Why aren’t more people feminists nowadays?
Laurie Penny: Feminism is the one F-word that makes eyes widen in polite company (from this week's New Statesman) The other week, one of my Facebook friends (who has severe ME) wrote that it...
Category: Gender
Andrade tragedy is not unique
Sexual abuse victim’s suicide sparks call for review of court procedures | UK news | guardian.co.uk Last week it was revealed that Frances Andrade, the 48-year-old violinist and music teacher who had given evidence...
Women and Asperger’s syndrome: make-up is not compulsory
The Asperkid’s (Secret) Book of Social Rules: The Handbook of Not-So-Obvious Social Guidelines for Tweens and Teens with Asperger Syndrome – book information – Jessica Kingsley Publishers I recently came across the above title...
Burchill’s bigoted rant has no place in the Observer
Today the Observer posted an article by Julie Burchill, a right-wing columnist given to bigoted rants laden with gratuitous slurs, against the transsexual “lobby” in response to the supposed bullying of Suzanne Moore, a...
The problem with ‘privilege’ (and the anti-cuts movement)
The problem with privilege-checking by Tom Midlane (from the New Statesman website) I had this article tweeted at me earlier this week and the accompanying comment read "Privilege is a myth. Guess before you...
Mehdi Hasan, abortion and the “no womb, no opinion” fallacy
Mehdi Hasan, a former editor at the New Statesman who has since moved to the Huffington Post, had a largely very well-reasoned article published on the latter website about how being opposed to abortion...
RadFem 2012, “male privilege” and censorship
Yesterday it was announced that a radical feminist conference that was to be held at Conway Hall in London has had to find another venue after an online campaign led to the venue’s owners...
We must do away with the “ignore and it’ll go away” myth
Catcalls, whistles, groping: the everyday picture of sexual harassment in London (from the Independent) Yesterday (Friday) it was reported in the Independent newspaper in London, and discussed on the Vanessa Feltz show on BBC...
Trayvon Martin and rad-fem bigotry
Name the Problem « You think I just don't understand, but I don't believe you. (also here) I don’t normally follow American (or any other) radical feminist blogs, but I saw this when a...
Laurie Penny and breast implants
French exploding breast implants — hilarious, right? Wrong | Laurie Penny | Comment is free | The Guardian I've been following the story about the French breast implant recall with some interest, as it...
Why do lads’ mags offend more than the words of rapists?
Are sex offenders and lads’ mags using the same language? – University of Surrey – Guildford A recent study carried out jointly by the universities of Middlesex and Surrey in the UK (press release...
Young adult marriage visa ban: unjust, now unlawful
Supreme Court overturns non-EU young spouses ban (from BBC News) The UK Supreme Court has ruled that a government ban on British citizens bringing spouses under the age of 21 from outside the EU...
What makes appropriate school dress?
School skirt ban is just the latest battle in the uniform wars | Education | The Guardian Recently a secondary school in Ipswich (the third in the town) changed its uniform code making trousers...
Nothing “right on” about rape jokes, Jan
Michael McIntyre endures jealousy of rival comics | Mail Online I'm not all that familiar with the comedy of Michael Macintyre, who has a reputation for being the "nice guy" of British comedy at...
The dangers of over-generous parental rights
Pregnant? Wait till the boss hears | Life and style | The Guardian This article was about a woman (Danniella McClain, right) who worked for an upmarket estate agent's in west London, who informed...
Sexualisation of children: start with the adults
Innocence Lost: What Happened to Girlhood? « Clutch Magazine The above article appears on a website mainly aimed at the African American community and I got the link from a Black American Muslim friend...
Who’s defending Dominique Strauss-Kahn?
Dominique Strauss-Kahn finds sympathy in Paris | World news | The Guardian The above article lays out some of the conspiracy theories people in France entertain about why the former head of the International...
Calls for apologies for 1970s virginity tests
The Guardian have been running various stories lately over files released which show the extent of virginity tests which were being carried out on Asian brides, either on arrival at Heathrow or before they...
Watch who you call a ho
For the second time in about a month, I’ve come across the same person I know on Facebook throwing the word “ho” (whore) around at women who are not, in fact, prostitutes. Last time,...
Waterloo Road: how much protection does a 17-year-old need?
Yesterday, the last in the present series of Waterloo Road, the BBC school soap, aired, and it featured the climax of two separate stories, that of Denzil and his death-defying stunts which nearly killed...