Thursday 8 October 2015

Suffragette!

Hollywood history is easier to grasp than the real thing. It always has clear good guys and bad guys.

Let us look a little closer.

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Last night I and some friends attended the premier of the Suffragette film in Leicester Square in London. A good time was had by all with the exception of a few feminists- but when have we ever seen them happy anyway?

We were at the film to give the tourists a history lesson no film will ever give them.
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We all think we know the story of the suffragettes. Feisty and terribly posh young ladies demanding the vote from the Patriarchy in silk and lace! For a film maker this has everything. Drama! Beautiful damsels in distress and an uplifting Girl Power message.

What could possibly go wrong?

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Well.. the truth could get lost.

In reality the struggle was not a simple matter of girl (good) and boy (bad). Did you know for instance that..

1. Most of the young men in the trenches of the the first world war did not have the vote- yet nobody seems much concerned- then or now..

2. Emmeline Pankhurst admits in her autobiography that she wished to restrict voting to no more than one and a half million people and that she thought any expansion beyond this was somehow against nature. It is ironic that this woman is now seen as a progressive heroine when she was the worst type of reactionary snob.

3. By 1909 a consensus existed within parliament that some extension of the vote was needed. The main difference being the question of allowing the working class to vote. Emmeline wanted a cozy oligarchy of posh women and their posh husbands to run things. This cozy club would have approximately equal numbers of men and woman but had nothing to do with equality or democracy. She did not want ordinary women to vote.
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Why does it matter? Civilization is built upon the love and trust men and women hold for one another. We should not tell wicked lies that undermine this.

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The event was fun. We shuffled into the square liked gassed servicemen and handed out leaflets. I must admit the initial response was puzzlement.

I handed out a leaflet to a man in his 50's and a younger woman who was a teacher- possibly drunk on the bogus authority it gave her. She when into full feminist shreak mode. Something like this 'whydoyousaythiswhenallmen havedoneforcenturiesisoppressusandrapeusandyouclearlyhavenogirlfriendyouarepathetic'. I tried to talk to her is a civilized way but she was having none of it and literally stamped her foot like a child. I put my finger to my lips and went 'shussh'!

She looked at me in astonishment and then stomped off- speechless for once.

I have a personal rule. I always give a feminist the opportunity to be an adult and to discuss the issues. It is only when she goes into child mode that I treat her as such.

I rejoined my friends. They had been interviewed by CNN while this was going on. It is unlikely that a CNN celebrity correspondent would introduce 'difficult' content into a frothy celebrity segment but we never know.

We were then approached by a second female feminist who asked if we were feminists ourselves. She thought we were because of a quote on one of our placards from Christabel Pankhurst. She thought men were not in fact human and were no more than carriers of disease (which presumably makes it OK to gas them like rats). When she discovered that- no- we were not feminists and did not think men were like rats she went into a rewarding mini breakdown on the spot.

If you enjoy shitlording feminists you may enjoy my 'I am a Shitlord' Facebook page.

Such fun. google-site-verification: google55d5f7c95b86cac5.html
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