Them times sure are a-changing… just not quite how Dylan envisaged it:
Tabitha Willett has sparked debate as she criticized ‘commuting men on their phones’ for not offering her a train seat – despite wearing a ‘baby on board’ badge.
The Made In Chelsea star, 33, who is expecting her second child, took to Instagram on Tuesday to tell London commuters to ‘do better’.
Sharing a short video of a busy train showing a number of people sitting and standing on their phones, Tabitha penned: ‘I don’t want to be a moan but…
‘On the way back from the school run and a carriage full of men on their phones and no one stood up for a pregnant woman with a badge or elderly couple next to me.
‘Do better London’.
Not gonna happen.
I mean, I myself will always stand up to offer my seat to a woman, pregnant or not. But I’m not a younger man who’s had the shit kicked out of me since childhood by the public school system, by the media and by women in general for my toxic masculinity and frequent screams of “we can do anything that men can do”.
Well then, young men might say, you can bloody well stand on the train when there aren’t any open seats, just like men do.
And let’s be honest: that passive-aggressive button (“Baby On Board”? give me strength) isn’t going to help matters.
Back in the day, of course, such boorish and selfish behavior from younger men would have sparked a response from other men in the railway carriage, said miscreants being hoisted out of their seat by the collar, with maybe a few solid cuffs to the head thrown in.
Now? No chance, chickie.
And you can think your ultra-feministicals for that, because men have a simple response for when the rules of the game are changed to their detriment: they just stop playing.
Manners and courtesy, you see, have always been an indulgence and not a duty. And the days of indulgence are over.
Like I said: I’m not going to change; the habits and manners of a lifetime are too ingrained in me for that simple rejection. But when young men have never been taught those simple manners, those lubricants of polite society, and even been chided that said manners are arrogant and prime examples of The Patriarchy / Toxic Masculinity…
Well, they’re just going to stay in their seats. As they should.
Preach it, Kim, preach it.
I’ve become numb from decades of “angry, ugly women,” as my sainted mother called them, demeaning men and by extension, me and you for being courteous, competent, helpful and kind. They can bloody well open their own doors and lug their totes and car seats, and change their own damned tires, and if the fucking Karens and lumpy dykes can’t summon the strength or know-how, tough shit.
I never get offered a seat by women OR men, and I need crutches to stand up in a moving vehicle and WILL have them with me when traveling.
And this girl demands she gets given a seat simply because she has a bit of a bulging belly?
I can’t stand women that badge for this that and the other, expecting deference – you got up the duff, big deal. So did I and a bazillion other women – your choice. Likewise all the other flag mad hags – you and whatever cause your on this week, isn’t more important than me or the next person so get over yourself, you’re not that special.
I stand for elderly or people that clearly need the seat more than me, our son would do the same, as he was brought up to do. If someone offers me a seat, great – I will take it with thanks. Likewise someone opens the door for me – lovely, I’m a sucker for gentlemanly manners. Mr True Brit still does that, and more, every single time, after 51 years. Do I expect it? No. Does it make me less ‘womanly’ or ‘empowered’ (spit) when I accept it? Also no – if someone shows me a curtesy I’m not going to throw it back in their face.
Women can’t have it both ways – delicate little flowers that need protection (Abbey Clancy was taken to hospital recently after, get this, breaking a nail) – and be rabid feministicals at the same time. Just be respectful and you are respected.
That said, someone gives me grief, man or woman, they’re going to know about it. How’s that for ‘empowerment’.