The Bluestocking - your local women's pub, warm, friendly, and not at all unusual in any way.

[MarieDeGournay]

Welcome to The Bluestocking, the welcome is warm, the conversation is wide-ranging, the food and drink are delicious but magically free from anything they need to be free from, and the bar staff are highly-trained, professional, efficient and very friendly gerbils.

You really should stick to those calories free pizzas in the Bluestocking, @Britinme although the Greek pizza does sound delicious.

pizza! I could start some spelt dough and make one for dinner. With extra anchovies.

I was inspired to look back to see when I joined MN and it's longer ago that I thought - November 2022 when a bunch of us were told we were an evil contaminant and the site we were on would be closed, so we left to give the non-offenders a chance to keep their space.

I was also inspired to look at the Wiki summary of Bluestocking history and was amused to learn that the person who wore the distinctive hosiery was a man.

It is a chilly morning so I have 6 kilos of purring pussycat vibrating on top of my chest, wrapped in my quilt. He is a cosy companion but I feel a bit like a clamped car.

I've been on MN under various names for... dunno, 8-10 years. Well before Covid. Somewhere shortly after penis beaker - friend shared it on FB.

When the Bluestocking re-opened, I staggered in on Day 1 requesting a physio and a gin!

I joined in April 2024 after hearing about the feminist board (and the arguments) from my daughter. At the time it was the only place where it was possible to talk about gender.

I saw the resurrected Bluestocking threads, came in, peered about, then joined in. It's been terrific. The only problem is I do sometimes get quite addicted.

I am extremely worried that I won't have time for knitting, TV and thr Bluestocking if I ever get another job.

Better finish Steal on Amazon. I'm two episodes in and it's lush.

I don't know how long I've been here, but I know I'm not one of the 'OGs' and I know I was made to feel very welcome when I was at last brave enough to post something on here.

We are here for you, Myrtle, you have been through so much while we've known you, and we've learnt about the painful loss of your brother, and difficulties with your DM, before that.

We also know how much fun you have given us with your AI images, and your stories, and your witty remarks, and your knowledge, and your regal presence here is as much part of the Bluestocking as the vat-sized helpings of drinks

I'm glad that the even-more-recent-than-me arrivals felt welcomed - it's a fine line to keep the support and camaraderie and running jokes flowing without being clique-y. I think most newcomers do what I did: hang around for a bit looking in the window and getting the feel of what goes on, the topics of conversation, the weirdness, the fauna.... and are up to speed by the time they come in. So that helps with fitting in quickly.

I know there are also lurkers, cos they occasionally pop up with a post, and I hope they feel that it's fine to lurk and enjoy the goings-on at a distance, but also that they'd be very welcome if they wanted to de-lurk.

I was made very, very welcome when I delurked after dipping a toe in a few years before.

I raise a glass of your tipple of choice to all the Bluestocking women, lurkers included.

I joined MN at the same time and for the same reason as @DeanElderberry but didn’t discover the Bluestocking for a while after that. I constantly feel as if I’m dragging behind everyone because of the five hour time lag so I’m commenting on things long after the conversation has moved on, but people have been very kind about that.

I've been on MN for donkeys years, no idea how many but at least 12. And I think i crept into the Bluey in about thread 2. But I don't do AI, knitting or crochet or cooking, so sometimes I lurk in my burrow for a while..

Just popping in to say hello as I lost track of where The Bluestocking was. Hoping everyone is recovering from ops and Christmas excesses and are well? Am glad I missed yesterday’s drama as I have decided to forsake the FWR threads - other than occasionally lurk when I really can’t help myself - as they’ve got a little spicy lately and I don’t have the resilience at the moment.

Glad to see this thread is keeping it light so am now off to see whether the Hotel Chocolate velvetiser might actually work with after eights and vodka…

I started following employment tribunals at the beginning of last year and as a result found the feminism section on Mumsnet that I previously didn't realise existed. I saw Bluestocking thread titles a few times and started occasionally reading in the summer and then following regularly at the end of summer. It seemed like a place where I could chat to real people very similar to some of my closest friends in real life. Because I've always worked almost exclusively with men (including very few women doing my degrees) I have very few close female friends, so it's been interesting to join a new community. It's generally fun and light hearted and offers support when needed. I'm not sure why anyone would look for anything negative about it. It's an internet thread. If you don't like it, don't join in.
I've also enjoyed seeing different female viewpoints as other than two close female friends and two close female family members, I work and socialise exclusively with men. There's also the vague chat with other school mums at drop off, play dates etc. But that generally stays very superficial.

I love after eights, but I think that combination might be disgusting

I seem to have joined in 2019; I don't know when I found the Bluey but I got hooked when you were all doing AI pictures & I wanted to find out how. I'm a graduate of several other forums, all sadly no longer in existence, where I met some fabulous, insightful & funny women & moved on in personal terms through talking to them.

And looking waaaaay back, it was on USENET in the 1980s that I rediscovered feminism.

I've been doing a bit of fossicking and have confirmed I joined MN in autumn 2018, a couple of months after having been peaked on Twitter. I came to FWR for info on the Tory govt's consultation on reforming the GRA and have been here ever since under one name or another. I've dipped in and out of the Bluestocking over the years, but life was too busy to keep properly in touch until things finally slowed down for me last year. Threads in the Bluey move FAST! 😉

Looking back, the gerbils don't seem to have joined this New Bluestocking at the beginning. It was more Quokkas, so much more - stable? civilised?

But the gerbils undoubtedly bring a certain something.

I have changed my mind about pizza and am about to make some potato cakes to eat with smoked salmon and scrambled eggs and mushrooms later.

Pizza some time next week.

I’m a ‘came for the parenting advice, stayed for the feminism’ types…thinking about what small child issue brought me here and tallying with the current age of said child it must be getting on for 2 decades.

idk when the first Bluestocking pub thread opened - they seemed to appear and disappear rather randomly. IIRC (like the historical inspiration) they weren’t necessarily exclusively female. But when I dusted down the bar it was because of a craving I had - and thought I could see in others - for simply the company of women. (The Staunch Ally provides for a mixed sex venue should anyone ever wish to instantiate it.).

It’s a public house - open to all women who want to be here, for whatever reason.

I miss the quokkas..

They miss you too, Fuzzy!
[recycled image - I new it would come in handy sometime😁]

Random, I love after eights, but I think that combination might be disgusting
the After Eights and lots of vodka in a blender with condensed milk was my facetious and disgusting suggestion as an alt.Hotel Chocolat thing, Cautious is off the hook for it😄

Quokkas are wonderful. Almost as good at hugs as Rosy, more reliable kitchen and waitstaff than the gerbils.

actually, I remember now that they ran the place when the gerbils went off to Benidorm (was it Benidorm?) and did an excellent job. Much less chassis.

I joined but I’m keeping a low profile for now. I don’t really feel like I align here at times (like the other day and a few months ago) and it takes a lot from me.

I assumed the quokkas had gone to the Bluestocking Down Under (which surely must exist, as we have a surprising absence of Antipodeans in this pub) for the winter.

Any long running thread is like a school playground skipping game with a long rope and loads of people jumping away, and even if you know you're a good skipper, there's that fear that you'll get tangled in the rope and fall over and get blamed for spoiling it.

But the only thing to do is say 'what the heck' and jump in.

That would be nice. They could catch up with Puggles, and eat Lamingtons and think of Wombats, Giant and otherwise.

I never did dare to join in with the long rope - I could skip solo but would volunteer to be ‘ender all the time’.
(no idea how that works with the metaphor😂 - I can jump in with both feet here!)

Lol I used to love after eights but just tried one for first time in years (Christmas stock) and erm it was rank!! Wont spoil my hot chocolate after all…