Blog posts by Catherine Redfern: 2008
Muslimah Media Watch
By Catherine Redfern | 18 November 2008, 20:28
I recently discovered a fantastic blog that I think deserves more attention: Muslimah: Looking At Muslim Women in the Media and Culture Muslimah Media Watch is a forum where we, as Muslim women, can critique how our images appear in…
Ladyfest Manchester 2008 - Saturday Report
By Catherine Redfern | 10 November 2008, 22:25
I spent Saturday at Ladyfest Manchester, and although I couldn’t stay for the bands in the evening, I had a really great day. As usual for a Ladyfest Festival it was difficult to decide what to do as the…
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The Independent: “Pictures of semi-naked women…”
By Catherine Redfern | 9 October 2008, 22:07
A bit late on this one, but I read in Private Eye today (No.1220) that the new-ish Editor of the Indpendent, Roger Alton, previously Editor of the Observer, has said: Froth is fun. Pictures of semi-naked women basically make the…
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Reasons Why I Avoid Free Newspapers
By Catherine Redfern | 21 September 2008, 18:01
All examples from The Metro, Friday September 19th. Reason 1: Their misguided sense of priorities. Take this headline on page 9: Barman was deceived Oh no! Poor man. Why? (reads rest of headline:) Barman was deceived into sex with girl,…
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Teaching Feminist History - Some Good News
By Catherine Redfern | 21 September 2008, 17:06
A little while ago there was an interesting discussion on this blog about the best way of teaching feminist history to children. So I was excited and impressed to read about one such successful example, organised by Durham Record Office,…
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Daily irritations this week
By Catherine Redfern | 26 July 2008, 16:27
The following are the latest entries in the “little things that bug me on a daily basis on the London Underground” files: Item 1, the adverts for V Water. They all show a figure in profile drinking the water with…
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Not for Sale
By Catherine Redfern | 29 May 2008, 17:47
[Edited to link to a better version on the European Women’s Lobby site. Thanks Anji - Catherine] At Ladyfest London I watched a very powerful and moving anti-prostitution documentary called “Not For Sale”, by Marie Vermeiren. The film is available…
If you hate Sex and the City…
By Catherine Redfern | 15 May 2008, 16:45
…and you think it’s all about consumerism and shopping… then the lyrics of the film’s theme song “Labels or Love” by Fergie won’t do much to change your mind. May I present the full hideousness for your delectation: (lyrics copied…
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Live Blogging: The One Show’s take on SATC
By Catherine Redfern | 14 May 2008, 19:14
Grrr! BBC’s The One Show has just “celebrated” the new Sex and the City film by having a gob-smacking montage of sexist comments about women and men. First they interviewed seemingly all the sexists on the streets of London, who…
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Black / Women of Colour Bisexual Group
By Catherine Redfern | 11 May 2008, 10:21
At Ladyfest London’s Race and Activism workshop, I met Jacqueline Applebee, a writer who is looking to set up a group for black / women of colour bisexual women and their friends/allies. If you’re interested, email her at contact@writing-in-shadows.co.uk….
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Gladiators is coming back…!
By Catherine Redfern | 12 April 2008, 17:39
Gladiators is coming back to Sky One. You see images of the gladiators here. “Compare the descriptions of the women, with those of the men!” said Andrew, who emailed this to me. Yes, let’s! Men SPARTAN - Roderick Bradley, 24,…
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NHS Services - Aimed at Women?
By Catherine Redfern | 12 April 2008, 17:14
I had this leaflet through my door - it’s a colour leaflet setting out the local health services in my Borough. The front cover shows some people walking down the street - presumably the type of people the leaflet…
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Violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo
By Catherine Redfern | 12 April 2008, 16:45
If you missed it on Radio 4’s Today programme on April 10th, you should listen to this very moving and upsetting interview with Zawadi Mongane, a woman from the Democratic Republic of Congo who suffered appalling violence by the Interahamwe…
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Doctor Who and Catherine Tate
By Catherine Redfern | 2 April 2008, 23:02
So Doctor Who starts again on Saturday, yippee! And the Doctor’s new companion will be Catherine Tate. Now, like many other people when I first heard the news Tate would be in this series I have to admit I really…
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Hair-larious
By Catherine Redfern | 23 March 2008, 17:16
The scene: me in a pub, with three male friends, T, S and A. S: How’s J? T: Fine. She texted me the other day, said she was just about to get a haircut for £50. S & A:…
Feminist Must Reads
By Catherine Redfern | 9 February 2008, 16:55
In 2002 we asked readers of The F-Word to send us their lists of feminist “Must Reads”. The most recommended book? Germaine Greer’s The Whole Woman. I’ve now added a page on The F Word Shop which highlights these…
Tampax’s Advice on Boys
By Catherine Redfern | 3 February 2008, 15:19
Whilst doing some reasearch I stumbled across Tampax’s “educational” site for teenage girls, www.beinggirl.co.uk. The site is filled with relentlessly upbeat articles on dating, boys, makeup and periods. One of their advice sections is entitled: Everybody’s crazy about boys…
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A Big Thank You to F Word Readers
By Catherine Redfern | 2 February 2008, 14:32
Hello all you lovely people. This is a quick message to say thank you to those of you who have been buying your Amazon purchases through the F Word Shop. Since we launched in December, you’ve ordered about 120…
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Trail Magazine - Have a Gold Star!
By Catherine Redfern | 2 February 2008, 13:18
I love Trail Magazine. For a mag all about hiking and clambering up big mountains in the cold and snow (well at this time of the year anyway), it’d be easy for it to slip back into a Wainwright-y…
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Ipswich Murders: "No Great Loss" says Littlejohn
By Catherine Redfern | 19 January 2008, 16:15
I didn’t think it was possible that the Daily Mail’s Richard Littlejohn could become more hateful than he already is, but apparently he can. Writing about the five murdered women who worked as prostitutes, he says: It might not be…

