Bamber Bridge et al as a model for women

[Treaclewell]

I've been reading a number of Youtubes about black US soldiers and their treatment in Britain and it has suddenly hit me that it is relevant today for us. The black soldiers had been brought up to behave subordinately to whites, and today's piece was the first to use that word. That attitude was born in the South, and justified by the Bible, by the mark of Cain, by Ham seeing his dad drunk, and was to the British, bollocks, We treated Black troops with greater respect than the whites, and they went back to the States and led the civil rights movement which won.
And now we are told that women should be subordinate to men, specifically their husbands. Bible again, pseudo-Paul. Not sure how the unmarried should be subordinate. (Did once read a profoundly daft piece of advice involving finding a married man to be a spiritual advisor. XXXXX that for a game of soldiers.)
There is obviously a group of presumably human males who need to feel that another group is inferior, and this time it's us. Remove the vote from us unless we can estimate the number of bubbles from a soap bar.
They have been beaten before and must be beaten this time.

Blimey

I hadn’t heard of the incident you’re referencing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bamber_Bridge

I am aware of the story, and the background reflects so well on white britain in WW2, and so badly on the white US army regiments (and wider US society).

I have no idea how this relates to women's rights today, especially what religion has to do with it. Only comparison I can see is that some people are morally superior to others, with the non-racist non-misogynists tending to be superior to the sexists or racists.

I have no idea how the story links into sexism. Please could you help me out here? Thank you.

I'm not sure 'go and fight a war in Europe' is an especially practical solution to the plight of women trapped in US extreme conservatism.

It is a novel one, though. And I'm all for drawing attention to Bamber Bridge - something Britain can be rightly proud of.

What?

I've been reading a number of Youtubes

Youtubes are videos. How are you reading them?

Er, OP, you didn’t mean to imply that the US civil rights movement was inspired by the actions of white British people, did you? It sort of comes over like that in your post but I don’t think you meant it that way…?

Andrea's Levy's Small Island discusses the segregation between white and black American troops in England - with a similar violent incident. Of course there are people, men and women, who like to feel superior to others without actually doing anything to earn that sense of superiority. What a gift it was to American "white trash" to know that however low they sunk, they would still be superior to all the black people around them and could abuse them and boss them around with no consequences. And we are surrounded by men who know that they are taken more seriously than women, are treated more respectfully, earn more for the same work, do far less around the house, have a woman who looks good for them, etc, etc and revel in that power differential. Even better if it can be "justified" via the Church.

Transcrpts are available, I often read them because it's quicker than watching yet another vidya. Go into the description & scroll to the bottom to find the link.

@LilyCanna

I was watching a documentary about the BofBB which suggested that, it and the way black servicemen had been treated in other areas, was a precursor to the civil rights movement. For the first time in their lives they had been treated as equals and it inspired them to campaign for change upon returning to the segregated USA.

I would be interested in a documentary re' the battle of Bamber Bridge? Does someone have a link.?
I only know the info I read on Wikipedia. I lived there many years ago and drank in the Hob, but knew nothing about it.
Not following the feminism connection, though.

I think the link the OP is about some of the regressive rhetoric and erosion of women’s rights in part of the USA particularly coming from the ‘Christian right’?

Learned subordination can be undone by (among other things) being treated like an actual human being in other contexts. The South was very insistent on it, right down to death by lynching as the generally unspoken background to punish transgressions. Having that huge pressure lifted off you is eyeopening.

Similar to what Dworkin was saying in imagining a day without rape. The precise methods of teaching subordination vary, but the result is similar. Whole categories of people who don't even think of lifting their heads up. Until they do.

(Not because the oppressor class taught them or inspired them. Because they finally have a bit of room to breathe and realize there's no reason they couldn't live that way all the time.)

Yes. I'm not clicking that!
But I am interested in the Bamber Bridge incident and what evidence there is and whether anything similar happened anywhere else.
There is an interesting film that was shown to GIs at the time that talks about the different attitudes of British people to black soldiers as well as pubs.

Bristol, Liverpool, Launceston, a few of the places mentioned, also Brisbane and somewhere in New Zealand. There's a lot of articles, often by American sources. I used subtitles, thought about reading, decided to use it anyway. Some link to extensive articles. It was the American sources which suggested that exposure to being treated as equal humans led on to the civil rights. And that was what the US was afraid of when they tried to impose Jim Crow over here. And on British blacks and Maoris in NZ.
It was the use of the idea that black people were a subordinate creation that triggered my post. We have been seeing that women and girls don't count in umpteen cases. And at least under Jim Crow the black people had their own loos. It doesn't need the religious 'justification'. It is there in every ignoring of women's feelings in favour of men's hurty ones.
And I keep thinking when I hear of one of those shock troops bringing case after case against us, that they will be first against the wall...after all, they are the subordinate class, women, aren't they?
We have got to keep our equality.