2/26/2021 I find myself saying Hurrah for the House of Lords - at least they can't be cancelledRead Now Politically homeless - from Marxist left, to Labour Party, Green Party, Liberal Democrats - all have embraced gender ideology. I left extinction rebellion because this so called single issue campaign uniting everyone around climate change suddenly (and they are not a democratic organistion) not only declared support for people who were transgender but called anyone who opposed the ideology TERFS. I find myself saying Hurrah for the House of Lords - at least they can't be cancelled.
2/26/2021 Identity politics has come from the left but am I insane to think it’s been orchestrated from the right?Read Now I now have to distance myself from parties and organisations that I previously respected e.g. Green Party, Labour, SNP, Amnesty. I am watching ‘the left’ hand critical thinking over to the right and my heart is breaking. Identity politics has come from the left but am I insane to think it’s been orchestrated from the right? People who should be fighting for important issues are being dragged into these ridiculous arguments. I have lost hope. We’re all fucked.
I was a socialist from the age of 16 when I joined the Labour Party Young Socialists and organised the CND film to be shown in my sixth form in 1979. Saw Tony Benn talk at the age of 17 in another local school. Left the Labour Party during the Miners Strike to go to SWP. Returned to Labour when I grew up a bit more. Not really interested in the bureaucracy but the issues and campaigning, going out talking to people, leafletting, knocking on doors. Really keen on Jezza with the policies he represented. Didn't take in the gender stuff. Hit me like a rock when my early twenties daughter said she was going to inject testosterone and have a mastectomy a couple of years ago. Then the scales fell from my eyes regarding the gender shit. I am stunned beyond belief. I left the Labour Party, drove miles to spoil my ballot paper last time. Fucking idiots. A string of lost and abandoned friendships. They can all fuck off. This is my daughter and my womanhood.
2/26/2021 if we cannot stand by our lesbian sisters then we cannot call ourselves feministsRead Now I have been Labour member and trade unionist for 20 years from a long line of socialist women. I took part in marches in support of my lesbian sisters and am clinging in by my fingernails having become increasingly conerned by the treatment of Rosie Duffield and the abject failure of the party leadership to stand up for women's sex based rights. This is especially important in a world where online pornography is freely available and frankly, the cotton ceiling arguments, is the most dreadful male entitlement I have seen for a long time.I worry for young autistic and lesbian women caught up in fashionable medicalisation of complex issues as Tennessee Williams' sister was lobotimised during another era when problem women were subjected to irreversible treatments. I have found Keira Bell inspiring and Dr Jane Clare Jones' analysis insightful. Above all, if we cannot stand by our lesbian sisters then we cannot call ourselves feminists - I choose Julie Bindel, Beverly Jackson and many others holding the line against this new homphobia.
The detachment from what has felt like my natural spaces, scenes, political groupings and affiliations since turning That Corner and realising what was afoot has been a process of shock, grief, large silent but persistent rage, and eventually, resolve. I still miss that feeling of joyful belonging, though.
The Women's March, a quite glorious, spontaneous expression of global solidarity in the face of Trump's debasing comments and looming assault on democratic principles, was the last time I felt that lift. Not long after, Munroe pissed on that parade, complaining that it was 'trans exclusive'. I guess that what shocked me was that this, somehow, was deemed newsworthy and not immediately dismissed as petty, self-centred, blinkered and, yes, sexist. It was clear that women's reproductive agency was going to come under fire, and this person, with absolutely zero skin in that game, tone-policed expressions of solidarity from women all around the world? Seriously skewed priorities. I could not accept that this person spoke on behalf of women, and on this issue, not even of women. Very much a 'read the room, ffs' moment. Not long after, I got wind of the cotton ceiling, and that sent me down the rabbit hole. I learned about the Challenor case, and wrote furious emails to my MP about it. I could not believe the lameness of the responses. Then came Labour's betrayal of women, and a long period of heartbreak in the face of political homelessness. People say it's not just one issue, but I just cannot bring myself to giving my voice to people who deny my reality of existing in a female body, and the experiences stemming from that. It is so unbelievably insulting. I have moved in extremely liberal and fun-loving circles my whole life. This incursion is neither of those things. I am not the only one to feel this, and even before the pandemic, there was a sense that something beautiful had died, or at least gone into hiding. Having travelled in Eastern Europe, I recognise the atmosphere. Other People are in Control of the Narrative. They Decide what is Important. There is Disapproval (and quite possibly worse) of dissidents. I found myself instinctively avoiding events and circles I would previously have been instinctively drawn to. Strangely, my friends did, too. It is the smug disapproval, served with the hint of a disdainful snarl, that gets to me. I am a dedicated hedonist and made the co-creation of extremely good times a profession for quite a number of years. I just cannot with people who look down on others like that. It is completely impossible to have fun around them. I know that some see 'fun' is frivolous, but for me, it was an art (and art is never apolitical). I am also very, very good at it, and regard it as a part of creativity and dynamism. I've never before felt the need to make excuses for it - quite the contrary. But now, it feels inappropriate. It's like a stern priesthood have taken over. Their doctrine preaches ugliness and demands shame from me as a tribute. I'd rather walk alone that step into that role. My life has become a lot more private. I only speak freely about this with close friends. I know I am not alone. There are quite a few of us who miss what was, yet we can't seem to put our fingers on what to do about it. It feels like danger, yet we are not under direct threat. It is the most insidious political phenomenon I have ever come across. I have left the Labour Party due to their trans women are women policy. I believe that trans people should have equal rights with other humans but I do not believe that trans women are women or trans men are men - they are trans women and trans men. I have never had involvement with Stonewall as whilst I am a lesbian, I have always felt that they are essentially an entirely conservative lobbying group, aiming for hetero normative goals such as equal marriage and the military.
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