Blog posts by Laura Woodhouse: 2009
Forced marriage and ‘honour’ based abuse helpline faces closure.
By Laura Woodhouse | 4 November 2009, 21:13
The Karma Nirvana Honour Network Helpline provides help and support to victims and survivors of forced marriage and ‘honour’ based violence and abuse. It has received over 6,700 calls since it was launched in April 2008, but despite being praised…
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Reclaim the Night Leeds
By Laura Woodhouse | 4 November 2009, 20:48
Reclaim the Night Leeds is taking place on Saturday 28th November. Meet outside Leeds Art Gallery at 6pm for a 6.30pm start. The main march is open to all self-defining women and other supporters are welcome to join the end…
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Introducing our new guest blogger!
By Laura Woodhouse | 1 November 2009, 08:00
A big welcome to Philippa Willitts, who has kindly agreed to guest blog for The F Word throughout November. Philippa has been blogging under the name of incurable hippie since 2004. She particularly addresses feminism, disability, lesbian identity and mental…
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Survey: Women, Rape and the Law
By Laura Woodhouse | 27 October 2009, 16:11
The Campaign to End Rape coalition is conducting a survey on women’s attitudes to and experiences of rape and the law: This questionnaire aims to collect some fresh information about what women think and know about rape. It is aimed…
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Mass Lobby of Parliament to End Violence Against Women
By Laura Woodhouse | 27 October 2009, 13:10
Amnesty International have organised a mass labby of parliament on Wednesday November 4th to push for a comprehensive end violence against women strategy: The UK Government is obliged to protect, respect and fulfil women’s human rights. As the 2010 general…
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World Wide Women Conference
By Laura Woodhouse | 27 October 2009, 10:26
On Saturday, I attended the World Wide Women conference in Sheffield, organised by Sheffield Fems and the Sheffield branch of WILPF (the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom). The day’s aim was to highlight some of the challenges facing…
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Hollaback UK
By Laura Woodhouse | 21 October 2009, 09:41
We’re still getting regular comments on the street harassment post I wrote last year, so I was delighted to hear that a Hollaback UK site has just been started by Laura C: Inspired by HollaBack NYC, and a recent…
Working fathers want to spend more time with children.
By Laura Woodhouse | 20 October 2009, 16:12
A new report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has found that working fathers feel similarly anxious about balancing their work and family life to working mothers, but are afraid of asking for more flexible hours: The report…
Read 'Working fathers want to spend more time with children.'
JSA Rant
By Laura Woodhouse | 20 October 2009, 13:41
I’ve just got off the phone with a woman from the Dept of Work and Pensions regarding my Job Seekers’ Allowance (JSA) application. I phoned up four weeks ago and filled out all the details on the phone. I said…
Pink stinks!
By Laura Woodhouse | 19 October 2009, 16:04
Having visited Hamley’s for the first time this weekend and been confronted with separate, colour-coded floors for “boys’” and “girls’” toys - apparently boys don’t like arts and crafts or dressing up and nine-year-old girls need French manicures to look…
Lap dancing reform.
By Laura Woodhouse | 19 October 2009, 11:25
Anti-objectification group, Object, have been campaigning for a change to the licensing laws surrounding strip clubs and lap dancing since April 2008. There has been a huge increase in the number of strip clubs in the UK since the introduction…
Vote for brilliant Haven Sexual Assault Referral Centre employee!
By Laura Woodhouse | 16 October 2009, 10:29
Harpreet Sihota, Asian Development Worker for the Whitechapel Sexual Assault Referral Centre, is one of five finalists in the Daily Mirror’s People’s Award, in recognition of her exceptional work with women who have been raped or sexually assaulted: The People’s…
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It’s only 10.20 and already my brain hurts…
By Laura Woodhouse | 15 October 2009, 10:22
Check out this ridiculous quote from an article in today’s Guardian on financial firms’ use of brothels and lap dancing clubs: Nichola Pease, who runs the fund manager JO Hambro, told the committee that equality legislation in Britain was preventing…
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New blog by feminists with disabilities.
By Laura Woodhouse | 14 October 2009, 11:21
FWD/Forward (feminists with disabilities for a way forward) is a group blog written by a crew of (mostly US and Australian) feminists with disabilities who are interested in exploring the intersection between feminism and disability rights activism. Launched on October…
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Fashion world round-up.
By Laura Woodhouse | 14 October 2009, 10:37
The October issue of French Vogue, billed as a ‘Top Models Special’ features a blacked-up a white model in “ethnic” clothing and no black models: “It’s horrible, there’s nothing else to describe it,” says Nana A Tamakloe, founder of Confidence…
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Calls to legalise prostitution during football World Cup in South Africa.
By Laura Woodhouse | 12 October 2009, 11:30
The Observer reports that prostitution may be made temporarily legal in South Africa during the football World Cup in 2010 in order to try and “limit HIV infection among millions of fans visiting the country for the tournament”. Nice to…
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Marina Hyde on “Strictly Come Dancing” racism.
By Laura Woodhouse | 10 October 2009, 15:43
Just wanted to quickly highlight this excellent Comment is Free piece by Marina Hyde on the racism row that has erupted surrounding the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing. One of the dancers, Anton Du Beke, told his partner she looked like…
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Swedish schoolchildren challenge Toys R Us gender stereotyping.
By Laura Woodhouse | 9 October 2009, 12:44
I’m sure we’ve discussed the horrible gender stereotyping in Toys R Us stores in the past on The F Word, and I was actually in there at the weekend, trying to contain my rage as I walked past pink ‘Girlz’…
Read 'Swedish schoolchildren challenge Toys R Us gender stereotyping.'
Feminism in London workshop.
By Laura Woodhouse | 9 October 2009, 10:19
I’m posting this on behalf of all the members of The F Word blog collective. UPDATE: The Feminism in London organisers have now contacted us to clarify that the workshop is open to trans women, contrary to what we were…
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Petition calling for fair treatment of sexual assault victims in India.
By Laura Woodhouse | 6 October 2009, 09:23
British student Kaya Eldridge, who was unfairly cross-examined on her character and lifestyle in an Indian court room during the trial of a man who sexually assaulted her, contacted us to ask that we support her petition to ensure Indian…
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The “things I’ve been meaning to blog but job applications got in the way” round-up.
By Laura Woodhouse | 1 October 2009, 10:09
Firstly we have this widely reported study, which concluded that children with working mothers have less healthy lifestyles than those with stay-at-home mothers. Yes, researchers actually designed a study seemingly* based on the infuriating and discriminatory idea that only working…
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BNP interview on BBC Radio1’s Newsbeat website
By Laura Woodhouse | 30 September 2009, 13:38
BBC Radio1’s Newsbeat website, aimed at young people and renowned for being a little dumbed down to say the least, has today run a pathetically uncritical interview with two young BNP members. The party is described as ‘controversial’ - not…
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Roman Polanski
By Laura Woodhouse | 29 September 2009, 16:59
There’s been some discussion going on here about the Roman Polanski case, so I thought I’d do a fresh post on the subject. For those who haven’t been following the news, film director Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland, where…
New sexism column in times2.
By Laura Woodhouse | 28 September 2009, 15:37
I was pleasantly surprised to be sent a link to a new feature in The Times times2 supplement, encouraging readers to send in examples of everyday sexism. This is the kind of thing people who think feminism is now irrelevant…
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Prescott bemoans Harman’s focus on women’s rights.
By Laura Woodhouse | 28 September 2009, 15:07
John Prescott complained in yesterday’s Independent that his replacement as deputy leader of the Labour Party, Harriet Harman, has spent too much time focusing on gender equality issues: “I suppose, if I was being honest about it, I think too…
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The Heart of the Race: Black feminism in Britain.
By Laura Woodhouse | 28 September 2009, 11:09
The Heart of the Race event will take place at The Women’s Library, London on Saturday 14 November, 10am - 5pm: The Black Cultural Archives recent oral history project to collect testimonies of the women involved in OWAAD (Organisation of…
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No Borders London call for action in solidarity with migrants in Calais.
By Laura Woodhouse | 24 September 2009, 16:25
If, like me, you were appalled by the French authorities’ treatment of asylum seekers in Calais and by the UK government’s refusal to take responsibility for our actions in Afghanistan by offering them asylum, you might like to join this…
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Dr Kealey and THE Ed respond (you ain’t gonna like it)
By Laura Woodhouse | 24 September 2009, 10:26
UPDATE: The NUS are asking that we write to the Chair of Buckingham’s Governing Council demanding Kealey’s full and comprehensive apology - Mark your email ‘FAO Chair of Governing Council’ and send to qualityassurance[at]buckingham.ac.uk. You can also send your views…
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Lib Dems adopt women-friendly policies.
By Laura Woodhouse | 24 September 2009, 00:46
The Lib Dems have voted in support of MP Jo Swinson’s ‘Real Women’ manifesto, which Melanie Newman guest blogged here, meaning her policies will be officially adopted by the party. They include: * Providing twenty hours of free, good quality…
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University of Buckingham vice-chancellor encourages male academics to perve on female students.
By Laura Woodhouse | 23 September 2009, 10:58
I am absolutely stunned by what I’ve just read. In a Times Higher Education magazine piece entitled The seven deadly sins of the academy, the vice-chancellor of the University of Buckingham, Terence Kealey, takes on the supposed tradition of female…
The Deal with Disability
By Laura Woodhouse | 22 September 2009, 16:12
The Deal with Disability is a new blog written by Eva, a 26-year-old feminist with Cerebral Palsy. The blog documents her everyday encounters with people who treat her “bizarrely” and insensitively when they see she is disabled. Instead of simply…
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Police forces fail to record rape claims.
By Laura Woodhouse | 21 September 2009, 18:16
The BBC reports that police forces are failing to record up to 40% of rape claims, with vast differences in recording across the country. When a victim reports their rape to the police, this should be recorded whether or not…
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NUS Women’s Officer protests sexist student marketing.
By Laura Woodhouse | 18 September 2009, 10:18
The National Union of Students’ Women’s Officer, Olivia Bailey, has written an open letter to BAM student marketing, who are promoting the Miss University GB beauty pageants and pushing for the distribution of lads’ mag FHM at freshers’ fairs: We…
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Female prison officer wins sex discrimination case
By Laura Woodhouse | 16 September 2009, 12:37
Amit Kajla, a 22-year-old former prison officer, has won her case for unfair dismissal from HM’s Prison Service on the grounds of age and sex discrimination. She was forced to quit her job following bullying from other staff, who accused…
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Questioning the boundaries of love and lust.
By Laura Woodhouse | 15 September 2009, 16:29
“I believe in trying to break down power hierarchies in society, and that means breaking them down in my personal life as well,” he says. “If I wish to try to allow others to be free, why would I want…
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World Wide Women, Sheffield
By Laura Woodhouse | 15 September 2009, 14:22
The World Wide Women conference is taking place in Sheffield on Saturday 24th October. It seeks to “place the position of women in relation to economic inequality, injustice, disease, violence and poverty under the microscope of feminism”. Speakers include: On…
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Save Behind Closed Doors
By Laura Woodhouse | 15 September 2009, 10:07
Behind Closed Doors, a Leeds-based service for women who are experiencing or have experienced domestic violence is facing closure due to lack of funding. Laura Conrad posted this call for support on our facebook group: Unfortunately despite the team’s very…
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Carnival of Feminist Parenting
By Laura Woodhouse | 14 September 2009, 17:19
The Fourth Carnival of Feminist Parenting is now up at Mothers For Women’s Lib and it’s jam-packed with interesting reads on topics ranging from mental health and maternity to policing children’s gender. Anji has worked really hard to put this…
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The F-Word bloggers’ position on transphobia and cissexism.
By Laura Woodhouse | 13 September 2009, 20:03
As a collective, The F Word blogging team have decided to put together a statement clarifying this blog’s position on transphobia and related discrimination against trans people. Trans women in particular have historically been, and continue to be, marginalised and…
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England in Euro Final 2009
By Laura Woodhouse | 10 September 2009, 11:56
The women’s England football team are playing Germany in the Euro 2009 final today, and you can watch the match live at 16.45 on BBC2. The Guardian has an interesting piece on the history of women’s football in England, from…
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War Zone
By Laura Woodhouse | 8 September 2009, 14:55
I just came across this great documentary on Feministing, in which a woman films and confronts the men and boys who harass her on the street: (For a better quality version of the trailer, click on the link to the…
Lubna Hussein found guilty of indecency.
By Laura Woodhouse | 8 September 2009, 09:43
Lubna Hussein has been found guilty of indecency for wearing trousers in public. She was spared a flogging - an achievement in itself - but ordered to pay a fine of 500 Sudanese pounds. Supporters outside court - mostly women,…
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Filament magazine flies the flag for the female gaze
By Laura Woodhouse | 4 September 2009, 12:24
I’m delighted to announce that the makers of Filament magazine successfully sold sufficient numbers of their first issue to change printers and become the first UK women’s magazine to feature an image of a naked man in all his erect…
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Oxfam campaign to save mothers and babies worldwide
By Laura Woodhouse | 2 September 2009, 17:00
One woman dies needlessly in childbirth or pregnancy every single minute worldwide due to a lack of basic healthcare facilities; Oxfam are urging supporters to help change this by asking Gordon Brown to push for free public healthcare for mothers…
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Bristol Tories brand lottery grant to youth LGB group “outrageous”
By Laura Woodhouse | 26 August 2009, 16:24
Call me naive, but I would’ve thought that most people would be hard pressed to find fault in the National Lottery’s decision to award almost £400,000 of funding to EACH, an award-winning charity dedicated to combatting homophobic bullying. Apparently not:…
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Appalling racism on display at BNP festival
By Laura Woodhouse | 24 August 2009, 14:20
We all know the BNP are racist, but should you ever need to try and prove this to someone else, you could start by pointing them in the direction of this News of the World (!) article on their “family”…
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Greer shows her transphobic colours
By Laura Woodhouse | 21 August 2009, 08:58
Germaine Greer has written a frankly rather incoherent piece for The Guardian on the Semenya story, which seems to me little more than an excuse for a bit of trans women bashing. She uses the case to ask ‘What makes…
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Women’s 800m gold medallist to undergo sex test
By Laura Woodhouse | 20 August 2009, 17:51
Caster Semenya, a South African athlete who won gold in the 800m at the Athletics World Championships last night, has been asked to undergo a sex test following her sudden emergence on the international scene after winning the South African…
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Bristol charities and RTN organisers celebrate success supporting victims of sexual violence
By Laura Woodhouse | 20 August 2009, 12:48
There will be a celebration at the One25 centre in Bristol tonight to mark the opening of Bristol Rape Crisis, the sixth month anniversary of the opening of sexual assault referral centre The Bridge, and the success of local charity…
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Littlejohn adds trans people to his list of targets.
By Laura Woodhouse | 14 August 2009, 12:20
Daily Fail columnist Richard Littlejohn - the same hateful prick who claimed that the deaths of the murdered Ipswich sex workers were “no great loss” - has sunk to despicable new depths today with his pathetic, transphobic rant against the…
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Author wins fight over “whitewashed” book cover.
By Laura Woodhouse | 12 August 2009, 10:06
A bit of good news for once! Australian author Justine Larbalestier was appalled when advance copies of her children’s book about a short-haired black girl, Liar, featured a long-haired white girl on the cover. But following an internet campaign, and…
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Tory MEP says homophobia “does not exist”
By Laura Woodhouse | 10 August 2009, 15:45
Further to Ella’s post, more evidence of backwardness from the Tories, via Pink News: Roger Helmer, Conservative MEP for the East Midlands, wrote on his blog: “‘Homophobia’ is merely a propaganda device designed to denigrate and stigmatise those holding conventional…
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*frantically waving the feminist flag, jumping up and down, blowing a whistle, tearing my hair out…*
By Laura Woodhouse | 10 August 2009, 13:03
Looks like last week was national ignore a feminist week. As if The Times’ article bemoaning the supposed lack of young feminists wasn’t enough, we now get this article from The Independent on Sunday, in which Susie Mesure claims that…
Have you had an abortion?
By Laura Woodhouse | 10 August 2009, 12:25
Kat Banyard is looking to interview women who have had an abortion as part of her research for a book on feminism called ‘The Equality Illusion’ which will be published next year by Faber & Faber: If you have had…
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Petition to Support Sudanese Women’s Human Rights
By Laura Woodhouse | 9 August 2009, 17:07
Thanks to reader earwicga for highlighting this petition, which calls on the Sudanese Parliament and Ministry of Justice to remove the article 152, under which Lubna Hussein and her party were arrested for wearing trousers in public, from Sudan’s criminal…
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Lecturer faces sack for recommending Del LaGrace Volcano’s transgender photography.
By Laura Woodhouse | 7 August 2009, 09:18
Simon Burgess, a lecturer at East Surrey College, has been threatened with serious disciplinary action and redundancy for recommending the work of artist Del LaGrace Volcano to a student who was doing a project on gender and sexuality. The artist’s…
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Manparts deemed too offensive by Filament printers.
By Laura Woodhouse | 5 August 2009, 14:07
The awesome new women’s magazine Filament, which I reviewed here, is having problems getting its latest edition printed because it features erect cocks: Explicit images of women are available at any newsagent, but Filament, the world’s only magazine featuring male…
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Feminism’s right here!
By Laura Woodhouse | 5 August 2009, 12:20
I just came across this article, When feminism went nuts, bemoaning the lack of feminism in 2009. The author, Janice Turner, identifies the issues many young feminists are worried about - body image, the influence of pornography and the spread…
Lubna Hussein takes on Sudanese trouser law.
By Laura Woodhouse | 4 August 2009, 15:18
Lubna Hussein, a Sudanese journalist and former UN worker, is facing forty lashes for the crime of “indecent dressing”, or wearing trousers. Her trial was adjourned today in order that the judge could clarify whether her relationship with the UN…
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WWC Gender Pay Gap Review Falls Short.
By Laura Woodhouse | 30 July 2009, 09:37
The Women and Work Commission has published a review (pdf) of the Government’s 2006 action plan (pdf) on closing the gender pay gap and improving opportunities for women in the workplace. It notes that the overall gender pay gap (including…
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Clarkson and the Top Gear boys strike again.
By Laura Woodhouse | 27 July 2009, 11:24
I’ve just sent off an extremely irritated complaint to the BBC about Top Gear. I love driving and usually enjoy the show - I do think the team are fun to watch and Clarkson does generally keep his right-wing dickishness…
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Why rape jokes aren’t harmless fun.
By Laura Woodhouse | 22 July 2009, 15:13
Reader KJB linked to this truly brilliant post in the on-going comments thread under Ellie Levenson’s guest post. In it, Harriet Jacobs thoroughly elucidates just why telling rape jokes is not funny and why so many people, men especially, cannot…
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Curriculum Reform Consultation
By Laura Woodhouse | 22 July 2009, 09:44
Womankind Worldwide is encouraging people to respond to the government’s curriculum reform consultation on Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE). A recent review recommends that this be made a compulsory part of the curriculum, while indicating that parents would…
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Rape Crisis Protest
By Laura Woodhouse | 16 July 2009, 10:00
There will be a rally outside London’s City Hall on Monday 20th July, 12.30 - 14.30, to protest Boris Johnson’s cuts to Rape Crisis Centre funding. The organisers are demanding: The immediate establishment of a cross-government, ring-fenced Rape Crisis fund…
Women, confidence and fear of male judgement
By Laura Woodhouse | 15 July 2009, 18:18
Since I was a teenager I’ve had serious issues with being shown up in front of others. As a consistently top-of-the-class student I’ve always found it hard to deal with not being good at things (ah, woe is me, I…
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fbomb: new US blog for teen feminists
By Laura Woodhouse | 15 July 2009, 17:24
fbomb is a blog written by and for teen feminists. It’s based in the US, though not all the writers are American, and was set up by self-proclaimed ‘proud teen feminist’ Julie Zeilinger: The FBomb.org is a blog/community created for…
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Internship Opportunities at Refuge
By Laura Woodhouse | 2 July 2009, 15:42
Refuge is the country’s largest single provider of emergency accommodation and support to women and children escaping domestic violence. They’re currently recruiting interns, and we thought some readers might be interested: Internship opportunities Refuge is looking for capable and enthusiastic…
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Excuse me while I have a little rant…
By Laura Woodhouse | 30 June 2009, 11:14
I’m one of those girls who’s always got on better with guys as a general rule, and I’ve had serious relationships with guys since I was 15. So there are a lot of men in this world that I care…
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London Conservative Future Chair on Women’s Role
By Laura Woodhouse | 25 June 2009, 16:02
Liberal Conspiracy link to this video from Don’t Panic magazine aimed at finding out whether the new young Conservatives, Conservative Future, are really as hip and radical as they claim. Towards the end we see members of CF denying global…
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Infuriating quotes of the day.
By Laura Woodhouse | 22 June 2009, 22:32
Firstly, we have the serious. This comes from a Guardian article which we missed a few weeks back, highlighting the continued failure (for the most part) of police forces to tackle the appallingly low rape conviction rate. Forces across the…
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La Roux: women who dress like that bring violence on themselves.
By Laura Woodhouse | 21 June 2009, 18:04
I absolutely love La Roux’s Spring anthem, In For The Kill (particularly the Skream remix) so I was hugely disappointed when a reader forwarded us this interview, in which singer Elly Jackson is quoted as saying: I know that there’s…
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Colouring Outside The Lines: The Exhibition
By Laura Woodhouse | 18 June 2009, 20:46
Colouring Outside The Lines, the exceedingly lovely zine dedicated to the work and voices of female artists working in less-conventional forms, is coming to Bradford, with an exhibition running from Friday 26 June to Friday 24 July in Gallery II…
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Birds Eye View at Edinburgh International Film Festival
By Laura Woodhouse | 18 June 2009, 10:37
The organisers of women’s film festival Birds Eye View will be celebrating the contribution of women to the Edinburgh film festival this weekend: Saturday 20th June Birds Eye View: Celebrating Women Filmmakers 1915 - 2030 Delegate Centre Café Bar Free…
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Over a quarter of men in South Africa admit to rape
By Laura Woodhouse | 18 June 2009, 09:58
This article, from today’s Guardian, is just horrifying. It highlights research which asked South African men to anonymously indicate whether they had committed rape, and found that 28% admitted to raping a woman or girl, and 3% to raping a…
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Support the SOAS cleaners
By Laura Woodhouse | 15 June 2009, 17:52
Students and allies, including members of Feminist Fightback, have been occupying the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) today after nine cleaners from the school were taken into detention following a dawn raid by immigration police…
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Review: Filament magazine
By Laura Woodhouse | 15 June 2009, 16:52
Filament magazine bills itself as ‘the thinking women’s crumpet’ and contains 72 pages of ‘stimulating reading, saucy fiction and beautiful men’ for women who are fed up of the celebrity gossip, beauty fascism and gender stereotypes which choke the pages…
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FemAdLib Kolektiv presents BOGOF
By Laura Woodhouse | 15 June 2009, 13:57
This Thursday, the FemAdLib Kolektiv will be presenting the exhibition/intervention BOGOF at various locations around London from 12-8pm: FemAdLib Kolektiv presents BOGOF, the closing down sale of Mark-It & Sons, a capitalist venture that’s been trading women for centuries. Real…
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EDM to support Rape Crisis
By Laura Woodhouse | 11 June 2009, 16:03
Please contact your MP and ask them to support Jim Cunningham’s Early Day Motion 1604, which calls on the government to support the Rape Crisis Network: That this House commends the work of Coventry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre, The…
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Transnational Feminisms conference: call for contributions
By Laura Woodhouse | 10 June 2009, 15:46
The Transnational Feminisms Conference will take plase at the University of Manchester on 4-5 December 2009 (with associated activities on 6 December): Drawing on the impact of postcolonial feminism and its enactments, this conference will examine how women are affected…
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Eggs are not the answer.
By Laura Woodhouse | 10 June 2009, 09:53
OK, so I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t find the egg attack on Nick Griffin outside Parliament yesterday really rather funny. The teen SWP member in me was delighted. But the rational me despaired somewhat. Because throwing…
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New EU-wide pro-choice initiative
By Laura Woodhouse | 9 June 2009, 21:49
womensphere reports that the Swedish Liberal Party has launched a campaign which aims to get women’s access to abortion recognised as a human right protected under EU law, meaning states would be denied membership if their female population is unable…
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Violence against trans women in Venezuela and across the globe
By Laura Woodhouse | 5 June 2009, 16:07
Helen G has been documenting instances of transphobic hate crime committed across the globe in the last few months, from Honduras to India, Serbia to Peru. Her latest report on transphobic violence comes from Venezuela, where over 20 trans people…
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Julia Serano on “cis”
By Laura Woodhouse | 18 May 2009, 13:19
Julia Serano, author of Whipping Girl, has written a comprehensive post on the terms cis, cissexual and cisgender, which I thoroughly recommend for anyone who is unaware of or uncomfortable with these terms. I didn’t really understand the term when…
Rape victims to be asked for views on justice system.
By Laura Woodhouse | 14 May 2009, 10:48
Kudos to The Times for putting this article on the front page today. It reports that in response to Britain being named the European country with the worst conviction rate for rape, the policing standards watchdog, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary,…
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Say what?
By Laura Woodhouse | 13 May 2009, 13:23
Ever wondered what we’d get if “two of Britain’s most outspoken feminists” (Julies Bindel and Burchill) had a conversation in The Guardian’s G2? Let’s see… Gender stereotyping? [Burchill] I like men and get on much better with them one to…
Men avoiding child maintanence payments
By Laura Woodhouse | 11 May 2009, 11:58
The Guardian reports that more than 50,000 men owe at least £30,000 each in maintenance for children they had with former partners. In total, the Child Support Agency, charged with collecting this money, is short by a staggering £3.8 billion:…
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Classic fail from Radio 1’s Newsbeat
By Laura Woodhouse | 9 May 2009, 18:43
“…some MPs even spent money on women’s clothes” head/desk…
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Marriage? Not for me.
By Laura Woodhouse | 6 May 2009, 11:28
Feministing’s Jessica Valenti recently wrote a piece for The Guardian describing the difficulties she’s encountered while trying to craft a feminist wedding for herself and her fiancé. While I can appreciate some of the creative ways in which they aim…
“Now even Top Gear could fall foul of Harman sexism law”
By Laura Woodhouse | 29 April 2009, 10:23
…whinges the Daily Fail in just one example of the kind of pathetic complaints emanating from the more privileged corners of our green and pleasant land since the release of the Equality Bill. Now, I bloody love Top Gear, even…
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Angie Zapata’s killer found guilty.
By Laura Woodhouse | 23 April 2009, 11:00
Allen Andrade was last night found guilty of both first degree murder and bias motivation (hate crime) in his killing of the 18 year old Angie Zapata last summer. He has been sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. The prosecution…
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Mothers For Women’s Lib
By Laura Woodhouse | 20 April 2009, 11:49
I just wanted to highlight an excellent UK blog on feminist motherhood and childcare, Mothers For Women’s Lib: Feminism changes a mother, and motherhood changes a feminist - here is a place for us to talk about raising our children…
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May 17: International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia
By Laura Woodhouse | 9 April 2009, 18:14
May 17 will mark the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia: It was founded by Louis Georges Tin in 2005. Campaigns and inititives take place on or around May 17th every year to combat prejudice against LGBT people. May 17th…
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Question Time with Jo Brand
By Laura Woodhouse | 9 April 2009, 12:15
Great interview with Jo Brand in the Guardian today, full of so many choice quotes that I want to copy and paste the whole damn thing, but here’s my favourites: Do you think the majority of male comedians are sexist?…
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Review: The Sex Education Show Vs Pornography
By Laura Woodhouse | 31 March 2009, 09:40
Last night’s first installment of Channel 4’s The Sex Education Show Vs Pornography focused on the way in which pornography affects young people’s attitudes towards and expectations of the female body. It also highlighted the ease with which children and…
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Meeting on Kellie Telesford inquiry
By Laura Woodhouse | 30 March 2009, 17:52
As Helen G reported back in August last year, the acquittal of Shanniel Hyatt, who was accused of murdering trans woman Kellie Telesford, caused considerable shock and anger. At 7pm on Thurday April 16th 2009 there will be a meeting…
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The Sex Education Show Vs Pornography
By Laura Woodhouse | 30 March 2009, 17:27
I missed the first series of Channel 4’s Sex Education Show, but will definitely be tuning in for the first installment of series 2 tonight at 9pm. This second series will focus on pornography’s effects on young people, and runs…
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EHRC plans to axe Manchester helpline and cut jobs.
By Laura Woodhouse | 27 March 2009, 17:18
As if failing to support mandatory pay audits wasn’t enough to suggest that the Equality and Human Rights Commission isn’t working as it should, its plans to axe the Manchester branch of its helpline - which handled over 50,000 enquiries…
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The rape myth in action
By Laura Woodhouse | 27 March 2009, 11:46
In what to me seems like a clear example of how rape myths contribute to the appallingly low rape conviction rate, a man has been acquitted of raping a woman who he readily admits to having sex with because the…
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Trans and queer fun in Manchester this weekend!
By Laura Woodhouse | 26 March 2009, 10:58
UPDATE: See comments for full tour details. There’s a couple of really interesting events going on in Manchester this weekend. Saturday sees Lynn Breedlove bringing his “queer, punkrock standup comedy on transgender bodies, feminism, family, and community”, One Freak Show,…
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Changes to condom and pregnancy advice advertising?
By Laura Woodhouse | 26 March 2009, 09:37
A review of advertising codes could lead to an end to the ban on condom adverts being shown before the 9pm watershed and enable pregnancy advice services to advertise on the radio for the first time, The Guardian reports today*….
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Call yourself a feminist? Listen now!
By Laura Woodhouse | 24 March 2009, 09:05
zohra is currently taking part in Radio 4’s Call yourself a feminist?, focusing today on young and online feminism. Listen here. ———— Missed it? You can listen again tonight at 21.30. The programme covered a lot of ground, including British…
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Lesbilicious watches Lesbian Vampire Killers so we don’t have to.
By Laura Woodhouse | 23 March 2009, 14:02
Lesbilicious Editor and former F Word blogger Milly Shaw has taken the plunge and reviewed the latest schlock from Horne and Corden, Lesbian Vampire Killers: I admit I was already prejudiced before I sat down, and that I had a…
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Emergency contraception now available to buy online?
By Laura Woodhouse | 23 March 2009, 11:08
UPDATE: You can buy Levonelle, and regular oral contraception, here. The Daily Mail is claiming that, from today, it will be possible to buy up to three doses of the emergency contraception Levonelle from Lloyds Pharmacy online, enabling women to…
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Portia De Rossi: I’m sorry my gay marriage hurts your head.
By Laura Woodhouse | 23 March 2009, 10:40
In which Portia De Rossi apologises for the calamitous effects of her marriage to Ellen DeGeneres on the pro-Prop 8 homophobes of the US. Hilarious! H/t Jezebel. Transcript: Hi, I’m Portia De Rossi. When I got married, all I…
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Pope to visit the UK?
By Laura Woodhouse | 20 March 2009, 12:34
The Guardian reported earlier this week that the Pope is considering visiting the UK next year: A spokesman for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, a permanent assembly of bishops, said the Catholic population would be “delighted” if…
All Saints’ mannequins: still there, still offensive.
By Laura Woodhouse | 17 March 2009, 18:34
I first noticed or, rather, stood aghast in front of fashion retailer All Saints’ window display in Cambridge back last summer, and was surprised to see it still going strong in the Derby store this weekend. As you can…
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Demonstration at Yarl’s Wood Detention Centre
By Laura Woodhouse | 17 March 2009, 12:41
There will be a demonstartion against immigration detention this Saturday 21st March at Yarl’s Wood detention centre. Why? About 25,000 people - including 2,000 children - accused of no crime, are detained indefinitely each year at great human cost and…
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EU issues guidelines on gender neutral language
By Laura Woodhouse | 17 March 2009, 11:12
The Daily Mail may call it political correctness gone mad, but I think the EU’s decision to issue politicians with guidelines on the use of gender neutral language is a really positive step. ‘Sportsmen’ and ‘headmaster’, to quote just two…
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Dismissive attitudes towards rape victims persist in the Met
By Laura Woodhouse | 16 March 2009, 13:46
The Guardian reports that despite recent changes in police policy, rape complaints were repeatedly filed as ‘Crime Related Incidents (CRIs)’ rather than as alleged criminal offences in six Metropolitan boroughs last year. CRIs are rarely investigated further, meaning that scores…
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Mini Review: Issy Suttie
By Laura Woodhouse | 11 March 2009, 22:06
Last night I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Issy Suttie perform at Leeds University’s Comedy Sessions. For any Peep Show fans out there, she played the frisky, geeky, cheese-loving Dobby who woos Mark in the stationery cupboard. On stage,…
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More on the government’s VAW consultation
By Laura Woodhouse | 10 March 2009, 11:07
To save you doing any digging, the consultation bus for the government’s VAW strategy will be touring the country as follows: Specific times and locations are being are being confirmed daily, but so far outline is: South East: 12-14 March…
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Have you experienced violence?
By Laura Woodhouse | 4 March 2009, 11:48
FEM conferences coordinator Kat Banyard is conducting some research into violence against women: There are many forms of gender-based violence, including domestic violence, rape and sexual assault, stalking, sexual harassment, and female genital mutilation. If you have experienced violence (past…
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Spread the feminist message from Trafalgar Square!
By Laura Woodhouse | 27 February 2009, 17:05
Antony Gormley on the Fourth Plinth from One & Other on Vimeo. Angel of the North designer Antony Gormley is putting together a fantastic-sounding art project for the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Sqaure, entitled One and Other. Every day, 24…
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Upskirting.
By Laura Woodhouse | 25 February 2009, 11:03
Emine Saner has a piece up at The Guardian on the practice of “upskirting”, where men take photos or film up women’s skirts in public. Apparently, hundreds of thousands of these invasive images have been placed online, and no doubt…
Rape myths still perpetuated by one third of students
By Laura Woodhouse | 24 February 2009, 22:43
A LondonStudent survey carried out on over 1,000 students at 119 Higher Education institutions around the UK has found that around a third still believe a woman is at least partially to blame for being raped if she is…
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Limited terms for MPs: the answer to under-representation in Parliament?
By Laura Woodhouse | 23 February 2009, 21:58
The Head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), Trevor Phillips, will tomorrow propose reforms to parliamentary law which would restrict the number of terms any one MP can serve in office to four (16 - 20 years). The…
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Object Leeds
By Laura Woodhouse | 17 February 2009, 22:21
There’s a new(ish!) branch of anti-objectification activist group Object in Leeds and they’re looking for new members to help out with the following local and national campaigns: Planning protests with FemSoc against Miss Leeds (regional heat of Miss England) Involvement…
Action Aid campaign on HIV and violence against women
By Laura Woodhouse | 16 February 2009, 12:53
ActionAid UK are running a campaign to persuade the government to take into account violence against women when tackling HIV and AIDs: A girl born in South Africa has a 50% chance of being raped. Combine this with the number…
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Two IDs for transgendered people?
By Laura Woodhouse | 13 February 2009, 13:00
Yet another reason why the National ID scheme is a crock: transgendered people will be forced to apply and pay for two cards, one in their “birth gender” and one for their self-identified gender: guess which one is viewed as…
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Have you experienced sexual harassment or violence at school?
By Laura Woodhouse | 11 February 2009, 20:58
FEM Conferences organiser Kat Banyard is conducting some research into girls’ experiences of harassment and violence at school / college, and she needs your help! Sexual harassment can come in many forms, including unwelcome sexual propositions, sexually explicit comments or…
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LGBT History Month 2009
By Laura Woodhouse | 6 February 2009, 09:47
We’re a week into the fifth annual LGBT History Month, which celebrates the lives and achievements of the LGBT community. This year’s theme is Education and Youth. Many events are planned to take place during the month at various places…
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FPA trains youth workers to address teens’ porn use.
By Laura Woodhouse | 5 February 2009, 17:50
Misleading, and moral panicky as ever, The Mail headline reads ‘Could teenage boys get lessons on porn?’, but the actual story here is that the Family Planning Association has begun to train youth workers to engage with teenagers who use…
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The F Word on Facebook!
By Laura Woodhouse | 5 February 2009, 11:05
Just a quick reminder that The F Word is on Facebook: you can find us here. I send out weekly updates of what’s going down on the blog and details of upcoming events, as well as monthly updates of features…
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Women, agency and sexuality
By Laura Woodhouse | 4 February 2009, 22:15
As a feminist who has spent a considerable amount of time struggling with my sexuality and sexual desires in the face of condemnation from certain feminist theorists and their followers, the following comment from Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha really resonated with…
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The Mail takes on make-up (and fails).
By Laura Woodhouse | 2 February 2009, 14:22
I must admit it came as rather a shock to the system to read the headline for Liz Jones’s latest piece in the Mail: The bare-faced truth: If confidence comes from within, why do so many emancipated women still need…
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Calpol: pain relief with a little gender role reinforcement on the side.
By Laura Woodhouse | 19 January 2009, 14:09
This advert for Calpol has been causing twenty second bursts of intense pain in my brain recently: Because for boys getting back to their ‘normal’ selves means racing around on scooters, having water fights and scaring little girls with slimy…
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Carnival of Feminists
By Laura Woodhouse | 19 January 2009, 11:47
The 70th Carnival of Feminists is up at Sheffield Fems, featuring a round up of feminist blog posts on science, religion, feminist anger, parenthood and feminism 101, all charmingly illustrated by lolcats….
February Reclaim The Night Marches
By Laura Woodhouse | 18 January 2009, 16:37
Both Bristol and Manchester are hosting Reclaim The Night marches next month. Reclaim the Night NORTH will take place on Saturday 21st February and kicks off at 19.30 from the University of Manchester Students Union on Oxford Road: Women are…
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Leeds Rape Crisis
By Laura Woodhouse | 15 January 2009, 16:30
There will be a meeting at 6pm on Wednesday 11th February in Leeds Civic Hall (Millenium Square) to discuss the setting up of a new Rape Crisis centre in Leeds: Leeds is home to a number of excellent domestic violence…
Introducing… The Muffia
By Laura Woodhouse | 13 January 2009, 17:28
The Muffia are a group of feminist women “who create performance, comedy and political interventions in reaction to the culture we live in”. Their actions are intended to raise the general public’s political awareness, specifically in relation to gender,…
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Language matters
By Laura Woodhouse | 7 January 2009, 15:08
Melissa McEwan of Shakesville has a fantastic post up on how masculine bias in language marginalises women and why, therefore, neutralising this language is so important: Using “male” as the universal for all humankind is one of the most pernicious…
Hooters fires worker for being victim of domestic violence.
By Laura Woodhouse | 6 January 2009, 16:51
Remember how I was saying that the Hooters ethos is bad for its employees and bad for women in general? Well a branch of the breastaurant in Illinois has fired a waitress on the basis that bruises she received as…
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Violence against sex workers: will Smith’s plans really make a difference?
By Laura Woodhouse | 6 January 2009, 13:00
I must admit that up until now I hadn’t made a very good job of following the developments and arguments surrounding Home Secretary Jacqui Smith’s prostitution bill, due to be read for the second time in parliament on Monday 12th…
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UK Top Ten Feminist Moments 2008
By Laura Woodhouse | 1 January 2009, 19:40
We thought it’d be nice to shamelessly follow Change.org’s lead and compile a list of our top ten feminist moments in 2008, strictly UK based, of course. So without any further ado, and in chronological order (because you can’t seriously…
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