Are attitudes finally shifting in discussions about women, sex and gender?

30 replies

porridgecake · 01/07/2026 18:53

Over the last couple of days many, many people (men) in positions of authority seem to have had a lightbulb moment around the systemic and organised abuse of women and girls. They are suddenly talking about women and girls being the targets and victims and the perpetrators being men. Using the words correctly.
Andrew Marr has had a couple of excellent guests on his LBC show this evening.
Is anyone else listening to it all and thinking "what took you so long?" Followed almost immediately by "why do men who pretend to be women get a free pass?"
The parallels between tiptoeing round the Pakistani rape gangs and other "groups " of men are very obvious.
Then we have the scandal of the appalling treatment of pregnant women in the NHS. Now suddenly referred to as "women", not "pregnant people".
Violence against women and girls. Actually saying the words.
Does anyone think the penny might continue to drop?

OP posts:

WrongKindOfFeminist · 03/07/2026 08:12

TwoLoonsAndASprout · 03/07/2026 08:11

Tanya de Grunwald (of “This Isn’t Working” podcast) had an interview on the “You Must Be Some Kind of Therapist” podcast recently. Tanya basically says that big businesses are discovering that trans policies - and DEI and “bring your whole self to work” more generally - have been really bad for business. She says there’s a a big appetite for change in this particular area. So I’d say she sees a sea change, at least in the private sector. Some parts are moving less than others - she gives the example of publishing, which is a quite upper-middle class and insular field. Public sector, including NHS, universities, schools, CS, are going to be a lot longer to change, as they aren’t worried about their bottom lines. Charities, she said, are in the worst position in terms of how embedded these policies are.

Hello, this is the Arts caling. We are fucked. In so many ways.

TwoLoonsAndASprout · 03/07/2026 08:18

WrongKindOfFeminist · 03/07/2026 08:12

Hello, this is the Arts caling. We are fucked. In so many ways.

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Oh I sympathise. Do you follow Rosie Kay and her Freedom in the Arts campaign? And the SEEN in Publishing group have put out two amazing reports on the state of things in publishing - the recent one on children’s publishing. There is pushback - I agree, it is still pretty fucked, but maybe not as fucked as it was even two years ago.

DrBlackbird · 03/07/2026 08:38

RoyalCorgi · 02/07/2026 10:31

Then we have the scandal of the appalling treatment of pregnant women in the NHS. Now suddenly referred to as "women", not "pregnant people".

The Amos Review, published this week, talks about "women and birthing people" throughout, unfortunately.

When this was discussed on R4, it was constantly ‘birthing people’ so I had to turn the radio off.

MrsOvertonsWindow · 03/07/2026 08:44

DrBlackbird · 03/07/2026 08:38

When this was discussed on R4, it was constantly ‘birthing people’ so I had to turn the radio off.

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I'd suggest a complaint. It seems that there's a recent understanding that the BBC gaslighting the population that the word woman can't be used has finally been noticed? So the more complaints pointing out this nonsensical babble, the better?

WrongKindOfFeminist · 03/07/2026 08:48

Agree re BBC complaints.

The process is tedious and dispiriting, in almost every case it goes nowhere, but complaints are logged, and patterns are being remarked on. It does make a difference, although that might not show up in the timeframe of a single complaint.

If you're upset or annoyed by something, tell them. Log it.

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