Blog posts by Laura Woodhouse: 2007
Abortion Rights Public Meeting
By Laura Woodhouse | 23 December 2007, 10:33
Abortion Rights is holding a public meeting on January 16th 2008 entitled “Defend the Abortion Act - Campaigning for a Woman’s Right to Decide”. Details below. 7pm for a 7.30pm start, Committee room 10, House of Commons, nearest tube Westminster…
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Compensation payments for sex trafficking victims
By Laura Woodhouse | 16 December 2007, 21:36
The Guardian reports that four women have received £140,000 between them after suffering a ‘sustained period of abuse’ at the hands of sex traffickers and (I’d like to make clear) the UK males who exploited them. This is the first…
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Toys R Strictly Gender Specific
By Laura Woodhouse | 16 December 2007, 18:55
Anyone else sick of seeing the Toys R Us Christmas TV advert for a toy kitchen set featuring three girls playing at cooking ‘just like Mum’? A quick newsflash for the Toys R Us adpeople: this is 2007. Dads cook…
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'This is why we need feminism' round-up.
By Laura Woodhouse | 14 December 2007, 20:02
Shakesville’s Melissa McEwan emphatically sets out why victim blaming is not only offensive and dangerous, but entirely wrong-headed: That’s the thing about rapists, you see. They rape people. They rape people who are strong and people who are weak, people…
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"The advance of freedom in the Middle East has given new rights and new hopes to women…" George Bush.
By Laura Woodhouse | 14 December 2007, 15:53
Further to the report on women being killed for dressing in a ‘Western’ manner in Basra, yesterday’s Guardian featured a special report on the situation of women in Iraq since the invasion. Here are some of the highlights of…
Violence against women petition
By Laura Woodhouse | 13 December 2007, 21:11
As Julie Bindel pointed out at the end of last month: Most women in the UK do not have access to a rape crisis centre, and fewer than one in 10 local authorities provide for minority ethnic women escaping or…
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'Westernised' women being killed in Iraq
By Laura Woodhouse | 13 December 2007, 01:36
Another awful result of this disastrous war: Religious extremists have killed at least 40 women this year in Basra because of their “un-Islamic” dress, according to Iraqi police. The police said women were being apprehended by men patrolling on motorbikes…
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More on internal trafficking
By Laura Woodhouse | 12 December 2007, 12:10
Further to my post on internal sex trafficking, here’s a report from Amelia Cook, a member of Sheffield Fawcett Society, on a talk the group attended on Project Reflex. The project focuses on rescuing and caring for sex trafficking victims…
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More horribly offensive Christmas gifts…and Mens' Rights Activists
By Laura Woodhouse | 7 December 2007, 16:05
EDIT: Mankind Initiative contacted us to say that they now have a new chairman (as opposed to the one cited below) and the organisation has changed. Hot on the heals of the ‘rape-me-with-a-pen’ holder, allow me to introduce you…
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Bin The Bunny Trilogy!
By Laura Woodhouse | 7 December 2007, 12:31
Produced by the Bin The Bunny campaign….
The Women's Memorial
By Laura Woodhouse | 5 December 2007, 21:19
Debs at Feminist Fire has dedicated a page of her blog to women who have died as a result of unsafe, illegal abortion: The World Health Organisation estimates that 200 women a day die from unsafe abortions. If I knew…
Sex Slavery in the UK
By Laura Woodhouse | 5 December 2007, 18:53
I’m left feeling sick to my core after watching a BBC Look North report on sex slavery in the UK, specifically in the North (I’ll post up the link once it goes up on the BBC website). Police from the…
Coach to RTN07 from Brighton/Hove
By Laura Woodhouse | 22 November 2007, 11:44
Sussex Uni’s women’s group have organised a coach from the Brighton area to Reclaim The Night in London on Saturday. Tickets are just £3.50: contact rach.george[at]gmail.com if you’re interested (all women wlecome, there’s a mixture of students and non-students going…
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Don't forget to Reclaim the Night!
By Laura Woodhouse | 19 November 2007, 16:37
Sick of being asked if you’re ‘OK to walk home’ after dark, assuring concerned friend that you are, and spending the whole journey home rehearsing what you’d do if you were attacked while simultaneously telling yourself to stop being silly…
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Write to The Queen
By Laura Woodhouse | 17 November 2007, 13:35
This is disgusting: Last week King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was being treated to lavish receptions with the Queen and assorted British dignitaries. This week, one of his courts has punished a women with 200 lashes and six months in…
Eating for feminism!
By Laura Woodhouse | 17 November 2007, 13:18
Women from Sheffield Fawcett Soc gleefully disregard beauty industry dictate on night out….
Chuckle chuckle.
By Laura Woodhouse | 15 November 2007, 09:59
It always amuses me when a feminist challenges beauty norms and culture and receives the kind of response I got the other day: …for heaven’s sake get those dungarees off and comb your hair. A bit of lippy wouldn’t go…
Afterthoughts, and a quandary.
By Laura Woodhouse | 13 November 2007, 00:54
It occurs to me that I have fallen once again into the trap of misdirected anger. Trinny and Susannah are, after all, also a product of the society that pushes the anti-women values I outline below, and as such should…
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Trinny and Susannah: fuck right off.
By Laura Woodhouse | 12 November 2007, 23:38
I see that while I’ve been immersed in mind-twisting Argentinean literature, Jess has beaten me to the Trinny and Susannah interview in the Guardian. But no matter, we seem to have quite different views on the subject, and as…
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And while I'm on the subject…
By Laura Woodhouse | 6 November 2007, 16:51
If I want to binge drink (and bear in mind that I need only consume a measly 6 units according to the government in order to do so) I will bloody well binge drink, and if some bastard decides to…
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Dear Neighbours writers:
By Laura Woodhouse | 6 November 2007, 15:50
If, as I fear, you are indeed leading up to another ‘evil, conniving gold-digger cries rape for selfish personal gain to detriment of poor, upstanding, heart broken man’ type story line, I will reach out my infamously long limbs all…
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Merry-go-rounds and badge wearing coppers
By Laura Woodhouse | 2 November 2007, 11:19
The Sheffield branch of the Fawcett Society got down to some damn fine campaigning on Wednesday to raise awareness of the pay gap between men and women. Armed with home made placards, piles of leaflets and fistfulls of badges, we…
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The Truth Isn't Sexy Art Exhibition
By Laura Woodhouse | 31 October 2007, 10:06
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Abortion Article
By Laura Woodhouse | 29 October 2007, 08:39
Just thought I’d post up the link to the article Abby mentioned at the end of her last post. I wrote it for my university newspaper, but the Editor decided not to publish it. More details on the site, feel…
Is it OK for disabled people to go to brothels?, asks BBC
By Laura Woodhouse | 24 October 2007, 13:25
Is it OK for anyone to go to brothels?, I ask. The title of this BBC online magazine article neatly sidesteps what I see as the rather more pertinent question, framing the debate as one of discrimination against disabled people…
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Hating the Man
By Laura Woodhouse | 19 October 2007, 11:29
That delightful old chestnut, “all feminists hate men” came up in my French Feminism class yesterday. A guy was giving a presentation on the first chapter of Simone de Beauvoir’s Seconde Sexe II and said he felt that de Beauvoir…
Thoroughly depressing
By Laura Woodhouse | 8 October 2007, 12:19
An article in yesterday’s Observer magazine on the absence of male teachers in primary schools concludes with some incredibly disheartening remarks from a number of young boys on the roles of men and women: Thomas wants men to teach, but…
Sheffield Fems are back!
By Laura Woodhouse | 3 October 2007, 13:04
Sheffield Fems will be meeting every Tuesday from 7pm in the University Arms pub, Western Bank, for discussion, activism and feminist friendship. The group is women only - we wish to foster a supportive space in which we can discuss…
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Getting on my feminist high horse
By Laura Woodhouse | 1 October 2007, 17:43
According to Londonist, some arsehole sticking a camera on his shoes and filming up women’s skirts with the intention of putting the images on the ‘net is really damn funny. Oh, and British women wear shit underwear. Well this woman…
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Congratulations to the German World Cup Team!
By Laura Woodhouse | 1 October 2007, 17:00
Germany won the Women’s World Cup yesterday, beating Brazil 2-0 and managing to ellicit whoops of excitement from my footie loving boyfriend and, no, it had nothing to do with their legs. I know this year’s event has improved…
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Sexy, sexy war
By Laura Woodhouse | 25 September 2007, 11:32
According to American photographer Steven Meisel, the Iraq war, in which women have been raped and killed by soldiers, is the perfect setting for an oh-so-glamorous Vogue fashion shoot. Why? Because rape and violence against women are sexy of course!…
Hairy Anniversary
By Laura Woodhouse | 21 September 2007, 16:34
I just realised that it’s a year now since I stopped shaving my armpits; over 14 months since I last shaved my legs, and in my eyes that’s call for a celebration, even if it does make one of…
Doing my hair in the kitchen, stomping on Posh with my stilettos.
By Laura Woodhouse | 13 September 2007, 10:41
Tesco have it all figured out, ladies and gentlemen: men like music, playing guitar, DJing, watching films, buying cars and, of course, boobies, while women like fashion, gossip, hair and cooking. This invaluable information was imparted to me via my…
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Police actually take rape accusation seriously.
By Laura Woodhouse | 10 September 2007, 15:34
Shocked? With police officers assuming that around 23% of rape allegations are false, despite the figure being the same as for the majority of other crimes (3%), you’d be well within your right. Your shock will no doubt be banished,…
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Here we go again: women really do just want a sugar daddy.
By Laura Woodhouse | 6 September 2007, 11:21
An Indiana University research team have concluded that while women look for financial security and long term commitment in a potential partner, men are most likely to go for more attractive women. Yes, folks, based on a whopping sample size…
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Violence Against Women in the UK
By Laura Woodhouse | 2 July 2007, 03:01
V at reSISTERance posts an ever needed reminder of the extent of violence against women in the UK. Good fodder for antifeminists who claim feminism is now redundant, too. The list of stories taken from the BBC website is hard…
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Hostel II : Misogyny Sells
By Laura Woodhouse | 19 June 2007, 02:48
I was stopped in my tracks and turned into an expletive-spewing ball of anger earlier this week by the sight of this advert for the film Hostel II. Unpleasant to say the least. I don’t know whether the same image…
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I Did Not Ask For It UK
By Laura Woodhouse | 13 June 2007, 21:56
London Feminist Network have launched a great new campaign: Based on similar campaigns in India we are launching an “I DID NOT ASK FOR IT UK” campaign. We are asking women to send us garments they were wearing when they…
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Beth Ditto on street harrassment
By Laura Woodhouse | 9 June 2007, 00:18
Yet another reason to heart Beth Ditto: her advice column in The Guardian this week features a spot on feminist analysis of street harrassment and how to respond to those who tell us we should just put up with it:…
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What misogyny?
By Laura Woodhouse | 8 June 2007, 20:19
Apologies for blogging about something that’s a little out of date now in internet terms, but I was perusing the last week’s blog entries over at The Guardian and I really couldn’t let this perfect example of the male left…
Shock news : Miss Universe degrades women
By Laura Woodhouse | 29 May 2007, 18:11
Miss Sweden has been pulled from the Miss Universe contest by the Miss Sweden organisers, who believe the parent contest is degrading to women. Apparently the Swedish contest is all good, however, as it scrapped its swimsuit competition and allowed…
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Scarleteen Sex Book
By Laura Woodhouse | 24 May 2007, 17:21
This book, written by the founder of US sex education website Scarleteen, looks to me like a must-read-and-pass-on-to-the-kids for any feminists worried about the state of sexual relations between young people, and I’m happy to put my head on the…
Right to breastfeed in public could be enshrined in law
By Laura Woodhouse | 14 May 2007, 22:55
The Times reports that ministers committed to the Breastfeeding Manifesto are pushing for women’s right to breastfeed in public to be protected by law. Or rather, it reports that Women may get right to breastfeed in public, misleadingly implying that…
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Ever seen this on the London Tube?
By Laura Woodhouse | 14 May 2007, 16:33
Imagine my delight when I jumped on the Santiago metro last week to find the train lined with pro-equality advertisements! The adverts are part of a campaign by the Chilean government’s ‘National Service for Women’, SERNAM, to promote equality…
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Muslim woman attacked for covering up in pool
By Laura Woodhouse | 7 May 2007, 21:13
Back in March, director of the NGO Women for Women International, Manal Omar, was publicly humiliated by a male member of the Oxford fitness club she was swimming at after he took offence at her five piece swimsuit. The swimsuit…
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Train nurses to perform abortions, suggests leading medical blogger
By Laura Woodhouse | 2 May 2007, 01:02
As The F Word reported last month, women in the UK may be facing a future of limited access to abortion due to a shortage of doctors trained in this area. Medical blogger Dr Crippen argues that the answer to…
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Snoop Dogg denied opportunity to spread peace and love
By Laura Woodhouse | 27 March 2007, 09:13
Misogynistic rapper Snoop Dogg has been denied a visa to enter the UK on his European tour with Sean ‘Diddy’ Coombs, reports Yahoo! News. Snoop will be contesting the decision as the pair apparently “feel strongly that the uniting message…
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Wimbledon introduces equal prize money for women and men – finally
By Laura Woodhouse | 22 February 2007, 13:38
The BBC reports that women players in all rounds of this year’s competition at Wimbledon will receive the same prize money as men, bringing the tournament in line with the US and Australian Opens. And guess what? The misogynists, the…
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