{"id":7198,"date":"2020-02-16T17:01:03","date_gmt":"2020-02-16T17:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/?p=7198"},"modified":"2020-02-16T17:01:04","modified_gmt":"2020-02-16T17:01:04","slug":"a-cold-shoulder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/?p=7198","title":{"rendered":"A cold shoulder?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Brabin with dress\/newssummedup<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I think we will always be indebted to Richard Nixon, for it\nwas his attempt to bug and spy on the Democratic National Committee HQ at the\nWatergate Office Building that led to his downfall, aka quite simply, \u2018Watergat<\/em>e\u2019.  All one must do is to add the suffix \u2018-gate\u2019\nto a word, and you know something is not right. \nFor example, Sachsgate<\/em> refers to the time when Russell Brand and\nJonathan Ross left a series of obscene voice messages on the answerphone of\nactor Andrew Sachs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Equally if not more notorious, was Nipplegate<\/em>, the\nmoment at the SuperBowl when Justin Timberlake pulled Janet Jackson\u2019s dress\naway to afford the watching millions a very brief view of her breast,\napparently covered with a nipple shield. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now we have Shouldergate<\/em>, when, as Labour\nfrontbencher Tracy Brabin recently leaned forward at the despatch box in the\nHouses of Parliament, her dress slipped off one shoulder, revealing some bare\nflesh. Let us not forget that Ms Brabin had a broken ankle and was using the\ndespatch box for support, and how she may well have been in some discomfort. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It came as no surprise to any of us that Ms B was\nimmediately accused of not wearing appropriate attire \u2013 tweeted by a male Tory\nback bencher, who else? Like a true dame, Brabin shot back with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Hello. Sorry I don\u2019t have time to reply to all of you\ncommenting on this but I can confirm I\u2019m not….
\nA slag
\nHungover
\nA tart
\nAbout to breastfeed
\nA slapper
\nDrunk
\nJust been banged over a wheelie bin.
\nWho knew people could get so emotional over a shoulder…\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Far more importantly, the reason why she was at the despatch\nbox was because she was making a point of order on Downing Street\u2019s decision to\norder senior journalists from some of the news organisations to leave before a\nbriefing on Boris Johnson\u2019s Brexit plans. This was a serious attack on the\nfreedom of the press. But of course, why concern yourself with substance if\nthere is a chance for a cheap sexist jibe?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To add insult to injury (well she did have a broken ankle), I\ngather that Ms Brabin has previously spoken out against sexism in politics; would\nthat we could learn more about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And because we dames, like the Beeb, strive to present a\nbalanced view, may I draw your attention to Dame V\u2019s blog published some time\nago: Unseemly Displays<\/em><\/a> gives\na perspective on appropriate attire in the workplace that is nothing to do with\nthe sexist rants Tracy Brabin received.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve left the best till last. With her dress and shoulder in the limelight, Brabin decided to auction the former online. I am delighted to inform you that she raised over \u00a320,000, which she is donating to Girlguiding UK. A 15-year-old member of Girlguiding\u2019s advocate panel, said: \u2018You could say that I\u2019m foolish for wanting to be an MP. As #shouldergate has shown, female MPs are often vilified for their looks, not their actions. This demeans girls and our aspirations to be politicians. But Tracy Brabin \u2013 and all the people who supported her and Girlguiding by bidding on the dress \u2013 have shown that oppression is never acceptable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Girlguiding helped me persevere against the judgment of my looks. I\u2019m elated that the money raised is going to an organisation that inspires girls and builds our confidence at a time where women\u2019s concerns are dismissed as \u2018humbug\u2019. Girlguiding makes the future brighter for girls and young women.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would also urge damesnet readers to look back at my blog Guiding Principles<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rest assured Tracy, we dames stand shoulder to shoulder with\nyou!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

why concern yourself with substance if there is a chance for a cheap sexist jibe?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":7203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,205,55,65,56,59],"tags":[76,206,97,35,92,82],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7198"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7198"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7217,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7198\/revisions\/7217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}