Thread by @DuncanHenry78

Today I see people once again criticising who is allowed to speak at #LetWomenSpeak. This is not about whether you agree with what KJK says, where she speaks or whether she’s too confrontational etc etc. this is fundamentally about the very premise of #LetWomanSpeak 1/

As I understand it the purpose is to give a voice to any woman to talk about her experience of or opinions on - women’s rights and the impact of gender identity movement. Is this correct? Because that means - any woman 2/

Regardless of her other politics or views. That could mean leftist women, racist women, antisemites, pro life women, communist women, radical feminist women, nationalists. Brexiteers, remainers, anti vax, pro lockdown (even now 👀), anti lockdown - you get my point? 3/

It’s unpleasant to share a platform with people you are normally ideologically opposed to but they are not actually platforming *those views* but as far as I can see - their words as women on womens rights. I can definitely see how this is difficult to pull off 4/

What I don’t really understand is why people are cherry picking the women they don’t like and decrying the whole idea of #LetWomenSpeak because women who have other opinions you (fairly) detest are allowed to… speak. 5/

I completely support the criticism of the above because I can see many many ways that it might go wrong (optics, trying to keep the mic open with wildly different women together, without ill feeling or giving into “must have rules on who is allowed” and I admire that 6/

honest feedback. But I am getting a bit tired of seeing people I respect and admire apparently not realising that ONLY pointing at (and objecting to) people they consider “far right” entirely feeds the TRA narrative that KJK and by extension any woman who speaks IS “far right” 7/

So I find it a bit ironic that by pointing out that one or more women (not the majority by any stretch) who speak have “right wing” and yes even racist views is exactly what the TRAs do. And guess what. Some women are right wing and some are racist. 8/

So all #LetWomenSpeak is actually doing is giving an inclusive platform to all women who want to speak about *their* rights. An actual representative cross section of actual women. Warts and all. You may not like that approach and that’s fine - clearly it has drawbacks 9/

And risks. Those risks are not mitigated by people playing right into the TRA narrative and it undermines the very premise of #LetWomenSpeak. I don’t agree with the opinions of many of the women who speak and I bet neither does @ThePosieParker - but that’s the point. 10/

I’m sure I’m going to get a lot of shouting in the comments, but my point is not about agreeing with this person or that person, personalities, or the risks and issues involved but the very core premise of #LetWomenSpeak - which is a platform for any woman to speak 🤷‍♂️ 11/11

PS maybe it can’t work. Maybe it is now impossible to do inclusion right but I admire @ThePosieParker for trying.