Climate change is a big problem. Direct action aimed at encouraging the government, and society in general, to do more to cut our greenhouse gas emissions is crucial. So, a big thumbs up on that score to the Climate Rush:...

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In case anyone has still missed the news - abortion rights in the UK remain under fire thanks to elements of the Human Embryology and whatnot bill. And at the same time there is a possibility of actually improving the...

0 comments // Permalink // Tags: abortion rights, events, meetings, politics, reproductive rights, uk

The Glasgow Anti Racist Alliance has put out its programme for Black History Month, which is in October. Some of the notable bits: An Evening With Jackie Kay and Suzanne Bonnar - Glasgow Women's Library are hosting this one. The...

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Shadow education secretary David Willetts is worried. He's worried about the make-up of people attending university, specifically. Or, to get even more specific, he is worried that too many women are going to university, and there won't be enough university...

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A US study based on data collected from 64 transgendered workers found that* trans women's pay fell by around a third following their transition, while trans men saw their pay increase slightly. Trans women were also more likely to experience...

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[EDIT: OK, that was the wrong video! Sorry folks - something's wrong with the site, and it embedded the wrong clip, but if you go here you can watch it] Bob Lutz, chair of General Motors, is a climate change...

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Shameless Mag has posted a report and photos of Toronto's Take Back The Night march. Pike tells it like this: Just being a part of a group of women come together in the spirit of resistance and survival - hell,...

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A collective based in Manchester have set up the resource site Feminist Webs to facilitate women and girl positive youth work based on "possibility, creation not consumption and participation", with a focus on women's rights and experiences. The project is...

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Head on over to Green Garbo, for the 65th Carnival of Feminists. As well as the usual link-love, this one includes a call to participate in this survey on women's experience of catcalling....

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As a sort of sub section of the F-Word blog, we're seeking to start an F-Word bookclub. The idea is for this to be as reader-led as possible, with readers of the F-Word nominating books for the club, and comments...

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The World Bank and OECD have added up the figures and found it will cost $13 billion a year to meet the gender equality and women's empowerment part of the Millenium Development Goals. Gender equality is the Millenium Development Goal...

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The 300-year-old law that stops a Catholic from being King/Queen and ranks males higher than females in claims to the throne could be abolished. The law as it currently stands is thought to contravene the Sex Discrimination Act and the...

10 comments // Permalink // Tags: equal rights, human rights act, monarchy, reform, sex discrimination act

A woman in the tech industry has set up a group to name and shame conference organisers that fill the stage of their events almost exclusively with men. Dori Smith explains: Given that I've been ranting about this issue for...

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Leftwing MEPs are calling on the European Parliament to bypass hotels that enable prostitution, reports EUObserver. Unfortunately, the story is a bit unspecific on what this means - if it means boycotting hotels that help businessmen find prostitutes to buy,...

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Samantha Shepherd was being informed by a doctor that she needed the emergency procedure because her pregnancy had become problematic and her then-unborn son Luke's life was in danger. However, the conversation was interrupted by Nigel Baglin, a surgery assistant,...

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Why do queer activists in Uganda but animal activists in the USA bear the brunt of police suppression in their respective countries? Are they similarly subversive of “cultural” practices that turn out to be critical to the maintenance of state power?

12 comments // Permalink // Tags: activism, animal rights, LGBTI, Queer, Uganda

In "I'm a sexworker dont take away my livelihood", Lara responds critically to the "Brothel Report" by the Poppy Project (research into the UK sex industry in London. which goes to great lengths to paint sexworkers as women who are forcibly trafficked, drug addicts, drunken victims of pimps. Lara's story which is one story but no doubt there are as many Lara's as there are sexworkers with vastly different experiences challenges this stereotype of sexworker as victim

57 comments // Permalink // Tags: prostitute, sex worker, trafficking

A group of lovely, lovely people from Leeds queer/feminist collective Manifesta have launched a project aimed at bringing feminist and queer positive events and activities to young people. Ms Fitz will provide a friendly, supportive space for young people who...

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In violation of Ugandan law, two human rights activists working with LGBT groups and communities in Uganda were arrested on the 10th September and held for 8 days without charges being brought. Human Rights Watch and the International Gay and...

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This is a bit of an old story now, from March... Fed up with those glossy music mag cover stories hailing 'The best guitarists of all time', and specifically fed up with the lack of women in said lists, Venus...

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Better late than never I guess, but yesterday was Bisexual Pride Day! Feministing and Queers United have more. Meanwhile: PETA wrote to icecream makers Ben & Jerry, asking them to use (human) breast milk, because the dairy industry is cruel....

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(Note: the image of this badge, below, comes from this amazing photo stream on Flickr. Really recommend checking it out, I had such a hard time choosing an image to use on this post!) Londoners looking for a way to...

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First off, lets start with South Africa because no-one else has mentioned it yet. Thabo Mbeki was forced to resign over the weekend by internal dissent in the party. It's likely that Jacob Zuma will be elected leader of the...

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As Barbara mentioned last month, Ladyfest's Manchester 2008 event draws ever nearer. There's an event tomorrow evening, called Ladybois - Bois/Men Who Support Ladyfest Manchester; click on the link for details. As ever, there’s loads happening at Ladyfest, and the...

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Here's a very literal example of the way women are viewed as commodities: A US lawyer has been tracking the "High End Girlfriend Index", and the "High End Stripper Index" according to the Daily News. "You have a Wall Street...

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Is feminism reaching women of colour? How about women who didn’t go to university, teenage mums, or women who do not have access to the internet? Annika Spalding calls for change I consider myself a feminist. I have values and...

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Is a tampon soaked in stage blood too shocking for theatre-goers? Gemma Bolwell and Harriet Chandler report Foulisfair Theatre is a three-woman company. We devise original pieces that explore issues from a female perspective. Our current show Daughters is an...

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So The Independent decided to run a quiz, called "are you gender typical?" The questions are ludicrous, and although the quiz gets a thumbs up for generally acknowledging that not only women express behaviours traditionally labelled as feminine and not...

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US researchers have discovered that men who think the woman's place is in the kitchen and the man's place is behind a desk at work make more money, reports the BBC. On the other hand, women who hold less sexist...

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A 21-year-old lesbian has become the first person to be officially recognised as "third gender" since the country passed laws granting "sexual minorities" the same rights as heterosexuals in December of last year: Adhikari, a human rights officer employed by...

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What is it like to live as a lesbian trans woman in Africa*? How does transphobia intersect with the legacy of colonialism? Black Looks has a guest blogger who is untangling her perspective on some of these issues. From her...

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The Emmys are roughly the TV equivalent of the Oscars. Over at AfterEllen, Sarah Warn has an excellent takedown of how sexist and racist the awards are. First up, who was nominated for what: There were no women nominated in...

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According to The Guardian, production is to start next year on a film about the life of James Barry. Among Barry's many accomplishments was the first successful caesarean section in which both mother and child survived the operation. Ze also...

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Protest group New Fathers 4 Justice last week attacked lesbian parenting in an effort to promote the rights of fathers. A small group of protesters took a banner reading 'KIDS NEED REAL DADS NOT DAWN'S LESBO DADS" to the Bristol...

11 comments // Permalink // Tags: Fathers 4 Justice, fertility treatment, homophobia, IVF treatment, Lesbilicious, Stonewall

According to this story in Prensa Libre, eight out of 10 Central American women migrants are raped en route to North America. Según el último informe del Foro de Migraciones, elaborado este año, ocho de cada 10 centroamericanas que ingresan...

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Just a quick reminder to check out our Events page for feminist listings throughout the year. Upcoming events include: * 23 September - New feminist and world-themed singing group- -WILDSING- - beginning in north London. * 26 September - Suck...

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OK, first a disclaimer: I'm no legal expert, but my instinct is that this story in the Times, about sharia arbitrators, absolutely stinks of an attempt to whip up anti-Muslim feeling. A hefty pinch of salt is needed. What concerns...

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Via Feministing...

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This is one for the more tuneful Londoners: a feminist singing group is launching this Tuesday, and will meet for the next 11 weeks. The group is "feminist themed, though not women only, with a combination of thrilling jazz, gospel,...

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All examples from The Metro, Friday September 19th. Reason 1: Their misguided sense of priorities. Take this headline on page 9: Barman was deceived Oh no! Poor man. Why? (reads rest of headline:) Barman was deceived into sex with girl,...

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A little while ago there was an interesting discussion on this blog about the best way of teaching feminist history to children. So I was excited and impressed to read about one such successful example, organised by Durham Record Office,...

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The Red Cross have formed a partnership with Girlguiding UK the idea of the partnership, which launches on Tuesday 23rd September, is to teach guides first aid and citizanship skills. According to the Red Cross website: The Changing the World...

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This is fantastic news: Bitch Magazine has raised enough money to publish its next issue in just three days, so it looks like it's not going under after all! Holly posted the magazine's alert on the 16th, which was a...

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In best Sesame Street styleee, this blog entry is brought to you by the themes politics and violence..... First up, newly elected leader of the Kadima party in Israel, Tzipi Livni, has been challenged by right-wing opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu...

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An Abortion Rights public meeting will be taking place this coming Tuesday in Manchester as part of the Labour Party Conference fringe: Tuesday 23rd Sept 12.45pm The Rain Bar, 80 Great Bridgewater Street All pro-choice supporters welcome - this will...

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The Police have issues a statement today unambiguously apologising for giving the impression that there was violence initiated by transgender Pride attenders over a transgender woman being excluded from the womens toilets. Commander Steve Allen apologised for the "deep upset"...

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Over here is a great short piece from Canada on young feminists, intersectionality and the women's movement. Just how overwhelming a task it would be to define "today's feminism" hit me the other day when I read the program for...

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As regular readers will be aware, we have 'live' (sort-of) commenting on blog posts here at The F-Word, but our features and reviews collect up comments to be published every month. Comments received during August are now available, and it's...

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Where would we be today without the radical activists who went before us? Teh Portly Dyke writes as eloquently as usual on this topic. Here's a brief, tiny excerpt, but I recommend reading the whole post: There was a time...

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From international women's rights organisation, MADRE: In Haiti, four back-to-back storms have caused severe flooding, destroying farmland and crops. Prices had skyrocketed in Haiti even before the storms. Bananas are $7 a bunch and on the rise. And the cost...

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Katy Watson has died of Hodgkin's lymphoma, aged 42. According to a brief message posted by her father on her website, Katie "died peacefully in St Christopher's Hospice, south London, with her parents Helen and David, her sister Anna, and...

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Quick reminder that the first workshop from Lights On is coming up. Spotting Sexism is a four-week crash course in feminism, and how it applies in our lives for those who feel they are near the beginning of their feminist...

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Welcome to another whirlwind whizz through news and views.... First off a cartoon from Slowpoke which neatly sums up, for me, some of the debates around Sarah Palin's presumed feminism. That said it's important to say misogynistic portrayals of Palin...

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Via Feminist Philosophers... Bitch magazine are in trouble and need to raise $40,000 by 15 October in order to print the next issue. Their website says: While it's true that $40,000 is a lot of money, we know the number...

0 comments // Permalink // Tags: Bitch Magazine, Campaigns

Over at the BBC there is preview of some upcoming films about life around the world. The article on Eritrean women is particularly interesting. It focuses on three women, Leyla trying to decide whether to have her daughter circumcised, Amina...

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Feminist researcher Kristin Aune from University of Derby has been studying why women appear to be leaving the Church of England. Her conclusions? Women see more relevance in, for example, TV icons who promote female empowerment than in traditional religion....

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A new radical feminist group has recently launched - Autonomous Radical Feminists has a blog, but it's still not got much info up there yet. But if you're in the capital on Saturday 18 October, then you can go meet...

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I'm becoming little tired of the above question, this idea that being a feminist involves slapping pro- and anti- feminist labels on every little aspect of our lives. I can't quite pin down exactly where this idea has come from,...

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The latest Carnival of Feminists is up now at This is What A Feminist Blogs Like - haven't had time to give this one a read, I'm afraid. And also the latest Carnival Against Sexual Violence is up at abyss2hope....

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Campaigning to defend and extend women’s abortion rights in the final stages of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill: Tuesday 7 October 2008 7pm House of Commons Committee Room 10 Speakers include: Diane Abbott MP, Katy Clark MP, Evan Harris...

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Saturday Night Live: Tina Fey Sarah PalinUploaded by weazel_luv Feministing's "Is Sarah Palin a Feminist? Friday Feminist Fuck NO!" Target Women: Sarah Palin The Daily Show:...

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The Telegraph has decided to build a whole story around the fact that some of the Labour MPs calling for a leadership election happened to be women. Here's the photo they used to illustrate the story: And here's the lede:...

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Cutting away at your labia sounds extreme, but more and more women are going under the surgeon’s knife. Amy Clare reports on a Channel 4 documentary which attempted to shine a light on why this is happening Television is not...

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It’s time to end the battle of words, argues Debi Crow A stand-off between feminists who are against pornography, and those who are not, has become a well worn narrative for the feminist movement. There seems to be some imaginary...

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Guy Armand Raes has just been sentenced to eight months in Canadian prison for sexually assaulting a 17 year old girl. Why, then, is he about to be given an award for bravery by the Queen's representative in Canada, Governor...

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An artist-run exhibiting group called wall/space has launched Feminist Art Project - an initiative which will involve putting on an art show next year. FAP also involves a series of discussions about feminist art - the next one is set...

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My wardrobe isn’t particularly diverse, and it would be difficult to define my dress-sense. I like bright colours, prints, but am not averse to the odd bit of tweed and corduroy. I wear jeans, trousers, a-line dresses, wrap dresses, and...

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What would you do if you saw someone being brutally beaten on the side of the road as you walked past? Would you stop, intervene, call the police, ask the bloodied victim if they are OK? As a lone woman,...

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Following on from the discussions raised by the Poppy Project's report on prostitution, and the ongoing debates over whether the UK should adopt the "Swedish model" - in which buying sex is outlawed, but selling sex is not - comes...

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Lubomir Kora could be sentenced to up to 19 years in prison, for his part in raping a series of prostitutes in Bradford, reports the Telegraph & Argus. Arrest warrents have been issued for three other men allegedly part of...

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Artist Nagi Noda died last Sunday, from complications from surgery, I learned from TokyoMango. Nagi Noda was responsible for some amazingly creative and fun work, which you can see on her website, which has both a Japanese and English language...

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Although the overwhelming majority of rape victims are female, and rapists male, it doesn't always go down that way. Over at the Curvature, Cara has an excellent post which deals with one recent case in which a woman hired as...

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A German butcher has been reprimanded for advertising its products using a naked woman with "Meat Products, Fresh Service" branded across her body, reports Reuters. The German equivilent of the Advertising Standards Association here in the UK had this to...

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Here's the ideal opportunity for the gender abolitionists amongst us to do something simple and positive to show our support for someone who's trying to make a practical difference. Christie Elan-Cane has made a request for support in per fight...

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For years the British government has tried to cover up the truth of what happens to women and children in detention centers such as Yarlswood. Now Sir Al Aynsley-Green, who is the Children’s Commissioner has exposed the reality for children in Yarlswood, nonetheless the government is refusing to change it’s policy towards asylum seekers in general and the detention of children in particular…

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A while back we briefly linked a service called Mon.thly.Info, which helps keep track of when your period's due. The PMS Buddy is the horrible, sexist version! The blurb: PMSBuddy.com is a free service created with a single goal in...

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Landmines are bad for everyone. Really bad. That much, we should hope, is obvious. But how does gender impact on landmine clearance? Traditionally, not at all, but according to this report by the Swiss Campaign to Ban Landmines, it is...

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Quite a few interesting snippets today so bare with me. Apologies if we covered this already but on the recent selling sex theme read this article by Julie Bindel. And yes it does make clear it's not claiming to be...

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From Julie Bindel at The Guardian: ...our researchers discovered [that] brothels market women merely as merchandise. Frank was offered "two for the price of one" if he visited during "happy hour" (any time before 5pm). One brothel owner offered to...

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It's got to be unusual for crime victims to be charged a fee by the police to investigate and collect the evidence - surely? But rape is clearly just a different sort of crime. So it's OK to bill rape...

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Back in July we tossed about recommendations for feminist, or feminist-inflected fiction... but how about the autobiography section? Have you read an interesting personal account of the women's liberation movement in the UK? The suffragettes? The third wave? To start...

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What does femme mean, and how does it differ from the ‘traditional’ femininity which feminism so often puts under the microscope? Milly Shaw reviews a book of photographs of and interviews with femmes from around the world Stilettos, lipstick, beards:...

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Londonist has an interview with London Assembly member Dee Doocey about the British Fashion Council's u-turn over issuing certificates proving that models' BMI is healthy. Some exceprts: Why are the younger, up and coming designers more likely to be in...

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On Maryam's story - Maryam was a speaker at the Million Women Rise event on International Women's Day. This is definately a thoughtful film about the identity of contemporary asian women's identity in the UK and about women's identity more...

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Renee at Feministe has a fabulous entry on why make up and fashion isn't empowerment for most women. When women who are middle/upper class engage in a debate as to whether an article of clothing, or makeup is suitably feminist...

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The word 'titty' has been redacted from the title of 'The Itty Bitty Titty Committee' in Borders and Blockbusters stateside, Grace Chu informs us over at AfterEllen. Anyone spot this happening in the UK? Grace hilariously describes how the offending...

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In this guest post, Cara Grayling tackles our victim-blaming culture This article on how the manager of an NHS eating disorders clinic managed to get away with coercing several young women patients into "relationships" for 20 years states The investigators...

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Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s take on the suffrage movement hinges on a clichéd story of forbidden love between seamstress Eve Douglas and Lady Celia Cain. Debi Withers is exasperated I could not help but be stung by sensationalism after seeing Rebecca Lenkiewicz's...

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Why so few statues of women in the UK? And when women are immortalised in sculture, why are they so small? That's the question posed by Germaine Greer in the Guardian today. She doesn't provide an answer (perhaps because it's...

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We've written about Change for Equality a few times here on The F Word - it's an activist group of the Iranian women's movement which is campaigning for an end to laws that discriminate against women. They are responsible for...

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Janes In Love is an oddly bloodless story of friendship, boys and 'art attacks', says Sarah C L Jane Beckles lives in a fictional small town in the US called Kent Waters, as told in Janes in Love, a graphic...

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I've posted about this before, but wondered if there were any women out there who would also be willing to fill in a questionnaire, which can now be completed online HERE. The only stipulation is that respondents have to live...

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I was waiting till now to post about Big Brother because I wanted to see how the finalists were treated by the crowd and by Davina McCall in their post-eviction interviews. Well, the moment has come, and lovely Rachel Rice...

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Two-person relationships are the default in our culture, but why? Red Chidgey reviews a book which lays open the potential for different kinds of relationships Tristan Taormino has a solid background in promoting radical, provocative feminist sex education. An award-winning...

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24-year-old Samantha Corbridge was looking for work. As she is parent to a young child, she took herself and her two-year-old daughter to the Jobcentre. Reports The Argus: But while she was there Robyn needed feeding and when Miss Corbridge...

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Starting more locally - the Welsh Assembly have confirmed girls will be offered the HPV vaccine. Here is the page hosting the Scottish TV advert, this is meant to have the English advert but it isn't working at the moment.......

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Research by the Poppy Project has found brothels in London selling women for £15 plus another £10 for unprotected sex although the average price was £62. 85% of them are in residential areas and they found around 28 brothels in...

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Uglies opens in a world where every teenager undergos extreme surgery on their 16th birthday to mould them into hypnotic and hypnotised ‘Pretties’. Cazz Blase reviews a four-part ‘trilogy’ with plenty to say about body image, cosmetic surgery, citizen journalism,...

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Apropos of the whole Sarah Palin/daughter story, Rudy Giuliani was on Sky News earlier. I've not seen his comments reported elsewhere, and I was in the middle of running a 5k on the treadmill at the gym, so this may...

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Given that most companies in the business of selling 'beauty products' generally employ some dirty sales tactics to hawk their goods, Lush is generally a good thing in my books - as it relies on lovely texture, smell and colour,...

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Harper Collins, the publisher, are sticking with their new Australian edition of The Daring Book For Girls - despite the fact that some Aboriginal leaders are outraged with its advice on how to play the didgeridoo. That's because the didgeridoo...

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Over at another blog called The F Word , US student Kristin Herout is interviewed about her project to highlight the body standard issues in advertising. Herout took photos of volunteer women on campus, staging alternative versions of adverts...

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Two artists created some interesting work for the Manifesta 7 art festival, reviewed over at We Make Money Not Art. Libia Castro & Ólafur Ólafsson's pieces are a response to the "dense history of women-labour in the Rovereto area", where...

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Today's reasons to love music website The Lipster: 1. They rightly call Noel Gallagher a 'tool' because he's posted a list of his top 10 bands of all time but decided that it should have "no female artists allowed". OMG...

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The UN has called for the government to do more to tackle sexism, in a damning report on sex discrimination in the UK, reports The Independent. Unfortunately I can't find the report. However, as the Independent tells it, the report...

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Slim, pubescent teen, approx. 13 years old, brandishes box of Special K under Mum's nose: "Can we get these ones? They'll make me thinner" Laura despairs. Fucking Special K; so damn tasty, such damn shitty advertising and downright noxious packaging....

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Imagine my surprise upon arriving at Spain's Bilbao airport a couple of weeks ago to discover that the vast majority of the advertising space throughout the airport - including the arrivals lounge - was dedicated to a government campaign...

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Sport is continuously being assigned to a non-political space but no-one lives in a bubble - sports people or LGBTI people . The arrival in London of the Chosen Few (CF), a team of young out Black lesbians from the township of Soweto coming to play in the London 2008 IGLFA World Championships tournament, which is overwhelmingly dominated by white gay men, is very much a political event. An event in which the only other three lesbian teams have a total of three Black players, and where the CF are stomped and fouled upon with some outrageously poor and unprofessional refereeing.

17 comments // Permalink // Tags: Football, Gay Games, IGFLA, Lesbian, London, Soccer, South Africa

Helen Mirren told GQ magazine that date rape should not be illegal, as reported everywhere, but here's a link to the BBC's story*. In her interview with former national newspaper editor Piers Morgan in the October edition of GQ, Dame...

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July's comments are up and ready to read! Loads of praise for Nino's feature, Self harm, and discussion prompted by Sophie Platt's feature on why it's still this big taboo that women masturbate, and the harm that taboo does. Most...

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