Fair enough. I’m actually almost completely unaware of Ansari’s work, so it’s possible I might have had a different reaction with more background knowledge of him as a person.

Well Bardot can fuck off.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-42730942

Gotta love the french hashtag though, "rat out your pig" - I really like that.

Bardot's also a big supporter of the National Front I see. Nice.

Bardot's from an era when couching made a heap of sense, insofar as no-one was gonna praise her (or even hear of her) for abstaining. She'd have still been stuck in a patriarchal society, with even less agency. Most other jobs were a lot tougher back then, and certainly no more empowering or satisfying. I'd do the bizzo with some old woman for the right money, and though I realise the fairer quid pro quo nature of saying that as man, I'd only consider it because, like Bardot and billions, my other options are a great distance behind.

To me this is much more about abuses of power than apportioning blame via a gender split. Not to say that it isn't mostly one-way traffic, but there's a bigger picture, where millions of men'd service high-ups for big roles and jobs without a second thought. Also a demeaning practice, but relatively undocumented.

http://articles.latimes.com/2008/dec/19/opinion/oe-stein19

Brando and Gibson were way over the line (dunno about Oldman — haven't read), but there's no way to talk about this without been called anti-Semitic. Without being able to ascertain how far nepotism runs, I don't think there is a solution. TV and film are elitist by form, with a similar snakes-and-ladders mechanism to banking. Men are at the top of it, but it's the system that's a problem. If more women are allowed to direct films it'll be for men's virtue profit, with lots of women jumping at the chance in Pyrrhic victories. Hollywood just needs to fuck off, I feel. Oscars, too.

Kevin Whately and Shane Meadows have both spoken about how hard it is for working-class people to get into acting these days.

This thread resurfacing reminded me of this blog post:

https://victimfocus.wordpress.com/2018/01/03/stop-asking-me-what-about-men/

I liked it.

Liveinadive wrote:

There is no way half of MPs and business lot don't know this is going on.

Exactly. Once you're caught it's all sanctimonious shite.

So the local Labour party (in this case Vauxhall) is mired in an implosion over self-identification as trans. A furore occurred over the election of a teenage boy turned woman as "woman's officer" for the local CLP. She barely seems competent is I suspect the problem, and like all teenagers is mostly about me me me, meaning lots of tweets about her, about trans, and the result is a feeling that biological women have that she doesn't care about them. I only know about this because I follow Pilgrim Tucker, a true hero and inspiration and a voice for Grenfell résidents for years before the fire. A courageous and dedicated left wing woman, who now has been threatened with expulsion and other things and shouted down as transphobic for daring to question whether trans women can self-identify and then run for positions on all-time shortlists. I emphasize question. She asked for a secret ballot on the issue and was turned down

With such developments the interests of all are fractured, fragmented and their aspirations materially harmed.

I have to say the "unquestioning" ethos of any trans, feminist, racial or whatever issue is quite ridiculous. It'll lead our society into deep waters. It reminds me of that Adam Curtis documentary where he highlighted the reductio as absurdem of those "hierarchy-free" cults in 70s America. They ended up led by violent and intimidating alpha males. Women were irreversibly harmed.

A summary judgement that reads just like all summary judgements: stupid and reactionary.

This is called SCAPEGOATING. 
You're all blaming @PilgrimTucker for being disruptive, emotional- understandable when the meeting & vote was a fait accompli. 
Your #LabourLosingWomen cadre is in an echo chamber, refusing to hear what biowomen are saying. Ignore us at your peril.

Biowomen sounds like an upcoming entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Trans issues are a real flashpoint on the left right now, I’m not really sure where I stand on any of it.

On the one hand, I tend instictively towards accepting self-identification, on the other, I recognise that I won’t be at the sharp end of any issues that could theoretically arise from the acceptance of this and that those that are should be heard out and their concerns taken seriously.

Quite how to balance these two sets of rights is beyond me.

Well quite, but the issue is more about questions of access to female only spaces and some women feeling uncomfortable sharing these spaces with people who may still have bollocks.

Get fucked Gonzo.

I think I agree with the women on this issue, you can’t just walk in the ladies toilets, whip your cock out, take a piss in the sink & then say “it’s alright luv, I self-identify as a woman”.

I’m simplifying the issue massively for comedy effect, but you get the idea.

LarryDavid wrote:

I think I agree with the women on this issue, you can’t just walk in the ladies toilets, whip your cock out, take a piss in the sink & then say “it’s alright luv, I self-identify as a woman”. I’m simplifying the issue massively for comedy effect, but you get the idea.

But then if you feel like you are a woman (and like you I don't really have the first concept of how that works) then being forced into a grubby piss-swept men's toilet might be a bit, dunno, humiliating, depressing. Yoss's post a bit up the page is about right for me. There's two competing sets of rights with this stuff and it's very hard to resolve them. With the specific thing about the women's officer post, well if it's an important job don't give it to a bloody teenager of whatever gender.

Yossarian wrote:

OTOH, trans women have a very high incidence of assault and are unlikely to feel particularly safe in a pub toilet with men.

This is kinda the tricky bit. Trans rights and understanding way behind everything else. (I'm with Yoss in the I'm not sure on a number of fronts camp.)

On slightly unrelated matters, I have been listening in to my missus and my mum and another friend of ours discussing stuff from the perspective of an old 2nd waver (my mum) to a tail end second waver, my missus and friend. Like the general left and old school socialists, I really wish 2nd and 3rd wave would sit down and have a bit of a chat.