Men can Menstruate: The Importance of Understanding the story behind the #IfMenHadPeriods hashtag

So a Twitter ruckus has been created, supposedly within the "left wing" diversity centric side of the social media platform. It's been said that a liberal feminist Dr Jennifer Gunter created the #IfMenHadPeriods hashtag to imagine what it'd be like for cisgender men if they had a period. Her tweet said "#IfMenHadPeriods pads would be free". Which is a fair comment within the context of the debate surrounding access to sanitary products in allowing them to be readily available to all women regardless of social class, nationality and geographical location. It is realistic to suggest that if all men went through periods, there would be government funded sanitary product programmes in place to provide them with the necessary relief from embarrassment. Since the Establishment remains mostly patriarchal, even in the West, it would still hold true that part of the reason why government subsidised tampons are opposed by men is because male taxpayers are affronted by the idea of paying for basic hygiene measures even if it might make their wives/girlfriends feel better.

After the initial tweet, mockery then ensued after there were calls for Dr Gunter's tweets to be promoted. Many feminists thought that pictures of men pissing up walls with blood and writing their name (rather stereotypical of masculine "laddish" behaviour) were fine to disseminate across Twitter. As a satirist I do find such images rather reflective of societal attitudes, at least for a portion of Western society where men do tend to piss in the street despite being told not to. Then it was that time in the tweeting cycle when notorious Conservative Alt-Righter Steven Crowther just had to get involved and blame feminists for "wanting free stuff" and that this was "embarrassing"- the usual garbage you get when there's a battle between left and right over women's bodies. What Mr Crowther doesn't understand is that menstruation does get stigmatised in many countries across the world, especially in Africa, where women can often have very little access to toilet facilities and running water, let alone sanitary products. WaterAid actually ran a series of vids entitled If Men Had Periods to highlight this very issue. They then ran a survey which found that 70% of woman believe menstruation would not be stigmatised if men went through the menstrual cycle. This is no laughing matter: it demonstrates just how misogynistic society remains when they discriminate on the basis of biological difference. I believe the UK government should fund sanitary products for all women but that they should definitely be free of tax. This should now happen thanks to an online petition campaign created by Laura Coryton a 22 year old activist in May 2014 called "Stop Taxing Tampons, Period" to end 5% VAT on tampons which gained over 320,000 signatures, and which despite being initially opposed by EU bureaucrats is likely to be scrapped because we are leaving the EU. Manjit K Gill, founder of menstrual dignity charity Binti International said that if the Tory Govt carries out their proposal to scrap the tax it will mean that "homeless women in the UK may no longer have to use socks, rag or newspaper" to soak up blood discharge. Even male MPs such as Labour's Paul Sherriff believe that the tax cut should be passed onto female consumers (which means seeing a reduction in tampon costs overall) and that if the tax cut isn't passed on, he would propose amendments to the Finance Bill to provide for a windfall tax for female consumers. A progressive measure proposed by a cisgender men! Who can believe it?? Yet none of the tweets on the #IfMenHadPeriods hashtag seem to refer to such discussion, which is a great shame!

I guess what Dr Gunter and Mr Crowther didn't expect to happen next was for trans activists to take so much offence at the hashtag. They were quick to point out the major flaw with this hashtag when you take it seriously: some men do have periods because trans men who are only at the start of their transition journey will continue to have periods. But let's go one step further: non-binary/queer/gender-fluid people have biological organs which mean they end up going through the menstruation cycle bleed too. And not every trans man is comfortable with the idea of going through hormone therapy or gender reassignment surgery. So they will continue to have periods for the rest of their lives. Let's go even further: What about intersex people? What about cisgender women who can't have periods due to medical reasons? Does that make them any less of a woman? Not if they identify as a woman. Yet these people never get mentioned within the debate by trans and feminist tweeters. It seems to be an Either/Or binary that gets created: you have to be trans to be defended from attack and trans exclusory feminists (TERFs) can't help but be derisory towards trans people but only those who have gone through surgery! TERFs are ultra-critical of trans women, accusing them of being "panto dames" who mutilate themselves to create their own fantasy woman image by using their own body to do it. Essentially they fetishize trans women and make transition a mostly sexual based decision. However TERFs tend to be rather quiet when it comes to trans men and their need for sanitary products. Indeed I've seen several tweeters who have damned trans men for daring to change their gender and tell them if they're so bothered about their periods they can get sanitary products readily because they'll "automatically gain more money" due to their change in gender which very rarely happens till the person has at least produced a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) and changed jobs anyways!

What is important for trans activists and intersectional feminists who happen to be trans to see is that the Alt Righters and Conservatives couldn't wait to get stuck in and use the hashtag as a way of delegitimising feminism and SJWs as well as discriminating against the trans male community as a whole, accusing them of "lying" because they refuse to adhere to an immutable dual gender binary and they go against "doctors" because of this. Most TERFs happen to be conservative minded so it's no surprise they are ready to back Alt-Righters to enforce bigotry and prejudice. Yet trans activists need to see the whole picture with regards to the hashtag; that it wasn't initially created to cause offense to the LGBTQIA community but to highlight awareness of sanitary product provisions. Alt-Righting TERFs expected trans activists to be immediately dismissive of this. They wanted to see that trans activists don't have a sense of humour. So the best trans activists can do is to try and shake off the criticism, highlight the follies that are brought out by such a hashtag and perhaps get people to realise the importance of seeing beyond the dual binary system. Some men do menstruate, they care about sanitary provisions being available for all women. TERFs have to accept their caring attitude and accept that even cisgender men like Paul Sherriff can care about women's issues. Then maybe we can all have a laugh at blood spurting up the wall satirical pictures. Maybe.

Intersectionaling Feminism: How Do You Solve A Problem Like Rape? My Own Oral Rape Story.

"Rape is not just a women's issue. It's about men who stop behaving like human beings and start behaving like animals". Anon.

"Rape is rape". It's a common battle cry heard on campuses, feminist societies and domestic abuse centres across the UK and beyond. Yet sometimes it can feel as if "men" and "women" have entirely different understandings of the concept of rape. A recent example of such cultural difference concerning understanding of rape has come out as a result of a Turkish ad being disseminated at airports in Istanbul and Ankara warning Turkish families not to travel to Sweden because it has been deemed to have "the highest reported number of rapes in the world". Interestingly this marketing campaign was triggered after the Swedish foreign minister Margot Wallström accused Turkey on Twitter of allowing legalisation of child sexual activity (under the age of 15) since the attempted coup against Erdogan and that children "need more protection, not less against violence and sex abuse". Many pundits have then used comments to highlight Turkey anchoring towards Islamification because of numerous incidents in Iraq and Syria where child brides are being given to terrorists as prizes for fighting against "infidels" because of guarantees over their virginity. Now, Turkish tweeters, particularly men, have bombarded Twitter with hate tweets using the hashtag #DontTravelToTurkey stating Sweden is a country full of paedophiles and rapists (despite the fact the age of consent is 16, the same as that the UK) because of those rape figures being equivocated with a rise in refugees from Syria and other Muslim-dominated countries.

What Turkish men may have failed to understand was that reporting rates might be higher in Sweden because women who experience rape are more likely to report it because they are more self-aware of what constitutes rape under Swedish legislation. The Swedish justice system has come under attack at times for allowing victims of rape to report the crime to officials due to "trivial reasons". For example, Julian Assange was accused of "two counts of sexual molestation, one count of unlawful coercion and one count of lesser degree rape or mindre grov våldtäkt"  by two different women during a visit to Stockholm in November 2010 and his defenders have stated that local authorities had fabricated the charges to try and trap him for his espionage activities under WikiLeaks.  Assange still continues to deny the accusations made against him to this day and so those women have not received and are unlikely to receive any apology for what they claimed had happened to them.

Now Sweden also prohibits prosecutors for disclosing information about sexual assault cases so we don't know what the main reasons behind prosecuting him were for, but according to feminist lawyer Jill Filipovic, Assange molested these two women because he disregarded their wishes for him to conduct protected sex - "one accuser told him to wear a condom but he penetrated her without one, whilst another saw that the condom Assange was using broke and he refused to replace it". A minor issue for some, but in Sweden condom use is predicated on consent, so if Assange refused to comply with their request for him to use a condom, he has at the very least committed a form of sexual assault. Besides, if you were going to have sex with a stranger without knowing their medical history and you asked them to put a condom but they refuse and then penetrate you anyway, does that not cross the consent boundaries? Regardless, the Assange case does highlight the complexities of Swedish (and UK law) when it comes to considerations of sexual consent and what the specific difference between unlawful coercion and lesser degree rape may actually be.

My Personal Experience of Rape:

Now in the UK we still continue to see increasing rates of rape incidents being reported and yet many still feel unable to speak out about their experiences, especially in the first initial hours and days of occurrence. I'm one such person who could not speak out about what happened to me, mainly because I never thought I'd be believed by the police in the first place because of the nature of the incident and even if the case had gotten to court I thought they'd use the fact I was a queer gay man (at the time that's how I was perceived) and had been wearing "inappropriate clothing" (leggings or hot pants and a glitter tee) for a University of York night out would go against me.

To those who don't know my story here it is:

I was walking home from Ziggy's nightclub in York on an early December Wednesday morning in 2009 (around 3am) on my own in a glitter tee and black lurex leggings as I usually did whilst I was partying after writing my English essays. I was alone, mainly because I didn't like paying for taxis when I knew I could walk to my Uni flat in an hour and I was completely sober because I never drunk on a night out in the city as I was very security conscious. I usually had a rape alarm keyring on me but I'd stupidly left it at home that night and I thought as I was the way I was (not exactly Katie Price, more Jane Austen) I'd be OK. I was walking across the fields just near my old college (of Goodricke) when I was abused by a tall, blonde white man, a stranger I'd never seen before in the area. He looked like he was in his late 20's/early 30's I think. He was so strong he had me forced down against the tree, blocking my way out with his flies undone before I could try and push him to get away. It all happened in a flash. I can remember the rancid taste left in my mouth after he'd finished penetrating my mouth as he pushed me to the side and ran off. Nobody saw what happened.  I laid there frozen for about half an hour wondering what the hell I was going to do. I managed to get myself up thinking I needed to get myself to the shower; I needed to feel clean, I needed to feel SAFE. I got to my flat dishevelled and unnoticed, unlocked the door, grabbed my soap and went into the shower and when done I put my nightshirt on and ran to my bedroom and locked the door. I didn't have any seminars or lectures at the time as it was my final year and it was research week so I just kept myself in the bedroom for pretty much two weeks. I didn't feel like I wanted to speak to anyone. Whenever my friends rang I would just say I was OK and listened to them talk about their seminar or home life. When I saw my flatmates in the kitchen (very rarely because everyone was busy doing their research and finishing essays) I didn't want anyone to notice that something had happened to me because I knew they may start asking questions and I just wasn't ready to talk in case I was accused of lying. I did meet one best friend twice during that time but I put my happy face on and fronted it.  Being perceived as an "effeminate gay man" it seems like its part of the course that you're meant to like giving blowjobs and that having sexual encounters with strangers is seen by some who are gay as "exciting". Plus not being able to fend off a guy is seen by some men as being "inferior/insecure" and hence my fault. I hate gender stereotyping; it is the bane of my existence and the sooner they are all debunked the better in my view. Anyways I clammed up and lived off the chocolates, crisps and sweets that I'd luckily bought on the Monday before rather than risk spending an hour cooking in the kitchen. When Christmas came round, I couldn't wait to get home, back to somewhere I felt safe. Yet I never told my parents anything at that point, other than discussing the new clothes I bought or the essays I was writing. I couldn't bring myself to talk about the experience until I told my parents in July 2015, when my Mum had asked me why I hadn't got a girlfriend if I wasn't having sex with men. In a way she and my Dad never really accepted I fancied men and had hoped it was a phase but when I told her about what happened to me at York it came pouring out like a broken water tap. I was shocked that she even had to ask me at the end whether I was "telling the truth" but from my experience of reading survivor stories that seems to be the norm with those who are brave enough to report their experiences of rape when it happens to them. Now I want to be more vocal about my experience in the hope that it helps to dispel the ignorant opinions made by some that rape by strangers can only happen to women or that oral penetration cannot constitute a form of rape. I hope to be a visible survivor but I know I must care for myself. I've still got to work through my anxieties. But I'm getting there slowly. I could be in a much worse place than I am now but I am lucky to have a safe roof over my head, even if my parents are still struggling to get their heads around what happened to me. I try and not be a burden to anyone but it's hard sometimes to keep that smile going. It's emotionally draining. But I know I must keep striving for a better life and a better world for everyone. I'm not going to let that man destroy my confidence any more.

What can Intersectional Feminism do to help reduce rape rates whilst encouraging rape victims to come forward:

As a non-binary trans person I believe that we need a joined up gender approach to opposing rape crime and trying to combat the ideologies that may fuel men (and some women) to commit an act of sexual violence against a fellow human being. I think that part of an undeniable problem is that men, women and non-binary people are never really taught at secondary school about what constitutes sexual consent, what constitutes sexual assault or rape or what to do when you have become a victim of sexual assault or rape. I can remember having a sex education lesson where a young rugby player in my class was proud to say jokingly that "If You Get Three Nos it becomes a Yes" when it came to oral sex. Some teenage boys were openly bragging about "taking virginities" while their friend/girlfriend/boyfriend was drunk, asleep or unwilling to consent. In fact going out on a date was seen as consent for sexual activity by some  guys desperate to lose their virginity. I've even heard of teenage boys talking about wanting to seduce or rape a female teacher so they can lose their virginity even though they are aware that such actions could lead to that teacher being arrested for grooming offences. It's all a part of the  Machismo element of "bromantic culture" that is still held up to be an ideal of manhood; that somehow only those that instigate sexual activities are to be celebrated and held up as being a role model to aspire to. You see it perpetuated throughout Ancient and modern history, from the Zeus model of tricking women into having sex with him by metamorphosis to the idea among some Christian men that "raping a lesbian will make them heterosexual". No rape alarms are given out actively to men, apart from some very liberally progressive universities such as my own University of York. There's no discussion of rapes that happen to men by men and women in sex education lessons. Most people still think oral penetration is not a form of rape because the consequences are "less" than that for anal or vaginal sex. Yet evidence shows that you can contract STDs including HIV from unprotected oral sex.

Intersectional feminists like myself believe that we as a society have to understand that we must fundamentally address rape ideology at its festering source. Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) as being promoted by charities such as the Terrence Higgins Trust and the PSHE Foundation know that rules concerning consent has to be taught in such a way that it becomes second-nature by the time teenagers think about engaging in sexual activities. We need to teach students that oral rape does exist and that they must not be afraid of reporting any incidents of rape or sexual assault to the local police force, regardless of whether they may think it is trivial. If a person refuses to wear a condom or take protection and then goes on to have sexual contact with you, that is a form of assault at the very least.

Figures from the  Overview of Sexual Offending in England and Wales the first ever jointly official statistics released by the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office in January 2013 found that
approximately 12,000 men and 85,000 women have been raped in England and Wales alone every year and 500,000 adults are sexually assaulted. Only 15% of those who experience sexual violence then go on to report the crime to the police.

Therefore rape charities in the UK need to show that they care about male victims of sexual assault and rape, especially if a woman they know has perpetrated that crime. UK charity Rape Crisis for example, has stated that 95% of its service users are female, despite the fact that the figures quoted above show men may be in need of support services. Why is it the case that only 5% of users at Rape Crisis are male? Are too many men afraid to speak out? Can they feel they can't relate to female psychologists/nurses asking them about their experience? Is it because they believe rape charity services are only available for cisgendered women?

There are very few cases mainstream media reported of men being raped by other men (other than the child sex abuse carried out by monks such as Philip Temple who had previously been protected from prosecution under Catholic monastic law) let alone men and boys being sexually assaulted by girls and women, women being sexually assaulted by other women and non-binary people being assaulted and raped. Quite rightly an emphasis had to be placed on increasing awareness of rape support services for women because the numbers of women being raped are far higher than men. It is right to wonder though whether some male victims (especially gay, cross dresser, queer or trans) have been left behind in discussions of rape victim provision and prosecution? Do male rape charities need to be established to help fill the void or do existing charities need to do more to show these men that their door is always open and that they will be given the same opportunities to be believed by police that should be shown to female victims?

Issues related to sexual violence and rape are tense within the feminist community. I know as a trans woman that trans people are subject to both just because their perpetrators feel the need to try and project their will onto them. For trans men who identify as heterosexual or gender-fluid individuals who may happen to have a vagina, being penetrated by a man to try and see whether they are "still all woman" occurs regularly and I could not even begin to imagine what that feels like. In some ways I feel the stranger that orally raped me was just trying to "get his end away" and use me like an object to discard when his fun was over. I'm not even sure whether he knew I was perceived as being a man or believed I was a man biologically or if he even cared. The reason why a joined-up approach to fighting sexual violence is essential is because every sexual assault, every rape that happens is an attempt by the perpetrator to gain power. That is why it's important to say "rape is rape". There are absolutely NO excuses for violating a person's space without consent.

"Feminism ain't cancer if you don't want it to be": The Importance of promoting Compassionate Intersectional Feminism

"Feminism is not a dirty word. It does not mean you hate men, it does not mean you hate girls that have nice legs and a tan, and it does not mean you are a "bitch" or "dyke"; it means you believe in equality." Kate Nash.

It's fascinating to see how feminists are received on social media platform these days. Advocating for equal pay rights by guaranteeing a fair pay structure for all workers gets shouted down as "sexist against hard working men", recognising the existence of a rape culture that attacks men as well as women is shot down as "illogical thinking" and even acknowledging the need for state funded gender segregated  domestic abuse shelters for those women who have survived sexually, emotionally and physically abusive relationships is seen as a waste of money.

Yet how striking is it to see the results of a January 2016 survey conducted by The Fawcett Society, "the UK's largest membership society for women's rights" who actively encourage men and women to help enact societal change to benefit both sexes. The wide ranging survey was conducted to analyse British attitudes towards feminism as a whole movement. They concluded that Britain is a nation of "hidden feminists". Here's why:

• 2/3 of Britons support gender equality but only 7% identify as feminists. (560/8000 people interviewed).
• 9% of women identify as feminists whereas 4% of men label themselves as feminist.
• However men more supportive of equality between the sexes - 86% want equality for their women but only 74% of women want equality with men.
• Younger women more likely to identify as feminist- 19% of 18-24 year olds use the word but also 18-24 year old age group more likely to oppose it. 8% expressed this view compared with 2% of people aged 55 and over.  I believe this could be partly due to a promotion of awareness of feminist issues being studied on the National Curriculum through studying feminist approaches to Elizabeth Bennett's desire to break etiquette rules in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice for GCSE English Literature (Conservatives say this is liberal indoctrination of innocent minds).

When people were asked to ascribe an adjective to the word "feminist" when it first pops into their head:

• Just over 25% said "bitchy"
• 22% said "strength"
• 17% said "suffragette"
• 17% used gender-related words such as "woman" and "female".

A related poll conducted by the Huffington Post found that 82% of respondents believe that "men and women should be social, political, and economic equals" (the definition of feminism), but only 20% self-identify as feminists.

So what's truly going on within the feminist sphere that is putting off those who support mainstream ideas that have been espoused by various aspects of feminism and what can some feminists do to try and reverse the negative stereotypes being perpetuated by arch opponents of the movement?

Faux Feminism = Opponents of Feminism? A Social Media Analysis:

A Twitter follower and amazingly sassy British podcaster (one half of the Melanin Millennials show which I now religiously listen to on a weekly basis) and co-founder of the UK's diverse podcast company ShoutOut Network, Satia came up with a list of 4 types of faux-feminists who populate social media platforms and contribute to the creation of negative feminist stereotypes:

• #PickMePickMeFeministTwitter - these people are not a feminist except when it becomes a personal cause for them. They usually impose their ideas on other women about what is desirable to be taken up as part of the mainstream feminist cause without showing an awareness of different feminist viewpoints. Anyone who doesn't conform to their own personal ideals are seen as "defective" and should be "excluded" from feminist discourse.
• #MeninistTwitter- horned up men using feminism to pick up girls without really trying to hide their true intentions. To them "feminist" is a word they use in a sentence but fail to understand what mainstream feminists aim to achieve. It's important to realise though that there may be lesbian/bi women who try and use the feminist label to rape other women by gaining their confidence online.
• #SlutShamingFeministTwitter - Women and men who believe women who choose to dress "provocatively" (e.g. in a halter neck top and hotpants to go out clubbing) deserve to be shamed publically or online for their brazen choice. They also tend to argue that "skimpy"dressing or flirtatious actions usually leads to acts of rape being committed and it's the victims fault they got raped or assaulted or abused because they didn't take effective precautions. This sort of rhetoric is often one-sided in rape cases, as straight men who get raped are not criticised for their dress code or actions in the same way that straight women and trans women are criticised, hence why they are faux feminist.
• #ProstitutesCannotBeFeministsTwitter - This often comes from middle class Judeo-Christian bias against sex workers who they believe have sold their body illegally because they are "hooked on drugs" or "owe money to pimps". There are sex workers who are trafficked into the country to raise illegal money for their pimps and they deserve our compassion and help, especially if they are being daily exploited and raped. However there are sex workers who freely choose to engage in sex acts with strangers for money and should feminists judge those women for wanting to control how they use their own bodies when feminists generally call for legalisation of abortion without foetal limitations? Trans activist (and former sex worker) Paris Lees is currently writing a thesis looking at how mainstream feminism has failed sex workers by oppressing them through their support of draconian legislation. So do those who support curbs to prostitution still be seen as feminists or faux feminists?

 Satia then identified the key ultra opponents of feminism on Twitter that I have now added to:

• #FeminismIsCancerTwitter aka #FreeMilo/ Alt-Right Media Types who believe feminist ideology leads to the breakup of appropriate relationships, reduce the chances for acceptable men and women to "procreate" and  effectively lead to the destruction of men's confidence and natural dominant place in society. Mainly it's a bunch of bashful boys who bitch and moan about their own sexual inadequacies and blame strong, intelligent women for rejecting their sexual advances. It's quite ironic that the guy who came out with the leading statement is a conservative gay man who feels uncomfortable with his own sexuality and loves dressing himself up with gold jewellery despite hating the women that probably designed some of the jewellery he wears in the first place!
• #FeminismDestroysChivalryTwitter - these are men who argue that feminism destroys the codes of etiquette and common courtesy that has been shown towards women in the past as a form of deference- e.g. there are men who question whether they need to give up a seat on a train for a heavily pregnant or physically disabled woman because they believe full "equality" means all seats are up for grabs regardless of physical differences. These men also seem to go all "size queen" when women criticise their bank balance, penis size or shoe size, even though they regularly rate the size of women's breasts or "fuckability" with their mates down the local bar of a Friday night and don't care whether they get overhead rating those women by the women themselves!
• #YouCookOrGetFiredCavemanTwitter- These are men who argue that women still have to perform domestic "housewifely" duties even if they are the main breadwinner in the house. So there are young men who are able to cook or could learn how to do the ironing but they can't be bothered and expect their girlfriend/mother/sister to do it for them 100% of the time even if his primary occupation is baiting or masturbating fellow virgin male gamers online!
• #FeminismIsIrrelevantInTheWesternWorldTwitter- These are men and women who argue that feminist principles can no longer be applied to Western countries because these countries already have as much equality of opportunity as can be reasonably achieved. They say that voting rights, abortion legalisation has liberated Western women to the point where they now have freedom to choose their path in life and are protected by discrimination laws should their rights be violated. Therefore feminism has no application and should only be advocated for in countries where there is no women's right to vote or have access over their bodies such as the "Muslim" countries of Saudi Arabia and Iran. Most believe that Islam is an anti-feminist and should be combatted at all costs but because  the Western World is mostly Christianised, there is "less of a threat".

So what kind of feminist model do we need to follow to fully address the concerns of opponents of feminism to get the "hidden feminists" identified earlier to engage with the mainstream feminist more openly and positively to enact the radical social changes needed to make the Establishment much more representative of our diverse modern society?

Satia made an interesting point regarding male engagement and education them about women's issues during the Melanin Millennials podcast on feminism. She believes that enlightened men should take the time to educate men about "key" feminist issues such as the need to fight for equal pay or to encourage more women to stand for political appointment as a councillor or MP. Men who actively choose to own the label of "feminist" are much more likely to preach the message positively to others. Those who have a skewered view of feminism through social media engagement with ultra radical feminists or faux feminists are more likely to call for their "eradication", hence the "Feminism is Cancer" argument favoured by those #FreeMilo Alt-Right activists who see any form of feminism as a danger to the existing patriarchal world order. However, Satia believes that women should only teach their male family members about respecting women's rights and that it is then up to those men to educate their mates in the nightclubs, down the pubs and youth centres and in their workplaces about these values. I believe that what men are taught with regards to women's issues by their female family members may differ according to cultural, geographical and ideological differences. Some women are clearly transphobic and may therefore teach their sons and brothers to hate trans women even if they may never have met a trans woman in their lifetime. As my previous blogpost on the "uneasiness" between transfeminists and radical feminists demonstrated, there are women who turn their own cisgender misogyny against other women who are gender-fluid/queer and yet still describe themselves as mainstream feminists. This not only damages the reputation of feminism within the LGBTQIA community but also gives fuel to the fire of those who want to dismiss feminism as an attempt to create a new Establishment order dominated by cisgender women only.

I believe the answer may lie in adopting an intersectional approach to feminism but one which is based on compassion for all, respect for opponent's views and humility to be shown when it may appear we get our approach wrong. It is important for intersectional feminists to understand their own levels of cognitive dissonance that exist and try to change or reduce that dissonance through research, debate and compassion as much as they can. For example, I believe that intersectional feminists need to address the fact that rape culture can affect men as well as women and lead to male victims being emotionally scarred for life. Feminists need to understand the uncomfortable truth that there are women and girls out there who are prepared to rape men because they want to gain sexual/emotional power over them, to get them to bend to their will. Some women may have internalised methods through seeing how their male counterparts have used sexual abuse as a power tool. Yet much of the emphasis is placed on girls and women who are raped by strangers or older men who "should know better". Boys who rape girls are even excused as being "mentally immature" and often get away with a rap on the knuckles and left free to try and attempt rape again in the near future. Education about what constitutes rape under the law and what sentences perpetrators may receive (including being put on the Sex Offenders Register in the UK) in schools, youth centres and religious groups across the Western world is key to trying to rates of behaviour but let's not pretend it is a purely male issue!

Another key point regarding intersectional feminism is that we have to be prepared to engage with issues and movements that link and blend within the movement. There are feminists who are Muslim who are trying to change radical fundamentalist views of Islam that seek to subjugate and humiliate women and keep them within the domestic sphere. The recent "Men Wearing Hijab" movement in Iran was an attempt by Muslim feminist men to show their support against the law in Saudi Arabia that forces women to wear the burqa when in the company of non-family men outside the home. They wanted to demonstrate the fact there are Muslim women in these countries who have support to try and gain control over their own bodies. Yet in France, the burqa is banned for all women which is ironic given the supposed level of freedom of clothing choice we are meant to have within a secular democracy. There are Muslim women in the UK who freely choose to wear the burqa because they want to maintain a connection to their tradition or maintain their modesty. Yet feminists have argued Muslim women's choice to wear the burqa is because they remain indoctrinated in Middle Eastern values of subjugation.  So there are clearly conflicts between feminists who have different cultural and religious backgrounds. But it's alright to recognise that within a movement. Discussions should take place and to some extent we should allow this freedom to debate issues but only within the confines of the law. Feminists cannot excuse using phobic taboo language to defeat their enemies regardless of how strongly they feel about their point of view. Provided we try and show a level of compassion towards our ideological opponents and work together with those who are prepared to do so, we can reduce the number of "hidden feminists" and drive the social changes that are needed to make our Establishment systems diversity and feminist friendly.

Size 20 Curvy Trans n Lovin' It: Joining the Plus Size Debate

Just Curvy Witticisms (Take That Katie Wanna ShockALottaEmoKidsKins)

I've always been a big size in terms of my weight. Partly due to my loving lifelong relationship with the sweetest of treats, making sure cheesy puffs, chocolate buttons and ice cream were regularly on my fine dining menu and partly due to my accepted stubbornness to change through carrying out ridiculous exercise schemes that neither interested me or made me any better than prior to exercising. I've been a bit of a lounge lizard come sofa monster and increases in online activity through getting enthused by social media platform interaction and writing this "verbose" blog probably didn't help matters. It's a common trait among some dyspraxics that because we find hand-eye coordination a real challenge on a daily basis it makes buffed up machismo ball games less appealing...in fact football is about as appealing to me as watching Katie Hopkins decorating her anti-Fatty pad a cringy shade of lime green to try and appeal shallowly to the "fashion forward super skinny super gay gay clingy crowd" of which I have never and will never be a fully paid up member of despite needing to reduce my weight a little in preparation for the sex reassignment surgery (should I decide to go ahead with the hack fest).
I'm 5'5 and I've never found any sports that have appealed to me. Dancing makes me happy but only at a slow pace and it mostly stretches to doing struts and hip thrusts to Alicia Bridge's hyper disco record "I Love The Nightlife" (which is true as that's when I consume the most Cherry Pepsi Max whilst typing up my tantalising thoughts on fashion and celebrity epic fails etc etc). So yes, I am size 20 and I'm not sorry to say that I am curvy and love kitting myself out with curvy fashions. Primark, New Look Inspire, Boohoo Plus all have my name on their ordering books because I just can't stop myself from buying funky animal print leggings or embroidered denim dungarees for my regular lounging sessions.

Curve bloggers and body-positive activists should embrace curvy trans women as part of their campaign to make all women feel confident about their bodies regardless of age, sexual orientation, disability, height or race. Yes the stereotype commonly put out there by the mainstream media (MSM) is that trans women are skinny minnies who are only interested in fashion that looks great on the deliberately anorexic dummy models being paraded in every Primarni store in the land. Yes there are trans women who bait curvier women when engaged in romantic showdowns with Mr Average Plummer Mike and his bag of loveable tools. But there are some, like me, who know what it's like to be teased for their weight or choice of clothing, who hate being objectified when you lose weight as "sexy" and then vilified if you put on unexplained weight- "who ate all the pies?" etc. As I go through my transition process I may start to make use of Instagram and Twitter to show people that not all trans women are aiming to look like Katie Hopkins or Caitlyn Jenner on a bad day. I haven't felt like doing it so far because I'm not obsessed with my body form to the point where I feel I have to make myself feel better by putting out endless selfies for body validation. Nor will I ever feel like doing that. My body is beautiful and I have control over my body and how I want to present it or not present it to the world. My choice, my rules. It should be the same for everyone, regardless of their body circumstances.

So what sorts of clothing styles suit a curvalicious trans women with a penchant for maxing out the MasterCard debit/credit card on a monthly basis?

Trans women will usually spend a fortune on their first "all-female" seasonal wardrobe after their "gender dysphoria" diagnosis or self-realisation point (whatever comes first). I'm probably atypical because I've been wearing mostly "female" clothing items for the past decade without caring what the local populous thought of me. I spend on average £200 a month on my clothes and jewellery and I love keeping up to date with the latest fashions.

Here are a few examples of what I've bought this month to show people what sorts of clothes a plus size trans woman decides to wear:

Shirt Dresses

AX Paris Paisley Shirt Dress £23 purchased at New Look 

Shirt dresses are a godsend for trans women. The shaping is forgiving, the sizing is relatively generous, wearability is global and the patterns available are numerous and usually outlandishly bold. Recent favourite patterns include colour block stripes (of the Hillary Clinton late 1960's culottes ilk) denim tencel sleeveless dresses for the soft touch and early 1990's tailored look and paisley patterns to continue indulging in the early 70's hippy chic look that has dominated the high street market for the last 4 seasons. I myself have recently bought a shirt dress in Paisley print from AX Curve with the waist tie element to help give some definition if needed.

Slogan Tees

Simply Be #SorryNotSorryTee £14 from www.simplybe.co.uk

Anyone can get away with wearing a slogan tee provided they keep the accessories minimal and choose believable slogans that match their own personality. The recent "Mermaid" and "Curves on Fleek" black and white oversized boyfriend tees have found favour with some plus size customers; I've focussed more on those that match my Twitter handle and hashtags that I regularly use such as the #SorryNotSorry floral tee with white glitter writing and small side split in oversized crop style or the #Sassy black and white simple effect for those 80's inspired party nights out wear we are going to adopt coming into AW16. Simply Be and Boohoo + stock these tees and at prices ranging between £8 and £14 it really isn't going to break the bank.

Playsuits


Wrap Playsuit Boohoo + £18 www.boohoo.com

As a fan of 1970's and 80's clothing, I can't really get away from wearing playsuits on a regular basis. Recently I've become a fan of viscose deep-V patterned playsuits that are stocked at Boohoo +.  The fabric is breathable, easy to wash, doesn't snag easily and you can wear a black/white tee underneath to cover your pecs/breast area if you still have a slightly hairy chest. Black mesh or lace is a summary tee layer favourite. I also love vibrant, colourful lace versions of the playsuit such as those red and green sleeveless and pintucked black lace sleeve ones found at Simply Be. So even if you are curvy on the hips and the thighs you can still enjoy the fitted nature of the playsuit!

Culottes and Coloured Crop Jeans/Jeggings
When you're 5'5 and curvy with short legs it can be difficult to find jeans that fit at the waist and keep tight around your thighs. I hate men's jeans that tend to hang off your legs and trip you up when it's pouring it down and you're trying to get to an important afternoon tea date with best friends. So cropped jeans and jeggings and their trendier SS16 cousin the culottes are a great way of avoiding fashion awkwardness. Crop Jeggings mostly have full elastication so sit on the waist whilst allowing your thighs to breathe and tend to end higher up than ankle grazers. I love bright coloured versions in the springtime especially light greens and yellows. Later on in August I tend to favour indigo and bleached denims that I can pair with the slogan tees to create a relaxed, easy look. If you have issues with bearing your legs as a trans women pre op, wearing indigo cropped jeggings under dresses can protect you from overexposure.



New Look Denim Culottes £12 (on sale at www.newlook.com/shop/inspire-plus-sizes)!

Culottes are a short version of flares to me and create a funky statement when paired with glitter tees and crop tops. They are easy to wear as an evening alternative to shorts and adequately cover the bulge section when still pre-op.




Kimonos

Paisley Kimono £14 from Simply Be www.simplybe.co.uk

So easy to slip on. So soft against bare skin. Comes in a range of psychedelic colours, textures and styles, the kimono has become the fashionistas best friend. I have kimonos in every shade, shape and from most fashion outlets. About 80 in total! Lurex, sequin, metallic, paisley, black and white zig zag stripe I have them all. They are a great way of hiding hairy arms and creating a flowing silhouette in my opinion! Prices starting at £6 makes them a must have accessory and there are no signs that kimonos are being assigned to the fashion sin bin anytime soon!

So next time someone asks you whether a trans person can embrace curvy fashion, you can tell them about a trans blogger just doing that full throttle and regardless of the state of her transition! And her buying power potential is just as strong as those women who indulge in designer Gucci handbag/ Jimmy Choo shoe fetishistic worship of a monthly payday!

Transgender Activism and Feminism: An Uneasy Coalition of Ideals?

So I had a rather heated exchange last week with a fellow transgender (male) activist about the place of feminism within the transgender community. I've read what seems to be an alarming basket full of  brazenly defensive articles proclaiming that "transgender activism and feminism cannot co-exist".
For me, I have always felt as I've dissected and analysed various elements of traditional 2nd Wave feminism (such as Germaine Greer's proclamation that transgender women need to be equivocated to "Christopher Biggins's Panto Dame standards" and cannot be taken seriously when trying to enter the feminist movement) and radical 3rd Wave feminism (based on moving towards a gender/queer analysis akin to Judith Butler's ironic gender as performance theory) to the creation of a trans variant of feminism (what Robert Hill defines as Transfeminism) where there has to be a place for trans women within the mainstream feminist community and beyond that, that trans men have to realise that trans women should be allowed to espouse feminist values without recourse to being called "traitors to their biological sex". I'd have thought rather than arguing regressively towards an essence of "biological determinism" that is still part of Catholic doctrine (traditionally seen as restricting feminists because of their views on abortion and contraception) we should be embracing the need to recognise that gender identities shift and are of equal worth. I'm not saying that biological cis women should not celebrate their uteruses and have "womb prayer parties" a la Ab Fab Episode 4 with Beth De Woody taking the lead but do not feel the need to destroy trans women in the process of celebrating these differences; most trans women appreciate that cis women go through the menstruation cycle and wouldn't proclaim that they know how it feels to have to buy sanitary towels on a regular basis to soak up the bleeding. After all I've bought sanitary products for my Mum on a regular basis. Equally, feminists must be careful not to denigrate the choices trans men have made if they have chosen to take testosterone and go for the removal of their breasts and uteruses and ovaries. In fact until they get to that point trans men still have to buy sanitary products and use femidoms and contraceptives to prevent unwanted pregnancy, issues that many self-proclaimed radical feminists have to deal with daily. So what sorts of theories have abounded about transgender people within feminism and what have transgender people done to try and change those feminist's minds, if anything?

Second Wave Feminist Critics against Transgender Activism:

Germaine Greer has been a vocal opponent of trans women trying to enter the mainstream feminist debate. In 1997 for example Greer voted against the offering of a fellowship to the trans physicist Rachel Padman to the all female Newham College because she had been born male. In her follow up to her seminal work The Female Eunuch, The Whole Woman (1999) Greer lamented the progress second wave feminism had made within Western European society. Part of her lamentation related to the fact that feminists had been unable to "shake off" transfeminists (see below). In a chapter titled "Pantomime Dames", Greer blasted trans women as pitiful parodies of sisterhood. Trans women have a desire to "castrate themselves" because they want to prove women are "non sex." They don't ask for a "uterus and ovaries transplant" and if made mandatory demand for sex reassignment surgery would "disappear overnight". Not true because I'd be more than happy to undergo that kinda transplant even if it led to me starting to go through menstruation but Greer seems keen to pass blanket judgement on men without fully realising the nuances behind gender identification. This is evident from Greer's assertion on BBC's Newsnight in 2015 that she does not "regard transgender women as women."

Julie Bindel, founder of Justice For Women an organisation that opposes violence against women and helps women prosecuted for murdering their violent male partners in self defence and self-proclaimed radical feminist has repeatedly campaigned against transgender women being offered the same rights as cisgender women. In her May Guardian 2007 article Mistaken Identity Bindel interviewed MTF trans "Claudia" who regretted her decision to go through sex reassignment surgery and blamed the male psychiatrist for not guiding Claudia through the process effectively. Bindel goes as far as to say these male psychiatrists want to diagnose men as having Gender Dysphoria to normalise them into fitting with traditional gender stereotypes. This view comes admittedly from Bindel's self-representation of radical lesbian feminism which may colour her interpretation of sexual psychiatry. Claudia was recently found dead but her suicide may have resulted from underlying mental health issues that had been neglected by CAMHS (NHS's Mental Health referral service) but important to emphasis Claudia is not representative of the trans community. A month after this article was published, Bindel published Gender Benders: beware where she criticised a transgender rape councillor's dispute with a rape crisis centre and used the article to attack trans people. In the article Bindel contends that readers think of a world wholly populated by transgender people because it would "look like the set of Grease" and "jokes" that "I don't have a problem with men disposing of their genitals, but it does not make them women, in the same way shoving a bit of hose down your 501s doesn't make you a man".
The Guardian  article attracted over 200 complaints from trans individuals, doctors and the UK trans activist group Press For Change have designated the article as a key example of transphobia. Bindel has continued to court controversy by positing sex reassignment surgery as society's way of "reinforcing gender stereotypes" citing Iran's status as the "most numerous sex change country of the world" as proof of this.
Bindel feels uncomfortable with the ever expanding LGBTQIA community- she says the tongue-twisting acronym helps to silence discussion within the lesbian section of the community: "the mantra at "gay" meetings...is all a bit of an unholy alliance. We have been put in a room together and told to play nicely". Well I say Bindel needs to try harder to understand the changing face of gender and sexuality studies and show the compassion and respect for those who are feeling just as oppressed as she is instead of trying to disrupt and dissect the community. Perhaps she'd feel right at home with the "Free Milo" #ArmTheGays crowd who argue the LGBTQIA community needs to be separated and yet also argue "Feminism is Cancer". What a crowded room that would be ;)

Second and Third Wave Feminist Critics supporting Transgender Activists:

Andrea Dworkin was one of the first radical second wave feminist to speak out against transphobia: in her work Woman Hating: A Radical Look at Sexuality (1974) Dworkin argues that transgender people were in a "state of primary emergency" because of the "culture of male-female discreteness" -i.e. the indoctrinated binary system of "man and woman" that had not been challenged in an effective way until the early 1960's. Dworkin contends that "every transsexual has the right to survive on their own terms" meaning they should be entitled to sex reassignment surgery and furthermore it should be provided free of charge by community health services. Optimistically Dworkin believed that the "phenomenon of transsexuality" might disappear, giving way to new (queer) gender identities.

Judith Butler - in an interview in 2014 showed her unfretted support for transgender people: "Nothing is more important for transgender people than to have access to excellent health care in trans-affirmative environments, to have the legal and institutional freedom to pursue their own lives as they wish, and to have the freedom and desire affirmed by the rest of the world.  Butler has also criticised the transphobic words of TERFs (see below) such as Janice Raymond who have used their biological essentialism as a form of "tyranny" over those who can only self-ascribe as female. Butler believes trans people have to go beyond their creation through medical discourse (i.e.  they become trans only when diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria) and focus on developing new discourses through looking at the commonality of their self-determination (i.e. removing the victim narrative and showing the strength of their freedom to choose the gender role in which they wish to be perceived.)

Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist (TERF):
TERFs believe in biological gender essentialism; if you are born with male genitals you remain male and if you are born with a womb and breasts you are a woman. Generally speaking they will disown any socially determined labels that challenge the essentialism they espouse. Some TERFs have argued that trans women are nothing more than "effeminate men" who have been relegated to the bottom of the patriarchal pile by machismo centric egotistical men, whereas trans men, (when they bother to mention them) are relegated to the status of wannabes "wanting to claim patriarchal privilege for themselves". TERFs go beyond calling trans women ideological rapists but to accuse them of using their transition to become actual rapists, hence the distinction I make between them and second wave feminists.

Key TERFs include:

Cathy Brennan believes trans women are de facto animals who cannot control themselves: "transgender women are in fact men using an artificially constructed feminine appearance to exert patriarchy from the inside of feminism and believe it or not, to gain access to women's bathrooms in order to rape them". Now I have a key issue with Ms Brennan's comment; some trans women are perceived as gay men before they transition and although the media may be saturated with examples of straight married men transitioning into women whilst still married it is unfair to blanket all trans women as heterosexual turned lesbian rapists.

Janice Raymond in her work The Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male (1979) refers to transgender people as transsexuals and maintains that transsexualism exists because it is based on "patriarchal myths" of "male mothering" and "making woman in man's image". Transgender women are only interested in creating a "perfect type of woman" for themselves which has none of the negative connotations traditionally associated with womanhood such as the lookism associated with slut shaming culture and plus size curve disapproval. I have heard several conservative trans women such as Blair White talk about only going through sex reassignment surgery to become beautiful so I can understand why such comments would rile some feminist's feathers. I would, however, disavow Raymond's distorted comments that all trans women "rape women's bodies by reducing the female form to an artefact". I'm certainly not going through the transition process in the vain hope of making myself more beautiful at the expense of destroying cis women's conceptions of beauty. I'm going through the transition process because I believe it is the best way of ensuring I feel happier emotionally in the future. I'm a size 20 at the moment and even after surgery the likelihood is I won't have a "svelte" figure for long, but that's my choice. Most feminists proclaim they have rights over their bodies so I definitely have a right over mine!

TERFs tend to be anti Third Wave Feminism because they are angry that these feminists have taken the best aspects of the feminist argument, such as fighting rape culture and understanding health care and reproductive rights for all that self-identify in part as a woman and left behind the dogmatism and "one size fits all strategy" that is espoused by Second Wave and TERFs.

TERFs have also been known to collaborate with Conservative, evangelical and Alt-Right groups to harass and oppress transgender people despite holding themselves up as the "pillar of the feminist movement". Cathy Brennan collaborated with the Pacific Justice Institute to harass a trans woman using death threats. Janice Raymond has written a paper Technology on the Social and Ethical Aspects of Transsexual Surgery to advocate for mandatory reparative therapy for trans people to prevent them from being diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria to access the hormone and surgical treatment they are entitled to access if they are to have a right over their bodies.

Transfeminism:
Transfeminism predominately concerns the integration of trans discourse into mainstream feminism. Robert Hill has stated that it "has specific content that applies to transgender and transsexual people but the thinking and theory of which is also applicable to all women".

Transfeminists try and dissect the view espoused by TERFs that biological essentialism eliminates trans people from advocating for all women's rights. For example they ask such questions as :

• Is femininity an entirely socially constructed label?
• Does taking oestrogen and having breast enhancement surgery make someone more feminine?
• What is a woman?
• What does the label "woman" actually mean?
• What does the label "man" even mean outside of biological essentialism?

Key transfeminists include:

Sandy Stone who wrote the essay The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto in 1987 as a reaction to Raymond's article. A central tenet of Stone's essay is that transgender people shouldn't hide their status and should "read themselves aloud" or come out because that act leads to greater self-empowerment. By developing such a speaking position within mainstream feminism to prevent transgender people being automatically dismissed as "damaged, deluded, second-rate, or somehow internally compromised".

Sylvia Rivera who had been a prominent Stonewall rioter and founder of Street Transvestite Revolutionaries who took in homeless LGBT youth including black and Asian drag queens and trans youth and helped to give them a voice and promising future away from crime and prostitution.

Krista Scott-Dixon who edited the first book on transfeminism Trans/Forming Feminisms: Transfeminist Voices Speak Out (2006)

Julia Serano is a trans-bi activist and prominent biologist who wrote Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity (2007) which argues that transphobia is rooted in sexism which is a twofold phenomenon- the idea that "maleness and masculinity is superior to femaleness and femininity" coupled with the belief that "female and male are rigid, mutually exclusive categories" that Serano calls oppositional sexism . Serano has coined the term effemimania to describe societal obsession with trans expressions of femininity and posits that it is just another example of oppositional sexism that lies at the root of homophobia as well as transphobia. Cisgender people (who are happy identifying with the gender in which they were born and have no experience of meeting those unhappy with their gender identity) propagate their experience onto other people and automatically assume everyone they meet will be cisgender like them. This is known as cisgender assumption. Such terms are now regularly used in gender studies courses.

Is Transgender Activism incompatible with Feminism?

Having conducted a wide ranging analysis and research of both transgender activism and feminism over my years as an English and Philosophy student and graduate I am yet to be dissuaded that trans people have a part to play in trying to improve equality of opportunity for both women and men, especially when it comes to the freedom to choice to identify in the gender in which a person feels most comfortable. I am sympathetic to radical feminist calls for women to try and dominate political discussion to enact changes which matter specifically to cisgender women such as ensuring sanitary products are available for women in third world countries and battling human trafficking to prevent sex slavery numbers from increasing in Europe. However I also believe that feminists must advocate for freedom of choice for all those who identify as female and that includes those who want to choose whether they want to have breast surgery to "look more feminine" for their own piece of mind. As a trans woman I certainly want to advocate for changes in the law to increase sentencing rates for male rapists and protect domestic abuse shelters from closing their doors due to lack of government funding. I also realise that females can be rapists too and that there should be domestic abuse shelter accommodation available for male victims and that includes transmen. If we are truly to improve women's rights even further in the UK we have to work together. That means stop focussing on purely biological issues and think of the battle as wide-ranging. If all those who identify as female work together on at least some of the issues mentioned, we can change attitudes and lives for the better. Positivity from all breeds broader, longer term success.
 

Coming Out The Political Closet: Confessions Of An Independent British (English) Voter

I love #GeneraElectionMania. Whether it be a UK, US, Norwegian or even Swedish election I'm hooked line and sinker into watching endless hours of MSM coverage tempered by the ferocity of social media tweeters who have #PoliticalSatire sharpened to a finely crafted point of ouchery bordering on offensiveness. It's the time when all sorts of wacko crazy ideas and ill conceived concepts are floated about using the mouthpiece of psychedelically dressed, hooting candidates who like nothing better than to overpromise and blame previous underdelivery on the incumbent party representative or even their own party representatives in their Millionaire's Row being watched over by the far more reliable "Elizabethan Tower" in (aka Houses of Parliament and Big Ben).

Now unlike most people who bothered to take time out from their "hectic" lunch hours where queuing for a "super healthy" carrot smoothie seems to take more time than ordering a calorific Big Mac, I'm proud to talk about who I voted for at the last GE openly and honestly; I voted for Labour candidates at local council level  but for a Tory MP and then in this year's local elections I voted for 2 Labour candidate and 1 Tory candidate  (including the very modest and Lincoln City Council social inclusion Labour candidate Rosanne Kirk) and for a Tory PCC candidate, all of whom won their respective races. Why did I vote the way I did? Did I have some "Mystic Meg Third Eye" that only I know about? The answer seems so simple yet would annoy the hell out of those who feel they can only vote for one party or another based purely on internalised perceptions of party "values": I voted for the person who I believed would be most qualified to carry out the duties required of them at each stage of Government, unless a candidate  convinces me they have the tenacity, passion and will to highlight causes that have been underrepresented or ignored within my local community. So far I've never met a local politician who has sparked enough of a desire within me to ignore national policies and vote solely based on their own causes and values which is a great shame.

Can a Voter ever truly be Independent?

Whether a voter can be truly defined as an independent is a question that mostly occupies the minds of purely philosophical political pundits whose job it is to analyse the minisculeness elements of the  mindsets of potential non-party affiliated voters to see if they can label them in an appropriate way to see "whether the national political land lies" and offer conclusions as to why there may have been significant changes in voting patterns, such as an increase in first time voters from the 25 and over age groups or why more women may choose to vote for Jeremy Corbyn rather than Theresa May
and thus vote for whoever their local party puts up as a candidate for MP regardless of whether they may know that candidate's personal values or causes or what they are hoping to achieve to make local people's lives better even if it may be to the detriment of big interest lobbyists.

A myth peddled around by bitter party activists from all sides of the political spectrum is that independent voters are "closet partisans" who say they are independent to "win semantic moral high ground" should their candidate win or blame the party activists should they lose and yet regularly vote for only one party. However these voters are far more persuadable than committed members of other parties; they will swing if a party candidate for PM or MP can offer viable solutions to local and domestic issues that matter to independent voters; these will differ individually on some issues. For example, if Corbyn talked about reforming the Gender Recognition Act to scale back the need to gain a medical diagnosis to change legal gender status or advocated for changing the protected characteristic from "Gender Reassignment" to "Gender Identity" I'd be more likely to consider voting for the next Labour candidate to challenge the Tory incumbent provided they would accept the party policy stance. And the same would work vice versa (and would probably be more likely to be the case).

What General Issues Occupy The Minds of Independent Voters?

However, there are a number of issues that seem to have majority interest and support across the independent voting audience. This is because they are the issues which are talked about most online via social media platforms, via MSM leading news stories and also when I talk to family and friends on a regular basis when sitting down to a "Fish supper" from the local chippy.

 These include:

• Funding the NHS appropriately to prevent A&E partial and full closures;
• Bringing down NHS waiting times for operations across the UK;
• Ensuring taxes are lowest for those who are on the National Living Wage;
• Reducing the national debt in a sustainable manner whilst not imposing unnecessary hardships on the UK population;
• Increasing infrastructure funding with an emphasis on house building and transport hubs in the North;
• Increasing opportunities for young people in the workplace regardless of social class, gender identity race and ability;
• Reducing levels of corruption within local and national government as well as in private sector companies;
• Ensuring every company that operates in the UK pays at least the NLW to their workers;
• Addressing educational inequalities between rural schools in the North and London;
• Addressing levels of immigration from within the EU who come to perform entry level jobs;
• Increasing representation of minority groups within local and national government.

Sorry I'm not a staunch Unionist; I won't vote for someone based on their desire to adhere to an outdated form of identification where one country aims to subjugate the other three based purely on "electorate numbers" and supposed "common identity" when that country refuses to teach about the history, culture and language of those 3 countries. It may be because of my Norwegian heritage that I strongly support Scottish independence, but I'm not afraid of what might happen should a second independence referendum be granted to Scotland they vote to leave the Union at 60-40.

Why doesn't everyone become an independent voter?

As you can probably tell from my previous posts, there are independent voters are engaged with political issues that affect them on a regular basis. It is said that independents may be turned off by negative political ad campaigns and by excessive jargon use that muddy the coherency of a party's narrative. Independents want to hear solutions to existing problems and plausible preventative measures to put in place where possible to reduce the likelihood of future issues arising. For example, trying to control immigration from the EU on a par with immigration from outside the EU may reduce sentiments of racial/religious prejudice provided existing issues concerning increases in hate crime and rhetoric use in schools is addressed head-on through diversity education lessons in RE, PSHE and Citizenship.

Notwithstanding this, there is a large segment of the UK population chooses not to exercise their right to vote. According to  UK the think-tank "Vote or Vote None",  just over a third (34%) of registered voters in the UK did not vote in the 2015 GE. The figure was also 34% in the 2010 GE and 38% in 2005. "Vote or Vote None" argue these registered voters should not be silent but vote for candidates from smaller parties or independent candidates because there is a large enough volume (especially in smaller marginal cities such as Lincoln) to get those candidates elected. Voting against the main parties may be a protest vote but at least you can feel safe in the knowledge that you voted based on your principles and against the Government or main opposition parties because you want policies that better represent your views!

The Situation For Me Now:

I don't know how I shall vote yet at the next election. I've been reading and dissecting tweets from Labour, Conservative, Green and even UKIP activists to see whether they are addressing issues which matter to me at a local and national level. Whilst I am supportive of Theresa May's goal to give shareholders more power within boardrooms and the need to reform our austerity policies to reflect the economic reality caused by the uncertainty generated after Brexit, as well as the unfortunate requirement to commit to renewing Trident to act as an ultimate deterrent against North Korea et al, I have had more affinity with tweets being circulated by Corbyn supporters. I like their enthusiasm and passion for what they perceive as generating real change for working class families, especially in relation to increasing taxes on wealthy individuals in the top 1%. I also like Owen Smith's infrastructure plans- £200m for investment is far more than has been promised by George Osborne; we are yet to see what Philip Hammond's Autumn Statement will bring investment wise.

I am impressed by Green MP Caroline Lucas's call for a "left progressive alliance" including the SNP, Plaid Cymru and Labour to form the next government to rexamine Brexit procedure and generate a parliamentary debate on whether it is economically plausible to leave the EU based on current data and future projections. I also like the way they decide on organising their leadership contest; the idea of a joint leadership bid shows the desire for the Green Party to appeal to a wider slice of the electorate by emphasising values of equality, compassion and fairness for all, instead of a "narrow focus" on combatting climate change and protecting animals and the environment (which are worth listening to anyways!) Ms Lucas's recent bill proposing a lowering of voter age to 16 certainly enthused me and I hope support for this continues to grow within Parliament; I believe if you are old enough to pay National Insurance, marry, have sex and an abortion then you are mature enough to vote. If not, it's time to start making Political education compulsory alongside Citizenship so every secondary school student understands our system and about the key caveats of our political parties!

All I will say is this; Labour may appear to be an incoherent party "falling apart" to most independent voters at the moment but perhaps when the Leadership election has been concluded and the party tries to unite to against the Tory Cuts to Nursing bursaries or to overturn the draconian Bedroom Tax more independent voters may take a fresh look at what Labour stands for and how they might move forward in creating a more progressive society. After all,  what we are seeing with the Labour party is an attempt at open democracy in action, where party members as well as the Parliamentary Party gets a say in who should take them forward to represent them to motivate people like me to vote for their MP candidate for the next GE. I look forward to seeing what policies my local Labour, Green and Lincolnshire Independent candidate will offer to try and canvass my vote. Let the rhetorical battle commence!