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&gt; 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 &lt;rona.aldridge(a)gmail.com&gt; > *Sent: *17 November 2022 12:04 > *To: *Frances Topham Smallwood &lt;ftophamsmallwood(a)gmail.com&gt; > *Cc: *Josie Giblin &lt;giblin.jo(a)gmail.com&gt;om>; easton cowgirls group > &lt;football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk&gt; > *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 &lt;football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk&gt; 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&gt; 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 > &lt;football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk&gt; > *Sent: *17 November 2022 10:51 > *To: *Woo Hall &lt;woohall77(a)gmail.com&gt; > *Cc: *easton cowgirls group &lt;football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk&gt; > *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&gt; 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&gt; 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&gt; 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 > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > football-women mailing list > football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk > https://lists.xtreamlab.net/mailman/listinfo/football-women > > _______________________________________________ > football-women mailing list > football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk > https://lists.xtreamlab.net/mailman/listinfo/football-women > > _______________________________________________ > 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 > > > > _______________________________________________ > football-women mailing list > football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk > https://lists.xtreamlab.net/mailman/listinfo/football-women > > _______________________________________________ > football-women mailing list > football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk > https://lists.xtreamlab.net/mailman/listinfo/football-women > > > _______________________________________________ > football-women mailing list > football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk > https://lists.xtreamlab.net/mailman/listinfo/football-women > _______________________________________________ football-women mailing list football-women(a)eastoncowfolk.org.uk https://lists.xtreamlab.net/mailman/listinfo/football-women