20 August 2008

Naughty little pills

According to collaborative research carried out by the University of Liverpool and the University of Newcastle, the contraceptive pill can have a detrimental affect on a woman’s choice of a prospective partner. Scientists asked a sample of women to smell… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 20 August 2008 | Comments (13)

19 August 2008

Open the gate, and let the “uglies” come flooding in…

If you’re ugly, you’re obviously desperate. And if you’re a woman it’s likely you could be categorised as ugly at any moment, regardless of what you’re critic looks like himself, or if he even knows you, because you are public… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 19 August 2008 | Comments (4)

Men who want to get you pregnant

If a woman doesn’t hatch a sprog by the time she reaches 35 her ovaries begin to vibrate. What, didn’t you know? They start purring like a pair of pagers belonging to doctors working on call on the very same… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 19 August 2008 | Comments (46)

11 August 2008

Women in London: Questionnaire

I originally posted on this subject a few weeks ago, and firstly I would like to once again thank all the women who responded and completed the questionnaire for me. I am very very grateful! I met with the team… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 11 August 2008

Virtual Loving

No, I’m neither talking about filthy cyber sex sessions, nor the development of an unnatural attachment to a joystick, but rather a new software package that promises you an Instant Internet Boyfriend on your Computer! Yes, who’d have thought it,… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 11 August 2008 | Comments (8)

2 August 2008

Totally unbelievable!

Calum Best, son of footballer George Best and alleged serial shagger, has completed a TV series for MTV called Totally Calum Best in which he has pledged to abstain from sex for fifty days. The show first aired on 27th… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 2 August 2008 | Comments (7)

Slating the singles. Again…

Firstly, I realise the irony in this statement, but whenever a female journalist/columnist has a deadline to meet it seems lack of originality and laziness forces them to take recourse to the same old tired topics that have been chewed… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 2 August 2008 | Comments (17)

31 July 2008

Happy National Orgasm Day! How should we celebrate?

There’ll be those of you who think the allocation of just one official day a year to celebrate the almighty O is not enough, and I’m inclined to agree. However, the delineation of 24-hours to commemorate the exquisite delight of… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 31 July 2008 | Comments (31)

29 July 2008

Fat Friends

I’ve had a piece on The Guardian’s Cif published today about scientific claims that having a fat friend is likley to promote weight gain. I’ve not had an opportunity to look at the comments yet, but thought I’d flag it… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 29 July 2008

27 July 2008

Women in London: questionnaire

I am involved in a project about women’s sex lives in London, and we are currently asking women if they could complete quite a candid questionnaire about their intimate schenanigans. It consists of twenty short questions and you can maintain… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 27 July 2008

26 July 2008

Fat and content in Never-Never Land?

When I was a chubby little girl my chubby little hands liked to do nothing more than flick through the pages of my favourite book, The Hefty Fairy by Nicholas Allan. The title is pretty self-explanatory and as I have… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 26 July 2008 | Comments (6)

21 July 2008

Whose taboo?

Casual sex, as I understand it, is the act of indulging in coitus with someone you have no intention of having an exclusive, committed relationship with. It is a term used to define the mutual use of one person by… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 21 July 2008 | Comments (29)

20 July 2008

Handbag babies for the geriatric

[Editor: please see here for more information on this post] When the late, great Hunter S Thompson said that “reality is more twisted than fiction” he could not have been more accurate. Imagine a world in which dandruff flakes could… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 20 July 2008 | Comments (24)

“So, fuck that or what?”

Last week I was walking home, across the railway bridge and down the little one-way street that leads me back to chez Abby. It’s a very quiet street, but during the daytime it is safe. On this day three men… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 20 July 2008 | Comments (30)

16 July 2008

To make-up or not to make-up?

The recent media attention paid to Gwyneth Paltrow for attending a red carpet event au naturel centralises the social pressures placed on women to adhere to the rules of self-perfection. The story was shat across the pages of the vast… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 16 July 2008 | Comments (28)

26 June 2008

Ask a feminist

Here’s the latest in our ‘Ask a feminist’ series. If you would like to submit a question for us to get our teeth in to please don’t hesitate to do so here. The responses are made at the personal discretion… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 26 June 2008 | Comments (5)

20 June 2008

Do you love a bad boy?

All you heterosexual ladies out there, what do you think about this? You’re in a pub. Two men are sat at the bar. One is reading a newspaper, smiles gratefully (without making eye contact) at the barmaid who passes him… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 20 June 2008 | Comments (39)

15 June 2008

Child-only salon booming, but what’s the real cost?

When I was a little girl I used to sit at the table staring eyes-wide at my mother carefully apply lipstick, eye shadow and blusher. I loved to watch the mixing of the colours, the anticipation of a hand-slip as… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 15 June 2008 | Comments (19)

Stop shopping, you airhead! What will “the men” say?

Sorry, stop right there. Oi! I said STOP! Do you like shopping? Do you ever think about something you’ve seen, liked and want to buy? Do you ever, even if occasionally, look at clothes online, or browse catalogues even though… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 15 June 2008 | Comments (16)

14 June 2008

Ageing not allowed, says Heat

Heat magazine can be downright irritating, but for some reason I still read it (if only to grissle about it afterwards). I do, of course, take the majority of the articles with a pinch of proverbial salt, otherwise I’d be… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 14 June 2008 | Comments (9)

Reality more terrifying than fiction

A 47-year-old woman was last night rescued by police from the tiny dungeon that has been her home for the last 18 years. Police raided a family home at Santa Maria Capua Vetere, a small town just outside of Naples… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 14 June 2008 | Comments (19)

9 June 2008

Too fat to work

Fat is synonymous with lazy. While we all want to live in an egalitarian world where body shape, size and appearance does not matter, unfortunately if you’re considered nothing more than a pie-face who’s been beaten by the ugly stick… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 9 June 2008 | Comments (24)

7 June 2008

Furry bits

Why does hair growth continue to be integral to body image and self-perfection? This is a recurring theme in feminist circles, and is an issue I began thinking about again this week when the Daily Mail published close-ups of Geri… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 7 June 2008 | Comments (75)

Loose Women, lost perspective…

ITV’s daytime crap-cake of a talk-show, Loose Women, was yesterday subject to the acerbic criticism of Bridget Orr over at the Guardian. Dawn Kofie, F Word contributor, wrote an excellent analysis here of the show last year, and so with… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 7 June 2008 | Comments (11)

6 June 2008

Another dig at single women

The single woman is still a source of confusion for many people who have to try and dissect the life choices that would encourage one to actively remain without a partner. If you’re a single woman, no doubt you will… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 6 June 2008 | Comments (20)

5 June 2008

Another pint, please! Err…maybe not?

Before reading this you may want to look at the excellent post by Helen here. Now and again I like to unwind with a good drink. If I’m feeling sophisticated I’ll opt for a white wine, and if I’m feeling… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 5 June 2008 | Comments (11)

How old is too old?

When a woman announces she’s pregnant she instantly becomes public property. Soon as the sperm touches down, cracks open the egg and starts doing something about which I can offer little technical language, then a woman is expected to don… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 5 June 2008 | Comments (25)

2 June 2008

Whose business is it anyway?

Poor Fern Britton! Today, sat at home undergoing the laborious process of applying for job after job in the hope that someone may see fit to employ me, I had to witness Fern Britton opening the This Morning programme with… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 2 June 2008 | Comments (4)

6 March 2008

The breast or not the breast?

Nourishing one’s own child should be hailed as the most natural thing in the world, and yet breast-feeding is still considered something of a taboo for new and expectant mothers. While it is the woman who is affected physically and… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 6 March 2008 | Comments (14)

29 February 2008

Propose another day?

For those of you who daily keep abreast of the date (unlike me!) you will have noticed that today is February 29th. Yes, it comes but once every four years, the magical extra day added to the calendar’s shortest month,… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 29 February 2008 | Comments (12)

14 February 2008

A vasectomy at the touch of a button

I’ve had a piece published on The Guardian’s Cif page today discussing contraception, and how it can medicalise the male and female body, and make sex a clinical process. I wrote the article having read a report that scientists at… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 14 February 2008 | Comments (3)

10 February 2008

Stretch marks: the true story

A friend of mine was recently upset about her “ugly” stretch marks. Apparently puberty had “slashed” a number of silvery-white lines across her thighs and hips, which meant that not only was she ruined forever but also that she’d have… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 10 February 2008 | Comments (54)

9 February 2008

Journalistic integrity, anyone?

As someone pursuing a career as a journalist I’ve been the recipient of some pretty hefty criticism. “Do you know,” remarked one man, “that journalism is the least respected profession along with politics? When I worked in the pharmaceutical industry… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 9 February 2008

17 January 2008

Feminist Fightback picket of the Christian Medical Fellowship

I was forwarded this information today… The Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF) is lobbying the Government hard over the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill currently being discussed in Parliament, in favour of reducing the time limit on abortions. The CMF was… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 17 January 2008

14 January 2008

Feminism is not man-hating!

Feminism gets a bad press. As I, and most feminists I have met, understand it’s an ideology that promotes the achievement of gender equality. It is not about ‘man-hating,’ nor is is about elevating women as the superior sex. However,… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 14 January 2008

13 January 2008

The Booby Wall

Canadian-based chartiy Rethink Breast Cancer has initiated a new campaign to encourage women to pay attention to their chests - the Booby Wall! Women are encouraged to take photographs of their breasts either using Booby Booths, based in Canada,… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 13 January 2008

11 January 2008

Sexual Harassment on CiF

A lot of you will probably be familiar with a post I wrote a while back about being followed on the tube. A lot of you kindly shared your experiences with me, and it became clear that street harassment is… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 11 January 2008

4 January 2008

My Fake Baby

My Fake Baby was the title of a documentary aired on Channel 4 this week, which explored the growing popularity of replica babies or “reborns.” These are dolls designed to look like living babies. They can wriggle. They can… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 4 January 2008

3 January 2008

Rejection lines given by women

There’s a post over at dyoks by Joel Badinas listing the top ten rejections given by women. So, here they are in descending order: 10. I think of you as a brother. (You remind me of that inbred banjo-playing… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 3 January 2008

1 January 2008

don't look don't touch

I wrote a post a few weeks ago about my experience on the London underground, when I was followed and stared at by a man. Firstly, I would like to thank all the women who so kindly shared their experiences… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 1 January 2008

Inside the mind

The image below was posted over at denchaoot, and claims to illustrate the intricate differences between male and female thought processes: What bothers me most here is not that John and Jane are both dressed for a funeral, nor the… Read more...

Posted by Abby O'Reilly at 1 January 2008