International Women's Day is useless for women by Jo Bartosch

[Leafstamp]

Great article here, not just content but clever/witty writing IMO : International Women’s Day is useless for women | Josephine Bartosch | The Critic Magazine

Brighton, Bristol, Nottingham all get a mention (I see there is already a thread on what happened at the latter), but it is also about the whole gamut of organisations that "penalise self-respecting women who dare to suggest that sex matters" - in JB's words.

"vomit-inducing fanny fests" 😂

Brilliant. Nail on head.
The reason these campaigns are so bloody irritating is not simply that they now include men. It is that they are far too frightened to point out that men are the problem. Apparently it is considered frightfully gauche to observe that, from sexual violence to misogynistic theocrats, across the world the threats to women’s freedom and liberty are overwhelmingly manmade. Naming this remains a dangerous taboo.

Great article. Horrified but not surprised by this utter bilge:

'If tech is your thing this year you can head to SheSays in Brighton, which advertises itself as being “mainly for women and anyone who identifies as a woman. Trans women are women. Non-binary, gender-queer people are very welcome at all our events. Men too.”'

What a great way to make women (actual fucking women) feel seen, heard and valued 🙄

IWD can absolutely get to fuck

There is something about these vomit-inducing fanny fests that recalls the spectacle of a domestic abuser turning up with a bunch of flowers
Spot on!

I just wonder why it is called SheSays, given everyone is 'welcome' (speech marks as I wouldn't hold my breath that natal women would be welcome if there was the tiniest bit of terf about them).

The SheSays people in Brighton sound absolutely awful.

Depressing that even one day to celebrate women has been taken from us by men. This time larping men.

It was not always like this. Women’s liberation was once bold, confrontational and very clear about what it was for. It did not need drum circles, improv theatre or HR-approved slogans because it possessed something far more threatening: a willingness to name male behaviour as the problem. Until that returns, International Women’s Day will remain what it has become — a celebration of women that manages, with impressive efficiency, to ignore our needs entirely.

Great article from Jo.

You can feel her 'pissedofness' in that article
She says?? More like Allsays. Or theysays to cover all bases

Awwww 'pissedoffness' missed out a 'f'

Jo Bartosch's writing goes from strength to strength. Please consider supporting her by buying her book Pornocracy, if you haven't already.

Pornocracy is a must-read. She’ll appreciate clicks and likes on her articles too, that’s how commissioning works. I would love to have a glass of wine with her one day, she’s a brilliant mind.

Thanks for the link, a brilliant article from JB as always.

"Women’s liberation was once bold, confrontational and very clear about what it was for."

That's why I'm not a feminist anymore, it's back to Women's Libber for me. 💪✊

Excellent article. Although I've been checking the IWD social media of the various organisations I follow, and there's been lots of use of the words 'woman' and 'women' and 'female' and no men to be seen, which makes a refreshing change.

This comes up every year and no one does anything about it.

Sadly more recently feminist women aren't aware of women's feminist history.

So if anyone is going to comment on IWD because they have looked at the IWD web site, then more fool them.

This web site is NOTHING TO DO WITH FMINISM. It is a rip off by a PR company who have registered the name. This was over a decade ago, and there are endless warnings about it being a fake / commercial rip off, but just as we sigh and moan about how easy it is to fool children and teenagers with fake news, year after year women (and idiot councils) get taken in by it.

And in fact it is getting worse.

This year has been one of the worse for small local groups not bothering to put on events reflecting their work and aims, but because this exploitative web site has made many people totally alienated from IWD.

Look forward to one of these online commentators writing about this fact.

How thousands, probably millions of women have offer the decades just passively accepted that what is on this exploitative web site had anything to do with International Women's Day, let alone feminism.

Just so boring that these self appointed commentators dont educate themselves.

And ask why so many women have so passively let the corporate world depoliticise femininism.

No doubt this will happen again next year.

To be honest I think all international days are pretty useless. They come off mainly as an opportunity for drippy activists to feel important and give us all a little lecture about their pet cause.

This bilge is from the IWD website…

’When we give, we gain.
Together, let's help forge gender equality through abundant giving.
The IWD 2026 Give To Gain Campaign encourages a mindset of generosity and collaboration.’

Come on women, do more, give more, be better cause you’re not womaning well enough.

And pay for the resources to learn how to woman properly.

FOTTFSOFAWYGTFOSM

I don't think anyone has to take any notice of the website though, or give anyone any money. But it's interesting to see how organisations choose to celebrate it.

Exactly. Ignore the website, the patronising messaging and grift.

At a company I was working in last year, they celebrated IWD with a display of balloons and decorations, and asked staff to fill out anonymous cards to display on a noticeboard with names of women they admired.

Being somewhat naïve, I filled out a card with dozens of names of remarkable and powerful women from history, current politics and world affairs, etc.
Everyone else filled out a card with a name of one of the women who worked in the company, saying things like how wonderful she was at her job, how helpful she was, etc.
Cringe.

I totally missed the memo that IWD is now just one-step removed from Valentine's day, and is just an excuse to publicly say flattering things to women you know or work with, totally stripped of all political, feminist and historical context.

I can see how that might have been an embarrassing mistake to make, but you were the one in the right, turning the day into an arse licking, back patting, ego stroking fest is wrong so very very wrong. 😂

Incorrect, as so much of what people here say is.

I know the owner of SheSays personally and can attest she is not only a fantastic person, but committed to inclusivity, fairness, and respect. Always has been.

The fact you fling accusations at a business you know nothing about simply because it has a policy of supporting people you hate says more about you than the business.
And, for the record, natal women are more than welcome at SheSays. The only people who aren't so welcome would be those who are rude, aggressive, and confrontational toward people they don't know. Bigots would be a good word for them. So would TERFs.

It wasn't just the back-patting and ego-stroking, it was the utterly patronising and sexist tone that really got to me.
"Let's all put up cards saying how lovely are all these lovely women we work with, because they are so lovely (never mind how the company treats them the other 364 days)."

Although I guess most people who don't understand feminism would not have got that impression.

That's why I use "Radical Feminist. Not the fun kind." Got a Wild Womyn T shirt with it on and everything...!

Thanks for the article – brilliant read. I hadn’t quite appreciated the irony of Brighton, Nottingham and Bristol, three places that must top England’s misogyny charts (although I know there are several contenders) holding alphabet soupy events.

well that's me told! Except: your last two sentences showed your true colours, so nah, I won't be told by you, Miss Scarlet!