Blog posts from January 2010
New feature: Feminism and fat
by Jess McCabe // 31 January 2010, 20:10
Susie Orbach’s classic Fat is a Feminist Issue became suddenly relevant to Helen Dring in the aftermath of a car accident which caused her to lose weight When I first read Susie Orbach's Fat is a Feminist Issue, I felt...
Expectant mothers and street-lighting: making Haiti safe for women
by Grace Fletcher-Hackwood // 31 January 2010, 16:13
As the recovery in Haiti continues - and the utterly misguided attempts to help begin (or at least you have to hope that's what that was...) - the aftermath of the disaster adds a new dimension to already pressing issues...
It's a Friday roundup!
by Jess McCabe // 29 January 2010, 18:30
Some diet and beauty ads will be banned on Spanish TV before a 10pm watershed, under proposals going through the country's legislature. Via Mi blog es tu blog. French gynaecologists have dismissed claims that the G-Spot doesn't exist. Pierre Foldès...
Want to help with revisions to Our Bodies, Ourselves?
by Jess McCabe // 29 January 2010, 17:23
The seminal women's health and sexuality book, Our Bodies, Ourselves, is going to be updated and re-released next year. As part of the revisions, they've asked us to publish this call for participants: Our Bodies Ourselves is seeking up to...
State of Isolation: abortion restrictions in Ireland
by Laura // 29 January 2010, 10:22
Human Rights Watch have released an in-depth report on access to abortion (or, rather, lack thereof) for women in Ireland, called State of Isolation. It highlights the Irish government's wilful refusal to respect the human rights of women seeking abortion,...
New feature: The professional masquerade
by Jess McCabe // 28 January 2010, 16:07
Women working in corporate finance are expected to adhere to sexist and objectifying dress codes, says Amica Lane "Womanliness therefore could be assumed and worn as a mask, both to hide the possession of masculinity and to avert the reprisals...
Women's Support Project in funding crisis
by Jess McCabe // 27 January 2010, 15:08
The Women's Support Project in Glasgow has had its funding slashed by Glasgow City Council, and is now searching for alternative funding. A reader sent in this statement: The Women’s Support Project’s core funding has been affected by local authority...
Women of Steel honoured at last
by Laura // 26 January 2010, 17:46
Transcript below. Four Sheffield women travelled down to London last week to receive official thanks from Prime Minister Gordon Brown on behalf of the hundreds of South Yorkshire women who worked in the region's steel factories during World War...
Quick hit: World's Wife
by Jess McCabe // 26 January 2010, 14:26
An adaptation of Carol Ann Duffy's collection of poems told from the perspective of the wives of famous men in mythology is currently on at Trafalgar Studios in London. From the Guardian review: What Linda Marlowe does in performing these...
Baby taken from mother with learning difficulties
by Laura // 25 January 2010, 21:43
Kerry Robertson, a 17-year-old with learning difficulties who was prevented from marrying her boyfriend of one year back in September because social workers believed she was unable to understand the meaning of the contract, has now been forced to give...
Feminist language in France
by Jess McCabe // 25 January 2010, 16:04
The use of Ms as an honorific free of implications about women's marital status is pretty well established. But Francophone women don't have an equivalent. Over at Comment is Free today, Jessica Reed looks at the options, and concludes there's...
New feature: In our satin tights, fighting for our rights! But are women really natural campaigners?
by Jess McCabe // 25 January 2010, 11:21
Stereotypes about women drawn to campaigning because they are natural nurturers do more harm than good, argues Mhairi Guild We're a nurturing, caring bunch, aren't we, ladies? Not like those mean, power-obsessed, emotionally illiterate menfolk. Things would be different if...
Natasha Walter: 'I believed sexism would wither away. I was entirely wrong'
by Syma Tariq // 25 January 2010, 08:41
Look this way for Kira Cochrane's interview with Natasha Walter in the Guardian, whose new book is Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism. Its an intriguing interview that covers peer pressure, pornography, sleaze and gender assumptions in popular culture. Hopefully...
Hairy sister on the red carpet, whoop!
by Laura // 22 January 2010, 18:19
As a committed hairy feminist, I was delighted to see actress and comedian Mo'Nique happily baring her hairy legs at the Golden Globe Awards earlier this week. It wasn't a one-off, either: she shared all on American TV in...
F-worders: challenge the politicians!
by Lynne Miles // 21 January 2010, 16:49
Eaves are holding a pre-election Question Time for Women on the 16th March, where 2,000 people will have the chance to submit questions to the Ministers for Women about their policies on women's issues. We're going, and will report back...
Feminist action, Haiti
by Jess McCabe // 21 January 2010, 11:19
The Association for Women's Rights in Development is collecting together information on the crisis in Haiti, where you can read about the historical context, the gendered impact of the current disaster, and gather ideas on how to show your solidarity....
Media bias, courtroom misogyny and police incompetence: how rapists get away with it
by Grace Fletcher-Hackwood // 20 January 2010, 23:24
Trigger warning We Mixed Our Drinks blogged yesterday on the tabloids' fondness for reporting 'cry rape' stories, and observed: "when the media continues to publicise such cases yet ignore the majority of shocking and disgusting attacks against women...we end up...
22 Jan: Blog for Choice Day 2010
by Guest Blogger // 20 January 2010, 17:00
In this guest post, Earwicga gives details on how you can get involved in the fifth annual Blog for Choice day on Friday. In 1973 the United States Supreme Court decided the case of Roe v Wade. The court held...
Mobile call charges to benefit claim lines scrapped (...mostly)
by Grace Fletcher-Hackwood // 19 January 2010, 21:38
Sorry, another post about welfare benefits. I seem to have become The F-Word's DWP correspondent. Let me just explain why I'm excited about this... When I first moved to Manchester, I was unemployed, living in a single rented room in...
Is a feminist economics possible?
by Syma Tariq // 19 January 2010, 16:07
I have been reading a lot recently about feminist economics, which essentially comes up with a fascinating, radical idea: GDP - the basic measure of how an economy is doing - renders many women invisible. Why? Because women who...
Lessons from Tinsley House
by Guest Blogger // 19 January 2010, 10:47
In this guest post, Debora Singer from Asylum Aid argues the Tinsley House report is just one example of a wider need for gender sensitivity in the UK Border Agency Every single woman from Asylum Aid on Vimeo. (Transcript coming...
Interviewing men who buy sex
by Jess McCabe // 17 January 2010, 20:24
Just over 100 London men who buy sex from prostitutes/sex workers have been interviewed, as part of an international study the Guardian reports. You can also read the full report here. I've started, but not finished reading the London report...
Racism, reproductive (in)justice in Israel
by Jess McCabe // 15 January 2010, 11:57
Health clinics in Israel appear to be pushing a long-term and risky contraceptive on Ethiopian women in what feminist groups have called out as a fundamentally racist policy. The National reports that the research, carried out by Haifa-based feminist group...
Staying
by Jess McCabe // 14 January 2010, 20:42
House: How is life treating you living in Brixton, compared with your home country in Africa? Bin: I am not living yet. H: What do you mean? Bin: I am not living yet in Brixton, I am staying in...
Get FGM on the agenda at Davos 2010
by Grace Fletcher-Hackwood // 14 January 2010, 17:47
Julia Lalla-Maharajh, communications adviser volunteer at Forward, is in the top five finalists of a global YouTube competition to win a place at the World Economic Forum in Davos later this month. if she wins, she will hold a debate...
Woman's credibility in rape trial "shot to pieces" due to group-sex fantasies
by Holly Combe // 13 January 2010, 19:28
The BBC website has details of a rape trial at Preston Crown Court that collapsed after MSN chatlogs of the complainant's conversations showed she was "prepared to entertain ideas of group sex with strangers" where her "morals go out of...
Cover up and close your legs, ladies, or we'll all be blown to pieces!
by Laura // 13 January 2010, 18:09
In an Independent piece that must have turned Daily Fail darlings Melanie Philips, Jan Moir and Richard Littlejohn green with moral panic-filled envy, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown argues that the "wanton" clothing and sexually promiscuous behaviour of Britain's female yoof is fuelling...
Haiti earthquake, if you want to donate
by Jess McCabe // 13 January 2010, 15:50
Haiti has been hit by a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake, and thousands of people may be dead. This is just a quick post to note Liberal Conspiracy has a list of disaster relief charities working in Haiti. To add to...
Detention and deportation: hear women's uncensored experiences
by Laura // 11 January 2010, 18:29
On Thursday 14 January, the All African Women's Group, Black Women's Rape Action Project and Crossroads Women's Centre are hosting a public meeting on women's experiences of deportation and detention in UK centres such as Yarl's Wood. Speakers include Fatma...
Let Go!
by Philippa Willitts // 11 January 2010, 14:52
Philippa talks about being 'helpfully' grabbed in the street.
Female drug mules and the need for state-funded education
by Syma Tariq // 11 January 2010, 13:02
The problem of drug mules entering the UK is treated like a simple one, with a simple solution. People enter the country with drugs - mainly cocaine or heroin - either in their luggage or swallowed, encased. They are caught...
Does bra colour really matter?
by Abby O'Reilly // 10 January 2010, 22:47
Most female users of the social networking site Facebook will have received a message encouraging them to substitute their status with the colour of their bra in a supposed bid to increase awareness of breast cancer. I received the message,...
Christelle Pardo: what the hell went wrong?
by Grace Fletcher-Hackwood // 10 January 2010, 19:50
The Guardian's Jenni Russell wrote this week about Christelle Pardo, a French woman who leapt to her death, holding her baby, in June last year. Christelle had been denied benefits because as a French national she apparently didn't meet the...
Spanish government calls for Europe-wide restraining orders to tackle domestic violence
by Jess McCabe // 10 January 2010, 13:18
Spain has kicked off its six-month presidency of the EU calling for an EU-wide restraining order to be developed, to protect (overwhelmingly female) victims of domestic violence across borders, reports the Guardian. Announcing the plan, Spain's interior minister, Alfredo Rubalcaba,...
Selling cars with sexism
by Jess McCabe // 9 January 2010, 21:40
Bologna Motor Show: cars are like toys, women are like toys too! Particularly unsubtle use of objectification of women as a sales tactic: Via AdsoftheWorld.com...
Feminist year ahead...
by Jess McCabe // 8 January 2010, 10:27
The Guardian has briefly rounded up the feminist year ahead today, touching on Million Women Rise, the first Reclaim the Nights of the year, as well as films of interest to feminists. They also profile some of the books coming...
The Body Image Project
by Jess McCabe // 7 January 2010, 23:41
As a brief follow-on from Pippa's post on resolving not to resolve to pursue thinness, The Body Image Project looks like a good resource. The US site posts videos of people - most women - talking about positive body image...
How the gender binary is fractal - 'girly' blue
by Jess McCabe // 7 January 2010, 20:23
We're familiar with gender as a binary: under this system blue is coded as for boys, pink is for girls, and so on. But sometimes it does get more complicated. Using the gendering of colour as an example, lisa at...
Mumsnet takes on the ad man
by Laura // 7 January 2010, 12:57
An advert reading 'Career women make bad mothers' has been pulled following complaints from members of parenting forum Mumsnet. The advert was part of a campaign to promote outdoor advertising (as opposed to online forms), and was designed to provoke...
Live stream: Hillary Clinton speaks on population
by zohra moosa // 6 January 2010, 20:08
Received an email bulletin from the Washington-based Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) today about an interesting event happening this Friday. At 14.30 eastern standard time (that's 19.30 GMT), Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will be making a...
Women's Aid Survivors' Forum
by Laura // 5 January 2010, 17:53
Women's Aid have launched an online survivors' forum for women affected by domestic abuse: We hope that the Survivors’ Forum will help abused women by enabling them to support each other and share their experiences. At Women’s Aid we know...
Monday night round-up
by Jess McCabe // 4 January 2010, 21:20
Life and Times of an Indian Homemaker posts that a former police director general SPS Rathore has been sentenced to six months in prison and a fine, after being found guilty of molesting Ruchika, then aged 14, 19 years ago....
Fat Studies and Health seminar at Durham University, 14-15 January
by Helen G // 4 January 2010, 15:16
The first ESRC-funded Fat Studies and Health At Every Size seminar takes place next week at Durham Uni. It's free and there are bursaries available for people on low incomes. ESRC Seminar Series: Fat Studies and Health At Every Size...
End financial discrimination against young people
by Grace Fletcher-Hackwood // 1 January 2010, 17:41
2009: the year of the Equality Bill. While readers probably have aspects of the Bill they don't like, I'm sure most see it as a step forward. However, one disappointment has been the Bill's exceptions for age discrimination. Specifically, the...
Resolve Not to Resolve
by Philippa Willitts // 1 January 2010, 13:38
Philippa writes about girlcotting diets as new years resolutions.
Introducing our January guest bloggers
by Laura // 1 January 2010, 07:00
We've got a great line up of guest bloggers for 2010; I hope you enjoy their contributions and make them feel welcome! First up are Syma Tariq and Grace Fletcher-Hackwood. Syma is a freelance journalist based in London and sometimes...
Founder of The F-Word, Catherine Redfern, has co-authored a new book with Kristin Aune. Find out more at the 
