28 May 2008

Having your cake and eating it

EDIT: Believe it or not, I was a fully-fledged anorexic by the age of 12, so it’s not as if I’m a stranger to eating disorders! I had an utterly horrific childhood, which I won’t go into here, but let’s… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 28 May 2008 | Comments (45)

7 May 2008

Summer is finally here!

The sun is out, the birds are singing and London seems a much happier place. For the benefit of our international readers, Britain is currently enjoying a break from the positively crapulent weather we’ve been having lately. The sun is… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 7 May 2008 | Comments (25)

30 April 2008

Fergie’s daughter inherits her “imperfect figure”

The Daily Mail is running a truly revolting article today. I mean, seriously. They have actually surpassed themselves on the We-Hate-Women’s-Bodies front. Sarah “Duchess of Pork” Ferguson’s daughter Beatrice has gone on holiday, had the temerity to wear a bikini… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 30 April 2008 | Comments (33)

24 April 2008

Can men be feminists?

Cath Elliott is pondering this question on Comment Is Free today. Can men ever really be feminists, or should pro-feminist men be consigned to the sidelines, welcome allies in the struggle for gender equality, but disqualified from full membership by… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 24 April 2008 | Comments (37)

21 April 2008

Lithuania considers abortion ban

Apparently, Lithuania is considering a ban on abortion. This has been pretty much covered at Feministing so I’m not going to say too much about it here. How utterly depressing. There are three countries in the EU that have a… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 21 April 2008 | Comments (2)

16 April 2008

Is it possible to be a feminist and still like “Sex and the City”?

Alice Wignall ponders this question in The Guardian today. For a show about women, it displays a singular obsession with men. As Miranda, the character most likely to consider herself a feminist, points out in one episode: “How does it… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 16 April 2008 | Comments (40)

11 April 2008

Daily Mail attacks “curvy” Miss England finalist

You may have noticed that the Daily Mail seems to have developed a bit of an obsession recently with Miss England’s first ever size 16 finalist. Chloe Marshall has been praised in lavishly patronising drivel full of godawful cliches about… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 11 April 2008 | Comments (13)

8 April 2008

Brunettes have more fun!

Your ball-busting brunette blogger read the above headline on The Times website this morning with a mixture of delight, amusement, scepticism, and visions of proudly linking it from her facebook profile. When I clicked through to the article though I… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 8 April 2008 | Comments (13)

1 April 2008

More on shoes

Jess’ post yesterday got me thinking, or rather, inspired me to actually blog about something to which I’ve always given a lot of thought. A couple of years ago I was on a quick lunchtime shoe shopping binge with a… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 1 April 2008 | Comments (25)

27 March 2008

Quote of the day

A while ago, after writing a column about feminism, I received an e-mail from a reader who said: “I think it’s great that you, as a man, write about these issues. But imagine a situation where you were exactly the… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 27 March 2008 | Comments (5)

25 March 2008

French women don’t get fat

Zoe Williams has a hilarious and perceptive opinion piece in The Guardian today, exploring the publishing phenomenon based on cultural stereotypes that would have us think that French women are beautiful, elegant creatures entirely unlike our lardy selves. French women… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 25 March 2008 | Comments (11)

19 March 2008

A man can rent someone “better” than you

There’s a totally gross article by Minette Marrin in The Times this week about the world’s oldest profession. Minette Marrin is not my favourite journalist in the world for reasons completely unrelated to feminism: a few years ago she wrote… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 19 March 2008 | Comments (22)

7 March 2008

Mind-bendingly godawful picture of the day

Well, I’m a bare stem, as are the majority of our readers I would guess. Oh woe is me, I so regret losing my beautiful petals - NOT! Seriously, this is vile. And blatantly, blatantly sexist. Trying to give… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 7 March 2008 | Comments (4)

28 February 2008

More on male violence against women

Joan Smith has written an opinion piece for The Independent about the recent spate of high-profile sexually-motivated murder cases perpetrated by men against women. For the benefit of anyone who’s been on another planet recently, Levi Bellfield was convicted on… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 28 February 2008 | Comments (6)

18 February 2008

I heart this cartoon

That is all…. Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 18 February 2008 | Comments (8)

15 February 2008

“Sterilise all teenage girls” says Fay Weldon

Fay Weldon has written a pretty outrageous piece for the Daily Mail in which she suggests that all girls between the ages of 12 and 17 should be forcibly sterilised. Yep, you read that right. Enforced sterilisation. I have to… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 15 February 2008 | Comments (13)

28 January 2008

Women of color have brains!

Remember that whole business of black women having to choose between their race or their gender? CNN readers have been up in arms about it too: An e-mailer named Tiffany responded sarcastically: “Duh, I’m a black woman and here I… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 28 January 2008

22 January 2008

Get your free clitoridectomy here!

This article from the New York Times also put me right off my breakfast this morning. It’s a report from a centre in Indonesia that offers free female circumcisions. That’s right girls, get your free clitoridectomy here! Sponsored by the… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 22 January 2008

In praise of pants

Whoever knew that men’s underpants were so important? I certainly didn’t until I read this highly entertaining article in The Independent this morning. Apparently, for the first time in ages, women aren’t purchasing the majority of men’s pants (hooray!) and… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 22 January 2008

21 January 2008

Oprah is "a traitor"

Apparently Oprah Winfrey is in trouble with her female fan base for backing Barack Obama instead of Hillary Clinton, The Times reports. Oprah has been very publicly backing Obama by accompanying him on a tour of Iowa, New Hampshire and… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 21 January 2008

18 January 2008

Random Acts of Feminism

Head over to the Guardian today for a fab article by Wendy Roby about how we can improve the state of the world with “Random Acts of Feminism” (Roby’s capitalisation!) A subversion of Professor Chuck Wall’s schmaltzy but ultimately rather… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 18 January 2008

14 January 2008

Rapists to be snared by text messages

The police have unveiled plans today to experiment with gathering evidence for rape trials by encouraging suspects to incriminate themselves with texts and phone calls to the victims. “Police get the victim to send a text saying something like ‘how… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 14 January 2008

11 January 2008

Seduced

Last night I went to see the Seduced exhibition at the Barbican. This has been on for months and I expect that many of our London-based readers will have seen it already. The idea behind the exhibition is that it… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 11 January 2008

9 January 2008

Get Skinny!

It’s that time of year again! If you’re a walking stereotype you’ll have stuffed yourself silly over the festive season and gone up to - gasp! - a size 12. ‘Tis the season to nibble Ryvita, squeeze yourself into a… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 9 January 2008

4 January 2008

Just when you thought I was gone forever…

The more eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed a distinct lack of posts from me recently. This is not because I have seen the light and decided to abandon my stint at The F-Word for a career as a glamour… Read more...

Posted by Samara Ginsberg at 4 January 2008