From Whitney

In response to the '25 Burning Questions men are too embarrassed to ask', I must say I found the answers to be rather cynical and were over-analyzing the questions. other than that, a great article, but please tone it down next time. feminism should promote equality - men are not idiots.

From CT Rock

One small problem with your comments on the article "25 Burning Questions" - MSN didn't even write the article. The article was in fact written by a journalist on behalf of Match.com who are MSN's dating partner, and funnily enough, happened to be a woman.

From Ross

Regarding your 25 Burning Questions article written by Holly Combe it might be worthwhile pointing out that the article was actually written on behalf of Match.com a dating company who MSN's dating partner and funnily enough was written by a female journalist. Don't let that get in the way of a good story though...

From Rebecca Hill

Re: 25 Burning Questions: You realise, of course, that the original artical which you have so conscientiously taken apart was written by....wait for it (the suspense is delicious, you'll doubtless agree) ....a WOMAN! Which unfortunately negates any point that are trying so desperately to make. It may of some solace to know that your article is the laughing stock of many online forums, which are frequented by both sexes. Have a nice day!

From John Ross

Go, Ms. Razorblade! I loved your review of "The Incredibles." I just saw it on DVD recently and everything in the movie that I found to be eerily conservative was easily dismissed by friends who called it "just a kids movie." Well, to me, that's what makes it more disturbing. What annoyed me most about the film was the daughter character. Of course she's not allowed to keep her goth sensibilities and has to learn to fit in to traditional norms of "prettiness." But what's worse is that she, along with her brother, suddenly doesn't seem to have any ambitions outside of her supporting role in the "family business." Yuck. Please write more movie reviews. Thanks.

From Mark Headey

With reference to the film "The Incredibles", I too was initially worried by the apparent stereotypical picture of domesticity it presented. Then I thought about it; our two adult superheroes were actually under a form of witness protection scheme and anything out of the ordinary could blow their cover. Therefore, they adopted the disguise of the typical "all American" family. As to meekly accepting her subserviant role, at one stage Elastigirl states quite firmly, "Leave the saving of the world to the men? I don't think so." borrows a plane and flies to the rescue, avoiding ground to air missiles with consumate skill. To quote the film, a simpering woman? I don't think so.

From the drinking divas

Re: Taboo For Who: Men don't use the word cunt in a descriptive or loving fashion. Whenever that word is used from a man to a woman, the only purpose for it's use is to humiliate and shut the woman down. However, just like the word 'nigger', it should be taken back by women and embraced as empowerment.

From Rod

Re: Taboo For Who: The word cunt. Interesting how people are offended by it. I was told some years ago by a person a doctor in fact who studied English language. He told me that cunt like fuck etc was part of the old Saxon language and that when the Norman-French conquered Saxon Britain in 1066 that the children of the Normans were often brought up by Saxon nannies. The word Vagina was from the Norman French and the nannies were told not to use the old Saxon wording and to use words like fuck and cunt were basically outlawed. Vagina does sound better than cunt I must admit but then again we are still taught cunt is wrong and vagina is fine so we are brainwashed from an early age. So were the children of the Normans, cunt was bad vagina is fine. So this trend continued. The Saxons were quite happy with cunt, vagina was foreign to them. I suppose the Normans looked down upon the Saxons as ignorant vulgar and base in their language. Normans I suppose thought they were better taught and their early French was more suitable and acceptable. Today the trend continues............

From Yas

Reply to "Why men suck (and the women who have to)": Hi... I'm not sure what to say. I read your article about cambodia. And I really do think that's horrible... I was shocked... I think more women should be in control, or men like me, who believe in gender equity. The world would be a much better place, but alas unfortunately the men in charge are.. how should I put it? Assholes. According to statistics United States is 9th in the world for rape crimes, South Africa being the first. And I consider the sex trade industry to be a form of rape. All those western men and locals you mentioned, their all no better than rapists in my eyes. Also I wanted to add about the media.. I agree completely about them. I'm in the process of writing an essay about "Gender roles in society and how television affects gender images".

From Joe

Re: Reply to "Why men suck (and the women who have to)": I have worked all over the world and i did like reading what larr said, its true it does happen in poorer countrys, africa is rif with it . good artical thanks

From Barry

Re: blog comment on domestic violence case: A feminist website blog that acknowledges men are human beings and can be subjected to domestic violence. A bold attempt to move the issue forward without the usual entrenchment warfare, their is hope yet for a better society.

From Rachel Healey

Re: Every Girl Wants a Stalker: I am in complete agreement. i don't understand why more people cant see it either. Every day there are a million and one examples proving exactly what rachel wrote. the film stlker scenario is just the tip of the ice berg. I have even lost friends over my beliefs on such matters (to be honest most of them were chauvanistic pigs i just didn't clock soon enough). Its really good to be able to read that there are so many others who share the same view. I may be an 18 year old female but i feel that we are just as oppressed as anyone else and our views should also be taken in to consideration. Thank you RACHEL for coming out and saying it how it is. more people ahould do just that.

From Liz H

Re: Bloody Disgrace: I think if the NHS were to provide anything for free it should be something environmentally friendly like the Mooncup (I paid ?18 for mine) rather than endlessly supplying tampons and towels. Having said that, why shouldn't we buy our own? Do you go to your GP for aspirin every time you have a headache? Or do you just pop into the chemists and buy a packet yourself? Unfortunately the NHS isn't an endless pit of money, there is only so much to go around and we are never going to live in a world where the defence budget gets spent on tampons! There are things I don't think the NHS should have to pay for; nose jobs, breast enlargements, cosmetic dentistry and tattoo removal and other such 'vanity procedures'. If you argue that menstuation is a normal part of female life so tampons should be free, then surely as eating is a normal part of life too, then shouldn't the government provide free food to everyone. At the end of the day nothing on the NHS is 'free', it is all paid for by someone - the tax payer. Guess what - women pay taxes too.

How to Create a Women's Glossy in 5 Minutes. Fabulous article. I loved it, it was funny and sharp. It's given me the confidence to go try writing one of my own - hooray!! (Actually it really did make me laugh out loud.)

From Lucy Emele

How to Create a Women's Glossy in 5 Minutes: Your criticism is so accurate , that it makes me wonder why I read such dribble.

From Charlotte Parfitt

The article How to Create a Women's Glossy in 5 Minutes is so true. Most glossys are the same thing and yet we seem to buy them again and again without realizing we are paying for the same articles carefully renamed and sold to you anew. Since reading this I have decided to be more alert in what I read and perhaps read something more intellectual.

From Sam Jones

Re: Under the Knife. It has often been the way that women have been valued by their physical appearence over any of their other attributes, whereas men have been valued regardless of the way they look. However, the cosmetic industry is a business after all, and already there is a filtering down of male cosmetic surgery, and models into the media network. The problem is an overall capitalist one, but it is women, as always who are made to feel it's brunt. We have higher numbers dying of annorexia, and suffering from body dismorphic disorder. Before anyone considers going under the knife, I strongly recommend that they read "The Beauty Myth" by Naomi Wolf.

From Martha

Re: Under the Knife: One of the things that gets me about cosmetic surgery is it is just another way that rich people can indulge themselves and create more of a divide between their experiences and that of those with less money than them. It has the potential to create a beauty hierarchy that merely reflects the amount of money you have to your disposal. So much for the beautiful peasant who married the prince and was okay forever because he had lots of cash. I am vaguely aware that there was some issue about giving boob jobs on the NHS for people who hadn't had to undergo a mastectomy, which is just utterly ridiculous. We shouldn't accept the focussing of hysteria in this direction by cultural attitudes in so many people's minds as a somehow inevitable aspect of womanhood that should be indulged instead of responded to in a more adult manner. What a waste of silicone, surgical skills, time etc etc etc. The world is a crazy place. So much for compassion and equality.

From Ariela Haro

Re: Under the Knife. The fact that we see plastic surgery on women as 'natural' pisses me off, and the fact that I feel very much pressured to do it. I can't help but think about Emile Durkheim's essay on "what is a social fact?" extolling his audience that a social facy is anything that is invisibly pressuring us to do something. I feel like a cultural outsider most of the time, and feel like I have to buy makeup. I'm a college student who doesn't shave my legs, wear makeup, and I have recently chopped off my hair. So yeah, I guess I feel like I have to get liposuction, macrodermabrasion and wear a lot of makeup - and just the right clothes.

Just today, I went to the grocery store and I felt like I was in the trenches of the 'beauty myth.' Almost every magazine overwhelmingly had to have some image of an extremely thin (mostly white) woman on the cover who wore a lot of makeup and showed off her breasts. The fact that our society shows women more undressed than men reminds me of the antebellum South, where the white masters would make their black male servants walk around naked while they serve them their food. So I don't think showing women more naked than men is 'natural,' it seems more political and social. But the fact that it is tied to something that is so intimate with humans (sexuality) is incredibly insidious, and to say the least, cruel. To put a politicized power-issue on something so central to the human species is not only cruel to women, but everybody in general.

From Charlotte Revely

I wholeheartedly endorse Michelle Wright's article Under the Knife. Claudia Schiffer says in one of the many vacuous adverts for wrinkle cream "Let surgery wait!" as though having surgery at some point is a given, I find this a really scary development. It is obscene for healthy women (and men) to be having major surgery by choice, when children on the other side of the world are dying for want of clean water or basic medicine. When I read "The Beauty Myth" all those years ago I thought it could never happen in the UK to the same extent and now it has only worse than Naomi Wolf ever could have imagined. Also if you think 10 Years Younger is damaging you should see Extreme Makeover UK - it makes the Stepford Wives look positively restrained in their modifications. How we can challenge this and reclaim our self esteem other than at an individual level is one of the big questions of our age.

From RF

Re Under the Knife: For me the concept that cosmetic surgery is driven by a male-driven idea of female beauty simply doesn't ring true. Men are also increasingly expected to live up to a certain physical ideal and the takeup of cosmetic surgery is rising steadily among both sexes. As a woman I feel my appearance is far more likely to be judged unfavourably by other women (the Trinny and Susannah effect) than by men. I would say it is an image obsessed media culture that is to blame, not gender politics. If anything, things are getting more equal between the sexes, although not in a good way - now all of us are held up in comparison to an airbrushed ideal.

From Nicola

Re: Teenagers and Cosmetic Surgery: THE MESSAGE YOU ARE SENDING OUT IS THAT PLASTIC SURGERY IS NOT A GOOD IDEA. THE ARTICLE IS NEGATIVE.

From Emily Baeza

I found "It Ain't Over Till It's Over" by Lara McKinnnon so relevant. Not just that its simialr to the views expressed in my article, but that it articulates this sense of frustration that we will never be able to reach the top of the bell curve; that we should be happy with "middling" achievements and not strive for or expect the best. Increasingly I see achievements and freedoms borne out of 70s feminism coming under renewed, stealth attack. Look at the current debates on abortion, I suppose I had taken for granted that this was a settled right of women, but here it is thrity years on, up for discussion again. I think feminism is dead only if we are prepared to accept such attacks and retrograde steps. Helena Kennedy said once that liberties are never won, they are always constantly being fought over, and I think we must accept that as an unfortunate truth, most especially with regard to women's rights.

From itala

Thank you for this article [It Ain't Over Till It's Over]. it is refreshing to know that feminists are making attempts to feminism. i am currently at college and am surrounded by 17 year old boys AND girls that label feminists as bra burning lesbians. its worrying to think that when people hear the 'f-word' they are immediatelyt put of by the stigma attached and the lack of understanding about feminism and the relative issues. they are unaware of the different aspects of feminism in art, music, literature etc. instead they picture rioting angry women who apparantly have issues with themselves. rather that supporting the women who represent them and stood up for THEIR rights, people my age tend to condemn feminism because they ARE afaraid, as are other people who are prejudice against things they do not understand. i think that its important that people (especially my generation) need to become aware of the importance and history of feminism. society often ignores the importance of women in history and instead mock and disregard them its time for a change, i completely agree with your article

From Rachel

I am responding to Lara McKinnon's article "It Ain't Over Till It's Over": Yes!! Since coming to university I have noticed an unbelievable lack of interest in feminism. The women around me look at me as if I'm mad to suggest that feminism is still alive and well and needs to continue to be so. They are after all 'real girls'. We NEED to break down this image of feminism and remind women and girls what it is we're fighting for and why. And that without feminism, where would we be?

From Lizzie

In response to Lament for Sisterhood, I have to say that it is more expensive to hire a woman if that woman becomes pregnant and needs time off. Small business do have smaller, tighter budgets, and part of the problem is that men don't get the same level of paternity leave, so they automatically become cheaper to employ. I don't think that this is fair, and I don't think that it's right. If men had the same level of paternity leave, perhaps there wouldn't need to be discrimination, as the cost of hiring men and women would become closer, if not equal.

From Alison Bray

Re: Lament for Sisterhood : Like a lot of women I have been very angry at men for years only to come to the conclusion that a lot of us are actually being let down by other women. E Baeza has raised an interesting point but I believe that fraternity is a myth these days and that many men succeed because they are hugely competetive, single minded and have much more self belief then many women and that there will never be such a thing as a sisterhood until women believe that we are all of equal merit. I am in my late thirties and think things have gone backwards in the last 10-20 years.I have encountered too many (ostensibly intelligent) women who don't seem to want the freedom feminism offers, preferring to obsess over shoes, shows like "Sex and the frigging City" and bitching about each other. I also know a lot of enlightened men who I would describe as feminist who are confused and surprised to encounter women like this. It breaks your heart to think of the struggles made by women in this country in the past and the dreadful injustices currently suffered by others in the developping world when all some women seem to want is the right to lead as trivial an existence as possible.

From Maebe

Lament for Sisterhood: Thank you for this excellent article. I was only reading today in the Guardian about F! the feminist party in Sweden who have been pulled apart by infighting. Has our self esteem been so destroyed by this patriarchal society that we are unable to support other women? Only when we break the cycle of women/women denigration can we expect to make an impact.

From Sophie S

This article [Lament for Sisterhood] is so true, its about time women stopped fighting each other and banded together. I never felt any discrimination until I had children and wanted to return to work. To my surprise it was other women who seem to have the biggest problem with it not men. It took me a long time to find a position and during interviews I was even asked(by women not men) about my childcare arrangements and what would I do if the carer or child was sick etc. I was also made to feel as though spending one year out of the workforce had suddenly made all my skills and knowledge from the previous 10 years somehow disappear and I couldn't possibly be capable of doing the same job I did just 12 mths ago now. When I did finally find a position (with a good employer who didn't seem to care that I was mother) one of my female collegues commented to me that she had to make sacrifices in order to have a career and all these working mothers should go back to the kitchen where they belong and stop complaining about discrimination etc as it was their choice to have children and that they don't deserve to have both children and a career and "we" shouldn't have to make it easy for them to have both. Especially as it means "we" have to work harder to make up for all the time these "mums" take off from work and all the extra hours "we" have to put in and they don't because they have kids. I then told her that I was a mother (she didn't know this at the time), I asked her if she had to work harder because of all the extra time off I get just for being a mother - to which she answered no (as I hadn't taken any extra time off). But it just shows what other womens's opinions are, and I am yet to have any such similar comment voice to me by a male collegue.

From N. Modi

Re: Feminism and Popular Culture: Thank you so much. You've put into words ideas and thoughts that have been pulsating in my head, dying to get out! I'm so relieved, and saddened at the same time to see that other people are seeing a pattern developing here. It's bad enough that men do the things they do to degrade women, but worse still when women turn the other cheek.

From Matthew Stone

A comment regarding Sarah New' Feminism and Popular Culture: In this article Ms Noviss correctly observes that the general notion that criminal law is biased towards men. However, as a teacher of criminal law I would point out that she has not sufficiently researched the details. Specfically, provocation is not a defence only available to men. It is indeed available to both genders. In fact, Ironically, it is one area of the law that has been specially developed to cater for women's needs, through the recognition of 'battered wives syndrome'. This turned provocation away from a purely rigid masculine concept, towards a feminised complexified notion that could account for the effect of long-term domestic violence. Ms Noviss fails to mention any of this, despite it featuring heavily on the source she cites! (Women for Justice). Hope this is of interest.

From Gaby

In response to Feminism and Popular Culture, I don't think that Fathers For Justice are seen as heroes, more as nuisances, jokers or at worst criminals. They receive a lot of publicity for what they do but I feel they are more often than not, highly ridiculed. I am a feminist myself, but I think that this argument was skirting around some interesting points, but getting bogged down in factless opinions. I also think that getting upset about a yorkie advert is what gives feminists a reputation for being politically correct to the point of losing all sense of humour.

From Michelle A

Re: Feminism and Popular Culture: I am a 19 year old student, and I have recently found that my open-minded friends will mock me when I point out a blatant sexist message in advertising or literature etc. I think it has become unacceptable for a young woman of my age to be 'feminist', and I get labelled in my seminar groups for speaking up. My friends think I am "too PC" but I cannot see that, I am merely speaking up for what I think is right. In a university environment I would expect different, and I will not keep my mouth shut just because my male friends think they are openminded enough to stop caring.

From LL

Re: Feminism and Popular Culture: Found this interesting especially as its the conclusion the Fawcett Society has come to with its new image. Fawcett closing the inequality gap wo (spaces with the words since 1866) men. The concept is that both genders will get the message and get on board. Check out www.fawcettsociety.org.uk

From Amanda Kelly

Catherine Redfern's piece 'Ordinary Ads, Everyday Images' was fascinating! I would be very interested to see images from cities all over the world... how are western women pictured in asian countries? I work in a museum in Canada which is currently showing an exhibition on the historic and contemporary representation of girls & young women in Canada and it addresses many of the same issues Catherine Redfern touches on. (http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/exhibitions/143v.html) Love the site, keep up the great work!

From Paul Brown

While sympathetic towards some of the points made in the 'Ordinary Ads, Everyday Images' article, particularly in regard to some of the more puerile adverts aimed at lowest common denominator men such as those for Yorkie, Nuts, Zoo, and some package holiday ads, I have to say that i do not object to the use of models in adverts, even if most people do not resemble models.

I fully understand why fashion companies, for example, choose to use models like Kate Moss, Jodie Kidd and Vanessa Paradis in their campaigns. Designers make their clothes with a specific type of look and image in mind; as creative people, they are entitled to design their clothes for a specific size and shape of person. I do not see any sexism, oppression or body fascism in this.

Genderads, which your article linked to, tries to push a Dworkin-style radical feminist agenda that would have us believe the entire fashion industry is a misogynist web of conspiracy, which it isn't. This is part of the knee-jerk reaction that attempts to hold Moss, Miller, Kidd et al responsible for eating disorders and self-harm. This despite the fact that anorexia can be traced back at least two centuries, and can even be found in tribal societies in Papua New Guinea. They also single Diesel out as a particularly offensive compnay for having highly sexualised ads. As Bill Hicks once said, "When did sex become a bad thing? Did I miss a meeting?" Photographs of clothed women in sexual poses, done in the way Diesel does them - usually slightly aggressive women with Sid Vicious-type snarls - are not telling men that women are passive or there to be abused. I think that many women would enjoy and appreciate such images, as they speak of female sexuality without perpeutating the idea of women as victims.

I don't believe that the role of advertising is to fill our billboards and magazines with images of everyday people leading everyday lives. There has to be a place for glamour, style, sexuality and beauty, as aesthetics are an important part of life.

From D Bevan

Re: 'Ordinary Ads, Everyday Images': I do not disagree with your thesis or observations in the slightest, but would point out that the last of your reclining women is a well-known art photo (not an advertising image) of the transexual artist Candy Darling, quoted on the CD cover for Anthony & the Johnsons' 'I am a Bird Now'. The fact that Anthony wears lip-gloss is the least of his gender-subverting physical gestures, and his work deals with multiple issues of gender/sexuality in a courageous, brilliant, moving and musically thrilling way. Of course you may be perfectly well aware of this - if not I urgently recommend the CD. On the other hand, maybe it re-inforces your point that when artists 'play' with concepts of gender they employ the same visual trope of the supine woman...

From Jo

Re: 'Ordinary Ads, Everyday Images': Just thought I'd say what a fascinating article that was. For every trend you highlighted I could think of more examples of the same - like the one for the trust fund (Jupiter? can't remember) showing the new 'stars' of the comapny - three white, thirty-something men. It makes me so angry sometimes, but people often tell me I'm imagining things. Now, thanks to your excellent article, I'll be able to point them towards an articulate response to my worries! As the great Bill Hicks said: Advertisers, just kill yourselves. Do the world a favour.

From Xbox

'Ordinary Ads, Everyday Images': How about this... quit complaining about everything? Please do us a favor and shut the hell up.

From Sarah Walker

Re: 'Ordinary Ads, Everyday Images': Great article about the imagery which surrounds us. Very interested that older wrinkled women are ok if they are men in drag. This confirms what I feel every time I put on makeup - that I'm going into drag - because every image I've ever seen in TV or films of someone looking into a mirror to paint their lips its a man doing it.

From Dr Sasha Rakoff

'Ordinary Ads, Everyday Images': Excellent article re women and men on the tube. Writing as the director of OBJECT, an organisation that has been campaigning for some time over the sexually objectifying manner in which women are frequently portrayed on the tube and elsewhere, I would like to say how lucky Catherine was not to see adverts that blatantly sexually objectified women, on her day out.

Currently Selfridges is, like 'pimp my lounge' Virgin, 'normalising the pimp' in their hip-hop emulation : clothed black man on throne, surrounded by bikinied 'sex toy' women. Over the last few months we have seen:

Porn Cum Shot emulations, from the Teenage Cancer Trust, on bus shelters, complete with 70's pimp-look alike, ready to smear 'sun cream' over cleavage-shot bikinied girls. The cinema ad (cert 12A) was far more blatant in its pornographic references.

Lynx - barbie porn dolls twisted in pseudo lesbian gropes to form the words 'spray more get more' and Lynx - 'lesbian' groping Barbies spelling the words "Two's company, three's better"

Grand Theft Auto : San Andreas bus and tube ads : violent, realistic video game, with 'cheats' issued by the manufacturers allowing gamers to be serviced by then kill a prostitute (complete with screams for help) and, its later replacement, access to 'lesbian' porn reenactments

Madame Tussauds tube ads: 'Give your dad an early midlife crisis come see Britney pole dance'. This is despite Transport for London's own guidelines expressly disallowing adverts for pole dancing

All this is despite Transport for London (TFL) having admirably progressive guidelines regarding the objectification of women and men. Yet TFL's own staff seem unaware of the very existence of these guildeines; that they mean TFL actually pre vets all London Transport ads and has the power to remove them. TFL's staff do not seem unaware of their codes when it comes to the objectification of men, however. Jerry Hall's ad 'Kept', clothed (but sexily dressed) Jerry holding boxer-shorted men on all fours on leashes. This ad was pulled from the tube within hours by TFL management as 'objectifying to men'.

Object routinely challenges the objectifcation of women (as this seems to escape the attention of TFL management, like seemingly all other decision makers). Objectification which is increasingly directly aimed at teenagers and, now, children. For more information, to get involved or to volunteer contact us at ido@object.org.uk / www.object.org.uk

From william bartley morris

Women shouldn't be allowed to wear shoes because they shouldn't be allowed to go out of the house. Women should cook for men and get beers while we're watching football. Women should not be allowed to vote or have any freedom because they are an inferior race to men. Women are the weaker race and are only good for being men's slaves and making babies. FUCK WOMEN!!

From Dr Joan Boost

Re: Subvert the Dominant Pimpiarchy: I subscribe to your disgust for that small minority of men who are going in for these depraved sexual aberrations, but I do not exclude from that same disgust all those mothers (see the trial in Angers in France, where 40 f the rapists and pimps of their own children were women), grandmothers, sisters, aunties, in short: women who are in the forefront of selling young girls into brothels and such. And don't forget: most brothel runners are women. And don't forget that, ibndeec, not all - maybe one third - of the prostitutes are forced into it. For another third it is a lucrative profession, and the third lot are just "part-timing" housewives. Don't always just look to one side. It is that sexist self-excusing as "professional victims" and the NAZI-like persecution of all men that has taken away from THAT "feminis" a lot of credibility, and has contributed to the bad name that the word now has become. True FEMINISM [in proud and upright letters is not a "matriarchic misandry machine" but an alliance of Women AND Men for the rescue of human relationship in a dehumanized world. You, however, seem to have bought your tickets for a voyage on icebergish self-destruction of womanhood, namely pure "blame everyone but myself". That is NOT FEMINISM.

From Paul

You talk about feminism, which to me describes many differing causes. I think you are indeed not a feminist, but an equal-opportunist. Feminism, as it was originally is now unneeded and the move to equal-opportunism is required. You talk about how modern feminism benfits men, but there are some branches of feminism in the world which would see men as second class citizens, perhaps to 'make up' for the years of patriarchy that our grandparents and older relatives lived under and as such, it is time to shed the label of fighting for one particular group and gain the label of fighting for genuine equality to all people.

From Suhashini

In response to "Moon Mammas: fleece menstrual pads". In the article the author mentions that Lunapads is a U.S. company. It is in fact a Canadian company.

From Fee

Re: Why It's Time For the Battle of the Sexes to End: interesting stuff. reflecting on the role of female has changes over the years. it can be seen directly in the roles men or (bloke culture) which has changed also. in the medievil age men were civil and gentleman like to females in corsettees. earning money for the family and home was vital. now females are strideing out and blokes has some what lost there place as they do not have nessasery demands concerning the incomeing wage. I think 'bloke culture' has wasted time sitting around scratching their balls and picking their nose, no boundries have been pushed. and although im tired of the remarks the lads in my class give me about the indirect 'battle of the sexes' i still see in the future a battle brewing till the 'lagar lads' take their finger out their nose, and really think weman are getting to big for their boots. yes the sexes enjoy the battle of sexes, to which is the most superior and it is boring now. but i think its down to the mentallity that devides us and no common ground can be found to see simiralities. the one huge simirality is casual sex. weman have a great control over birth, and when casual sex takes place it then can be argued how is most domineering. and the term 'slut' can be erazed as birth control opens the doors to free sex to a certain extent. its a joint agreement to have a one nights stand, (most of the time.) just about anything goes in a contempory life and concider anything is there to be experimented with.

From Richard Ford

Re: FHM Music Channel: You miss the point as feminists so often do. Sex in the city ext is very dull for men- but so what? That is why God invented the remote. I would sugest you do the same with this.

From Mary

Re: Sick of Celebrity: Nicky, i live in the U.S. and don't know Katie Price. However I looked her up. one word: TRASH. if she thinks that anyone would be jealous of her blow up doll facade she is sadly mistaken. i too am tired of all the attention celebrities garner. it's exhausting. i refuse to buy fashion mags anymore if there is a celebritiy gracing it's cover. i have written countless letters to vogue and w about this problem. i live in l.a. and honestly, who gives a shit about these people!! boring. women are increasingly becoming stepford types. they all look the same!! people like you and i who have remained true to their god given bodies and faces will become godessess one day! don't you worry about. you rock!

From KM House

RE: Is Alcohol Really a Feminist Issue? by Victoria Dutchman-Smith. Loved it!!. Thanks very much for an aricle in the wry and factual tradition of British writing. Would that there were more like this in the squishy world of American journalism.

From p.todd

just found your rolling stones article while googling for something else - enjoyed it. Not sure if anyone else has pointed this out, but there IS a version of Under My Thumb sung by a woman. Don't know who the artist was but it was sometime early 80s - I actually heard it before the Stones version (I find the stones version more campy than offensive personally, maybe that's why). Great article anyway.

From Liz Howard

Re: Pictures are Not Everything by Ellery: This is a very emotional subject, whether you're pro- or anti-abortion. I believe that abortion services should be easier to access but that the upper time limit should be cut. Contraception and the morning after pill should be more widely availble but like the author stated, everyone needs to be aware of the consequences of their actions. Abortion shouldn't be a quick fix alternative because you forgot your condoms.

From nidhin raj

I am an indian by nationality and is 24 years old.I have read your comments on "The harry potter and the order of the phoenix". They were good to read(not as much as harry potter books,anyway). Instead of singling out charecters and situations from the book and reacting to them, appreciating the whole fantasy world created JKR is much more easier(Though i tend to agree with you in many occasions,the feminist thing i mean). I really feel your prespective is a little narrow though we indians ,asians as a whole are belived to have a strict and narrow perspective than you folks(westerners).To put it in simple words "You are missing the forest for the trees". NB:Congrats and well wishes for your weeding.

From Nina

Re: Contraception and Control: Teenage Rights: Just to say , i'm another british teenager and i totally agree with u.

From Mary Dysko

Re: Contraception and Control: Teenage Rights: Women - teenage or otherwise - deserve better than flooding their body with patented artificial abortifacient hormones in order to be available to some guy who would get them pregnant for his own pleasure. They wouldn't do it to cattle.

From N. Modi

Re: Attention Seeker: Took the words right out of my mouth.

From Adi Tantimedh

Regarding Jess McCabe's insightful and astute review of THE DESCENT: I felt Jess was a bit too lenient on the film. I didn't find the film ambiguous or ambivalent at all. In this "post-feminist" era when it's well established that women can be every bit as vicious and disloyal as men, I think the film is pretty blatantly anti-feminist.

From Jo

Re: Page 3: Ban It! i think pg 7 fella is a good idea bring it back!im currently a student in my third year at uni (dissertation year) and my dissertation is about feminism and society's social hierarchy. I found the article interesting and helpful

From Wendy

Did you see that a brothel for women is opening in Nevada? (I think near Las Vegas.) I'm not a big fan of prostitution, but I'm glad at least one exists, just for equality....

From Andrew B?

Re Smug Intentions: Richard and Judy on Chivalry: While I readily concede to the notion of how dreary all these beer soaked delusions of knightly chivalry can be it nevertheless would be needlessly crass to ignore good manners, least of all over-reading the process of another opening a door for you. Presumptions alter perceptions. This can create dangerous principles. Because one male opens a door for a female does not presuppose they do not for other males. However, dullish winking and molly coddling clearly does. Again this is only assuming that there is no other medical condition present which would account for this other than their penis.

I am reminded of the mantra that one should always grateful that a door has been open for you rather than it being slammed in ones face. This principal applies to both genders, literally and preverbal. I am also reminded that having several doors slammed in my face over the years can be extremely painful, though this is a more literal point than one with any real preverbal point.

To takes Holly?s premise to its not unreasonable conclusions then anyone still subscribing to the governance of nonsense medieval principles in society really should be ridiculed for being nothing less than repressively antediluvian. However in doing so this regrettably creates a whole paradigm about our equally ineffective medieval legal and politic systems. Although, it is worth making mention that success in this respects has less to do with doors opening and much more to do with greasy polls. In this instance the greasy poll is a preverbal point rather than a literal one. Conversely depending on where a person happens to have been schooled a greasy pole may act as a chief factor towards ones own legal and political achievements.

Personally I shall continue to open doors - by whatever merit - for those who need to have a door open for them, without malice or supposed superiority of gender, neither with intention or condescendence. I shall also avoid at all cost watching prime time shows to get annoyed by.

From Layla

Re: Not My Cup of T: Slogans on Women's T-Shirts: Why would you want T-shirts to be printed with the word 'Bitch'? I don't see how that would be a good thing for someone to call you or for you to call yourself.

From Vicky

I enjoyed your article [Stand Up For Equality], I am a comic script writer, artist (only in the eyes of my lecturers) and a musician. I am not trying to be egotistical, I just wanted to say I have been very interested in doing stand up for a while now but I didn't have the guts. Then...I saw a terrible, TERRIBLE woman at the comedy store, and oh did I gain my vehement guts. So if you have any advice, or you know, material, please help! It's going to be a bumpy one. ps-You should do stand up, you're funny...and I like you :)

From Jimbo Jones

you are a fool. the film [Sin City] is a based on the graphic novels by Frank Miller. The costumes and characters are very close to those in the books. If you have a problem do some research and complain about Miller not the filmmakers

From Jess

In response to the article about choosing not to get married [Are You Married? If Not, Why Not?], it is incredibly difficult and takes a lot of guts to resist the pressure. My partner and I have been together for over eight years and his family in particular continually pester us about getting married. It's hard to answer without sounding rude, especially when it's the 1000th time they've asked. It's also difficult to go to the weddings of friends whose relationships are much newer and less secure than ours, but who consider themselves superior because they are married. Gritting your teeth during the wedding service when the vicar talks about how marriage is necessary for true love and how only married people are committed to each other through thick and thin - very difficult to hear when you're not married but have been there for each other in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer. Sometimes I think it would just be easier to give in to the pressure and have everyone stop bothering us - and I do worry about the legal implications if one of us was to die or to become seriously ill. But then I realise that in order for us to change the system, we must all resist the pressure and show that some of the most committed, loving, and serious relationships don't need a piece of paper, or the permission of the state and religious authorities, to prove their worth.