This is a group of people who describe themselves as socialist feminists and who are organising a conference in a London University later this year.

I dont trust them, I dont think we have much in common, or that most of what they talk about represents my interests as a working class woman. I don’t accept that the ideas they present are necessarily socialist or feminist, and my opinion on that is not completely based on the perspectives that they do present, but is just as much based on the ideas that they do not. As an example - I mean sure i’m for access to abortion, but what about those of us who want to go ahead and have children? I’m not seeing these mostly (all?) young, white, educated women showing any real interest in maternity care or the various issues that are specific to mothers, its like for them the whole struggle ends at the right to abortion (or to sell sexual services from some nice flat in a nice part of town). Likewise they don’t seem to realise there are women who are over the age of 25, or who are physically disabled, have mental illnesses, are elderly, are poor, are drug addicts, are homeless.. They say they’re ‘diverse’ but they arent, not really, not in any way that i can tell.

Probably my very negative opinion wont do them any damage whatsoever seeing as everything I believe in is dismissed often enough as a repressed middle class sort of feminism. The irony of this makes me so fucking angry.

I think the women at the leading end of this group and campaign are more concerned with their own ‘names’ and their own future careers than they are in their politics. They deliberately misrepresent other feminist perspectives, particularly radical feminist perspectives. At last years feminist fightback conference they managed to have talks on both queer and transgender issues yet they had nothing specific to lesbians. They didnt even touch the issue of violence against women, I think the closest they got was some sort of talk on traffiking, which was dealt with as an immigration issue rather than as an issue of violence and slavery. They had a few different talks on sex work, presenting several pro industry speakers, but no-one of an opposing viewpoint, and no-one from any of the many groups who provide feminist support to prostitutes (for example, The Poppy Project, who provide direct support to prostitutes as well as lobbying on their behalf). They invited Object, a UK anti-pornography group, to share a platform with pro-pornography campaigners, and slandered Object when they, in my opinion rightly, refused.

Off topic - The thing about conferences on sex work, is that they are always overwhelmingly going to represent the pro side, because it’s very fucking difficult to get the great majority of us who are anti because of our own experiences in prostitution to want to go public about it.

But back to the Feminist Fightback people. Last year they also found the space to provide a platform to Backlash, who are an openly anti feminist group. But then they arent the only feminist platform who are spending resources promoting openly anti feminist spokespeople. Seems a bit fucked up to me but there you go. Don’t anti feminists have enough spaces to talk from and in? Feminists work and fight for the space to talk, then we give it to anti feminists? Why?

I wont be going to Feminist Fightback and I wouldnt even if money and time wasnt an issue. Their focus is too narrow for me, they represent the interests of too narrow a group and it doesn’t include me, in any way.

I was in some shop yesterday and my toddler kept trying to run out. I tried to pick him up but he screamed to be put back down. The shop assistant looked at me and said, “makes you want to dropkick him”. If i had a pound for every time a total stranger told me to hit my kids.. I hear people complain about the “breast feeding mafia”, or moan about mothers who are positive about home birth. This cannot compare with the pressure from medical and education industries and those who advocate child abuse.

i saw a site of amazing artwork, one woman’s creative reaction to her forced second cesarean.

my own obstetrician insisted i would not be able to give birth vaginally after my previous caesarean. without even looking at my notes he told me that the mere fact i had had a c section previously means that my body was obviously unable to cope with childbirth. when i refused to comply he asked my partner if he was prepared to raise our first child on his own if i and my baby died through my “stubbornness”.

just one small part of the story, but an indication of how appalling maternity “care” is in the UK.

i birthed my second baby at home, vaginally, completely drug free. people can say what they want, for me this was a huge achievement. i don’t expect all women to give birth this way, what i want is for women to have and understand their own choices and to understand what childbirth is and what it entails.

for other women who also suffered forced caesareans, as i have, those pictures may be triggering, or perhaps maybe they will be a step towards healing, seeing our feelings expressed so well. either way, please be aware that these pictures are extremely powerful.

cesarean-art.com