18-7eed-4898-aff1-3af7346f5676?shareToken=b4fd3c519175aa6898322b12bcc6cd10

The open letter stated that, according to a Rape Crisis England and Wales survey report, a third of rape crisis centres were expecting to issue redundancy notices before the end of the financial year and 30 per cent of directors were concerned they would have to close their centre.

Both the funding cut and the increase in employers’ national insurance contributions will take effect from April next year. The charities said that the national insurance increase alone was likely to cost them many millions of pounds.

The letter, signed by leaders from the five organisations and addressed to Sir Keir Starmer, said: “Our vital support services are needed now more than ever, so by cutting funding and raising national insurance, this government is putting their future in danger and potentially denying a lifeline to hundreds of thousands of women and girls who have experienced gender-based violence.

“If these moves go ahead, we believe your mission to halve VAWG is in jeopardy.”

I have thought for some time that a significant element of this idea that Labour is the only moral party (or the left., if you like) comes out of a very deeply imbibed narrative that the Conservatives explicitly stand for evil principles

This is so true. I have only just realised that the Left ( I used to be on the left myself btw, now politically homeless), actually believe their own propaganda. I just assumed it was all grandstanding conscious hyperbole, all this calling Tories evil and saying they want to kill disabled people and such like. Now I realise they actually, sincerely mean it. They have actually swallowed their own propaganda.

We don't really give young men any kind of positive sense of a role model who is moral and upstanding, and also masculine, who don't shit upon for being part of the patriarchy, or who we don't treat cynically.

There was an incident among some friends of mine that stuckin my heard a few years ago. Some pop culture magazine reported that Bono had said that it was kind of a shame that all the pop music for angry young men had given way to stuff like Ed Sheeran, the only genre left for young people like that - which would have been himself as a teen - was rap music.

And of course rap music has some issues with masculinity- I took his point to be that young men need some cultural outlets for their feelings of injustice etc and if the only one has some pretty negative elements that's what they will imbibe.

Anyway, a friend of mine on FB said that Bono was an idiot, it was a good thing for young men to get in touch with their feelings and become less toxic. Her vision of what a young man ought to be like was basically, they should be like women. It was unbelievable to her that young men might find that unsatisfying, because fundamentally there are no differences between the sexes - the desire to be mannish is just a kind of toxicity that can be extinguished.

Personally I think that's a recipe for failure.

The idea that its feminising men for them to be allowed to have feelings other than anger and a sense of injustice about 'unfairness' is toxic masculinity.

Women's anger is metoo, and that was about actual injustice. Men sneered at it and it drove them into the arms of Andrew Tate apparently.

That's a really good point @Thelnebriati