Blog posts from March 2009
The whole Jacqui Smith thing…….
By Suzi FemAcadem | 31 March 2009, 19:30
So, I’m uber excited to be guest blogging here and I’ve spent the past few days panicking about what on earth my first post should be about. Then the whole row about the Home Secretary’s expenses blew up and I’ve…
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Henry VIII “subjugated” by female historians paying attention to wives
By Jess McCabe | 31 March 2009, 15:08
Historian David Starkey is upset that Henry VIII isn’t getting enough attention. Because I clearly didn’t concentrate all that much in history classes, and haven’t been watching the Tudors, I couldn’t actually tell you why Henry VIII is so signficiant….
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Review: The Sex Education Show Vs Pornography
By Laura Woodhouse | 31 March 2009, 09:40
Last night’s first installment of Channel 4’s The Sex Education Show Vs Pornography focused on the way in which pornography affects young people’s attitudes towards and expectations of the female body. It also highlighted the ease with which children and…
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Cartoon in today’s Independent
By Jess McCabe | 30 March 2009, 21:44
The Independent ran this cartoon about the scandal over Jacqui Smith’s expenses. Politics.co.uk, meanwhile, runs a story quoting Vivianne Westwood’s son saying that Smith’s policies on lap-dancing, prostitution and extreme porn have been pursued because she’s a “puritan” who…
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Meeting on Kellie Telesford inquiry
By Laura Woodhouse | 30 March 2009, 17:52
As Helen G reported back in August last year, the acquittal of Shanniel Hyatt, who was accused of murdering trans woman Kellie Telesford, caused considerable shock and anger. At 7pm on Thurday April 16th 2009 there will be a meeting…
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The Sex Education Show Vs Pornography
By Laura Woodhouse | 30 March 2009, 17:27
I missed the first series of Channel 4’s Sex Education Show, but will definitely be tuning in for the first installment of series 2 tonight at 9pm. This second series will focus on pornography’s effects on young people, and runs…
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Firefighters roll out new uniform
By Jess McCabe | 30 March 2009, 16:53
The Fire & Rescue Services are launching newly designed uniforms, including fire-fighting gear to better fit women, hijab and turban options, long-sleeved shirts, long skirts and maternity wear. From the press release: Fire Minister Sadiq Khan said: “We want the…
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Rounding up on Sunday
By Jess McCabe | 29 March 2009, 20:29
A US congressman is pushing legislation to restrict the role of first lady. Millenium Development Goal 5, to improve maternal healthcare and meet some specific targets: making access to reproductive healthcare universal by 2015 and slashing the maternal mortality rate…
Rebecca Hooper kicks ass!
By Lynne Miles | 28 March 2009, 00:31
It’s not often an article in the Daily Mail makes you smile, but I quickly wanted to share this one with you. This is too cute. Rebecca Hooper, who is 9 years old, had become the first female Cub Scout…
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EHRC plans to axe Manchester helpline and cut jobs.
By Laura Woodhouse | 27 March 2009, 17:18
As if failing to support mandatory pay audits wasn’t enough to suggest that the Equality and Human Rights Commission isn’t working as it should, its plans to axe the Manchester branch of its helpline - which handled over 50,000 enquiries…
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The rape myth in action
By Laura Woodhouse | 27 March 2009, 11:46
In what to me seems like a clear example of how rape myths contribute to the appallingly low rape conviction rate, a man has been acquitted of raping a woman who he readily admits to having sex with because the…
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‘Hot or not’ for female politicians
By Jess McCabe | 26 March 2009, 14:33
The reality is that the appearance of women in politics is under constant scrutiny. But it’s rarely so explicitly spelled out as by Spanish newspaper 20 Minutos, which carried out an internet survey asking readers to rank the world’s female…
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Trans and queer fun in Manchester this weekend!
By Laura Woodhouse | 26 March 2009, 10:58
UPDATE: See comments for full tour details. There’s a couple of really interesting events going on in Manchester this weekend. Saturday sees Lynn Breedlove bringing his “queer, punkrock standup comedy on transgender bodies, feminism, family, and community”, One Freak Show,…
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Changes to condom and pregnancy advice advertising?
By Laura Woodhouse | 26 March 2009, 09:37
A review of advertising codes could lead to an end to the ban on condom adverts being shown before the 9pm watershed and enable pregnancy advice services to advertise on the radio for the first time, The Guardian reports today*….
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Ada Lovelace Day
By Jess McCabe | 24 March 2009, 20:35
Today is the “international day for drawing attention to women excelling in technology”. Ada Lovelace Day was started by Suw Charman-Anderson, who has been in tech for years, but only recently began to speak out about the issue of how…
Tuesday round-up
By Jess McCabe | 24 March 2009, 14:06
Feminist Peace Network posts about some of the unbelievably vile t-shirts which Israeli soldiers are adopting: The slogans accompanying the drawings are not exactly anemic either: A T-shirt for infantry snipers bears the inscription “Better use Durex,” next to a…
Call yourself a feminist? Listen now!
By Laura Woodhouse | 24 March 2009, 09:05
zohra is currently taking part in Radio 4’s Call yourself a feminist?, focusing today on young and online feminism. Listen here. ———— Missed it? You can listen again tonight at 21.30. The programme covered a lot of ground, including British…
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Lesbilicious watches Lesbian Vampire Killers so we don’t have to.
By Laura Woodhouse | 23 March 2009, 14:02
Lesbilicious Editor and former F Word blogger Milly Shaw has taken the plunge and reviewed the latest schlock from Horne and Corden, Lesbian Vampire Killers: I admit I was already prejudiced before I sat down, and that I had a…
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Class, childcare & housework in the recession
By Jess McCabe | 23 March 2009, 12:37
The New York Times ran an op-ed last week, which makes a couple of obvious but important points about how the gendered impact of the recession is covered in the media. First off, the media concentration on the impact of…
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Emergency contraception now available to buy online?
By Laura Woodhouse | 23 March 2009, 11:08
UPDATE: You can buy Levonelle, and regular oral contraception, here. The Daily Mail is claiming that, from today, it will be possible to buy up to three doses of the emergency contraception Levonelle from Lloyds Pharmacy online, enabling women to…
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Portia De Rossi: I’m sorry my gay marriage hurts your head.
By Laura Woodhouse | 23 March 2009, 10:40
In which Portia De Rossi apologises for the calamitous effects of her marriage to Ellen DeGeneres on the pro-Prop 8 homophobes of the US. Hilarious! H/t Jezebel. Transcript: Hi, I’m Portia De Rossi. When I got married, all I…
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New review: ‘The Trouble with Islam Today’
By Jess McCabe | 22 March 2009, 22:22
Sabre reviews Irshad Manji’s controversial book which challenges some of the ways Islam is practiced As soon as I saw The Trouble with Islam Today: A Wake-up Call for Honesty and Change by Irshad Manji in Waterstones, I knew I…
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England team in World Cup final
By Carrie Dunn | 20 March 2009, 20:31
The women’s cricket team take on New Zealand on Saturday night/Sunday morning (live on Sky Sports, mark you), and have been immense not just in this tournament but over recent years. As you’d expect, the England women aren’t professional cricketers,…
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Pope to visit the UK?
By Laura Woodhouse | 20 March 2009, 12:34
The Guardian reported earlier this week that the Pope is considering visiting the UK next year: A spokesman for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, a permanent assembly of bishops, said the Catholic population would be “delighted” if…
What’s in a name? (Novel edition)
By Jess McCabe | 19 March 2009, 14:42
I’ve just finished the first novel by Stieg Larsson, a Swedish detective story which is largely about the prevalence and horror of violence against women. The title of the novel is Män som hatar kvinnor, which translates into English as…
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Thursday round-up!
By Jess McCabe | 19 March 2009, 10:45
Sociological Images thinks Dora the Explorer’s make-over is no surprise, given how the character has been increasingly used to market gendered toys. The US is to sign the UN gay rights declaration - see Lesbilicious for more. Arizona wants to…
Letter writing: keep Waltham Forest African Well Woman’s Service…
By Jess McCabe | 18 March 2009, 23:44
Forward UK is urging supporters to write to the Waltham Forest PCT, to protest plans to integrate its African Well Woman’s Service into generic sexual and reproductive health services in the area. The service was specifically set up to cater…
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Programme out for Images of Black Women Film Festival
By Jess McCabe | 17 March 2009, 19:01
The fifth annual Images of Black Women film festival is set to kick off at the end of March at London’s Tricycle Theatre. More info on the website, but here’s the festival trailer:…
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Getting gender on the table at international climate change negotiations
By Jess McCabe | 17 March 2009, 18:51
GenderCC has produced an excellent video on the activism they did at the international climate change negotiations* in Poland, last December. The uphill struggle in getting this done is phenomenal, trust me: GenderCC - Women for Climate Justice from Ulrike…
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All Saints’ mannequins: still there, still offensive.
By Laura Woodhouse | 17 March 2009, 18:34
I first noticed or, rather, stood aghast in front of fashion retailer All Saints’ window display in Cambridge back last summer, and was surprised to see it still going strong in the Derby store this weekend. As you can…
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Demonstration at Yarl’s Wood Detention Centre
By Laura Woodhouse | 17 March 2009, 12:41
There will be a demonstartion against immigration detention this Saturday 21st March at Yarl’s Wood detention centre. Why? About 25,000 people - including 2,000 children - accused of no crime, are detained indefinitely each year at great human cost and…
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EU issues guidelines on gender neutral language
By Laura Woodhouse | 17 March 2009, 11:12
The Daily Mail may call it political correctness gone mad, but I think the EU’s decision to issue politicians with guidelines on the use of gender neutral language is a really positive step. ‘Sportsmen’ and ‘headmaster’, to quote just two…
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New feature: Piercing the whitening silence
By Jess McCabe | 17 March 2009, 08:45
Terese Jonsson calls for all white feminists (herself included) to step up to the plate on racism and white privilege A couple of months ago, Annika Spalding challenged F-Word readers with the question ‘Whose feminism is it?’ Disappointed with her…
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FitnessFirst turns bus-stop into giant scales to violate privacy and humiliate passers by!
By Jess McCabe | 16 March 2009, 23:21
As you can see from the image on the right, the gym chain FitnessFirst has done some… erm… interesting advertising in a Dutch bus stop. The bus stop seat has been turned into scales, and the weight of the person…
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Womanist Musings comes to talk radio…
By Jess McCabe | 16 March 2009, 22:46
Renee from Womanist Musings and Monica from Transgriot have posted the first episode of their new podcast/talk radio session. The first topic was on the silencing of women of colour in feminist spaces. The guests were BFP from flip flopping…
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Who you callin’ what? Radio 4 explores
By zohra moosa | 16 March 2009, 20:41
Just 12 hours left to listen again to the first episode in Radio 4’s Call Yourself a Feminist series. Historian Bettany Hughes presents the first in a series of three discussions tracing the development of feminist ideas from the…
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Dismissive attitudes towards rape victims persist in the Met
By Laura Woodhouse | 16 March 2009, 13:46
The Guardian reports that despite recent changes in police policy, rape complaints were repeatedly filed as ‘Crime Related Incidents (CRIs)’ rather than as alleged criminal offences in six Metropolitan boroughs last year. CRIs are rarely investigated further, meaning that scores…
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Women, wait your turn, says EHRC?
By Jess McCabe | 16 March 2009, 10:41
UPDATE: the EHRC has emailed in their response to the Guardian article, which they’ve sent as a letter to the newspaper. I’ve cut & paste it at the end of this post… The Equalities and Human Rights Commission is poised…
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Art at the Pompidou “Frazzled by Feminism”
By Holly Combe | 14 March 2009, 19:30
There’s a rather confusing write up over at the AFP correspondent news blog about the press conference announcing a major exhibition on women artists at the Pompidou museum in Paris. Aside from the possible alarm bells one could get…
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No! The Rape Documentary - showing tomorrow in London
By Jess McCabe | 14 March 2009, 12:09
I know this is a bit last minute, but London readers if you’re free tomorrow, you may want to head to the ICA for a screening of No! The Rape Documentary. The documentary was 11 years in the making. Screening…
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Eat a poppadom - help a women’s cooperative
By Sunny Hundal | 14 March 2009, 09:57
I thought this story might put a smile on our reader’s faces. BBC Online recounts the story of a group of semi-literate women in India who set up a poppadom factory 50 years ago. The women only cooperative now employs…
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‘Sex, Lies and Photoshop’
By Jess McCabe | 14 March 2009, 09:28
The New York Times has posted a video about the impact of Photoshopping on body image, and just how prevelant it is in the images we see all around us. Frustratingly, I can’t embed the video, but you can head…
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Horne & Corden
By Jess McCabe | 13 March 2009, 23:50
This is problematic in so many ways, but we could start with the anti-breast-feeding sentiment (how dare a woman openly breastfeed, almost as though there was nothing wrong with it!)… (H/T Nick)…
New review - Miss Naked Beauty UK: more degrading than Miss World?
By Jess McCabe | 13 March 2009, 23:41
Laura Doherty reviews a show that promised to fight impossible beauty standards, but fell into all the same traps as a beauty paegent I couldn’t tell you exactly how long it has been since the final episode of Miss Naked…
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New review - Hellions: Pop Culture’s Rebel Women
By Jess McCabe | 13 March 2009, 23:09
Why are white, young, male ‘rebels’ celebrated and revered in pop culture, while women who push against society’s sexist and racist norms are marginalised and dismissed? Michelle Wright reviews a book which brings to light stories of the female rebel…
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Rapists target lesbians in South Africa
By Jess McCabe | 13 March 2009, 17:36
Actionaid has published horrific evidence that rapists are targetting lesbians in South Africa with so-called “corrective rape”. Lesbilicious reports: Rape is fast becoming the most widespread hate crime targeted against gay women across South Africa. One lesbian and gay support…
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Museum of Women, Dolls and Memories…
By Jess McCabe | 12 March 2009, 14:19
So, if any readers are in the Aberdeenish area, you might want to come to this: JONGA - look at me! Museum of Women, Dolls and Memories “How do you do that? Make someone love you?” Pecola Breedlove in Toni…
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Will a women’s council help?
By Sunny Hundal | 12 March 2009, 08:56
Across the pond, President Obama yesterday celebrated IWD by creating a new Council on Women and Girls. He said: The purpose of this council is to ensure that American women and girls are treated fairly in all matters of public…
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Women raise their voices against plantations…
By Jess McCabe | 12 March 2009, 00:41
The World Rainforest Movement, based in Uruguay, has produced a video which documents the damage being done to women in Nigeria, Brazil and Papua New Guinea through multinationals setting up plantations. I can’t embed the video, but you can go…
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Mini Review: Issy Suttie
By Laura Woodhouse | 11 March 2009, 22:06
Last night I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Issy Suttie perform at Leeds University’s Comedy Sessions. For any Peep Show fans out there, she played the frisky, geeky, cheese-loving Dobby who woos Mark in the stationery cupboard. On stage,…
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BBC’s “Call Yourself a Feminist” programme
By Louise Livesey | 11 March 2009, 13:45
You can listen again here. What do you think?…
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A Wednesday round-up…
By Jess McCabe | 11 March 2009, 12:13
A 75-year-old Syrian woman has been sentenced to 40 lashes by a Saudi court, for “mingling” - ie having two men in her house who are not related to her. CNN reports: The case sparked anger in Saudi Arabia. “It’s…
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100 Most Influential Women
By Louise Livesey | 11 March 2009, 11:51
There are discussions here and here about lists of the most influential women (in history). Who would you nominate?…
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14 year old girl in court for being an “Escort”
By Louise Livesey | 11 March 2009, 11:37
This story truly troubles me because we have a legal commitment to treating under 16 year old as victims of exploitation where they are prostituted not as perpetrators. Unless, apparently, they decide not to. As in this case in Tyneside…
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Activism
By Louise Livesey | 11 March 2009, 09:25
First up Fem Academ is starting an Oxfordshire Feminist Network - see “>here and here for details and sign up! Walls Come Tumbling Down highlights Alastair Campbell’s New Statesman initiative to find out what one sentence people would want in…
Million Women Rise
By Jess McCabe | 10 March 2009, 15:49
An estimated 5,000 women flooded the streets of London this Saturday 7 March, to protest violence against women in all its forms. On a mostly sunny day we stopped traffic, we sung, we shouted, we drummed, we chanted, we…
More on the government’s VAW consultation
By Laura Woodhouse | 10 March 2009, 11:07
To save you doing any digging, the consultation bus for the government’s VAW strategy will be touring the country as follows: Specific times and locations are being are being confirmed daily, but so far outline is: South East: 12-14 March…
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Domestic violence rising in London
By Jess McCabe | 9 March 2009, 12:59
Over the weekend Boris Johnson published the annual Women in London report, confirming what we’d already heard. The number of reported cases of domestic violence were up 6.1% in 2008, to 54,000, and: “The number of domestic violence murders has…
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One in five believe there is an excuse for domestic violence, and more…
By Jess McCabe | 9 March 2009, 12:13
An opinion poll commissioned by the Home Office should be a powerful wake-up call on attitudes to violence against women. Some of the headline findings have been reported in the press, but I would really suggest looking at the full…
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Abortion Rights in Northern Ireland - Take Action!
By Catherine Redfern | 8 March 2009, 12:38
Abortion Rights is encouraging everyone to lobby their MP to support Diane Abbott’s Early Day Motion No. 625: That this House supports safe, legal abortion for women, within existing time limits, no matter where they live in the United Kingdom;…
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Happy International Women’s Day!
By Jess McCabe | 8 March 2009, 00:52
I’ve posted my photos of yesterday’s Million Women Rise on Flickr - full write-up to follow. In the meantime, please do add your photos to The F-Word Flickr pool… and leave links to your photos, blog posts, news coverage,…
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Gender stereotypes and mental illness
By Jess McCabe | 6 March 2009, 17:28
Researchers in the US have found people discriminate more against people with mental illnesses, if that illness matches gender stereotypes. According to the press release on EurekAlert, researchers presented groups of volunteers with case histories of ‘Brian’ and ‘Karen’ and…
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Michelle Obama chided for showing her arms
By Jess McCabe | 6 March 2009, 10:50
Michelle Obama has apparently been coming under fire for the sin of… going sleeveless. Natalie Hanman in the Guardian reports on this latest round in the relentless media focus on Michelle Obama’s clothes and body. For example, check out how…
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Have you experienced violence?
By Laura Woodhouse | 4 March 2009, 11:48
FEM conferences coordinator Kat Banyard is conducting some research into violence against women: There are many forms of gender-based violence, including domestic violence, rape and sexual assault, stalking, sexual harassment, and female genital mutilation. If you have experienced violence (past…
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A Wednesday round-up!
By Jess McCabe | 4 March 2009, 07:16
Germaine Greer continues to disappoint! Apparently she said that women are not as funny as men on national TV - Kate takes her remarks apart, and talks about their impact on female comedians. Sociological Images deconstructs the phrase “sex…
New feature: Grassroots feminism 2.0?
By Jess McCabe | 3 March 2009, 23:30
Want to make connections with grassroots feminist activists across borders and languages? Melanie Maddison talks to Red Chidgey about an online project that aims to help us do just that Who are you and why are you interested in European…
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Hello You
By Bill Savage | 3 March 2009, 12:50
Is it just me or is there something fundamentally baffling about that new Diet Coke advert starring Duffy? In the ad Duffy comes off stage, knocks back some Diet Coke, and gets told she’s got two minutes before her encore….
January comments up now!
By Jess McCabe | 2 March 2009, 23:44
January’s comments are up now and waiting for your perusal!…
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New feature: Olive would have told me to shut up and do something
By Jess McCabe | 2 March 2009, 23:27
Tara Atluri reflects on the Do You Remember Olive Morris? project and the Remember Olive Collective It began with a photograph. A picture without colour, of a lone Black girl, barefoot, holding a placard that read: “Black sufferer fight pig…
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‘No need to be ugly to save the planet’
By Jess McCabe | 2 March 2009, 20:20
This ad appeared in Belgium, and apparently advertises biodegradable cosmetics, with a ‘before’ and ‘after’ shot, and a tagline which translates “no need to be ugly to save the planet”. I have to warn you that I wasn’t able to…
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Visualising the pay gap
By Jess McCabe | 2 March 2009, 16:43
The New York Times has posted a handy graphic breaking down the pay gap by occupation. This is obviously charting the pay gap in the US, but it’s none-the-less extremely interesting. Hover over the dots for more information. Only four…
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Million Women Rise - this Saturday!
By Jess McCabe | 2 March 2009, 14:04
Just a quick reminder that the Million Women Rise march is this Saturday, starting at 12pm at Portman Square in London. Check out the MWR site for more info!…
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