Linzi Smith is granted Judicial Review over police participation in Pride

[Imnobody4]

Good for Linzi. This has big ramifications, is Pride political? If so it affects schools as well.

BREAKING: The Chief Constable of Northumbria must account to the High Court for her active participation in Northern Pride last year. She was warned. She went ahead anyway.

The court has asked if she intends to actively participate again this year. She states that she will.

Now she’ll have to defend her position at a Judicial Review in July. GC women need to feel safe in Northumbria which is why Linzi Smith is bringing the action. Pride is political.”

x.com/WeAreFairCop/status/1926537757389643914?t=DTzh1NkVVmnCGkZFNHOatQ&s=19

Harry can be his own worst enemy but Linzi is more chill.

The judge today will be pending several hours picking his jaw off the floor
and pulling his eyebrows off the ceiling.
Presumably as its a JR the outcome will be announced tomorrow

The tactic wasn’t a lie. Miller was demonstrating that police are happy to be associated with signs that target GC women. It’s pretty damning that officers were prepared to that.

What is problematic and (as you say elsewhere) a gift to TRAs, is posting the photo without the full context. Doing so suggests that it’s TRAs who made the sign which, since false, then calls all our evidence into question.

Just as long as you stay out of the ladies

You gave me a fright there... I thought you might have attached a pic of Sonichu.

Mimikyu is is referred to as the "disguise Pokémon" in the series due to its appearance, which resembles a ragdoll form of Pikachu.

Mimikyu appears as a short creature with a crude Pikachu disguise over its body, and a stick serving as the disguise's tail. Its actual body under the disguise is a black blob with two round eyes, and it moves by dragging its body along the ground. Mimikyu is a lonely creature who wears the disguise in order to seek affection from humans within the Pokémon world, though in the anime one developed animosity towards Pikachu, often attacking it on sight.

Mimikyu wears the costume in hopes of being loved and accepted, as its true form is said to be horrifying in nature.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimikyu

😱

I hadn’t heard about this but I’m happy to have caught up. Harry is a bloody hero, I met him once and he’s brilliant. All power to Linzi and I hope the judge is sensible. Thanks for sharing.

That's uncanny!

Honestly, “GCs do pikachu face” as a scold - I have a child at home and about 20 odd at school yabbering on about bloody Pokémon. Jfc grow the fuck up

Pokémon is dismissed by many as just a cartoon or computer game but it also has significant cultural importance and reflects the era.

In the Pokémon of the Year poll held by The Pokémon Company, Mimikyu was voted the most popular Pokémon introduced in Sun and Moon; this also placed it 3rd overall in the competition. Kotaku's Patricia Hernandez called Mimikyu the "most brilliant and heartbreaking" Pokémon that Game Freak had created, feeling that instead of fighting Pikachu's popularity with newer designs the developers embraced it "to great effect" and represented the possible envy other Pokémon as intelligent creatures may have towards said popularity. She additionally noted Mimikyu's immense popularity with fans since it was revealed,a statement echoed by Catrina Dennis of Inverse.

In a followup article, Hernandez attributed Mimikyu's popularity to the fandom's own reaction to the "bombardment" of Pikachu in Pokémon media and merchandise, stating, "Grappling with that reality is one of the best things the Pokémon games have ever done." Edge also praised it as a "moment of self-awareness" on the part of Game Freak regarding the franchise's success, while indicating a broader change with Sun and Moon in contrast to the previous titles, "with everything shifted a few degrees away from normal."

Mimikyu was highlighted by Paste as being the "voice of a generation," highlighting its immense popularity compared to other Pokémon revealed for Pokémon Sun and Moon, such as Bewear and Popplio. They highlighted that its popularity came from the fact that Mimikyu "needs" players while the other Pokémon did not, stating that it seemed "expertly tuned to grip fans' hearts and never let go," due to the emotional vulnerability the Pokémon displayed

We know anime and gaming exist within the same cultural bubble as transactivism to a fairly large extent, so its interesting to reflect on some of this.

Mimikyu is one of the newer Pokémon having appeared in 2016. It is the only one I know that is commented on as a reflection 'of it's era'.

I think it's curious that it emerged in parallel with the certain cultural identity movements. There are cultural forces which are very much inseparable from various anime / games including Pokémon which is one of the most important.

I also note, Pokémon actually focuses on 'gender' (it says gender rather than sex) - Pokémon can be either male or female - with a few exceptions which are gender neutral and can't breed like the gendered Pokémon. However Pokémon can't change gender (some Pokémon have population where the number of male/female is very limited deliberately so you have to catch loads before you have a pair you can breed).

Also, Pikachu has lots of variants. But a couple are female only. One of these is 'cosplay pikachu'.
m.bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Cosplay_Pikachu

I do sometimes wonder if some of these things are deliberate or perhaps subconscious rather than being completely coincidental. Given I don't particularly believe in coincidence as being a total random force I think it's very insightful.

So don't dismiss Pokémon as a 'kids thing'. It's very much not - indeed a huge percentage of the Pokémon market, particularly merchandise is actually now pitched at and for adults rather than children. Doing so is cultural snobbery.

I don't care. I only skim-read that, because I was scared my brains might fall out of my ears! 😀

That’s all very well red and, yes, I now have colleagues who know more about Pokémon than the children they teach. And I don’t have the depth of knowledge you do. for me its the use of the concept of Pokémon inserted into a discussion of women’s rights and protections wrt the police. It’s so incredibly dismissive in the context of how much vulnerable women and children rely on the law to protect them. And to me does indicate that the poster sees it all as a game using such a reference.

It's reflective of the culture it comes from.

Yes it's infantilising. And it's targeted at women. But it's not necessarily a childish thing. You are wrong to dismiss it like that and it almost plays into this idea of the innocent. You shouldn't do that given the culture around Pokémon. It's most definitely an adult attitude and an adult way of belittling.

This is actually why this multiple level of understanding Pokémon and the culture of Pokémon matters.

Understand that there is this weird element which is deeply sexist and ironically arguably deeply gender critical in some respects and yet this is massively ignored. There's other bits of anime cultural icons I've seen which are similar. No one is having a conversation about these inconsistencies because it's an area which has been claimed as owned. Instead we have people pissing on women's forums about the definition of woman and maternity etc and yet no where near the pile on directed at game freak and Nintendo. Precisely because of deep held cultural misogyny.

And look at how women are attacked in this way which is seemingly very innocent and child like - to infantilise women at the same time. It's a method of deflection - if you are using Pokémon you are being immature and can't be treated as 'responsible adult' in the same way. There is a level of sophistication here which is very much not childish. Quite the opposite. Its a way of making a slur but doing so in a way that can also be dismissed as childish rather than actual really quite demeaning. The point remains the same, but it's easier to get out of being held to the same standards as someone who posted a meme using a human using the same expression.

Its like the concept of playing on the 'dizzy blonde' stereotypes to get away with shit and not take responsibility. Yet being fully aware of what you are doing with an added layer of belittling your target.

(Symbolism matters - layered meanings and intent matter)

Why are we expected to be respectful of misogynistic cultures?

Pokémon and anime culture, like trans, is immersion in fantasy. The rest of us do not have to play along. Throwing it into a discussion about women’s rights is reducing women to bit players in their fantasy games.

@RedToothBrush you learn something new everyday. I had no idea about the culture behind Pokémon.

If it was the case that there aren't many, many such signs on display at literally every TRA protest then you might have a point. But the 'decapitate terfs' 'punch a terf' and hangman's noose real signs have been widely photographed and seen, and in Harry's blog he explained what he was doing. If someone takes that photo and repeats it without explanation, that's on them.

I'm not asking you to necessarily be respectful in the sense of praising it. I'm asking you to be respectful in terms of not dismissing it as a childish thing and instead see it as being an adult cultural movement which is sophisticated and very capable of misogyny. It's not outside the bubble of adult communication and politics because it's a cartoon.

If you are dismissive of it as being childish you don't hold it to the standards you expect elsewhere. You almost give a free pass to unacceptable behaviour because of the 'childish' get out of jail free pass you inadvertently give in doing so.

Fwiw I do think there are a lot within this world who hold contempt for some of the crazier elements and poke fun at it, in ways that are subtle and sometimes deniable. And it seems to get overlooked. Mimikyu is one of those and could definitely be interpreted as a dig at some elements of this cultural bubble.

Remember cosplay is a massive industry in its own right which is intertwined with many of the things we talk about here.

I agree. But i hate all animation, probably unreasonably, oh well cancel me 🤷‍♀️

Anime in particular gives me the creeps but then I’ve seen it on a lot of very grim TRA profiles.

Yes, the 'cute anime girl' profile pics. It's pretty much a cliche now that if an account has that, the person who owns the account is an adult male.

You are allowed to dislike it!

Just don't dismiss it as culturally inferior in terms of being less high brow. Cos thats one of the reasons we have got in this mess through cultural snobberies and a hierachy of what we should and shouldn't like according to social status.

You don't like anime - fine.
You don't like anime and think its childish and stupid, therefore it shouldn't be taken seriously as a culture reference point - not fine.

Otherwise you don't take the issues in that cultural bubble seriously and they can be left unchecked because people in positions of responsibility don't think it is worth keeping an eye on. "Cos its just for kids".

Ironically we should be keeping the closest eye on these areas so we are fully aware of the culture and messaging they contain, how its influencing and what that impact might be. Are there safeguarding concerns we aren't considering because we don't think its important.

Can I think it’s childish and stupid and also think it’s valid to interrogate the misogyny in the culture? Because that’s where I’m at, really.

I don’t think it’s just for kids.

You don’t have to agree with me, but you’re never going to convince me that adults obsessed with Pokémon aren’t childish.

Cos thats one of the reasons we have got in this mess through cultural snobberies and a hierachy of what we should and shouldn't like according to social status.

The reason we got into this mess is because we haven’t been judgemental enough about certain culture and been told it is ‘cultural snobbishness’ to think certain behaviours are harmful to society.

They might be adults who are childish but you still don't let them off the hook as being childish and failing to take the responsibilities of being an adult which are applicable to everyone.

There's a difference.