17 Nov
2022
17 Nov
'22
6:44 p.m.
The article Wendy posted in lolchat has definitely put me off something
like cowgxrls (for those not on lolchat, it discusses problematic issues
with phrases like womxn).
But I just want to guage what people feel about something like Easton
Cowgirls+? Do people think something along these lines feels like erasure
of women and the long hard history of women's football? Or does it reflect
women and inclusivity?
To be clear, I'm not trying to push cowgirls+ as the answer (not sure how
good it is really) but interested to know if people would be open to a
change along these lines? Or if its the principal of changing it all that
feels wrong?
On Thu, 17 Nov 2022, 18:21 Woo Hall via football-women, <
football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk> wrote:
I am proud to be a trans and non binary friend and
ally and to be part of
this amazing club.
I am also proud to be a woman, a gay one at that. It seems like
she/her/woman are all dirty words currently and this makes me sad as women
have to deal with so much adversity as it is throughout history. Being
taught from a young age to be quiet, to be subdued, to be subservient, to
be second class, to be weak, to be inferior....to be pushed down and shat
on in sports (from a great height), glass ceilings at work etc etc, etc
etc.
No thanks.
My strength as a woman, warrior, queen, bad ass bitch is my own personal
identity. Playing for a women's club that is inclusive to trans and non
binary in solidarity is lush.
I am proud to be a rogue, a gobshite and I an Easton Cowgirl. I don't want
to be eradicated because I identify as a woman, that is my strength.
Wendle xx
On Thu, 17 Nov 2022, 18:02 Rona A via football-women, <
football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk> wrote:
People are expressing a desire to be
anti-transphobic and anti-sexist. So
they are in fact doing exactly what you want, albeit in relation to a name.
However, removing the term women or girls is emotive for many, for lots of
reasons. Particularly related to the patriarchal society we still live in.
Let’s not forget, we are not equal in gender either.
We are a women’s football team who are welcoming to our NB friends. We
are not a gender neutral team. That’s a whole other discussion to be had
perhaps but that would open us up to cis men and I assume we don’t want to
do that.
On Thu, 17 Nov 2022 at 17:51, Sally Wood via football-women <
football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk> wrote:
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Just to add in a bit on the history of the name,
as we've just recently
written it up for the tourney...
The origin of the Easton Cowboys and Cowgirls Sports and Social Club
(ECCSSC), as it is nowadays called, was the Easton Cowboys football team in
1992 - which was a bunch of punky lefty mates who drank together and
started playing footy, then affiliated themselves to the Plough. The name
came from the fact that a few of them liked westerns, nowt more in-depth
than that. The team grew and a few of the players' girlfriends started
coming to tours and wanted to give it a go, and so the Cowgirls were born.
There wasn't that much thought therefore put into the name.
A few years ago we voted to change the name of our website domain and
email addresses, which were still eastoncowboys.org.uk. Rather than
eastoncowboysandcowgirls.org.uk we went for the shorter and more
inclusive eastoncowfolk.org.uk. So this isn't the official name of the
club, although a lot of people use it for simplicity. In fact, there was a
significant backlash from some of the older members about any suggestion of
changing the clubs name at the time, even though it was just for the
website domain. So it is definitely an emotive issue for some people.
In my personal opinion, I think it would be great if people put the same
passion into the club living up to its ethos of being "*anti-racist,
anti-sexist, anti-fascist, anti-homophobic and anti-transphobic*
<https://eastoncowfolk.org.uk/welcome/>" as they do into a name which
was decided on a whim 25 years ago in very different times. But I hear both
sides of this argument and will remain in my usual place on the fence for
now.
To add a couple of alternative points on the issue of staying true to
the history of club - that history also includes it being a radical,
progressive collective which is not afraid to shake things up in the name
of progress. Change is also part of the club - I've been told many times
that the original (albeit maybe unofficial) motto of the club was "no cops,
no jugglers, no christians" - while some of the members might still hold
true to that sentiment, times have changed and it's definitely not bandied
around anymore.
Sally Fucking Wood
On Thu, 17 Nov 2022 at 13:36, C M via football-women <
football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk> wrote:
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Hey cow pals,
As a newish member to the club, I’m aware I might not be on the same
page re the Cowgirls name and its significance, but I can see the appeal of
changing it and would support that move. I think as a club we want to
avoid, as best we can, any feeling of exclusion, and trying to show
inclusivity in the name would be a small step to show the club’s existing
ethos.
Personally, I quite like the name Cowfolk as a sort of subversion of
the cowboy/cowgirl stereotype. Could we use Cowfolk in place of Cowgirls? I
also like Jo’s suggestion of Cowgxrls (personally, I don’t think the ‘x’
will cause confusion).
There was also mention above about the history of the Cowgirls name
within the club – I’m afraid I’m not familiar with the history, but am keen
to learn!
Cara
On Thu, 17 Nov 2022 at 12:26, Josie Giblin via football-women <
football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk> wrote:
> It’s difficult too, because there may be people who we absolutely
> would have in the club, but who saw the name and thought “well I’m not a
> girl...” and were put off. We’re never going to be able to ask their
> thoughts, only those who weren’t put off, which is a bit of a biased sample.
>
>
>
> But this is all theoretical... it might be that no one has ever been
> put off by it.
>
>
>
> I’m honestly a bit sat on the fence, I don’t feel strongly that we
> have to change the name, but I am keen to hear if anyone comes up with a
> bright idea that might work well for everyone!
>
>
>
> Sent from Mail <https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for
> Windows
>
>
>
> *From: *Rona A <rona.aldridge(a)gmail.com>
> *Sent: *17 November 2022 12:04
> *To: *Frances Topham Smallwood <ftophamsmallwood(a)gmail.com>
> *Cc: *Josie Giblin <giblin.jo(a)gmail.com>om>; easton cowgirls group
> <football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk>
> *Subject: *Re: [Easton-Cowgirls] Feedback from a cowmmittee meeting
>
>
>
> If we weren’t going to change it, asking might seem tokenistic ?
>
>
>
> On Thu, 17 Nov 2022 at 11:55, Frances Topham Smallwood via
> football-women <football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk> wrote:
>
> Totally support earlier comments about trans/nb inclusivity, and I had
> no idea the fa's rules were so horrible and invasive.
>
>
>
> On the name, I'm in favour of keeping the cowgirls name for the same
> reasons people have mentioned above. We already have cowfolk as the name
> for the overall club which I think goes some way to signalling it's
> inclusivity.
>
>
>
> Can we ask our trans/non binary players what they think of the name?
> Or would that be putting them on the spot too much? That way we'd have more
> info on whether people actually feel excluded by it, or we just worry that
> they might.
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
> Frances
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, 17 Nov 2022, 14:44 Josie Giblin via football-women, <
> football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk> wrote:
>
> I agree with comments before – 100% behind inclusivity, and 100% agree
> with the connection to womens football and our fight to play and be taken
> seriously as footballers. But I just want to chuck in some thoughts...
>
>
>
> what’s brought up this discussion was the fact that trans and
> non-binary folk are still struggling and having to fight to play in our
> leagues. And although the casual league is miles ahead of the FAs archaic
> stance, there have still been incidents with trans and NB players facing
> discrimination from other players. For those reasons, I’m interested to
> hear suggestions of how we could not so much totally change our name, but
> maybe adapt it to reflect our inclusivity... while “girls” doesn’t
> exclusively mean cis women, it might not capture everyone, particularly
> some NB folk.
>
>
>
> The only ideas I’ve had so far were Easton Cowgxrls (which was
> highlighted as maybe losing the language too much, and to be fair is a
> linguistical mess), and Easton Cowgirls+ (maybe this one is a bit
> confusing). I’ve got no other ideas yet! I’m curious to hear if anyone has
> an idea that can still reflect the importance of women’s football, but give
> an inclusive nod to those who don’t consider themselves a girl
>
>
>
> Jo x
>
>
>
> Sent from Mail <https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for
> Windows
>
>
>
> *From: *Turiya Pearce-Smith via football-women
> <football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk>
> *Sent: *17 November 2022 10:51
> *To: *Woo Hall <woohall77(a)gmail.com>
> *Cc: *easton cowgirls group <football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk>
> *Subject: *Re: [Easton-Cowgirls] Feedback from a cowmmittee meeting
>
>
>
> My ten cents - at an amateur level the FA's requirements on trans
> players are ridiculously insensitive and serve to exclude many people from
> the grassroots game, aka I definitely agree that we as a club should take a
> stance against it. I equally strongly feel we should stick to our identity
> as a diverse, inclusive, trans-inclusive women's football club, because for
> me the women's game itself and the awesome sisterhood that comes with it is
> something really special, that's my personal take.
>
>
>
> BTW here's a link to download the FA Policy, for context
>
https://www.thefa.com/-/media/cfa/suffolkfa/files/the-fa-policy-on-trans-pe…
>
>
>
> T x
>
>
>
> On Wed, 16 Nov 2022 at 22:14, Woo Hall via football-women <
> football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk> wrote:
>
> Re the name change.... noooooo way.
>
>
>
>
>
> I fully embrace inclusivity, accessibility and solidarity with trans
> and non binary players 100%.
>
>
>
> Although I do not support ridding ourselves of our 'Cowgirl' name, our
> very connection to 'women's football' ...on the back of a history of
women
> being banned from playing football, only progressing now in developed
> countries in the West.
>
> I am proud as a woman to be part of a generation that see's
> women/girls/us in sport actually being taken seriously. Why would we change
> our name???
>
>
>
>
>
> Wendle xx
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, 16 Nov 2022, 21:50 Rona A via football-women, <
> football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk> wrote:
>
> I support the stance.
>
>
>
> However, I wholeheartedly disagree with changing our name. We should
> be inclusive, but we don’t need to eradicate the use of the term ‘girls’
> or ‘women’ to do so. Women/ girls is not an excluding term
>
>
>
> On Wed, 16 Nov 2022 at 17:28, Lizzie Winter via football-women <
> football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk> wrote:
>
> Hi Cows,
>
>
>
> We had a cowmittee meeting last night because Manchester Laces have
> asked for our support in their stance against the current FA policy
> regarding trans players. We submitted our support and will hopefully be on
> their website soon.
>
>
>
> https://manchesterlaces.co.uk/campaign
>
> Trans Equality Campaign — Manchester Laces
> <https://manchesterlaces.co.uk/campaign>
>
> Charlton invicta fc. Charlton Invicta support trans inclusion in sport
> aligned with each person’s gender. Additionally, Non-binary folk are either
> being totally excluded or forced to play as a gender that is illegitimate
> to them.
>
> manchesterlaces.co.uk
>
>
>
> I've attached the minutes so have a read and let me know what you
> think and we can discuss it at our next meeting/after training.
>
>
>
> X
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
> _______________________________________________
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>
> _______________________________________________
> football-women mailing list
> football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk
> https://lists.xtreamlab.net/mailman/listinfo/football-women
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> *Turiya Pearce-Smith*
>
> Mobile: +44 777 988 5947
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
> _______________________________________________
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>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
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