Blog posts from November 2010
Who makes a good entrepreneur? From the mouths of venture capitalists...
by Jess McCabe // 29 November 2010, 19:26
Tech venture capitalist John Doerr spoke openly and revealingly about his views on entrepreneurs, during a recent Q&A session. Although the Wall Street Journal gravitated to focus on his preference for nerds "without a sex life", that's not the angle...
Weekly Round-Up and Open Thread
by Catherine Redfern // 28 November 2010, 23:51
Weekly round up! Let us know if we missed anything in the comments! Subway flasher picks the wrong woman to mess with (Jezebel) This trend of young Muslim girls wearing the hijab is disturbing (Guardian) "Reteaching Gender & Sexuality is...
October's comments on features & reviews... finally up!
by Jess McCabe // 28 November 2010, 17:54
Comments on features and reviews from October are posted and waiting for you to read. As you will see from the first comment and response, I'm thinking about a switch away from our letters to the editor style comment system...
Sent to jail for falsely retracting rape allegation
by Jess McCabe // 27 November 2010, 17:40
Sarah's* story is extremely worrying for anyone concerned with rape prosecutions in this country. You have probably heard about her case: she rang 999 reporting her husband raped her. Under pressure from her husband and sister-in-law, Sarah retracted the rape...
Stop
by Guest Blogger // 26 November 2010, 14:18
Scottish Women's Aid has launched a campaign to Stop domestic abuse. Ellie Hutchinson explains A hairdresser who calls a number, a bar man who makes a comment, a colleague who signs a petition, or a brother who speaks out. Together...
How a 15-minute writing exercise closed the performance gap between men and women in a physics class
by Jess McCabe // 26 November 2010, 10:49
A small experiment at the University of Colorado was able to close the gap in performance between men and women taking an introduction to physics class - by means of a writing test wholly unrelated to science. Discover reports on...
Take Back the Tech! campaign launches today
by Holly Combe // 25 November 2010, 13:00
From 25 November to 10 December, Take Back the Tech! is inviting people to take part in 16 days of activism against gender based violence. Each daily action explores an issue of violence against women and its interconnection with...
International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
by Jess McCabe // 25 November 2010, 12:27
Today is the UN's International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Men can wear a white ribbon to express solidarity with this cause. I'm borrowing from something written last year for Netball Australia: What the White Ribbon...
New feature: A modest reminder
by Jess McCabe // 24 November 2010, 22:08
On 2 March, 1911, Emily Davison hid in a broom cupboard in order to be registered as resident at the House of Commons on the census. Nearly 100 years later, as the next census approaches, David Standen revisits Davison’s story...
First anti-feminism meeting takes place in Switzerland
by Suswati Basu // 23 November 2010, 23:17
I have heard of everything now. In a secret Swiss location, 150 male activists gathered to hold the first ever “international antifeminism meeting”. SwissInfo.ch reports that, labelling themselves as “peacekeepers”, the Swiss based group IGAF (Interessengemeinschaft Antifeminismus) denounce feminist social...
HerStoria competition winners!
by Jess McCabe // 23 November 2010, 11:29
Back in September, we ran a competition to win three free subscriptions to HerStoria Magazine, which concentrates on “History that puts woman in her place”. Anyway, because of how monumentally busy I've been, I'm only now telling you who won...
Kate, William and Male Primogeniture
by Shiha Kaur // 22 November 2010, 15:29
Among all the reports and speculation about the upcoming wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William, the issue of primogeniture has been largely left alone. Primogeniture is the right of the first born to inherit everything. I was shocked...
Weekly round-up and open thread, 22nd November 2010
by Carrie Dunn // 22 November 2010, 14:28
Welcome, one and all, to this week's round-up thread. As always, this is a list of links we've spotted or been sent over the past seven days which may be of interest to you. Without further ado... Page 3 at...
Women in punk: the playlists
by Jess McCabe // 20 November 2010, 20:45
As though Cazz Blase's series on women in punk wasn't fabulous enough, she's concocted a series of playlists on Spotify, a soundtrack to the features. I've gone through and added a link to the relevant playlist on each part of...
12th International Transgender Day Of Remembrance, 20th November 2010
by Helen G // 20 November 2010, 07:46
Every two days, somewhere in the world, a trans person is murdered. Another year has passed and in the last 12 months my community has lost almost 180 people - that we know of - to acts of transphobic violence....
More advice from cartoon princesses
by Jess McCabe // 19 November 2010, 12:35
The Advice from Cartoon Princesses series continues, this time with Snow White: "You know you've made it as the prettiest person when everyone wants to kill you." See also, advice from Belle in Beauty and the Beast. Via Jezebel....
It’s Strictly Protest Time! Come to a Pro-Choice Demo!
by Lynne Miles // 18 November 2010, 15:57
I've just seen the following from Abortion Rights, and thought it was worth flagging up: On Thursday 25th November, former Conservative MP, anti-abortion activist and Strictly Come Dancing contestant Ann Widdecombe will be speaking at a fundraiser for anti-choice group...
Equality "alienates" (who, exactly?!)
by Jess McCabe // 18 November 2010, 10:29
Home Secretary Theresa May intends to abandon one of the central measures in the Equality Act passed by the last government, reports The Guardian. The socioeconomic duty would have required all public bodies to assess whether they were addressing inequalities...
Quick shout out to a new group: Black Feminists
by Jess McCabe // 17 November 2010, 23:11
Black Feminists is a new group set up in London recently. Here are the details: Black Feminists is a group for all women (including trans women) who are African, Asian, indigenous, Latin American and/ or Middle Eastern or of these...
Women in tech, on the cover
by Jess McCabe // 16 November 2010, 16:29
Business magazine Fast Company is calling for nominations to its list of the most influential women in tech. I think this bares highlighting given the recent controversy over Wired Magazine's failure to run cover stories on women (as highlighted...
Weekly Round-Up And Open Thread, 15 November 2010
by Helen G // 15 November 2010, 19:30
TRIGGER WARNING: This post contains hyperlinks to external websites and blogs, some of which have comment threads and other material which some people may find triggering. The links here are posted in good faith but, as we have no control...
We need you: to help us update our Resources
by Guest Blogger // 15 November 2010, 16:30
Hannah Mudge is taking on the tremendous task of updating our Resources section. In this post, she breaks down what the new Resources section will look like - and calls for your input in making it a useful and...
2 + 2 = 5
by Jolene Tan // 14 November 2010, 12:49
How's about this advertisement from Malaysia for a bit of obnoxious, cynical doublethink? (Hat tip: twostoreys)For those who can't watch the video, it shows a series of smiling women dancing, while music plays, accompanied by the following voiceover:Brown and beautiful....
Eve seen through another lense?
by Jess McCabe // 12 November 2010, 14:22
London Doodler Gabriel has posted this reframing of the story of Eve. Her His short comic strip was the result of a class assignment to "think of a famous person and draw a one page portrait of that person's...
Punishing the "workshy"
by Laura Woodhouse // 11 November 2010, 19:38
Channel 4 News reports that 66% of the public support withdrawing job seekers' allowance from people who turn down the offer of a job or job interview. This comes on the day when Iain Duncan Smith revealed his "three strikes"...
Kat Banyard on BBC's HARDTalk
by Catherine Redfern // 10 November 2010, 22:08
Kat Banyard, author of The Equality Illusion and Director of UK Feminista was interviewed on BBC's HARDtalk programme. You can watch the interview on BBC iplayer here. Whether you agree with most of what Kat says or whether you don't,...
New feature: Cuts? Women will take them on the chin
by Jess McCabe // 10 November 2010, 20:36
Government spending cuts will hit women the hardest, with the most marginalised suffering the most. Fionnuala Murphy from the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation breaks it down On the morning of Wednesday 20 October if you Googled "women and...
New review: Blue is for boys?
by Jess McCabe // 9 November 2010, 16:47
Cordelia Fine unpicks the science (and pseudoscience) of sex difference in her latest book. Jessica Smith found the result a revelation As a mother of two children, I have often listened to other parents discussing how their little boy is...
Anglican bishops resign over ordination of women
by Laura Woodhouse // 8 November 2010, 22:25
Five male Anglican bishops have resigned from the Church of England and will join the Catholic church in protest at the prospect of women becoming bishops, which should happen in around five years' time. This follows the Bishop of Lewes'...
Weekly Round-Up Post
by Philippa Willitts // 8 November 2010, 10:00
Philippa rounds up links to the stories we missed during the past week.
Because women's talents are endless...
by Guest Blogger // 7 November 2010, 19:13
Michelle from the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre fills us in on the details of an upcoming fundraiser A benefit night for the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre 30th November, 6.30pm to 10.30pm, Camden, London Tickets (£12.50) RASASC_Benefit_Tickets@hotmail.co.uk...
Calling Bullshit on Cancer Memes
by Guest Blogger // 7 November 2010, 18:59
This is a guest post by Lorrie Hearts about 'cancer awareness' memes.
Is it feminist to...?
by Jess McCabe // 7 November 2010, 08:59
Any feminist who has done interviews with the media will tell you about the frequency with which journalists will ask "is it feminist to [insert activity]?". Some interviewers, indeed, have been known to simply email across a list of stuff...
Society's expectations of children
by Carrie Dunn // 6 November 2010, 13:17
I've just become an auntie for the first time. When my sister was pregnant, she and her husband didn't want to know if they were expecting a boy or a girl, and they decorated the nursery and bought clothes in...
If you shop at Amazon, please support The F Word!
by Catherine Redfern // 6 November 2010, 11:58
I hesitate to mention the festive season so early in November, but maybe unlike me you're very organised and thinking about it already. So if you are planning on buying presents via Amazon over the next couple of months, why...
New review - Eat Pray Love: consumerism is not empowerment
by Jess McCabe // 5 November 2010, 10:25
By selling her travel experience as a path to wellness, Elizabeth Gilbert's trip becomes part of the predatory self-help industry, marketed specifically toward women, argues Taraneh Ghajar Jerven Eat Pray Love, the film adaption of bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert's post-divorce...
(Late) weekly round-up
by Lynne Miles // 3 November 2010, 10:37
Sorry for the lateness of our weekly round-up, but here it is. Feel free to use the comments space below as an open thread if you want to comment on any of the stories raised or just have a general...
Blades within blades within blades
by Jess McCabe // 2 November 2010, 15:56
To make up for me and Lynne's cross-posting mishap about Equal Pay Day (it's so important we said it twice), here is a little animation inspired by Hyperbole and a Half's post from earlier in the year, satirising the...
Women - time to down tools!
by Lynne Miles // 2 November 2010, 14:01
Today is Equal Pay Day 2010. Despite the Equal Pay Act of 1970, full time working women on average are still paid less than full time working men by around 16%. This means, figuratively, that if the average man...
'Yes, women can' - Brazil elects first female president
by Jess McCabe // 2 November 2010, 11:52
Dilma Rousseff, speaking after she had just been elected as Brazil's first female president this weekend: Equal opportunities for men and women are an essential principle of democracy. I would like for fathers and mothers to look into their...
Founder of The F-Word, Catherine Redfern, has co-authored a new book with Kristin Aune. Find out more at the 
