May 24
May 4
What your SATC man says about you
Glenda Cooper writes about the Sex and the City men here in The Telegraph, quoting me:
I think the main thing is the men are all flawed, but so are the women, and surely the moral of the series and films as a whole is that life, and relationships, are about compromise. So we start by not accepting anyone who doesn't match up to our stringent spec, and we find fulfillment once we realise no one would, and that we're not perfect either. Still, as I say in the piece, listening to rainforest sounds to get to sleep would be a flaw too much for me!
Filed under //
Sex and the City
May 4
We are not insipid little flowers who can't argue, debate, discuss and then make decisions and leads. Now take that scented candle and shove it up....
Where the sun don't shine
Grrrr - this Simon Baron-Cohen article in The Guardian made me mad, specifically his final sentences:
"There is plenty we can do to make public life both more attractive and more accessible to women, including making prime ministerial debates less like a boxing fight, general elections less like tribal warfare, and the House of Commons working practices more family-friendly. None of this is likely to have anything to do with biological determinism."
How does he think women discuss thing? With whale music, chanting and scented candles? Female leaders can be as aggressive and as shit as male leaders - think Elizabeth 1, think Thatcher.
We are not insipid little flowers who can't argue, debate, discuss and then make decisions and leads. Now take that scented candle and shove it up....
Apr 23
That quiz in full (see previous post)
1. A good looking, witty, handsome, single man offers to buy you an expensive dinner. Do you…
A. Giggle, accept, and afterwards kiss him on the cheek and say goodbye. After twenty more such evenings he should present you with a diamond ring.
B. Offer to pay half, and when he refuses throw your coffee over him and yell ‘There’s no need for misogyny you bastard’ before storming out.
C. Accept and take a spare pair of knickers and a toothbrush with you in case you decide to go back to his.
2. Your beloved boyfriend suggests that it would be a good time to have a chat about ‘the future’ and wonders whether you fancy looking at wedding venues this weekend. Do you…
A. Give him your dad’s phone number and say you think he should have a chat with him first.
B. Say you don’t believe in outdated patriarchal traditions and when he looks upset dump him for being a wimp.
C. Take time out to think about whether this is a future you want, and then do whatever feels right for you.
3. Your five-year-old daughter wants to decorate her room all in pink. Do you…
A. Say you don’t really think pink is girly enough and suggest she add glitter and flower stencils to the wish-list and by the way, doesn’t she think she’s old enough to start wearing make-up now?
B. Say you’ve never bought her a pink item in her life, why would you start doing so now, and make a note to send her to a feminist consciousness-raising summer camp this year.
C. Agree, with the condition that she repeats the mantra ‘pink is not only for girls and girls can like colours other than pink’ ten times a day before school.
4. Your boss says you have great management potential and suggests you apply for promotion. Do you…
A. Blush furiously and then refuse politely. How would you manage to get home in time to make dinner if you had all that extra work?
B. Say that’s kind but you don’t want to move up the company, you want to run it, and that you’ll be launching a women-only takeover bid at the next AGM.
C. Have a think about it and decide whether this fits in with your general work-life balance before asking for an informal chat about the extra responsibilities and the extra money.
5. Your partner offers to take the male contraceptive pill as part of a trial study so you can give your body a break from the extra hormones. Do you…
A. Say ‘Actually honey, women’s bodies are designed this way in order to bear children. We should be stopping contraception altogether and making a family – that’s all I want in life.’
B. Say ‘Why make the empty gesture, every time I sleep with you the act of penetration feels like a crime against women anyway?’
C. Say yes, but because you don’t trust him to remember you secretly get fitted with a coil as well.
6. There is a building site at the end of the road and every time you walk past it you get wolf-whistled. Do you…
A. Think to yourself ‘What nice men’ and return later that day with a tray of homemade lemonade for them.
B. Flip them the finger and then call the Council when you get home and ask that they are given an ASBO.
C. Put your head down and ignore them while tutting to yourself- but secretly you feel flattered.
Results
Mostly A
Feminism probably isn’t something you have given much thought to in the past. Perhaps you’ve felt alienated by the concept or you think all feminists have to cut their hair short. But you probably are a noughtie girl, because you believe that everybody should be able to make their own choices just as you have made yours. Read on to find out about some of the area in which women make choices every day, and why yours are as valid as anyone else’s.
Mostly B
You are definitely a noughtie girl – you are feminist and proud of it. Not only that but you’ve read all the literature and probably set up a women’s group of your very own to discuss the failings of men and society generally. But feminism has changed this millennium – noughtie girls know there’s more than one way to be a feminist, and that wearing pink doesn’t necessarily rule you out. Read on to find out how women in the noughties are changing the face of feminism.
Mostly C
You’re a typical noughtie girl already – full of contradictions and determined not to succumb to anyone’s view of feminism other than your own. Read on to see what similarities and difference you have with other noughtie girls, and to find out why your way is the future of feminism.
You can buy The Noughtie Girl's Guide to Feminism here - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Noughtie-Girls-Guide-Feminism/dp/1851686835
Apr 21
Small furore, massive shame
Oh dear, a small furore has broken out over the publication of the quiz from the front of my book, The Noughtie Girl's Guide to Feminism, in Company magazine.
It's a small furore but a massive shame. I love women's magazines and always have. Of course they are not without faults but I love the way they combine entertainment with serious messages and how they tailor important messages to be accessible to as wide an audience as possible. In fact I am a lecturer in journalism at Goldsmiths College and I try to get across to my students how important it is not to be snobby about this kind of publication. When I was younger I particularly loved the multiple choice quizzes in these publications. So I decided, when writing my book, itself an accessible look at serious issues for young women, to begin it with a quiz on what type of feminist you are - the idea was that it would encourage all readers, whatever their answers, to read on and discuss the issues in the book. So I was delighted when, as well as quoting me in an article on Feminism, Company decided to reprint the quiz on their website (see pic).Alas, some women were less pleased. They seized on the quiz as letting down feminism and reducing it to the choice of answers in the tongue in cheek quiz. Sigh. Leading the charge was sex writer Zoe Margolis aka Abby Lee aka Girl with a One Track Mind. She (@girlonetrack) tweeted the following four tweets (see other pic):I wrote a feature for Company recently, but they edited it into a piece of sexist, patronising shit, so I was forced to pull it. SeriouslySadly, most "women's magazines" are full of sexist, patronising shit; unless you're in it for £, forget writing for them if you're feminist. I know I'm not making any friends here by publicly slagging off women's mags, but really: it's 2010, can you not drop the sexism, please? If you enjoyed that "Are you a feminist?" quiz http://bit.ly/aOgOHp you can now share your love for it with them. Go! > @companymagazine Seems to be some sour grapes here and perhaps an element of cyber bullying. Oh dear. Anyway, many of her followers did as she suggested and Company has responded by taking down the quiz. What a shame they listened to people who openly declare themselves as people who do not like magazines such as their own rather than admirers and readers of their magazine. I'll republish the quiz here as soon as permission from my publishers arrives in my inbox. Or you can see it at the beginning of my book by buying a copy yourself, just £4.99 on Amazon at the moment - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Noughtie-Girls-Guide-Feminism/dp/1851686835
Apr 20
By men, for men?
Very disappointed in BBC Newsnight last night - a discussion about the election campaign with four male guests and a male host, and all white at that. No wonder women and ethnic minorities often claim to be turned off politics. It wouldn't have been hard to have a more representative panel.
Apr 20
What kind of feminist are you?
Find out in this quiz - reprinted in Company Magazine from my book, The Noughtie Girl's Guide to Amazon.
Take the quiz here:
Buy the book here:
Filed under //
The Noughtie Girl's Guide to Feminism
Apr 14
A fine balance - no such thing as a paedo bikini
Primark has bowed to pressure to remove a padded bikini for young girls from its shelves. Of course it's very important not to sexualise young girls. But it's also important not to see everything young girls do as sexual - so a seven year old wearing a padded bikini will not be doing so in order to be sexy or attract sexual attention. As for The Sun's claim that it's a 'paedo bikini' - that is not far off suggesting people who wear short skirts deserve to be raped. Abusers are abusers whatever someone is wearing or whatever messages it may be thought they are giving out. Nevertheless, padded bikinis that encourage young girls to behave as adults shouldn't be encouraged. But nor should we insist on girls wearing clothes that cover them up using other people's desires as an excuse to stifle how they look. It's a hard balance to find.
Here's the Mumsnet website 'Let girls be girls' campaign: http://www.mumsnet.com/campaigns/let-girls-be-girls
And a BBC article about the bikini: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8619329.stm
And the Sun's inevitable paedophile take on it: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2931327/Primarks-padded-bikini-tops-for-kids-condemned.html
Apr 14
With sisters like this...
Sigourney Weaver letting women down here with her comment that James Cameron would have won the best movie oscar if he'd been a woman saying "Jim didn't have breasts, and I think that was the reason."
Incidentally Weaver was in the Cameron film she is bigging up.
Really, with sisters like this who needs enemies.
Filed under //
Sisterly behaviour
Apr 13
Lambrini Ladies
This article about 'Lambrini Ladies' on the Guardian's Comment is Free site makes some interesting points though of course the term 'Lambrini ladies' is itself pretty offensive:
The journalist is probably right that the parties aren't doing well enough at engaging the women he is talking about ("women in their 20s and early 30s in the social groups C1/2 and D, many of whom work in part-time jobs, all of whom are on below average incomes and a significant number of whom have to juggle their work with caring for young children") but what he also does is fall into the trap of thinking that women only care about 'women's issues'. Yes women are interested in health, in education and in the support given for caring roles, but women of all social classes are also interested in defence, in transport, in the economy and in the numerous other areas of politics that don't tend to fall into what people see as women's issues. I suspect that politicians and the media have to recognise that before they manage to engage a mass of women voters, whatever grouping or social class they are targeting that week.
Filed under //
Journalism
politics
