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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

The Bluestocking - Raiders of the Lost Sparp

1000 replies

lcakethereforeIam · 28/10/2025 22:55

Welcome everyone. Wipe your feet, it's been wet out.

Don't forget to namechange before posting if necessary.

OP posts:
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156
ChristmasStars · 03/11/2025 14:03

@MyrtleLion I didn't know any of that about Orwell's wife. I was never very keen on him but I've gone right off him now.

MarieDeGournay · 03/11/2025 14:04

MyrtleLion · 03/11/2025 13:08

Thank you. I've been listening to Wifedom by Anna Funder. A brilliant feminist excoriating analysis of George Orwell's shocking misogynistic treatment of his wife, Elaine O'Shaughnessy. It also includes a decision she made in the mid 1940s to have a hysterectomy in Newcastle (she lived in London) because it was cheaper, (thank goodness for the NHS) where she died on the table because she hadn't had a blood transfusion.

It's a tough but fascinating listen, as she was basically a joint author of both Animal Farm and 1984. Thank goodness I'm not an Orwell fan. I should probably listen to something lighter while I'm an insomniac.

Arrived today in Outpatients to have my stitches removed. A 90 minute overrun time and 30 minutes to take them out, which is a long time for 5-6 stitches. Now a 30 minute wait for the pharmacy.

But I can be more mobile and restart my physiotherapy. It also means I don't need to elevate my foot at night, so I may sleep better.

Glad to hear the stitches are out - eventually😠- and hopefully you'll be more comfortable at night and will get some proper sleep.
And yes, that was a heavy thing to listen to - but interesting - I don't know anything about Orwell apart from his books, and now I don't want to😟

I hope the pharmacy sorts out out with whatever you need and you get home soon to start the next phase of your recoverySmile

EdithStourton · 03/11/2025 14:20

Swashy, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 is your friend here. A small local firm with a good rep will probably fall over themselves to sort the issue out, so you probably won't even need to mention your rights in law.

As for birds, we get wrens in our garden, more seen than heard. Currently our bird feeder is being cleaned out within 48 hours by a parade of great tits, blue tits and the odd goldfinch. The lard-bucket local pigeon, against whom the feeder is proofed, loiters underneath to guzzle the spillages.

And corvids are complete wind-up merchants. I've seen a crow tormenting a buzzard, which was minding its business waddling across some stubble, probably in search of worms. The crow kept hopping just close enough to provoke the buzzard into turning round and being cross, but not close enough to get nailed - it knew it could get airborne much faster than the buzzard.

I've also seen rooks mobbing a buzzard, to drive it away from their rookery. They fly above it, and drop down like bombs.

EdithStourton · 03/11/2025 14:21

Good luck with thr recovery, Myrtle - it's all sounding much more positive. Sweet dreams tonight and for the foreseeable future.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 03/11/2025 14:47

That is good news, @MyrtleLion -fingers crossed that things carry on going smoothly.

@MarieDeGournay - I was visited by the Sleep Gerbil and the Dream Gerbil last night - I have very vivid and often peculiar dreams, and last night was no exception.

DeanElderberry · 03/11/2025 15:49

Empire podcast are having a short season on Orwell atm which I'll listen to once I have finished their (excellent) 12-parter on Gaza.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/empire/id1639561921

When I went out to the clothesline the other day I saw something large and stealthy in the top of the beech tree, and there was a buzzard, trying to sneak off un-noticed, clutching something (probably a vole) in its talons.

Empire

Empire

History Podcast · Updated twice weekly · The rise and fall of empires, rulers, and the events that shaped world history. William Dalrymple and Anita Anand explore the intricate stories of revolutions, imperial wars, and the people who built …

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/empire/id1639561921

ifIwerenotanandroid · 03/11/2025 16:45

The sleep gerbil & the dream gerbil

The Bluestocking - Raiders of the Lost Sparp
FuzzyPuffling · 03/11/2025 16:49

android i love those little angelic- looking gerbils.

ifIwerenotanandroid · 03/11/2025 16:50

I need to put in an order for the sleep gerbil tonight, followed by the alarm gerbils for about 5am tomorrow. It's the first day of Tesco Xmas order dates.

The Bluestocking - Raiders of the Lost Sparp
ifIwerenotanandroid · 03/11/2025 16:52

FuzzyPuffling · 03/11/2025 16:49

android i love those little angelic- looking gerbils.

May we all be visited by them tonight.

And may the only stitches Myrtle has to think about be knitted ones.

FuzzyPuffling · 03/11/2025 16:54

A gerbil with bagpipes would get me up in the morning. I hate bagpipes.

ifIwerenotanandroid · 03/11/2025 16:58

FuzzyPuffling · 03/11/2025 16:54

A gerbil with bagpipes would get me up in the morning. I hate bagpipes.

That can be arranged.

The Bluestocking - Raiders of the Lost Sparp
lcakethereforeIam · 03/11/2025 17:05

We sometimes get wrens in our tiny suburban garden. Goldfinches are probably our commonest birds, they go for the sunflower seeds in the bird feeders. I've given up buying anything else; peanuts, niger seeds, they just turns their beaks up and I wind up binning them. We tend to get a wider variety when the weather is harsh. One year we had a fieldfare on some apples and lesser redpoll on the feeders. There's a small flock of rose ringed parakeets. They roost in our tree but I've only seen them on the feeder occasionally. There's a flock of house sparrows but they mostly stay in a beech hedge across the road. No peregrines yet but we saw a red kite high up over the garden and sparrowhawks definitely hunt in the area. We've seen drifts of feathers on the lawn and watched them with a kill or just perching a few times. One caught a pigeon once at the end of our drive. My favourites are the long tailed tits and the goldcrests.

I found out yesterday that William Burroughs shot and killed his 'wife', Joan Vollmer, arsing around with a gun when they were living in Mexico. He skipped the country but even so was only sentenced to two years and, as far as I know, never spent a day behind bars. His bros closed ranks for him, claiming the gun had accidentally discharged.

I also learned about the incredible courage of a woman Lilias Adie. She was charged with witchcraft, in Fife. Despite being questioned for a month she only named people who were already charged. She did not denounce anyone who wasn't already doomed. I can't imagine what that poor woman went through. She died before they could execute her and was buried under a huge stone below the high water mark.

There's a plaque about her on some sort of witch walk. It has her face, which was reconstructed from her skull, but, rather distastefully considering, it also has a devil.

OP posts:
MarieDeGournay · 03/11/2025 17:28

Android, that's brilliant - just how I imagined the Sleep and Dream gerbils!
I notice that Fuzzy's bagpipe alarm gerbils are wearing a suitably terfy tartan😃

Magpiecomplex · 03/11/2025 17:49

Is that hot chocolate still hot, Marie?
And Android, could you add me to the Sleep and Dream gerbils rota please?

ifIwerenotanandroid · 03/11/2025 19:23

MarieDeGournay · 03/11/2025 17:28

Android, that's brilliant - just how I imagined the Sleep and Dream gerbils!
I notice that Fuzzy's bagpipe alarm gerbils are wearing a suitably terfy tartan😃

Of course!

ifIwerenotanandroid · 03/11/2025 19:30

Magpiecomplex · 03/11/2025 17:49

Is that hot chocolate still hot, Marie?
And Android, could you add me to the Sleep and Dream gerbils rota please?

Sure! Do you need a wake-up call too, & if so, what type & what time?

I think we need a concierge - does the Bluestocking have one already? If not, should it be a gerbil or some other species?

Oh dear, this won't do. But well done, Gemini - love the name!

The Bluestocking - Raiders of the Lost Sparp
Magpiecomplex · 03/11/2025 19:35

ifIwerenotanandroid · 03/11/2025 19:30

Sure! Do you need a wake-up call too, & if so, what type & what time?

I think we need a concierge - does the Bluestocking have one already? If not, should it be a gerbil or some other species?

Oh dear, this won't do. But well done, Gemini - love the name!

Much appreciated Android, ta. I should be ok without the wake-up call, although if they could have a warm from the oven pain au chocolat waiting for breakfast, that would be very nice.

MarieDeGournay · 03/11/2025 19:39

ifIwerenotanandroid · 03/11/2025 19:30

Sure! Do you need a wake-up call too, & if so, what type & what time?

I think we need a concierge - does the Bluestocking have one already? If not, should it be a gerbil or some other species?

Oh dear, this won't do. But well done, Gemini - love the name!

I'm shocked that AI can spell 'concierge', it weren't like that in my day, in my day it couldn't even spell 'spell'😃

DeanElderberry · 03/11/2025 19:39

Mr Nibble clearly belongs in the Staunch Ally and I hope gerbil girls are still getting their pills.

FuzzyPuffling · 03/11/2025 19:44

MarieDeGournay · 03/11/2025 17:28

Android, that's brilliant - just how I imagined the Sleep and Dream gerbils!
I notice that Fuzzy's bagpipe alarm gerbils are wearing a suitably terfy tartan😃

They wouldn't be allowed near my pillow if they weren't The World Famous Terfy Gerbil Bagpipe Band.

DeanElderberry · 03/11/2025 19:48

Always remember, never forget, poor Glenda's predicament in February,

The Bluestocking - Raiders of the Lost Sparp
DeanElderberry · 03/11/2025 20:05

The sleep and dream gerbils are going to be challenged for the next few days, the full moon is on Wednesday and it's even digger and brighter than usual.

lcakethereforeIam · 03/11/2025 20:21

Bonfire Night too.

OP posts:
Hedgehogsrightsarehumanrights · 03/11/2025 20:26

I was not sure i should put the following thoughts anywhere at all lest unwanted peeps might read it.

i thought this would be the best as a secret place.

Anyway sex matters have posted and e mailed to facilitate an en masse e mail campaign to MP’s to get the ratification of the EHRC guidance moving.

they have used a template which one can personalise and have provided a return e mail to collate responses from MP’s.

i am not sure what their game plan is but i think it is a biggy as there is a number of judicial review susceptibilities.

anyway I got it off my chest i think there is something legal coming along and all our wins are legal, not political, i hold my breath in hope.

Anyway, as you were.

back to work gerbils and carry on with the music

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