Act II

[lolitics_meme]

 Welcome to the second prompt post!

The same rules/ guidelines apply as for the first prompt post.

Important:
If you fill a prompt from the first prompt post, please post the fill there! 
Likewise with all comments  for a fic at the first prompt post.
Otherwise it will get very chaotic.

- If you have a fandom related question of any sort you can go

Comments

[anonymous]

Gids isn't gay. Not that Mandy is believing that for a second. He also doesn't like to wear women's clothing. Mandy doesn't believe that either.

[his_gidsship]

I'd write this, apart from the slight problem that I a) hate Mandelson and b) dislike his being referred to as Mandy, because of the femaleness of the name and equating trans and gay goes into a world of fail that just makes me want to scream. (No-one's issue but mine. I just got badly badly triggered. I bloody changed my name from a female one to an androgynous one but twice in the last fortnight I've had people ask "Chris, short for Christine, right

[anonymous]

*cuddles*

[anonymous]

tbh, I never really thought of 'Mandy' as a female name. I certainly didn't think it was because he's gay. Is it? That's slightly more lame, now.

Damn, I liked 'Mandy' too. More than 'Gids' anyway, which frustrates me when I see it in fic.

[his_gidsship]

What on earth is wrong with Gids? Since I'm the person that perpetrated that meme it would be nice to know.

Also, ummm, 'lame'.

Mandy as a nickname for Amanda is very common in the UK, so it is entirely female IME.

[anonymous]

Not the person who dislikes Gids but I think it's becuse George changed his name to becuse HE disliked being a Gideon.

Originally named Gideon, he changed his name to George when he was 13. In an interview in July 2005, Osborne said: "It was my small act of rebellion. I never liked it. When I finally told my mother she said, 'Nor do I'. So I decided to be George after my grandfather, who was a war hero. Life was easier as a George; it was a straightforward name."

[anonymous]

Much as you have done, George Osborne changed his name from one he disliked to one he felt reflected him better.

[insatiable_nick]

FWIW, I'm literally lame, and I don't mind people using "lame" to mean "bad" or "a bit rubbish". Because, frankly, being lame is a bit rubbish! I'd much rather have legs that worked properly.

It doesn't bother me like people using "gay" (or, even worse, "ghey") to mean "bad" does.

I've never actually met a girl or woman called Mandy in real life. I know it's a real name, but the only experience I've had with it is the Milly Molly Mandy books.

Sorry that you're feeling bad, anyway. Maybe try to ignore the prompts that bother you?

[anonymous]

Just my own opinion, obviously, but I don't see Mandy as a nickname being reflective of anyone thinking Peter Mandelson is female or even feminine - more a reflection of the (particularly British, I suppose) tendency to assign shortened nicknames to public figures. I mean, it's not that far away from everyone calling him "Mazza" and I think I find "Mandy" preferable!

I agree with the above commenter, if we're going to discuss nicknames that might be personally somewhat offensive to the person in question, "Gids" is pretty bad, considering Osborne made a conscious, deliberate, legal effort to make people call him something different.

Luckily, of course, neither of them are ever going to read this (we assume........)

[anonymous]

It's entirely down to interpretation and, I'm pretty sure, in no way a reflection on him being gay.

His friends call him it, he doesn't mind it, it *is* a shortening of his last name, so... I don't see the problem.

If other people have a problem and don't use it then that's absolutely fine too; each to their own and all that! :-)

[anonymous]

The real Gids doesn't understand why he has no emotions and just unquestioningly does what he's been conditioned to.

Also, Gids probably does have issues round these kind of areas.

I must admit to not understanding these statements. Are we talking about the real George Osborne here? Is there something obvious that I'm missing that's common knowledge about him? Aside from the rumours about a photo of him in drag, of course, which I'd be more likely to ascribe to drunken shenanigans.

Also, Mandy is simply short for Mandelson, and I think we'd know if he was offended by it. His friends use it, so I'm sure it's ok by him.

[espreite]

*waves at fellow trans lolitician*

My brain had almost dissociated Mandelson's nickname from the girl name Mandy until someone brought up the "Mandy Goes to Med School" song, and then I was like...oh yeah. I personally assumed it was just the habit of politician-nicknaming rather than related to gay/trans issues, but I know what it's like being triggered by that stuff, and it sucks.

So basically, as someone having a similar week, I just wanted to say...hugs :)

[anonymous]

"dislike his being referred to as Mandy"

Well, that's not your choice, since he himself doesn't have a problem with it, his RL friends use it as an abbreviation of his name, just as my friends call me Hallsie and my best friend Hoops, rather than Hall and Hooper. It has nothing to do with the feminine name Mandy or fact he's gay. Get your facts straight before you rage.

[anonymous]

Why don't you get your facts straight before you rage?

The nickname "Mandy" was coined by the journalist Matthew Norman during their feud of 1995-98. At the time Mandelson found it highly offensive, and complained to the newspaper's editor. From that article linked above:
With the Wildean wit of the four-year-old in the playground, I gave him the nickname that drove him berserk. But you didn’t genuinely think it was homophobic, did you? “No. Well, perhaps I did then,” - he railed to my then editor about the “agony” for a gay man of being called Mandy - “although I don’t think that now. But you were vile to me.”

In October 1998 they made up, and the implication is that from then onwards Peter Mandelson didn't mind the nickname any more. However, the fact remains that it was coined by one of his enemies to upset him - and it certainly did have something to do with the feminine name Mandy. The fact that he now doesn't mind it is more to do with making friends with former enemies and mellowing with age, than because the nickname itself