Thoughts on feminism from Labourites

So, following the decision of Labour MP Austin Mitchell to tweet Louise Mensch the message that "a good wife doesn't disagree with her master in public", something of a row has erupted. And my personal view is that anyone who says something like that, even if they later claim it was an "ironic joke" (adding an inability to understand the meaning of irony to Mitchell's list of flaws), is being disgustingly misogynist and has no place in parliament let alone in a Labour party which claims to be committed to equality.

Anyway, this prompted the usual groundswell of party tribalists rushing in to excuse what Mitchell said or handwave it away as not being a big deal because he was on there team rather than on the tory team. I vocally disagreed with hypocrisy of some of these people whom I happened to be following on twitter and an interesting conversation ensued.

Here are a few highlights from that conversation whichh I found particularly noteworthy from this charming gentleman who blogs under the name Denis Donovan:

He began with handwaving...

@georgewpotter @mancman10You really do need to lighten up here. This is mensch we are talking about.
— PLEB Donovan (@DD1958) October 29, 2012

Then quickly moved on to this:

@georgewpotter @mancman10It has nothing to do with her being a Tory. Your pseudo feminism will unfortunately not get you laid.
— PLEB Donovan (@DD1958) October 29, 2012

(Because obviously men can't believe in feminism for any reason other than as a ploy to slake their uncontrollable lust)

And continued in that vein...

@georgewpotter @mancman10Men who label themselves feminist really need to find a spine somewhere.
— PLEB Donovan (@DD1958) October 29, 2012

@mancman10 @georgewpotterIn order to get on in politics nowadays its important to tick the feminist box.
— PLEB Donovan (@DD1958) October 29, 2012

@georgewpotter @mancman10I suggest you grow a spine and stop all this juvenile pleading to get laid.
— PLEB Donovan (@DD1958) October 29, 2012

Before moving on to a bit of ageism...

@georgewpotter @mancman10Don't you have homework to do. Oh sorry I forgot its half term. Too cold for your skateboard?
— PLEB Donovan (@DD1958) October 29, 2012

And then finishing off with:

@georgewpotter Stop reading and get a little life experience. While you are here harping on about feminism women are out providing.
— PLEB Donovan (@DD1958) October 29, 2012

@georgewpotterWhile you are on here fighting the feminist cause what is your mum doing?
— PLEB Donovan (@DD1958) October 29, 2012

It was only when I pointed out that my mother died of cancer when I was seven that this charming individual decided to finally move on from sexist remarks and insults:

@georgewpotter my deepest sympathy. Genuinely.
— PLEB Donovan (@DD1958) October 29, 2012

And, while it's nice he decided to offer sympathy for that, it's a shame that a Member of Parliament telling a woman that her husband is her master and she must obey him apparently isn't something he objects to.

Now, aside from him, there was also another Labourite, who I'd actually followed on twitter for quite a long time, who seemed to get very confused about the concept that I could be both a man and a feminist:

@georgewpotter @dd1958 Georgina i am in no way belittling sexism,all i'm saying is that Mensch's motives are not for the cause of feminism!
— Ian(@Mancman10) October 29, 2012

Given that we'd spoken on several occasions before and that my twitter name is quite clearly George Potter, I suspected that this was an attempt to belittle me by calling me by a woman's name - a fairly common example of sexism itself. He however denied this:

@georgewpotter @dd1958 well when you have just typed you're a feminist i assumed you were in fact a woman,my apologies
— Ian(@Mancman10) October 29, 2012

@georgewpotter @dd1958 it is not BULLSHIT you tweeted you are a feminist & i will RT that now for all to see! you're losing the plot here!
— Ian(@Mancman10) October 29, 2012

I was unimpressed...

@mancman10 @dd1958 So either you used a woman's name as an insult or you assumed that all feminists must be women. #GreatJobThere
— George Potter (@georgewpotter) October 29, 2012

@georgewpotter @dd1958 i used a woman's name because i thought you were a woman ok in what you said previous
— Ian(@Mancman10) October 29, 2012

But this chap just kept on missing the point:

@dd1958 @georgewpotter I know many feminists,none of whom are men but George will rant,rave&swear at me for saying that no doubt
— Ian(@Mancman10) October 29, 2012

@mancman10 @dd1958 Let me spell this out: Feminism is a philosophy. Women can be feminists. Men can be feminists. #HowDoYouNotGetThis
— George Potter (@georgewpotter) October 29, 2012

Before again, finishing up with some ageism. Yay!

@georgewpotter @dd1958 Oh get your head out of student land,get a grip & get in the real world before it's too late
— Ian(@Mancman10) October 29, 2012

So, to summarise: according to these two, being a feminist means that I must either a) using the label to try and trick women into having sex with me or b) actually be a woman.

And both of these two men are so-called progressive sorts who, in name at least, are in favour of equality.

To which all I can say is: #facepalm

Oh, and just to finish up, I'd just like to present an example from people's experiences on the Everyday Sexism project as a reminder of why I'm a feminist in the first place:

Katie 2012-10-28 21:04 

Year 7 French homeowork about my family. 

I write "mon pere cuisine le diner" (my father cooks dinner). French teacher corrects it to "ma mere" and tells me off for getting such a basic thing wrong. When I tell her that my Dad does the cooking at home she initially thought I was lying to hide my mistake, then eventually decided my dad must be some poor suppressed husband married to some sort of tyrant. 

All this at an all girls grammar school that prided itself in turning out strong independent women.