Blog posts from March 2008
The Pro-Life candidate…
By Jess McCabe | 31 March 2008, 23:55
An Idaho strawberry farmer has legally changed his name to Pro-Life, in the lead up to standing for election as senator. He previously ran for governor as Marvin Pro-Life Richardson, but his middle name was removed from the ballot because…
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Another trying website ‘for women’?
By Jess McCabe | 31 March 2008, 23:18
Yahoo! has launched into the internet another website purporting to be aimed at all women. As you can tell from the logo, Shine borrows generously in style and content (and some of the editorial is literally cut and paste) from…
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Femail watch - clothes and shoes edition
By Jess McCabe | 31 March 2008, 16:58
Men wearing “women’s” clothes Men are increasingly reaching for “women’s” skinny jeans, the Daily Mail breathlessly reports this week. Aside from the small but important fact that this is hardly a new trend in men’s fashion, consider paragraphs like this:…
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What the nipple piercing incident tells us about attitudes to women’s pain
By Jess McCabe | 31 March 2008, 15:28
When 39-year old Mandi Hamlin set off the metal detectors at Lubbock airport, she probably didn’t imagine she’d end up using pliers to remove her nipple piercings while airport security snickered. The Curvature has more about the incident, pointing out…
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SBS picket called off - cancel your trip to Ealing!
By Jess McCabe | 31 March 2008, 12:29
Southall Black Sisters has cancelled a picket planned for tomorrow, to protest a council decision likely to see it lose out on funding. Rahila Gupta from SBS said in a message sent out to the Facebook group: We are NOT…
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Ladyfest London tickets on sale!
By Jess McCabe | 30 March 2008, 20:42
Thirty five quid for a weekend of music, art, workshops and movies is not bad. Buy your tickets for Ladyfest London (9-11 May) here. The Ladyfesters have also posted up a provisional line-up to whet your appetite here. The programme…
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Cluesticks?
By Helen G | 30 March 2008, 11:28
According to Live Science, a recent study by Indiana University’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences suggests that "young men just find it difficult to tell the difference between women who are being friendly and women who are interested in…
RSPCA seeking foster homes for pets of victims of domestic violence
By Jess McCabe | 29 March 2008, 22:06
When people are forced to flee their homes because of domestic violence, what happens to their pets? Well, the RSPCA in Wales is recruiting foster ‘parents’ for pets so that women (yes, it is mostly women) are not forced to…
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Boys, boys, boys…
By Barbara Felix | 29 March 2008, 14:05
Nice to see WKD going down the Yorkie bar route with their recent ads. I wonder if they will cause a wave of young ladies to down their last cheeky vimto before switching to that more girly of drinks, the…
Charlie’s Angles…
By Jess McCabe | 29 March 2008, 11:33
Jessica Hynes is not pleased that Charlie’s Angels director ‘McG’ has been entrusted with the task of making an American version of the comedy Spaced, which she helped create with Simon Pegg and starred in as Daisy. It turns out…
Sexist game advertising now sponsored by UK government?
By Jess McCabe | 29 March 2008, 11:08
“God didn’t create the perfect woman - the UK’s gaming industry did” This advert is elevated from the ranks of standard sexist advertising on AdsoftheWorld.com, because it was payed for by our taxes, commissioned by our government, and given the…
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Massive carnival of feminists and other reading materials
By Jess McCabe | 28 March 2008, 22:26
The 56th Carnival of Feminists is up now, at Redemption Blues. RB takes an unusual but very effective approach - rather than just providing a list of links, she supplements her choices with dense text including quotes from books (I…
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What is transfeminism?
By Helen G | 28 March 2008, 21:30
My gender dysphoria, transsexualism and consequent transitioning have informed many aspects of my opinions on Life, the Universe and Everything, including my still-developing views and beliefs about feminism. Yet there is still much for me to learn. For example, what…
How the press reported on a pregnant man
By Jess McCabe | 28 March 2008, 18:06
Thomas Beatie’s story has captured the collective imagination of the internet: and no wonder. “How does it feel to be a pregnant man? Incredible. Despite the fact that my belly is growing with a new life inside me, I am…
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Here’s another one to get the blood boiling
By Louise Livesey | 28 March 2008, 17:01
Phil Taylor, local Conservative Councillor for Ealing, has been making some rather rash comments about Southall Black Sisters on his blog. Including these little gems: One of the basic chores of being a charity/voluntary organisation is justifying what you do…
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The F Word Blog Team goes international…..!
By Louise Livesey | 28 March 2008, 14:56
Or at least Louise appears on Austrian Radio…. I’ve been lucky enough to be a guest interviewee for Austria’s FM4 radio station on matters feminist. We’ve got their permission to upload the files here. So one is their International Women’s…
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Burka blue…
By Jess McCabe | 27 March 2008, 23:42
Three Afghan women who perform anonymously in blue burkas have been signed by a German label, we learn from Shameless. What are they called? The Burka Band of course! Check out their excellent video here: The main songwriter, Nargiz, says…
Feminism Today talk…
By Jess McCabe | 27 March 2008, 22:28
I’ve been helping to organise a talk on the state of feminism today at Housmans Bookshop near King’s Cross. All welcome and even better it’s free! What’s happening with feminism today? Wednesday 30th April, 7pm In the last few months…
New project for ex-Le Tigrites, feminism on back burner?
By Jess McCabe | 27 March 2008, 18:12
JD and Johanna from Le Tigre have formed a new group, called MEN. Lesbilicious points out that they gave an unfortunate interview to Bust magazine, in which they said things like: I mean, the reason we came up with the…
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Quote of the day
By Samara Ginsberg | 27 March 2008, 17:21
A while ago, after writing a column about feminism, I received an e-mail from a reader who said: “I think it’s great that you, as a man, write about these issues. But imagine a situation where you were exactly the…
Feminism and Marriage
By Louise Livesey | 27 March 2008, 10:02
This article really made me smile. I’m a feminist who got married for all the unromantic reasons (next of kin rights, transferring my pension rights to him upon death). If it weren’t that legal transfer without marriage was so difficult…
Feminism is…
By Jess McCabe | 25 March 2008, 21:38
Sleazy description of a charity auction makes green site look… well… sleazy
By Jess McCabe | 25 March 2008, 17:14
Britney Spears is doing the wholly unremarkable: auctioning off some of her clothes to raise money for a good cause. I guess this was a boring story, and the otherwise rather good Daily Green website decided that it needed spicing…
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Miss Bimbo
By Jess McCabe | 25 March 2008, 17:10
It almost seems redundant to blog about Miss Bimbo. For once, a developer has produced a game so offensive that this story is everywhere. Miss Bimbo was the first thing my co-worker told me about when I got into the…
French women don’t get fat
By Samara Ginsberg | 25 March 2008, 16:18
Zoe Williams has a hilarious and perceptive opinion piece in The Guardian today, exploring the publishing phenomenon based on cultural stereotypes that would have us think that French women are beautiful, elegant creatures entirely unlike our lardy selves. French women…
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From academic to ‘private passion’? Angela McRobbie on women’s studies
By Jess McCabe | 25 March 2008, 10:19
The story of the supposed death of women’s studies in universities continued last week, with another report of the last undergraduates filing out of London Metropolitan University. Angela McRobbie, a communications professor at Goldsmiths, weighs in today over at Comment…
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On Cornelia Parker
By Jess McCabe | 24 March 2008, 22:30
I have just been editing a feature for our next update, and the name of artist Cornelia Parker cropped up. In particular, she is the artist responsible for the ‘exploded shed’. Well, it turns out that she has two exhibitions…
Hilary Clinton’s advice to young women…
By Louise Livesey | 24 March 2008, 19:21
An interesting snippet from Amber Tamblyn and America Ferrera (and Hilary Clinton obviously!). Worth watching….
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Looking back on Capital Woman 2008…
By Jess McCabe | 24 March 2008, 18:16
International Women’s Day is clearly the highlight in many a feminist’s calender. There is always an an overwhelming number of options. In London, there were hundreds of smaller events, of course, but two major draws: Million Women Rise, the ~5,000…
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Tibetan Refugee
By Helen G | 24 March 2008, 16:47
Tibet, or as it is also known, the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) is five times the size of the UK with 5% of the population. 10 March 2008 was the anniversary of the (failed) 1959 Tibetan uprising against the rule…
More language fun - gender and Spanish nouns
By Jess McCabe | 24 March 2008, 13:55
The English language is not alone in having deeply ingrained problems with sexism. The Unapologetic Mexican proposes a solution to the gendering of words in Spanish - use @ instead of a (for ‘feminine’ words) and o (for ‘masculine’ words)….
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Hair-larious
By Catherine Redfern | 23 March 2008, 17:16
The scene: me in a pub, with three male friends, T, S and A. S: How’s J? T: Fine. She texted me the other day, said she was just about to get a haircut for £50. S & A:…
What does orgasm mean to you?
By Jess McCabe | 23 March 2008, 17:13
Sarah Francis wrote in with a request for responses to the question “What does orgasm mean to you?” Sounds like an interesting project! To respond, email her at s.francis@2005.hull.ac.uk: I’m studying the way female sexuality is represented in art for…
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Tampon case fun from Etsy
By Jess McCabe | 23 March 2008, 13:38
It’s probably not very environmentally friendly to ship your tampon case all the way from Sydney, Australia (unless that’s where you live, hi Aussie readers!) That said, I may not be able to resist these fuzzy felt tampon holders made…
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A Letter To Your Body…
By Jess McCabe | 23 March 2008, 00:13
We’re a bit late on this one, but Blog Her is asking women to write a letter to their own bodies. As you can imagine, the results are interesting. Another blogger at Blog Her followed this up with a specific…
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More discrimination…
By Jess McCabe | 22 March 2008, 23:50
The Advocate is running a first person account by Thomas Beattie, who is a trans man, about the discrimination he is facing now he is pregnant. This whole process, from trying to get pregnant to being pregnant, has been a…
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How masculine are you?
By Jess McCabe | 21 March 2008, 23:40
It’s A Man’s World is a book about men’s ‘adventure’ magazines from the post war period, a mostly unwitting document charting rampant misogyny, rape fantasies, homophobia (and also homoerotic comics, often involving Nazis) and racism. How do you even choose…
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Positive Discrimination Debate
By Holly Combe | 21 March 2008, 20:56
When it comes to the question of positive discrimination, I tend to err towards a similar view to the one that Lib Dem MP Jackie Ballard expressed a few years back: it doesn’t sit well with me but in the…
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Activism - who decides what counts?
By Louise Livesey | 21 March 2008, 19:53
There is an interesting post over at thefword.org: food, fat and feminism about what constitutes activism. I consider activism to be any action that serves to disrupt, oppose, or defy the established social or political status quo. The most effective…
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Another round-up: Unsurprising News, PMS, Playground Insults and a Porn Debate
By Holly Combe | 21 March 2008, 19:39
There’s a very heartening article in the Telegraph about the recent finding that being a feminist seems to offer some protection against the negative influence of current fashion when it comes to assessing which body types are attractive. Admittedly, it…
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Tatchell on Pankhurst
By Louise Livesey | 21 March 2008, 19:21
Peter Tatchell has been talking about Sylvia Pankhurst, which is all fine and lovely, but this line is just another example of how we get rendered invisible… There are no contemporary women rights campaigners who come anywhere near Sylvia’s radicalism…
A moment of reflection
By Helen G | 21 March 2008, 19:17
In 1981 Bernice Johnson Reagon gave a presentation at the West Coast Women’s Music Festival in California. It was entitled ‘Coalition Politics: Turning the Century’. She Who Stumbles has provided a transcript. Inspirational words. (via Belledame)…
Cissexual?
By Laura Woodhouse | 21 March 2008, 15:48
I’ve been thinking about this concept ever since I read Helen G’s latest article, where she defines cissexual as: […] people who are not transsexual and who have only ever experienced their subconscious and physical sexes as being aligned I…
Comments from February up now!
By Jess McCabe | 20 March 2008, 22:28
All the comments we received on features, reviews and blog posts during the month of February are now online….
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More positive news
By Louise Livesey | 20 March 2008, 21:01
The Home Office has released figures showing that the new Specialist Domestic Violence Courts have increased prosecution rates to over 70% overall. Sadly the Home Office is now saying it’s earmarked the £1 million pounds for tackling domestic and sexual…
Pre-Easter round up
By Jess McCabe | 20 March 2008, 17:59
A university newspaper has been closed down after printing a misogynistic rant that advocated rape, Shameless Magazine tells us. The Oral Otis serves engineering students at the University of Ottawa, and will not be allowed to publish until it comes…
Sex ed for adults - help needed!
By Jess McCabe | 20 March 2008, 13:20
Following on from Laura’s post about the poverty of sex education in the UK, we got thinking about ways to fill in those gaps (and then some) for adults. Me and Laura are looking to compile a listing of resources…
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Good news for Rape Crisis
By Louise Livesey | 19 March 2008, 17:05
Although not an end to rape which would be the ideal…. Harriet Harman, Minister for Women, has announced £1,000,000 in cross-departmental funding to help save Rape Crisis Centres. AS End Violence Against Women and Rape Crisis has pointed this can…
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More on prostitution & consent
By Jess McCabe | 19 March 2008, 14:39
Twisty is back (and perhaps out of hiatus?) with an excellent interjection on the nature of the debate around the legalisation of prostitution, which also touches on wider issues of women’s ability to fully consent to sex with men: These…
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A man can rent someone “better” than you
By Samara Ginsberg | 19 March 2008, 13:50
There’s a totally gross article by Minette Marrin in The Times this week about the world’s oldest profession. Minette Marrin is not my favourite journalist in the world for reasons completely unrelated to feminism: a few years ago she wrote…
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Lap-dancing and objectification.
By Laura Woodhouse | 19 March 2008, 12:17
Rachel Bell brings us one woman’s story of lap-dancing in The Guardian today: It wasn’t only the earning potential that led Elena to try lap-dancing - she now believes that she, and women in general, are socialised to see it…
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True Tube tackles feminism
By Jess McCabe | 19 March 2008, 11:48
We’re a bit late with this one, but online video debate channel Truetube has posted up an entire issue about feminism in the UK and beyond. I can’t embed the videos, but you can check it all out here. Interesting…
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Sure Saudi women can drive - if you follow these rules!
By Jess McCabe | 18 March 2008, 22:25
Earlier this year we posted the good news that Saudi women were well on their way to securing the right to drive. However, nothing is that simple MEMRI reports that it the Saudi Shura Council has proposed a raft of…
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I am so in love with this clip
By Lynne Miles | 18 March 2008, 21:16
Not strictly feminist, but couldn’t resist the chance to share! “Gay scientists isolate the Christian gene” - because gayness can be inherited just like baldness. Watch it a second time to read the scrolling ‘news’ bar. Hat tip to the…
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The BNP stands up for women’s rights! (Or why they’re not only racist, xenophobic ballbags, but sexist as well).
By Laura Woodhouse | 18 March 2008, 18:15
Feel the love oozing from former BNP Youth leader Mark Collett as he proclaims his human right to look at boobies (warning: may make your skin crawl. Starts at 2.00): Not only is he a smarmy, sexist, racist little git,…
McCartney-Mills and divorce
By Lynne Miles | 18 March 2008, 16:59
I’ve been brewing a post on this for some time, and now Helen has pipped me to the post! But I have two points to make about the Macca vs Mucca divorce. The first is that the level of hatred…
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Tim Lott decides women writers don’t need own prize…
By Louise Livesey | 18 March 2008, 12:01
Whitbread prize winner Tim Lott has said that the Orange Prize for Fiction, the only women-only award, is (wait for it) “discriminatory, sexist and perverse”. According to Mr Lott women no longer have a tough time in writing and publishing…
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D-I-V-O-R-C-E*
By Helen G | 18 March 2008, 10:21
It’s been almost impossible to avoid the media’s coverage of yesterday’s divorce settlement between Heather Mills McCartney and Paul McCartney, and two random points have occurred to me: 1. The newspaper headlines always seem to be defining her in terms…
End Patriarchy: For Geeks Only?
By Holly Combe | 17 March 2008, 20:00
I’m guessing that most of you will be aware of the rather clever End-Patriarchy thing that Jessica Valenti has drawn attention to on Feministing today. I’d also guess that most of you will have got the hook inherent in the…
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Extreme Embroidery
By Jess McCabe | 17 March 2008, 16:26
Embroidery is, of course, one of those traditional “female arts”. While it has a historic and rich tradition world over, these masterpieces were uncredited to the artists responsible - women. We make money not art reviews an excellent exhibition, unfortunately…
Other sexual violence news stories
By Louise Livesey | 17 March 2008, 14:39
The first charges have been brought on Jersey. Gordon Claude Wateridge has been charged with sexual assaults of girls between 1969 and 1979 when he was warden at Haut de la Garenne. Oklahoma has decided that a man putting his…
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Eton students accussed of sexual assault
By Louise Livesey | 17 March 2008, 14:02
This story in The Times has prompted an avalanche of responses (about which more later). The basic story is that four Eton boys have been suspended and are under internal investigation for sexual assault and theft from a girl from…
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Callout: Cosmopolitan feature on sexual aggression
By Laura Woodhouse | 17 March 2008, 12:26
I received a message from a woman who is writing a feature for Cosmopolitan on the rise of aggressive sex / imagery in society and its effects on women. She is looking to talk to women who have been in…
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Sex Educate me!
By Laura Woodhouse | 17 March 2008, 10:38
The Scarleteen book and website are excellent sex education resources: a big feminist thumbs up! When Daily Mail-ites accuse government ministers of “brainwashing”, you know said ministers are probably onto a good thing. Secondary school teachers are being encouraged to…
New feature: Trans 101
By Jess McCabe | 17 March 2008, 10:21
Helen G sets out a glossary of common terms and definitions Why a guide to trans* issues at The F Word? This list of common and useful terms was conceived of in response to comments and discussion over on the…
New feature: How to get an activist movement to keep women in prostitution
By Jess McCabe | 17 March 2008, 00:23
What use are sex worker groups that give out condoms and showers, but can’t help women who want to exit prostitution? Ekis reports from Barcelona on prostitution and the campaign for legalisation Anyone who visits Barcelona will realise that street…
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Another feminist carnival!
By Jess McCabe | 16 March 2008, 19:24
We’ve had the Feminist Carnival, we’ve had the Carnival of Radical Feminists, the Carnival Against Sexual Violence, the Radical Women of Colour Carnival, and now there’s going to be a Feminist Carnival of Sexual Autonomy and Freedom. The first Carnival…
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Lazy reporting on abortion
By Lynne Miles | 16 March 2008, 17:04
Lazy reporting at The Times today, who open with “Women may be at risk of mental health breakdowns if they have abortions” - Bookdrunk at Rhetorically Speaking (one of my favourite blogs - she is blisteringly funny!) points out that…
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Stop the Strip Pub
By Lynne Miles | 16 March 2008, 15:48
Those in the Stoke Newington/Dalston area may be interested to know about a fledgling campaign to stop Satchmo’s - a bar I used to be really fond of - from getting a license to become a “sex encounters establishment”. Former…
Brilliant Women
By Jess McCabe | 16 March 2008, 14:22
Yesterday I stumbled into the National Portrait Gallery’s Brilliant Women exhibition about the 18th century women who formed the Bluestocking circle. Natalie Bennett has a more thorough review up on My London Your London, and the museum also has some…
Girls Rock!
By Jess McCabe | 15 March 2008, 22:55
Girls Rock is a documentary about a camp where girls learn the art of rock and roll from the likes of Sleater Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein. Looks brilliant - but it doesn’t seem to have a UK distributor as yet….
From the Edinburgh Feminist Network…
By Guest Blogger | 15 March 2008, 22:17
Feminist groups are springing up around the UK - in this guest post, the women behind the Edinburgh Feminist Network talk about their origins. A year ago this spring, the seeds for a new feminist group were planted in Edinburgh….
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Addendum…
By Jess McCabe | 15 March 2008, 21:32
In the comments on Laura’s post about women-only spaces, the issue of the relative invisibility of trans men was brought up, and Figleaf has talked about this today as well. So I thought I would draw readers’ attention to this…
Kotex ad causes uproar
By Jess McCabe | 15 March 2008, 21:19
Personally, I don’t see the problem. I can’t say I love the term “beaver”, but I do wonder if this caused so much offense because of the direct reference to vaginas?…
Frida Kahlo dollshouse
By Jess McCabe | 15 March 2008, 21:09
Well, if you’re going to give your daughter a dollshouse to play with, it may as well be a shrine to artist Frida Kahlo. This is incredible, and Elsa Mora has a very lucky child: I made this miniature dollhouse…
Where sheep may safely graze
By Helen G | 15 March 2008, 18:27
True confession? I’m one of those annoying people who wake early, even on a weekend. Another true confession? I listen to Radio 4 a lot. I live on my own and it’s company. So, last Saturday morning, I was semi-snoozing…
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Another feminist blogger hits the bookstands
By Jess McCabe | 15 March 2008, 10:13
I’ve just had the distinct pleasure of adding Amanda Marcotte from Pandagon’s book to The F Word store. From Amazon’s description: For all of you humming “I Will Survive” while watching the political debacles gracing the evening news, when getting…
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Suzuki Swift - ‘the panty dropper’
By Jess McCabe | 15 March 2008, 09:07
Who thought that “panty dropper” was a good idea for a campaign to sell cars? As you can tell from this photo, the answer is Suzuki. In the Dominican Republic, the company marketed one of its cars by putting…
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Friday afternoon round up
By Jess McCabe | 14 March 2008, 16:56
Womenspace posts an update on Southall Black Sisters’ unfortunate funding situation. It is particularly saddening to read that Refuge is apparently making a bid for the £100,000 of funding that SBS would very likely have received otherwise: Given its annual…
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Blogger running for office in California
By Jess McCabe | 14 March 2008, 16:06
Blogger and journalist Jasmyne Cannick is running for office in California. Specifically, to be a delegate for the Democratic party in the 47th district, which I believe is somewhere in Los Angeles. This means: Committee Members play a very important…
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Zelda Fitzgerald and flappers
By Jess McCabe | 14 March 2008, 00:05
I had no idea that F Scott Fitzgerald of Great Gatsby fame was even married, let alone to novelist, painter and ballet dancer Zelda Fitzgerald. The online journal BlueStocking has an excellent article on her this issue (sorry, no direct…
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Where the 1967 Abortion Act doesn’t apply
By Jess McCabe | 13 March 2008, 21:04
Women in Northern Ireland must still cross the water to get an abortion, and even setting out the law in an accessible form is controversial. Siún Carden reports The Abortion Act’s 40th birthday has recently been marked with enormous press…
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More on Chivalry
By Holly Combe | 13 March 2008, 15:20
Do we need signs telling us to give up our seats on the tube for those who might need them more? Apparently, Ken Livingstone thinks so because he has launched a priority seating scheme that includes pregnant women. While I…
First six minutes of Water Lilies
By Jess McCabe | 13 March 2008, 09:08
Check out the first six minutes of coming-of-age/coming out/synchronised-swimming flick Water Lilies, which I reviewed here:…
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The Cho Show
By Jess McCabe | 13 March 2008, 00:11
I have posted about Margaret Cho 15 times since the launch of this blog. Frankly, I’m surprised it’s not more. As far as I am concerned, the woman can do no wrong. So it is with excitement that I pass…
Campaign to stop BNP festival
By Laura Woodhouse | 12 March 2008, 23:40
With Jess’s most recent post on racist anti-immigration politics in mind, I thought readers might be interested to know that a network has been set up to protest against the British National Party’s annual festival, Red, White and Blue (RWB),…
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Live Alone and Like It
By Jess McCabe | 12 March 2008, 23:13
Does advice for the single women of 1936 have any bearing today? Cazz Blase reviews Marjorie Hillis’ guide to independent living My attention was originally drawn to Marjorie Hillis’ book Live Alone and Like It by a Radio 4 adaptation…
We should be ashamed
By Jess McCabe | 12 March 2008, 20:15
Shakesville has a good round-up post on the news that Mehdi Kazemi and Pegah Emambakhsh look set to be deported from the UK to Iran because of our government’s shameful asylum policy. 19 year-old Kazemi was actually forced to seek…
Today is No Smoking Day
By Helen G | 12 March 2008, 08:32
Here is a link to the No Smoking Day website. Here is a link to the NHS Go Smoke Free website If you’ve decided to quit today, good luck and I hope you’re successful. That’s all I’m going to say…
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Women-only space
By Laura Woodhouse | 11 March 2008, 22:42
Michelle at Lonergrrrl has a great post up explaining the importance of women-only space: Because it is in women-only space that a woman’s voice can be heard on her own terms. In women-only space she is free of the ‘male…
55th carnival of feminist out now!
By Jess McCabe | 11 March 2008, 16:33
The latest Carnival of Feminists is up now, over at Penny Red. There’s loads of great stuff in there, including a link to our coverage of the Million Women Rise march. Stand-out posts include this entry at Miss Avarice, on…
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Men…
By Jess McCabe | 11 March 2008, 16:20
Just a quick note to point out that Laurie has posted the transcript of a speech she gave about misandry. I don’t agree with everything she says, but Laurie has some interesting insights and the speech is well worth a…
The privileged few
By Helen G | 11 March 2008, 14:13
Jess’ recent posts about class privilege at Liberal Conspiracy, and the Trans 101 For Dumbasses video by Calpernia Addams have started me thinking once again about the subject of ‘private law’, with particular reference to "My Life As A Trans…
Crowd turns on female journalist at SXSW
By Jess McCabe | 11 March 2008, 10:56
Journalist Sarah Lacy interviewed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the massive SXSW conference going on in Austin right now. It turned nasty. As I wasn’t there, I can’t really make any comment about whether or not the session was any…
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News from the TUC
By Louise Livesey | 11 March 2008, 10:22
This just in… *bong* (aka Big Ben sound effects) Motherhood affects women’s pay *bong* Women without children most likely to be doing unpaid overtime On the former research has shown that having children results in a drop in pay of…
News Coverage more reflection
By Louise Livesey | 11 March 2008, 09:52
I was passed a local newspaper by a student of mine the other week. She was (rightly) questioning the contradictions of two stories within the paper. The paper was the Oxford Mail, but it’s not alone in struggling to cover…
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Women organising around rape…
By Louise Livesey | 11 March 2008, 09:44
Two quick news items on this…. Constance McCullagh has written in the New Statesman about her experience of using Rape Crisis 20 years ago and her concerns about women (and men) who need the service now. From The New Statesman…
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Feminist mental health blog up and running
By Laura Woodhouse | 11 March 2008, 08:53
Crazy Like Us? looks set to be a really interesting project. nectarine begins by explaining some of the reasons why she wanted to set up a feminist blog on mental health: When I first put the call out for this…
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Reproductive Freedoms Teach-In
By Laura Woodhouse | 11 March 2008, 08:45
Feminist Fightback have organised a teach-in on reproductive freedoms: We will be discussing ideas and planning action for a woman’s right to choose on 12 April, 12-5pm at Clement House Building, London School of Economics, London, WC2A (Holborn tube). Every…
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‘Why was Cambridge grad put on trial?’
By Jess McCabe | 10 March 2008, 22:43
In the annuals of sexist reporting of trials for rape and sexual assault, this piece by the Daily Mail has got to be one of the worst I’ve read in recent history. Now, the young man in question - 23…
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New feature: ‘I’m no sad victim. I’ve seen and survived the darkest side of life’
By Jess McCabe | 10 March 2008, 22:00
Amina pairs women who have experience sexual violence with volunteers who have been through the same ordeal - and turns their perceived ‘victim’ status on its head. Rachel Bell reports It is well documented that one in three women will…
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And now for some welding
By Jess McCabe | 10 March 2008, 17:13
A group of women has turned an empty space in the London borough of Hackney into a new, women-only (trans-inclusive) social centre. The ‘wominspace’ may not be around for long, as this is taking place in a squatted building, and…
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The right to choose…
By Louise Livesey | 10 March 2008, 12:36
There is an interesting piece over at the Guardian about one woman’s decision to not have the Down’s Syndrome amnio test. But if, like me, you are a disabled mother-to-be, there will be one more question from the well-meaning inquirer….
Hat tip to Menstraual Poetry
By Louise Livesey | 10 March 2008, 12:33
For highlighting this ad for Wii. There is so little I can say about this I won’t even bother trying. Please someone tell me it’s a hoax…..?…
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How (not) to get women into your industry…
By Louise Livesey | 10 March 2008, 11:05
The European Union information society commissioner, Viviane Reding, has argued that the ICT industry needs to promote itself on the basis of not being boring but rather that: “IT jobs can be very sexy indeed.” Yes because that’s what’s driving…
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Line up for FEM ‘08
By Jess McCabe | 10 March 2008, 10:37
Just got the latest news on who is speaking at FEM ‘08 at Sheffield University student union. LATEST SPEAKER LINE-UP: - Germaine Greer - Kira Cochrane, Editor, Guardian Women’s Page - Julie Bindel, jounalist, The Guardian & Eaves - Zohra…
New feature: Labours left unfinished: third wave feminism
By Jess McCabe | 10 March 2008, 09:05
The third wave and riot grrrl may be inspiring, but risk ignoring feminist history and swapping radical action for gigs and zines. In a fiery essay, Red Chidgey poses some difficult questions The Seven Demands of the Women’s Liberation Movement…
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50 most powerful blogs…
By Jess McCabe | 10 March 2008, 08:48
Thanks to the commenter who just let us know The F Word is in The Observer’s list of 50 most powerful blogs! Some of our favourite blogs are in that list too, by the way, including AngryBlackBitch and AfterEllen….
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30 radical women profiled in today’s Observer…
By Jess McCabe | 9 March 2008, 23:21
Today’s Observer Woman profiled 30 radical women. I didn’t manage to pick up a copy, but based on the online version it’s a mixed, but mostly positive bag. It’s definitely not a list of solely radical feminist women (Ann Coulter…
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Our report on Million Women Rise
By Jess McCabe | 9 March 2008, 20:32
So a million women did not literally descend on London for today’s International Women’s Day march. I am terrible at guessing crowd numbers, so I won’t even try. An estimated 4,000-5,000 women turned out to march through the streets…
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Videogames to prepare girls for a life of caretaking
By Jess McCabe | 9 March 2008, 17:09
So, considering the piece I wrote about gender swapping in MMOGs got some interesting comments from readers who game, here’s another story on the subject of sexism in this genre. Via Wonderland, we learn of an MMOG “for girls”. For…
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Taking racism seriously…
By Louise Livesey | 9 March 2008, 13:10
Feministe.com has Put up a list of how people try to avoid dealing with racism, it’s fab and so I’m putting the highlights here…. The Bootstrap Myth “Racism is a thing of the past… this is a free country, and…
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IWD round-up from across the world
By Louise Livesey | 9 March 2008, 11:54
Here’s some of the news stories from around the world on and around International Women’s Day… Starting over in Jersey, there was a vigil for the victims at the Haut de la Garenne children’s home. It was designed to break:…
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New feature: not a happy birthday
By Jess McCabe | 7 March 2008, 21:28
Threatened, intimidated, bullied, violated: this is hospital birth as many mothers experience it. Amity Reed reports on the little-recognised crime of birth rape When Lynsey (not her real name) went into hospital to have her baby, she expected to leave…
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Sex Toys and Texas
By Louise Livesey | 7 March 2008, 15:39
We can sell something that looks like a penis as long as it doesn’t vibrate and something which vibrates so long as it doesn’t look like a penis Rightwing legislators are trying to strike down the de-criminalisation of sex toys…
What are you doing for International Women’s Day?
By Jess McCabe | 7 March 2008, 15:08
Like you need telling, but tomorrow is International Women’s Day. What began in 1908 with a 15,000 woman strong march through New York City to demand better pay, shorter hours and the vote, now involves thousands of events across the…
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Huzzah!
By Laura Woodhouse | 7 March 2008, 14:20
Students at the University of Sheffield last night successfully defended our Union’s Women’s Officer position. A motion had been put forward to referenda to change the officer positions, getting rid of the Women’s Officer position and replacing it with an…
Mind-bendingly godawful picture of the day
By Samara Ginsberg | 7 March 2008, 14:04
Well, I’m a bare stem, as are the majority of our readers I would guess. Oh woe is me, I so regret losing my beautiful petals - NOT! Seriously, this is vile. And blatantly, blatantly sexist. Trying to give…
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Amnesty on girls and schooling
By Louise Livesey | 7 March 2008, 10:50
A global review by Amnesty International of girls experience of schooling has found that The World Health Organisation found the most common place where sexual harassment and coercion are experienced is in school 50% of schoolgirls in Malawi said they…
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Round-up of thoughts on womanhood and feminism….
By Louise Livesey | 7 March 2008, 10:02
So let’s start with womanhood shall we…. According to Penelop Trunk at Boston.com we should be planning to have children earlier as Generation X is suffering from increased infertility. Of course she offers no evidence for this whatsoever, relying instead…
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From sex toys in Sweden to board members in Oslo - Nordic roundup
By Jess McCabe | 6 March 2008, 22:09
While the attorney general of Texas has nothing better to do than try and reinstate the state’s sex toy ban, the Swedish government is going to begin selling vibrators: From The Local’s coverage, this fantastic quote: “We are aware that…
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And now for some good news…
By Jess McCabe | 6 March 2008, 21:43
A Canadian magazine called Antigone is collating a feminist version of PostSecret. Except instead of sending in anonymous secrets, Antigone collects “dreams for women”. Here’s a movie of some of the submissions: The magazine asks readers from all over the…
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Introducing our new guest blogger…
By Jess McCabe | 6 March 2008, 17:58
Properly speaking, Helen doesn’t really need an introduction, as she has been guest blogging for us on an ad hoc basis for a little while now. But we’ve now formalised everything, and you can expect regular contributions from her for…
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The breast or not the breast?
By Abby O'Reilly | 6 March 2008, 15:27
Nourishing one’s own child should be hailed as the most natural thing in the world, and yet breast-feeding is still considered something of a taboo for new and expectant mothers. While it is the woman who is affected physically and…
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Gender play in online gaming
By Jess McCabe | 6 March 2008, 14:52
I had a small piece in today’s G2, in the shortcuts section, on women who play male characters in online games. Of course, you could easily write a book on this subject……
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New feminist group for Birmingham
By Jess McCabe | 6 March 2008, 11:46
Birmingham readers: a new group has been set up to serve the city and surrounding area. Birmingham Fems has a Yahoo! Group, a Facebook group and a blog. I particularly enjoy this recent post on the blog (no prizes for…
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Reasons to be angry….
By Jess McCabe | 5 March 2008, 22:17
1. What happened when Jasmyne Cannick criticised comedian Chuck Knipp? Well, Knipp responded by superimposing her head on a photo of a porn star. Jasmyne posted the evidence here. I am a journalist. I am not just a blogger. I…
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Last Night’s Pro-Choice Demo in Cardiff
By Holly Combe | 5 March 2008, 22:00
There were over a hundred of us in attendance at the pro-choice demo outside City Temple last night. Aside from the heavy-handed arrest of a well-known Cardiff anarchist that resulted in a bunch of us picketing the police station…
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And the list continues….
By Louise Livesey | 5 March 2008, 17:07
The Guardian reports that Karl Taylor has been convicted of murdering Kate Beagley on their “first date”. I put that in inverted commas because often a friendly relationship is called “dating” in Court and I don’t know whether this was…
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Most sexist films of the ’00s
By Jess McCabe | 5 March 2008, 12:08
Radar has narrowed down what it says are the most misogynist films of this century. Frankly, I would have trouble picking just one a year. (Via AfterEllen)…
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Feminist In-Fighting
By Louise Livesey | 5 March 2008, 11:58
Rebecca Walker (daughter of Alice and founder of Third Wave Foundation) has written a piece about why some in-fighting is kind of important. She’s an eloquent writer but I will try to summarise her main points: 1. The exclusionary practices…
Shoes maketh the (wo)man…
By Louise Livesey | 5 March 2008, 11:38
Sarah Sands has written a piece in The Independent about how feet and shoes have become a marker of feminine identity. “The pain that women endure for beautiful shoes is, like childbirth, unknown to men…High heels are to us what…
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Men ‘on heat’ & racist stereotypes
By Jess McCabe | 5 March 2008, 09:57
I love the idea of sex “academy” Amora, and the website looks pretty clued up. But this morning I opened my inbox to see they had sent me a jaw-dropping press release, with the headline: “Global warming puts men ‘on…
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Interesting Google stats
By Jess McCabe | 4 March 2008, 19:58
When I Google stuff, I generally don’t look at the number of results. Which is a shame, it turns out, because as Figleaf discovered, you can find some solid evidence for the importance that we place on attractiveness for women…
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Fox women don’t wear trousers
By Jess McCabe | 4 March 2008, 19:16
I wonder if that’s in their contract? (Via Feministing)…
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Name and Shame them….
By Louise Livesey | 4 March 2008, 18:08
I am continually frustrated by people who can’t get my name right, I mean it’s not difficult, it’s not double barrelled (which leads to with or without hyphen dilemmas), it’s not oddly spelt, it’s not got silent letters none of…
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Sexist Language Continued
By Louise Livesey | 4 March 2008, 18:00
With reference to Jess’s fab post on feminists destroying the English Language there is a fab article here on Why Sexist Language Matters….
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What it’s really like to be fat…
By Louise Livesey | 4 March 2008, 17:47
The Guardian published an article over the weekend on one woman’s experiences of what it’s like to be fat. It contained this vignette: We were on the ferry, returning from a break in Ireland, queueing for food. When I saw…
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Have things changed?
By Louise Livesey | 4 March 2008, 17:00
Over at SmartGirlsKnow there is a republication of a 1943 tips sheet for managers of how to get more out of their workers. Pick young married women. They usually have more of a sense of responsibility than their unmarried sisters….
And whilst we’re on the visual stuff….
By Louise Livesey | 4 March 2008, 16:56
This is Playboy’s latest wheeze. Not only is this profoundly insulting to women and intrusive (note it’s outside their store) but it also reduces men to the level of sniggering pre-pubescent’s. Insulting all round…….
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New Rape Crisis Scotland campaign - speaks for itself really…
By Louise Livesey | 4 March 2008, 16:21
The new campaign comes in response to an evaluation report on whether questioning practices had changed since barristers had to request permission to question on prior sexual experiences. In coming to a decision on whether or not the evidence…
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‘The one thing we should change is hate’
By Guest Blogger | 4 March 2008, 14:50
Another guest post from Helen G. The murder of Lawrence King at a California school a couple of weeks ago has served to highlight the increasing intolerance of anyone who ‘dares to be different’ (if only we had the choice)…
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Halfords - scare men away from your car cleaning products by making them pink!
By Jess McCabe | 4 March 2008, 12:22
Car parts and accessories store Halfords has put out a hi-larious press release, urging women (OK, “girls”) to buy its pink products. The range is actually called “Car Cosmetix”, because clearly the way to sell bug removers to women is…
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Senior Met officer talks sense on rape
By Laura Woodhouse | 4 March 2008, 02:12
From today’s Guardian: Police are contributing to the “appalling” conviction rate in rape cases because officers too often fail to take alleged victims seriously enough and settle for mediocrity in their inquiries, the senior policeman responsible for raising standards in…
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Get your “liberal” rhetoric off my damn body and get a clue.
By Laura Woodhouse | 4 March 2008, 01:31
Oh I am fuming. Absolutely fuming. Just… this: But “pro-choicers” aren’t short of poor arguments themselves. One goes a bit like this: “Male control over birth rights, over women’s bodies, has been a tool of patriarchal oppression for centuries.” True,…
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Pro-Choice Demo in Cardiff Tonight!
By Holly Combe | 4 March 2008, 00:00
You may be aware that Ann Widdecombe and Lord David Alton are on an anti-abortion tour of Britain with various pro-life groups, as the bill on Human Fertilisation and Embryology moves through parliament. It is anticipated that this bill will…
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Tomboy is a sexist term, and other language news
By Jess McCabe | 3 March 2008, 19:54
Shameless has beaten me to this one. But I was reading a supplement to the New York Times the other day, and came across an interesting letter objecting to the use of the term “tomboy” as sexist (in an article…
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Vote for the most offensive PETA campaign at Feministing
By Jess McCabe | 3 March 2008, 18:37
Feministing is running a poll to pick the PETA campaign most hated by feminists. You can vote here. This follows their latest idiotic stunt in London, pilloried by Laura only a few days ago. Meanwhile, the PETA2 blog is asking…
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From “iron my shirt” to “make me a sandwich”
By Jess McCabe | 3 March 2008, 18:27
Nearly 40,000 people have joined a Facebook group urging Hillary Clinton to quit the presidential race and “make me a sandwich”, we learn from Feministing. Yep, just because it’s a while since we last wrote about it. there has been…
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Carnival season!
By Jess McCabe | 3 March 2008, 17:14
The 54th Carnival of Feminists is up at In a Strange Land. One of my favourite posts from this edition concerns calling a vulva a vulva, over at blue milk: After pretty much using ‘vagina’ my whole life I’m…
Stupid questions…
By Jess McCabe | 3 March 2008, 16:46
I am taking for granted that our smart and wonderful readers don’t need this advice, but just in case (and because it’s funny): (Hat tip to Helen, via Bilerico. See Calpernia.com for more.)…
Um, what?
By Jess McCabe | 3 March 2008, 15:55
[Edited for correct spelling]] When I saw the headline of this opinion piece in the Independent, I thought: ‘Oh, lord, I am too jet-lagged to tackle this one.’ Luckily, Jean Edelstein’s piece “Equal gender rights shouldn’t be defined as a…
Create a hero - create a stereotype!
By Louise Livesey | 3 March 2008, 13:57
Some interesting reflections arise out of NBCs “Create a Hero” exercise. Perusing the results has got me thinking. For example, Week 1 asked about looks, nationality and location and created these results: Male Hero Birth Place: 43% The Americas (43%)…
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Reclaim The Night North
By Laura Woodhouse | 2 March 2008, 14:34
Sheffield Fems managed to survive a rather wet and windy Reclaim the Night march around Manchester last night! I’d estimate that there were probably around 300 people on the march, equally divided between the leading women only group and…
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Regina Lynn on Polyamory and the Internet
By Holly Combe | 2 March 2008, 14:30
There’s a post on Regina Lynn’s Sex Drive on the rise in awareness of polyamory in recent years, due to the availability of information on the internet and selection of online communities out there. Sadly, I’m not sure how…
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Conservatives new policy
By Louise Livesey | 2 March 2008, 11:50
David Cameron has apparently promised that a third of ministerial posts will go to women if he’s elected. That’s obviously a comfort given we make up 52% of the population and given the Conservatives are likely to elect less than…
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Hooters comes to Sheffield
By Laura Woodhouse | 2 March 2008, 11:36
Yes, you read that right, the outdated and downright embarrassingly sexist US bar and restaurant staffed by sexyTM women is opening in Sheffield on the 22nd March. Female employees have to acknowledge and affirm the following: 1. My job duties…
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Ratzinger bans “feminist” interpretations
By Louise Livesey | 2 March 2008, 11:19
The Pope, Joseph Ratzinger, has outlawed use of “feminist alterations” such as refering to God as “the creator” rather than “the father, son and holy spirit”. The Vatican decreed that anyone being baptised using alternate phrases such as “creator”, “redeemer”…
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Feminism and music - the same old stereotypes
By Louise Livesey | 2 March 2008, 10:17
According to AOL music whilst the Spice Girls were about “fun feminism” (I assume as opposed to the un-fun nasty dour sort) we have now entered a phase of music being about male sexual titillation. Now, of course, you could…
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Fuck you, PETA
By Laura Woodhouse | 1 March 2008, 13:04
I’m a vegetarian, I care about animal welfare but, call me crazy, I’m actually more worried about the oppression and abuse of women across the globe than I am about animals. Not so for the delightful people at PETA. The…
What have you done for me lately?
By Guest Blogger | 1 March 2008, 00:53
Helen G guest posts on Barack Obama’s record on civil liberties and human rights The Bilerico Project (“Daily experiments in LGBTQ”) have posted an “open Letter from Barack Obama to the LGBT community” on their site - link here. Even…
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