ONE BILLION RISING. Will you give your support to women across the planet on 14 February?

Hunter I do believe you are wrong 26/1 18.30

I am no great feminist , but this injustice to women of various countries has to righted. They have to touch the soft underbelly, It is a good thing women all over the world are uniting on 14 February.

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I sure that there a lot of people who can think of more important things in life than who attends a swimming session or gym class
Once again well written elegran I do wish I was so elequent.

HUNTER

I am becoming rather concerned that you're not just 'getting' what is being said here. So loud and clear:

IT'S NOT WOMEN WHO HAVE TO CHANGE IN THEIR DRESS, BEHAVIOUR AND EDUCATION, IT'S MEN WHO HAVE TO CHANGE. MEN ALSO NEED TO TEACH THEIR SONS TO CHANGE THEIR BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS WOMEN.

It's really very simple.

So exquisitely put Elegran

Unless you are being mischievous, Frank, you must see that it is women who you think must adjust their lives to suit men and wear clothes that are not provocative, but they must not object when men stand and watch them climb out of the pool in nothing but a dripping swimsuit at the end of a session when they thought they could rely on being unobserved by lascivious eyes. How come these men are allowed on the poolside before the pool is empty, if it is a ladies only session?

Women had to band together to get access to all the things that men took for granted for centuries - education, the vote, entrance to the professions, equality in the Church, equal pay, access to their children in matrimonial disputes. If you and a few friends want all-male swimming sessions and exercise classes, then go for it - fight for your rights. It will not be easy, but for inspiration you can look to the women who had to fight - the Pankhursts, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Mary Seacole, Nancy Astor, Amelia Erhardt, Elizabeth Fry, to name but a few.

HUNTERF Perhaps she thought she was being stalked. It is a very frightening situation to be in even if the stalker never speaks or even approaches you. Btw men can be stalked too and it is just as frightening for them.

However, if the man was just heading for the train, it would have been better if he didn't habitually pant down the same woman's neck. Someone has already mentioned a courteous man recognising that women become nervous if they think they are being deliberately followed, crossed the road to reassure her. While you may invariably behave in a gentlemanly fashion – and from what you say, it is apparent that you do – some men need to learn a bit more emotional intelligence and keep an eye on how they appear to other people, especially women. Once again, it is not automatically the role of women to accommodate men and how they expect to be.

when well what can I say !! as we say here in the North "gobsmacked*,I cannot believe that the comments are coming from a man who is the same age as me nearly and brought up with this outlook on life.Tell you what why didn't the lady concerned just stay at home and lock her self away so she didn't work or travel on any transport and just vegitate her life away.I am lost for words and that is a first for me.
Fab posts elegran and when

Over to you, Gransnetters! I will rein myself back in the vain hope that Frank is being mischievous!!!

Hi dorsetpennt

If that lady did not like the man following her why did she not leave work later and get a later train.
There is no way the man should be put out because of her.
Often people in London got to their train with seconds to spare.
As an alternative she could have got a job outside London.

Frank

Elegran...Wow!

Elegran.....Respect!

elegran brilliant post !!!!

Lovely, Elegran. In the mode of Swift!

Elegran Awesome! Legendary!

Elegran Superb post. A big thank you from me.

Probably preaching to the converted, When . One thing missing in those who feel they are born to dominate the world is the imagination to put themselves in the place of the underdog. They can be willing to protect a chosen underdog, or advise the underdog on how to avoid being attractive to other exploiters, but not to restrain their own impulse to domineer - because they don't know what it feels like.

Thank you Elegran. That makes such tough reading.

Hunter Imagine this make-believe world.

A land where women are, on average, about five inches taller than men, and broad, muscular and butch to match, and are driven by their hormones to be top bitch dog in all situations. Men are smaller, weedier, and have a different set of hormones which predispose them toward caring and nurturing.

Women make up almost all the governing body, their supremacy reinforced by the close ties they have formed in the W I , where those with the wealthiest parents spent their youth, as boarders in a community with an antiquated ethos full of arcane habits and a tradition of "public service" which sends them automatically into politics and power. The laws are made mostly by women.

The spiritual life of the community is led by spinsters or near-spinsters, who are jealous (not envious, that has a different meaning, see dictionary) of their relationship with their God and will not allow any of the weaker sex to mediate with Him, only women. Men can join, of course they can, and they can worship, but leading the worship is for those who were born by chance without the y chromosome.

Big business is also largely in the hands of women entrepreneurs, as is military power and strategy, and the carrying out of military operations. Men do most of the cleaning, catering, childcare, and nursing. In the workplace, young bottoms are caressed by passing strangers, crude invitations are common at the coffee machine, the stationery cupboard is a no-go area for the office junior without a friend to defend his back.

In the bedroom, women customarily take the initiative and expect their men to welcome them whether they are feeling receptive or not. If the women feel the urge, but have no resident man, they get into a car and drive around until they find one who looks willing. It is well-known among the sisterhood that they any young lad wearing tight jeans and a fashionable jacket is inviting their attention, and if their long wavy hair is blowing in the wind, well - they are gagging for it.

Mothers guard their sons anxiously, and worry about their safety if they are late home. Daughters are considered bold and strong, and there is a certain pride in their many conquests, but with sons you can never be sure they can fight off a determined and rugby-playing older woman.

In the pub, girls knock back pints and boast to their mates about last night, and swap tales of which of the teenage lads are "easy" and afterwards pester their date to let them go a bit further, a bit further, until they can't apply the brakes.

Their mothers leave Dad in charge of the kids while they watch Coronation street with a six-pack of lager. after father has put the kids to bed and washed the dishes, mother is in the mood, but father is tired out. That is tough, he is outvoted by a majority of one and if he objects, he gets a bruise or two by way of encouragement.

Perhaps Mother takes Father out for a film and a curry (feeling a bit generous today, she had a good time last night) leaving Auntie Sue babysitting. Auntie looks in at the weans tucked up in their little beds. How lovely they look. She slips in beside the little lad with the curls and rosy cheeks and strokes his back. And other parts.

Reversing the roles of the sexes, it sounds monstrous. It already is monstrous that women are still considered by many men as sex toys.

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The bottom line is, there are still vast gaps between the experiences of most men and most women, and the area where it hurts most (physically and otherwise) is in sexual harassment and rape. It is not the answer for men to guard their own womenfolk or to consider them responsible for attracting male domination and exploitation. Each man needs to police his own behaviour and attitude - as women are already expected to, if they don't want to be thought to be fair game.

What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

Good idea Jess and wouldn't it be great if the only men that enrolled were the ones that needed these classes, and not the ones who are already switched on to those issues?

Ideally, women could nominate men who needed to attend

Wouldn't happen, would it?

Great post when.
Be nice to see some men only classes are needed in some local leisure centres. There is a clear need for education. I might suggest some classes:
Awareness of gender issues in the 21st century.
Anger management
Emotional literacy
The difference between respecting and patronising women

Could devise innovative courses that combined such issues with a little meditation or light exercise to improve their blood pressure.

Exactly, When. Men, too, have to take care to protect themselves from assault and worse, particularly when drunk, but it's women who suffer rape, and the whole debate hinges on encouraging everyone, regardless of gender, to believe that rape is wrong.

Perhaps every time a man is mugged for his Rolex, money and top-of-the-range mobile and laptop, we should point out that if he didn't wear and carry expensive items ,it wouldn't happen. He was just asking for it … Yes, well that's just about as ludicrous as comments on dressing sensibly and not going to the park.

Great post when - and I've read your links butty. Wish I could get to a "Rising" but will "Rise" in spirit.

when That's really a perfect example of what was being discussed – ordinary nice men not taking rape seriously and not understanding the nature of the crime.

Yes, that's a realistic article hummingbird and reflects how my daughters and their friends have kept themselves safe over the past few years. Joanna Lumley did not, I am sure, intend to blame victims of sexual attacks. Any woman who looks vulnerable on the streets, on her own, dressed skimpily, much the worse for drink, is not inviting exploitation of her vulnerability.