31 July 2006

Lesbian Couple Denied Right to Have Their Marriage Recognised in UK

Sue Wilkinson and Celia Kitzinger have been denied the right to have their marriage in Canada recognised in the UK. . Whilst this ending to the High Court case was pretty predictable the comments made in the judgement are rather… Read more...

Posted by Louise Livesey at 31 July 2006

28 July 2006

Iranian teenager hanged for 'adultery'

A teenage girl of 16 has been executed for supposed ‘adultery’ in Iran, after telling a court she was raped. A documentary, will tell how Atefah Sahaaleh was hanged in a public square in the city of Neka, after a… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 28 July 2006

26 July 2006

Stand up and be counted

We’ve blogged many times in the last few months about the war that is being waged on American women’s right to have an abortion if she so chooses. In fact, the crisis is just getting worse, as the Senate has… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 26 July 2006

24 July 2006

Couple more new articles

World Cup WAGs Sarah Louisa Phythian-Adams argues that the irrational focus on the “Wives and Girlfriends” of footballers during the World Cup demonstrates a wider dismissal of women’s sporting prowess and of women’s role in society in general. Sexual… Read more...

Posted by Catherine Redfern at 24 July 2006

New articles / reviews

I published these a couple of weeks ago but haven’t had chance to post about them here: Don’t cha wish pop was more empowering? As more and more female music artists such as Beyonc\xE9 and The Pussycat Dolls declare themselves… Read more...

Posted by Catherine Redfern at 24 July 2006

22 July 2006

NOW conference makes the news

NOW’s annual conference has kicked off in New York, and it’s already garnering international press coverage. Newspapers from as far afield as the United Arab Emirates covered the event. Meanwhile, some of the top feminist bloggers have also been live… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 22 July 2006

How to write comics: decent female character

Over on Girls Read Comics (And They’re Pissed), Karen has knocked out an excellent post on how to write a real female lead character. The post is a response to an email she got from an independent comics publisher, asking… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 22 July 2006

21 July 2006

Bush favours kooky whackos… again

The Medical Institute for Sexual Health is a “scientific” organisation that promotes abstinance-only education. Its founder, Dr Joe McIlheney, pooh-poohs condom use and is described in this illuminating AlterNet article as “an evangelical ob/gyn”. Another board member, Dr W… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 21 July 2006

20 July 2006

Reading matter

The latest Carnival of Feminists is up at Figure, and they just seem to be getting better and better. I still haven’t had time to read through all the entries, but my favourite so far is definitely Feminish’s entry on… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 20 July 2006

18 July 2006

From PE to Pride

How can teenage girls be persuaded to embrace PE, asks this Guardian article. It turns out that the answer is a combination of a fun-based approach and less tiny sports uniforms. I recommend reading the whole feature, but here is… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 18 July 2006

17 July 2006

Keep an Eye out for …

… Genderpranks (“for those who like to play with gender”). The website is currently under construction, but was born out of an experiment using stickers on the tube - Genderpranksters labelled tube seats “male” and “female” to see what happened… Read more...

Posted by Lynne Miles at 17 July 2006

14 July 2006

"We need equality… kinda now!"

Joss Whedon’s speech at an Equality Now awards ceremony:… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 14 July 2006

13 July 2006

Update

Do you remember Larry Summers, the ex-president of Harvard who said that the reason that women don’t get to the top of the career ladder in science is that they’re just not bright enough, rather than… say… discrimination and gender… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 13 July 2006

11 July 2006

Second feminist zine hits streets

After literally years of relying on (albiet) excellent imports from the US, UK readers now have a second feminist magazine to call their own. Subtext magazine, launched today, joins Vagina Magazine on the shelf while it’s still in its first… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 11 July 2006

10 July 2006

Women and climate change

Climate change policy should be changed to reflect the greater impact it will have on women, argues Bojana Stoparic over on AlterNet. The argument goes like this: in a natural disaster, women are more vulnerable than men, at least in… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 10 July 2006

8 July 2006

Portugal enforces anti-abortion law

A Portuguese court has convicted a doctor and his assistant of carrying out abortions, and three women have been found gilty of having their pregnancies terminated. Portugal has strict anti abortion laws, but according to the Feminist Majority Foundation, public… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 8 July 2006

5 July 2006

So what's wrong with Nuts, then? (Or 'real men don't share umbrellas')

Over on London3rdWave, we’ve been heatedly debating - among other things - exactly what is wrong with ‘lads mags’ and what we should be doing about it. Recent debate over whether they should be relegated to the top shelf… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 5 July 2006

3 July 2006

Hollaback, ladies

The Guardian today talks about the increasing fightback by women against harassment in public places. We\x92ve all been there (well I have \x96 just outside Earlsfield station, about 5pm on a Sunday evening. Your classic old-man-in-mac. He was a… Read more...

Posted by Lynne Miles at 3 July 2006

MTV Exit

I really wish I’d seen this earlier, and been able to forward it more widely, but I think this is a really excellent contribution to the problem of trafficking around the World Cup, led by MTV. The only question being… Read more...

Posted by Lynne Miles at 3 July 2006

2 July 2006

Housework clause added to Spanish marriages

How did I miss this? Spain has added housework clauses to civil marriage ceremonies which oblige men to do an equal share. No doubt there will be plenty of people who say this is needless state intervention in domestic… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 2 July 2006

Break the silence on abortion

“Speak out” event in support of abortion rights. Join Abortion Rights, the national pro-choice campaign, at a ‘Speak Out’ on 6 July 2006. Who: All pro-choice supporters welcome (places limited - RSVP to info@abortionrights.org.uk) When: Thursday, 6 July 7 -… Read more...

Posted by Catherine Redfern at 2 July 2006

1 July 2006

Sweden acts on female circumcision

A Swedish citizen has been jailed for four years for forcing his daughter to undergo circumcision. The BBC reports that Somali man Ali Elmi Hayow held his daughter down while the brutal procedure - which involves amputing part or all… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 1 July 2006

Double standards

Was listening to the Today programme yesterday and there were a couple of people (possibly MPs, I can’t remember) arguing that junk food ads should be banned until after the watershed, so as to avoid contributing to the damage to… Read more...

Posted by Catherine Redfern at 1 July 2006

Blogging

Whilst it was amazingly flattering to be described as a “leading British feminist” in the Guardian’s article on women blogging, it does feel a little bit ridiculous really. And as well deserved as the praise was for all the contributors… Read more...

Posted by Catherine Redfern at 1 July 2006