Portsmouth Guildhall
Happening now.
In the main hall at Portsmouth Guildhall with LOTS of great women #FiLiA2021
— Joan Smith (@polblonde) October 16, 2021
At @FiLiA_charity opening plenary <shivers> #FiLIA pic.twitter.com/uPT1lJx5y6
— Maya Forstater (@MForstater) October 16, 2021
FiLiA 2021.
Women of the World Unite. pic.twitter.com/JRAxm0prXo
— Dr. Jane Clare Jones (@janeclarejones) October 16, 2021
I’ve heard reports of hoarding dinosaurs. That’s “dinosaurs which hoard.” Because someone hoarding dinosaurs would be ludicrous.
I’m here, and yes indeed there were dinosaurs roaming the mazelike halls, along with hundreds of fabulous women. ‘Trans rights’ protesters outside seemed persistent but low-energy. Before they left for the evening they ‘marked their territory’ by scrawling slogans and penises in chalk in the square. Apparently the police asked the organisers if as a result of this intimidation tactic they wanted to hold the vigil for women murdered by men inside instead, to which the answer was ‘what? no of course not.’
At some point during the vigil a couple of posh boys wandering through the square stopped to read one of the slogans: ‘Love everyone you shits.’ ‘You shits?’ one repeated, laughing. ‘What is this all about?’ A male Filia attendee stepped in to explain to them what was going on; they engaged in intense conversation for several minutes. I liked that–men teaching/peaking men.
Ah brilliant. Do us a guest post on it if you want to (and when you have time).
Michael Haubrich:
If we’ve learned anything from the world of cinema it’s that hoarding dinosaurs rarely ends well.
guest:
Brilliant that you’re there. I’d have loved to have been there too, but it would definitely have counted as an invasion. In retrospect, perhaps I could have hung about outside and remonstrated with some of the dickheads.
@3 home now, I’ll see if I can post something here as a comment in the next day or two that you can abstract from if you care to. I’m not in the ‘women’s sector’ or women-adjacent so didn’t get as much out of it as those who were, but I’ll see if I can think of some highlights to share.
@4 it would have been great to meet you IRL–maybe someday. Wasn’t there talk of a B&W meetup at one point? I think I saw about half a dozen or so men in the sessions, all with women (though I was told at least one man was there on his own recognisance) but am pleased to report I did not hear any of them speak inside.
I didn’t like the idea of taking a ticket that a woman could have used, it didn’t feel right. It sounds like it was a great conference despite the signs and dick-pics and drownings-out.
Well I wrote my account of Filia for Spinster and don’t actually think it was that interesting, so I’ll forbear to post it here. Someone on Ovarit did post this though:
https://daveward.substack.com/p/filia-2021-conference-was-fing-great/
Oh good, I see it’s fucking sweary.