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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Stroud brewery

127 replies

topcat2014 · 11/04/2026 06:49

Just mentioning this news story where two journalists had a private event cancelled at Stroud brewery.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
9
CrocsNotDocs · 11/04/2026 06:54

Stroud Brewery are in a world of hurt, especially as they had accepted the booking and then put out in writing on social media that it was cancelled due to the GC beliefs of the journalists.

I expect blue-haired staff monstered management about feeling “unsafe” and management panicked. If management have consulted their lawyers, they will be realising that they have made a bad, bad call. They are going to find out!

NextRinny · 11/04/2026 06:58

I'm confused - why did they publicly cancel a private event?
They could very well have gotten away with this...

BarbieBrightSide · 11/04/2026 07:45

I thought that we were now past the cancelling of such events, clearly not.

How disappointing. From Gloucestershire Live:

In a statement, Stroud Brewery said it was reviewing its booking procedure to "enable constructive discussions on sensitive topics while keeping [the venue] a welcoming environment".

The full statement posted to social media said: "We were made aware of concerns regarding an upcoming private booking within the last 24 hours. After fast-tracking our usual internal processes and careful consideration, we have concluded that the event will not proceed.

"Stroud Brewery is committed to being a safe, inclusive, and welcoming space for everyone. Our values guide every booking, and we take community concerns seriously. This decision reflects our commitment to ensuring that all members of our community feel respected and safe.

"We appreciate the conversations this has prompted and are reviewing our booking procedures to continue enabling constructive discussions on sensitive topics, while keeping our venue a welcoming environment. Thank you for understanding and for supporting Stroud Brewery".
There's been a mixed reaction to the cancellation.

BarbieBrightSide · 11/04/2026 07:50

So as always, 'inclusive' means pandering to the group who shout and threaten the loudest.

I wonder what the concerns that they were made of actually were?

TheywontletmehavethenameIwant · 11/04/2026 07:55

"Stroud Brewery is committed to being a safe, inclusive, and welcoming space for everyone....

and they do this by excluding certain types.

It's like the National Library of Scotland farce again, do none of these places know what inclusive means, I hope those who have been 'cancelled' by this take action, so the SB learn that you can't include by excluding.

ProudAmberTurtle · 11/04/2026 07:59

Isn't what Stroud Brewery have done is illegal?

Can the journalists just sue them now?

The duo are Jo Bartosch and Rob Jessel - both v good on X. They were talking about the effect porn has had on society in recent years, having written a book about it.

SinnerBoy · 11/04/2026 08:17

A safe and inclusive space for everyone except women. Again. I hope they sue the pants off them, they cannot lose.

StormyPotatoes · 11/04/2026 08:18

It’s TRAs centring themselves once again and everyone caving. It’s not even an event about trans - in fact I’m sure some trans people could have attended if they have an interest in the dangers of porn. It’s just so tedious.

GreyskySexRealistsky · 11/04/2026 08:42

It makes Stroud Brewery look like they're supportive of porn if they've prevented people from discussing it.

Wonder if they realise that?

TwoLoonsAndASprout · 11/04/2026 08:45

Discussion of Jo and her book and the talk that was planned for the brewery here:

www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5514480-jo-bartosch-live-talk-about-pornocracy-book-and-wider-discussions-around-pornography-stroud-18th-april

Daleksatemyshed · 11/04/2026 08:53

Their statement makes no sense, how can you continue enabling discussions on sensitive subjects if you won't let people discuss them? I look forward to the court case

Parsley4321 · 11/04/2026 08:57

Local to me - you have to understand that we have a very large amount of hand maidens Dale Vince lovers green washing useful idiots. The cancellation and subsequent comments were heartening before the brewery turned them off but if you look on Stroud Sisterhood FB you’ll see the reality of Stroud with the Palestinian flag hung from the entrance to it from Dale Vince’s building.

lcakethereforeIam · 11/04/2026 08:59

I've just realised I'd mentally mixed up Stroud with Slough. Corrected myself by humming the first few lines of The Eton Rifles 😁

It's totally doing my head in Reading people claiming they're being inclusive by being exclusive. It's not just man/woman, make/female, and healthcare whose meaning the tras are fucking with.

I suspect they went for the event initially because of Jo's views. Which are shared by most people and, inconveniently for some, by reality. However, I can't help wondering if they got really concerned when they realised she was going after porn. Fortunately for they/them they were already holding their mobiles and just had to swipe away from PornHub to complain to the brewery.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 11/04/2026 09:02

Amazing how few people have grasped the implications of Maya Forstater's epic win, even though it's several years ago now. I am not a lawyer but I think rhis is what happened. Maya was a consultant employed in the UK at a US-owned think tank on a fixed-term contract which she was expecting to be extended/renewed. That didn't happen and she was explicitly told it was because of her gender critical views, which she had expressed on social media. She went to an employment tribunal and initially lost, which must have been awful, but in the long run was the best result the rest of us could have hoped for, because she was then able to appeal. She won the appeal and because that came from a higher authority than an employment tribunal it's binding across the whole of the UK. Believing in the reality of biological sex and the existence of only two sexes, female and male, is a belief worthy of respect in a democratic society (WORIAD). That's official and anybody holding it is protected under the Equality Act. The EA lists nine protected characteristics: pregnancy, marriage, sexual orientation, sex, gender reassignment, age, disability, ethnicity, religious or philosophical belief. Belief in basic science falls under that last one.

When I first heard that Maya's legal team was relying on that argument, I thought it was nuts, but as stated above, I am not a lawyer, and they were right, I was wrong. They did us all a massive favour.

I wonder if Stroud Brewery even asked a lawyer before making this extremely unwise statement.

Stroud brewery
RoyalCorgi · 11/04/2026 09:11

I'd highly recommend Rob and Jo's book, which I read as soon as it came out. It's a really powerful read and an important warning against the harms caused by pornography.

Stroud Brewery are quite clearly breaking the law. The Forstater case clarified that it is illegal, under the Equality Act, to discriminate against individuals on the grounds of their gender-critical beliefs. Since Forstater, this has been put to the test a number of times. Take Julie Bindel's case against Nottingham Council, for example (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-63745075) - or Joanna Cherry's case against the Stand (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-65527678). The Cherry case didn't go to court because, after receiving a letter from Cherry's lawyers, the Stand realised they didn't have a legal leg to stand on and backed down.

It is astonishingly foolish of Stroud Brewery to put out a statement like that without running it past lawyers. Their statement makes it clear that they are cancelling the booking on the basis of Jo's gender-critical beliefs. It's a public admission that they are breaking the law.

Idiots.

Theeyeballsinthesky · 11/04/2026 09:13

idiots - of course it wasn't enough to quietly cancel the event and make an excuse, nope they had to publicly shout their virtuousness and right think to ensure everyone understand they are the good people and so the TRA and their handmaidens would back off

now they are very much learning about FAFO in real time

incidentally on x ppl are saying the same tactic was tried on a venue in Taunton that hosted Jo & Rob - threats of protests, withdrawal of funding etc but they unlike Stroud Brewery stood firm. Result - a nice event where ppl turned up, listened, brought some books and went home. No drama at all

TwoLoonsAndASprout · 11/04/2026 09:23

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 11/04/2026 09:02

Amazing how few people have grasped the implications of Maya Forstater's epic win, even though it's several years ago now. I am not a lawyer but I think rhis is what happened. Maya was a consultant employed in the UK at a US-owned think tank on a fixed-term contract which she was expecting to be extended/renewed. That didn't happen and she was explicitly told it was because of her gender critical views, which she had expressed on social media. She went to an employment tribunal and initially lost, which must have been awful, but in the long run was the best result the rest of us could have hoped for, because she was then able to appeal. She won the appeal and because that came from a higher authority than an employment tribunal it's binding across the whole of the UK. Believing in the reality of biological sex and the existence of only two sexes, female and male, is a belief worthy of respect in a democratic society (WORIAD). That's official and anybody holding it is protected under the Equality Act. The EA lists nine protected characteristics: pregnancy, marriage, sexual orientation, sex, gender reassignment, age, disability, ethnicity, religious or philosophical belief. Belief in basic science falls under that last one.

When I first heard that Maya's legal team was relying on that argument, I thought it was nuts, but as stated above, I am not a lawyer, and they were right, I was wrong. They did us all a massive favour.

I wonder if Stroud Brewery even asked a lawyer before making this extremely unwise statement.

Edited

Not only did Maya’s win protect our right to believe that sex is immutable and sometimes it matters, but I think it also protected our right to not believe that people can change sex - a subtle addition, but an important one.

RoyalCorgi · 11/04/2026 09:31

Theeyeballsinthesky · 11/04/2026 09:13

idiots - of course it wasn't enough to quietly cancel the event and make an excuse, nope they had to publicly shout their virtuousness and right think to ensure everyone understand they are the good people and so the TRA and their handmaidens would back off

now they are very much learning about FAFO in real time

incidentally on x ppl are saying the same tactic was tried on a venue in Taunton that hosted Jo & Rob - threats of protests, withdrawal of funding etc but they unlike Stroud Brewery stood firm. Result - a nice event where ppl turned up, listened, brought some books and went home. No drama at all

Edited

It's weird that people are still caving in to bullies. Does anyone remember back in 2017 or 2018 when Venice Allen tried to hold an event at Millwall FC, and they were bombarded with threats from trans activists and eventually gave in and cancelled the booking? Well, that was then and this is now. You don't have to give in when the angry man-toddlers threat and bully you. Just stand firm and behave like a grown up.

lcakethereforeIam · 11/04/2026 09:58

lcakethereforeIam · 11/04/2026 08:59

I've just realised I'd mentally mixed up Stroud with Slough. Corrected myself by humming the first few lines of The Eton Rifles 😁

It's totally doing my head in Reading people claiming they're being inclusive by being exclusive. It's not just man/woman, make/female, and healthcare whose meaning the tras are fucking with.

I suspect they went for the event initially because of Jo's views. Which are shared by most people and, inconveniently for some, by reality. However, I can't help wondering if they got really concerned when they realised she was going after porn. Fortunately for they/them they were already holding their mobiles and just had to swipe away from PornHub to complain to the brewery.

My head is being done in all over the place, not just in Reading. Damn you autocorrupt!🫤

EmpressDomesticatednottamed · 11/04/2026 10:10

Yesterday I was was pottering about getting stuff done and listenting to a series of podcasts about the Ku Klu Klan, as you do.
And wouldn't you know it, one of the things the KKK did to prevent black people from educating themselves was go after the venues that hosted them. Quelle surprise, and hey ho I thought to myself.
I'm not making any kind of point about left/right politics, more that there is nothing new or special about the lengths people will go to when they are zealously convinced of their righteousness.

Mmmnotsure · 11/04/2026 10:19

They've been even more obvious. Wings Over Scotland on X has posted another communication from them, which includes:

"After reviewing the authors' views, we recognise that some content could challenge the identity and safety of member of our trans community, which conflicts with the values we uphold."

Theeyeballsinthesky · 11/04/2026 10:22

EmpressDomesticatednottamed · 11/04/2026 10:10

Yesterday I was was pottering about getting stuff done and listenting to a series of podcasts about the Ku Klu Klan, as you do.
And wouldn't you know it, one of the things the KKK did to prevent black people from educating themselves was go after the venues that hosted them. Quelle surprise, and hey ho I thought to myself.
I'm not making any kind of point about left/right politics, more that there is nothing new or special about the lengths people will go to when they are zealously convinced of their righteousness.

Edited

TRIH?? Yes I thought the tactics displayed by KKK were very redolent - black ppl had legal rights but the KKK ensured it was impossible to enforce them through threats, violence and the collusion of the authorities

very familiar tactics

PoppinjayPolly · 11/04/2026 10:26

wondering if this will be another “whoopsie intern accidently got control of our X account…

Shortshriftandlethal · 11/04/2026 10:29

Parsley4321 · 11/04/2026 08:57

Local to me - you have to understand that we have a very large amount of hand maidens Dale Vince lovers green washing useful idiots. The cancellation and subsequent comments were heartening before the brewery turned them off but if you look on Stroud Sisterhood FB you’ll see the reality of Stroud with the Palestinian flag hung from the entrance to it from Dale Vince’s building.

| used to live in the Stroud valleys - an unusual place with a very varied and mixed demographic spread out over and around the five valleys. Stroud town itself is at heart a working class one....and long offered a cheaper place to rent or buy than most of the surrounding southern Cotswold areas; and as a consequence was taken over by the usual cliched, cringy crowd. It sounds as if it has gone full on insufferable now.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 11/04/2026 10:29

Very rapid change from initial reaction.

Stroud brewery