Blog posts from January 2012
Farewell
by Natalie Dzerins // 31 January 2012, 08:45
It's time for my final post here. It's been a good month, in which I got to talk about things I'm passionate about but don't usually discuss on my blog. Having discussed Doctor Who, sex and anarchism, I feel...
Music paste up: The return of M.I.A, more Wild Flag, and Boy Friend
by Cazz Blase // 31 January 2012, 07:30
Last week it was announced that M.I.A would be debuting her new single, 'Bad Girls' on Monday January 30th on Pitchfork, a day ahead of the singles release. The song is a taster for her fourth album, which is...
Weekly round-up and open thread
by Shiha Kaur // 30 January 2012, 09:47
Welcome to this week's round-up and open thread. The following are links that we have found that might interest you. If you have found anything that you think others will enjoy please add links in the comments section. As...
Woman's Hour discussion: the "female masturbation" taboo
by Guest Blogger // 29 January 2012, 16:00
A guest post from Chrissy D, looking at how a discussion about masturbation on Woman's Hour has caused outrage in the Daily Mail and the view of women this reaction reflects
3 days
by Philippa Willitts // 29 January 2012, 12:32
Philippa reports on a protest by disability campaigners and UK Uncut yesterday against the Welfare Reform Bill, and details of a petition calling on the government to pause the progression of the Bill to review it.
New feature: Challenging rape myths in the mainstream
by Jess McCabe // 29 January 2012, 12:24
About 4.8 million people watched the last episode of Law and Order: UK for which there are stats. It's on ITV, it has a broad, mainstream audience. This Friday's episode is about gang rape - and, particularly, the rape myths...
New review: Laura Gibson's grand return
by Holly Combe // 27 January 2012, 20:06
La Grande is Laura Gibson's third album and it seems it's not only the record business that has changed a bit since she released Beasts of Seasons. Today, a review in the Going Out Guide section on The Washington...
International contest of short films against homophobia
by Helen G // 27 January 2012, 14:26
Via Facebook and RAINBOW website: Calling all European young people RAINBOW (Rights Against INtolerance - Building an Open minded World) is now seeking submissions of short films made by young people aged 15 - 19 years from European countries. The...
Women in prison: Styal inspection and briefing on foreign nationals
by Jolene Tan // 27 January 2012, 09:38
Image shows a revolving door. Used under a Creative Commons License, courtesy of Dan4th on Flickr. Trigger warning: this post and links in it contain descriptions of self-harm. A report following an unannounced inspection of Styal women's prison by...
Privacy and prejudice
by Philippa Willitts // 26 January 2012, 16:25
Philippa writes about advice given to Scottish rape prosecutors to use rape victims' medical records in court.
The Fearless Frame: upcoming season of Barbara Hammer's films at Tate Modern, plus COMPETITION!
by Guest Blogger // 26 January 2012, 12:50
This is a guest post by Sophie Mayer, who is the author of Her Various Scalpels and The Private Parts of Girls , as well as The Cinema of Sally Potter. She recently curated a retrospective of feminist documentary for...
Increased opportunities for women in Africa through improved water and sanitation
by Helen G // 26 January 2012, 11:41
Homeless International's year-long project to improve water and sanitation for poor communities in Malawi, Tanzania and Zimbabwe has brought improved water and toilet facilities to over 10,000 people.
Lords refuse to make single parents pay for use of CSA
by Laura // 26 January 2012, 10:02
The House of Lords last night voted against the government's plans to charge single parents a fee to use the Child Support Agency to collect maintenance payments from absent partners. Like many of the coalition's reforms, this would hit women...
Modern fairytale characters: a brief guide
by katyha // 25 January 2012, 16:01
The Troll of Random Misogyny lives under many bridges; although the Guardian seems to be one of his favourite places to lurk, possibly because of its soft liberal padding...
Feminism for the 1%
by Laura // 25 January 2012, 15:36
Tory feminism. I've been avoiding blogging about this because the sheer physical pain that swells up in my fingers when I type those two words in succession, not to mention the blood boiling in my veins when I see...
Ask A Feminist #3: Women and children first?
by Laura // 25 January 2012, 11:40
In the wake of the Costa Concordia tragedy, this week's Ask A Feminist considers whether "women and children first" is a feminist position.
Why I'm an anarcha-feminist
by Natalie Dzerins // 24 January 2012, 12:35
Disclaimer: This article will discuss my personal feelings about anti-capitalism, anarcho-communism and their relationships with feminism (and other systems of oppression). Because of this, I will not be discussing the histories of the movements. If you wish to learn about...
Weekly Round-Up and Open Thread, 16-23 January 2012
by Abby O'Reilly // 23 January 2012, 11:00
Hello Lovely F-Word Readers, Here's this week's round-up of interesting news articles and happenings from around the blogosphere that we've not had time to write about in detail. As always, if there's anything we've missed feel free to share...
January Playlist
by Holly Combe // 20 January 2012, 22:00
This month's selection mostly features hip hop, along with a chunk of reggae and dancehall. There's also a touch of soul, rounding off with a finalé from Etta James
Women: by default less knowledgeable
by Guest Blogger // 20 January 2012, 18:19
This is a guest post by Elin and Hennie Weiss A recent article in Swedish Metro caught our attention for all the wrong reasons when it insinuated an assumed male norm of technical knowledge and intelligence. The article discussed the...
Feminist icons from classic musicals
by katyha // 20 January 2012, 10:31
I'm a musicals geek. If you are too, this post will probably tell you nothing you don't already know. But if not, I would like to present four examples of interesting, funny and - in my opinion - feminist portrayals of women in musicals
Music paste up: Looking back, looking forward
by Cazz Blase // 20 January 2012, 03:08
There is no set theme as such to this particular paste up, its mainly that I've been thinking a lot about the music we've covered these past six months or so on The F-Word, and my mind has been...
New review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
by Ania Ostrowska // 20 January 2012, 00:03
Lisbeth Salander is back, with a vengeance. While some of you might be asking: "Lisbeth who??", the others have been familiar with her since 2008, when the first volume of Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,...
The postnatal body project
by Guest Blogger // 19 January 2012, 19:32
A guest post from Chrissy D on the body improvement project relentlessly marketed to new Mums
One in four: and I am one of them
by Guest Blogger // 19 January 2012, 18:55
Behind the statistics. This guest post is by Lizzy Owen One in four women have experienced rape or attempted rape. At least 47,000 women are raped in the UK each year. I am one of them. So are many women...
Ask A Feminist #2: No, I don't want you to watch
by Laura // 19 January 2012, 13:29
In this week's Ask A Feminist, reader Jenny is looking for ways to challenge people who think her bisexuality is all about them... Dear Laura, I'd *love* some suggestions for both snappy comebacks and reasoned explanations of The Wrong for...
Mothers in fiction project: Pauline Mole, from the Adrian Mole diaries
by Carrie Dunn // 19 January 2012, 12:38
I've recently been doing some blogging for Hazel Davis's How To Be A Daughter project on the topic of mothers in fiction (with a bit of a feminist slant, of course). As it's the 30th anniversary of the publication of...
Current female punk bands
by Natalie Dzerins // 17 January 2012, 20:49
My first post for this guestblog was on women in punk bands who'd influenced me when I was growing up. At the end, I lamented that when I was a teenager there were very few punk bands that were...
Online campaign to stop enforced sterilisation of TS/TG and gender variant people in Sweden
by Helen G // 17 January 2012, 19:25
Last week, the government of Sweden took the decision to retain a 1972 gender recognition law under which TS/TG and gender variant people who want to change their legal gender are required to be sterilised. According to Ulrika Westerlund, President...
Protest against BPAS clinic in east London continues
by Helen G // 17 January 2012, 15:39
Last autumn, BPAS opened a new clinic in Stratford, London, to provide a free walk-in service and was met almost immediately with protests by members of the Christian Peoples Alliance party, 40 days for Life and SPUC with some local...
Go Feminist: moving from the margins to the mainstream
by Guest Blogger // 17 January 2012, 11:39
This is a guest post by the organisers of the Go Feminist conference: Adunni Adams, Caroline Varin, Chitra Nagarajan, Giordy Bunting, Ilse Morgensen, Kate Rowley, Lola Okolosie, Mary Bonett, Sandhya Sharma, Shannon Harvey and Charmaine Elliott. On 4th February, the...
New review: Wild Flag shake their shimmy
by Holly Combe // 16 January 2012, 18:10
Readers of Carrie Brownstein's blogging at Monitor Mix will probably remember her talking about the Wild Flag project over at the npr music blog back in September: "After Sleater-Kinney broke up in 2006 I had very little desire to...
Weekly Round-Up and Open Thread, 16th January 2012
by Catherine Redfern // 16 January 2012, 09:00
A collection of the items we couldn't include during the last week.
Tell AIBA boxers don't need skirts
by Laura // 15 January 2012, 19:23
Next week the Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) will make its final decision on whether to force female boxers to wear skirts in the ring, in a bid to make them look more "elegant" and help us poor confused members...
New feature: Who are the outlaw mothers?
by Jess McCabe // 15 January 2012, 09:35
Jane Chelliah's list of the "characteristics of patriarchal motherhood" is provocative. What she's talking about are the expectations that our patriarchal culture holds mothers to. Those who don't adhere to these requirements, she says, are outlaw mothers: Children can be...
New feature: She gives me fever
by Jess McCabe // 13 January 2012, 20:52
Porn: one of the most controversial subjects of feminist debate. To be honest, many feminists I know are so bored of retreading the same arguments that they shy away from the topic altogether. Last month Lisa wrote for us from...
Your nose has no place in my bedroom (unless it's invited)
by Natalie Dzerins // 13 January 2012, 15:53
On Wednesday, Hugo Schwyzer wrote a piece at Jezebel titled "He wants to jizz on your face, but not why you think". For many reasons which I won't go into, this was a pretty awful piece (it's been taken...
Women on Britain's Railways, 1830-1914
by Helen G // 12 January 2012, 15:58
Due to popular demand, David Turner, PhD student with the Institute of Railway Studies and Transport History, York, will be re-running at short notice his talk on female workers on Britain's Railways, 1830-1914, looking at their status, lives and employment...
Ask A Feminist #1: My friends don't get it
by Laura // 11 January 2012, 19:40
In our first Ask A Feminist feature, a "spectacularly frustrated" feminist reader is looking for ways to convince her friends that feminism is still relevant... Dear Laura, I'm a feminist, secure and happy in that, but seemingly inarticulate when trying...
New review: Gaggle preview their debut album in Hackney
by Holly Combe // 11 January 2012, 18:35
All woman punk choir Gaggle are a diverse group who integrate openly feminist concepts into their performances. Their radical reworking of The Brilliant and the Dark at the Royal Albert Hall was sold out in September. Click here to read...
Spartacus Report reveals overwhelming opposition to disability benefit reform
by Laura // 10 January 2012, 15:40
A group of disability activists yesterday published the Responsible Reform report, or Spartacus Report. The report reveals that the government completely ignored disabled people in its rush to introduce cuts to disability benefits by replacing Disability Living Allowance (DLA) with...
The sweet and sour world of Annie Clark: St Vincent's 'Strange Mercy' (A new music review by Louise Allan)
by Cazz Blase // 9 January 2012, 23:49
Annie Clark began her career with the Polyphonic Spree, has released two albums of dark but sweet left-of-centre pop, and has been touring her new album Strange Mercy across sold out venues around Europe. Louise Allan reveals that Clark...
Weekly Round-Up and Open Thread, 9th January 2012
by Philippa Willitts // 9 January 2012, 08:58
A collection of the items we couldn't include during the last week.
Where do you draw the line?
by Natalie Dzerins // 8 January 2012, 10:37
I've spent a lot of time recently considering the various problems with things I like. I don't know if it's just me being a "humourless feminazi" (it's not), but I find it incredibly difficult to continue liking something after I've...
Can't you take a joke?
by katyha // 7 January 2012, 16:15
The thing about the phrase "Can't you take a joke?" is that it isn't usually anything to do with trying to make anyone laugh
New feature: Take back the tech
by Jess McCabe // 5 January 2012, 22:48
In Cairo and New Dehli, smart phone apps are being used to map sexual harassment and report sexual assault. Farah Jassat reports My friend was once walking down a street in Cairo when a stranger in a nearby bus stuck...
Diane Abbott racism non-story
by Laura // 5 January 2012, 14:26
MP Diane Abbott has been forced to apologise for a tweet she sent yesterday during a discussion with journalist Bim Adewunmi about the use of the terms "the black community" and "black community leaders" in the media. The offending...
Protesting Tory attacks on our sex education
by Philippa Willitts // 4 January 2012, 21:44
A guest post from Beth Granter about an upcoming demonstration against Nadine Dorries' abstinence sex education bill.
Ask A Feminist is back!
by Laura // 4 January 2012, 20:31
Found yourself in a bit of a pickle recently? Suffering from a chronic bout of indecisiveness? Moral dilemma looming? Well never fear, because Ask A Feminist is back! We ran the feature a few years ago, but somehow managed to...
Influential women of punk
by Natalie Dzerins // 4 January 2012, 15:04
It's a great pleasure to be given the chance to be a guest blogger here at the F-Word. In order to give you some idea of what I'm like, I thought that I'd make my first post here a...
What colour is nude?
by Guest Blogger // 3 January 2012, 21:32
Elin Weiss has a master's degree in women's studies. Hennie Weiss is currently working on her master's degree in sociology. Their interests include the sexualisation and representation of women in media, gender studies, feminism and equality In 1988, Peggy McIntosh...
Petition Apple to make a conflict-free phone
by Laura // 3 January 2012, 20:28
The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the most dangerous places in the world for women, and was referred to by Margot Wallström, the UN's special representative on sexual violence in conflict, as the "rape capital of the world"...
Two-tier? Too right
by Guest Blogger // 3 January 2012, 15:55
A guest post from Chrissy D looking at the arguably already two-tiered system of antenatal provision for mothers-to-be that currently exists in the UK
Happy & bleeding?
by Helen G // 3 January 2012, 10:00
A television commercial for Libra tampons has generated a storm of controversy across numerous social networking sites. The advert depicts two women in a nightclub restroom engaging in a non-verbal competition while putting on makeup, which ends when one woman...
Welcome to January's guest bloggers
by Lynne Miles // 2 January 2012, 23:45
Please give a warm welcome to January's guest bloggers, Natalie Dzerins and katyha. Natalie is a law graduate who's interests lie in ultra-left politics and punk music. She usually writes at Forty Shades of Grey and spends a lot...
Weekly round-up and open thread: December 26 - January 2
by Laura // 2 January 2012, 17:26
Happy New Year F-Worders! Here's our first round-up of 2012. As usual, a link here doesn't imply endorsement or agreement, and some links may be triggering. Let us know what you've been reading in comments. An overview of Everyday...
Music paste up: Things we forgot to write about last year: Ladies and gentlemen, Ms Barbara Panther...
by Cazz Blase // 1 January 2012, 20:08
Barbara Panther, who describes her music as "modern electronic baroque music" was born in Rwanda. Her family moved to Belgium when she was three, and she and her siblings were adopted into seperate Belgium families. She now lives in...
Founder of The F-Word, Catherine Redfern, has co-authored a new book with Kristin Aune. Find out more at the 
