Ben Oakley

Independent centrist 🇬🇧🏳️‍🌈

[Ben Oakley @ben_oakley]

@Lexiosity More often than not, nationalism is associated with the right. However, it should be noted that it is not an exclusively right-wing ideology (see below). Even ignoring left-wing variants, it is still not exclusive to the far-right (e.g. civic nationalism).
https://t.co/d3Ls0v8Nj5

[Ben Oakley @ben_oakley]

@dollexaminer The red-haired one on the end of the front row is hot! The others, not so much 😂

[Ben Oakley @ben_oakley]

@dave43law I didn't expect you to be a Starmer fan - I honestly thought you were a literal communist, so this is good to see.

Respect!

[Ben Oakley @ben_oakley]

@MissStixy @HazelAppleyard_ I can assure you that not all gay people are like this; however, it's true that gay men are more likely to be depraved than straight men, which is most likely due to cultural issues rather than anything biological.

[Ben Oakley @ben_oakley]

@Keir_Starmer Targeting legal migrants who work hard and contribute to our economy? Not a good look.

[Ben Oakley @ben_oakley]

@DynamoJono Earlier, I was driving on Rivacre Road, which has a bridge over the M53. I saw the van and red car that were involved in the crash - fortunately the van looked okay, but the red car was surrounded by emergency workers.

It's recently been reported that a man passed away 😭

[Ben Oakley @ben_oakley]

@_stonyd @RedWallPleb @Keir_Starmer @narendramodi I agree!

Not only this, but they also contribute a lot of much-needed money to our universities, as foreign students pay far more than their British counterparts.

[Ben Oakley @ben_oakley]

@timetoshine1234 I'm not a Reform supporter, but this doesn't make much sense...

Unless your point is that Reform doesn't have any policies outside of wanting to stop the boats.

If so, I salute you.

[Ben Oakley @ben_oakley]

@supertanskiii

[Ben Oakley @ben_oakley]

@supertanskiii Unfortunately - and this is coming from a person who dislikes Reform - it's very clear that they would have won even more council seats if they'd all been up for grabs.

The next GE is also going to be bad (possibly giving a Reform a plurality, based on current polling).

[Ben Oakley @ben_oakley]

@bunnycyclops It's definitely weird.

So is blocking people who don't agree with you!

[Ben Oakley @ben_oakley]

@andrewdoyle_com I'm not a Conservative supporter, but Kemi is 100% right here.

Getting the information "from the horse's mouth" would be speaking to real people, not watching a drama on TV.

Why does it matter whether or not she watches it? As the leader of a party, she's obviously quite busy.

[Ben Oakley @ben_oakley]

@sappholives83 You really do have a way with words - I don't think I've ever seen this issue described so eloquently.

Keep being strong, and keep standing up for your rights as a woman!

[Diana Alastair💚🤍💜 ⚢ ❌❌✡️ @sappholives83]

I want to start out by saying that I appreciate your willingness to apologize and reword your comment. That’s really commendable, and I don’t want that to get lost in what I am about to say.

You say you want to understand why TW are so “disliked,” and as you seem like a person who is at least willing to listen, I would like to explain why there is such alarm at the idea of TW in women’s spaces.

The first thing you have to understand is that TW are men. Saying that sex and gender aren’t linked is obviously false, given that TW do everything they can to look female. Whether or not you agree is irrelevant to this explanation: it is our position that adult human males are men, and that no amount of wishing or wanting - or pills and scalpels - can change that. Until you understand that, you won’t be able understand how we feel, or why we feel this way.

I would also like to point out that being an adult human female is the defining trait of womanhood because it is the only trait all women have in common. That’s how categories work: we group things based on what they have in common. If males can also be women, then there is no single unifying trait that all women share, and the word becomes meaningless, and its definitions circular.

Now — the explanation.

Imagine for a moment that I told you I “felt black” because I like rap music and fried chicken, and that I wanted to dye my skin and get plastic surgery to look more stereotypically black. Pretty racist, right? How is that any different than a man saying “I feel like a woman because I like to wear dresses and makeup, and want to grow boobs and have plastic surgery to look more female”?

In both cases, an outsider is not only appropriating an identity that does not belong to them, but they are doing it on the basis of reductive and offensive stereotypes.

Obviously no white person can possibly understand what it really feels like to move through the world as a person of color. All we can do is imagine it - and it’s the same for a man who claims to feel like a woman. He can feel like he imagines women feel, but that isn’t the same thing, and to say otherwise is deeply offensive. I would never tell you, for example, that I understand what it feels like to be Irish because I like whiskey and wearing green on St Patrick’s Day.

It destroys the complexity of authentic womanhood, and reduces it to sexist and regressive stereotypes: “oh, i’m a woman because i like pink and i love to wear high heels,” versus “i am a woman because i was born female.”

One of the most common ways in which TW and their allies attack women like me is by claiming that we’re not feminine enough, that they make better women because they’re prettier, or because their makeup is better, or because they’re better dressed. The TW who have had vaginoplasties also like to claim that they have “designer vaginas,” and that they’re superior to the real thing.

Instead of being something one is, womanhood becomes something you have to buy, as if womanhood itself is working the red light district, open to any man with enough money and the desire to make a purchase. It becomes something you do, and something you can fail to do well enough, instead of being something that you effortlessly are, no matter how you act or what you wear.

Then there’s the problem with safety. Allowing men into female-only spaces is a massive safety risk, and there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that TW are any less likely to be a danger to women and girls than any other man.

In fact, all the data we’re seeing from the various penal systems that track this kind of thing, incarcerated TW are roughly 4x more likely to be sexual predators than the general male prison population - and these are the men we’re putting in locked cells with women overnight. There have been dozens of reported rapes, a larger number of unreported rapes, multiple pregnancies, and even the sexual harassment of female correctional officers.

1/2

[Ben Oakley @ben_oakley]

@PoliticalMav @EdKrassen It's true that these tariffs will probably hurt China a little, but China is a lot more prepared this time around.

These tariffs will hurt the US and their allies more than they'll hurt any adversary of the US.

[Ben Oakley @ben_oakley]

@Keir_Starmer 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

[Ben Oakley @ben_oakley]

BBC News - Pro-Ukraine protests across US after Trump-Zelensky clash
https://t.co/Y5JWuf50FL

[Ben Oakley @ben_oakley]

@IanClarke_uk @BloodyOy @wolsned Well said!

[Ben Oakley @ben_oakley]

@EdwardJDavey Agreed

[Ben Oakley @ben_oakley]

@P_Kallioniemi Fuck Trump