March 2013
1 post
Why International Women's Day?(...and when is...
International Women’s Day, a wonderful day, one of my favourites. However, it is consistently marred by the ever predictable response of many “When’s International Men’s day then?”
Hands up if you’ve already heard/seen that today? Well…here is my response.
Firstly, congratulations on being so highly original and witty, no-one ever made that crack before.
Secondly, it’s on 19th...
January 2013
1 post
5 tags
Hate speech, free speech and a considered...
Last weekend an article was published in The Observer in which Julie Burchill poured forth a vile torrent of hateful words and comparisons aimed at transsexuals, particularly it would seem, transsexual women.
Immediately there was outcry at the way she had chosen to phrase her argument, an argument which was completely lost amongst the offensive, derogatory and completely hateful language she...
November 2012
2 posts
3 tags
Voting: done

In the style of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey (for no good reason whatsoever) ’Voting: done.’ I’ve just returned from casting my vote in the Police & Crime Commissioner elections. I have to be honest, it was a bit of a tustle with my conscience about whether to leave my nice warm house, that I’d just returned to after a long day at work, and a long cold walk home, to go an vote - or whether...
4 tags
Me, myself & I
I’ve come home today trying to shake off a ‘fat’ day feeling. This was triggered by the usual trying on clothes in a shop that didn’t look good, even when i tried the bigger size, and also from having to try on for new uniform at work an announce that the size I now need is two sizes bigger than the last time I got uniform. It got me thinking and wondering about what we...
September 2012
1 post
Uncomfortable - a poem
Note* As I wrote this it started out being about one thing, then it became more apparent to me that, for my own personal experiences, it could actually be about several. Whether that is keeping my true emotions inside, or not voicing my opinions, or conforming to the gender stereotypes of the society I live in. It could be all these things and more. So I hope that as others read it, they find some...
July 2012
1 post
A poem, in it's rawest form
I turn myself into stone, but stone’s not as hard as it seems…beneath the slate surface it teems,
with the the weight of it’s memories causing fissures and splits,
from the frustrated words kept from my lips.
Each fossilized pain is frozen in time,
is unchanged forever and exclusively mine.
The solidified strata layer over the truth, and conveniently compress
all I wish to...
May 2012
1 post
4 tags
Marriage conundrum...
I recently read an old blog from The F Word in which one feminist explained why she had decided marriage wasn’t for her. I guess her blog hit a nerve with me, because marriage is something I’ve done a lot of pondering over myself recently. Whether I want to get married and, if so, how & why. As many of you know, my feminist ideals burn within me and I find them very difficult to...
April 2012
1 post
A slightly furious rant...
I have removed this blog now. I’m glad I said it, but didn’t want it to be out there in the world for too long…. And I’m slightly less furious now.
March 2012
2 posts
5 tags
Beautiful bodies in 'The House of Tolerance'
Often when you go to see a film there is one element of it that resonates within you somewhere, and keeps coming back to you in the days after; some impact that the film has upon you which reverberates through your consciousness.
This week I went to see a french film called ‘The House of Tolerance’ (L’Apollonide: Souvenirs de la Maison Close). The film was about a Parisian...
6 tags
Anti-Street Harassment Week
This week, from 18th - 24th March, is International Anti-Street Harassment Week (http://www.meetusonthestreet.org/). The event has grown from an Anti-Steet Harassment day in previous years, to a whole week dedicated to raising awareness of, and seeking to end, street harassment in it’s many guises. It’s grown to a weeklong event because of the massive response in the past from...
February 2012
5 posts
2 tags
Self Harm Awareness Day
March 1st is World Book Day, you’ve probably heard something about it on TV, or maybe there’s something going on at your local library. WHat you probably haven’t heard much about is that March 1st is also Self Harm Awareness Day.
I used to self harm. Maybe some of you already know this, may be some of you did not. I am not ashamed of this fact, it is part of who I am. To...
1 tag
NORA @ the Belgrade Theatre 16/2/12: A review and...
As a sixth form theatre studies student i studied Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and developed a huge affection for it. The production I saw in London at the time was stunning and the impression it left on me has lasted over the years. I felt Ibsen’s play was courageous, it had a rebellious spirit I admired, and the courage of Ibsen’s Nora I found inspiring. All this being...
1 tag
Thin end of the wedge? Why it was right to ban...
The thin end of the wedge? Why it is right to ban prayers at the start of council meetings.
Last week the High Court ruled that “the saying of prayers as part of the formal meeting of a Council is not lawful under s111 of the Local Government Act 1972.” The ruling was given in response to a recent Judicial Review instigated by the National Secular Society (NSS) in response to a complaint by Clive...
http://www.womensviewsonnews.org/2012/02/out-of-the... →
Woo! An article from Women’s Views On News about the Coventry feminist group I’ve helped start, with bits from an interview I did with Jane Osmond, who wrote the piece!
January 2012
3 posts
A Room of One's Own - a review and some...
I have recently had the pleasure of reading, for the first time, Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own. I loved the book, which is based on two papers read by Woolf to the Arts Society at Newnham and the Odtaa (One Damn Thing After Another) Society at Girton in 1928. With this firmly in mind it is easy to imagine Virginia’s voice speaking the words aloud to a packed room. Her...
NO to Dorries; YES to a real choice for teens....
Dorries is again drawing our attention with her latest attempt at a bill in Parliament. This time her target is set on abstinence being taught to girls (and yes, just the girls) in school as part of sex education. Thankfully there has been, as there was to Dorries’ previous attempt at a bill, a reassuring cacophony of voices shouting their dismay and dissent to her sexist, outdated stance. One can...
Mary Ann Sieghart column from the Indy →
Great piece about women and body image.
September 2011
3 posts
Thought provoking article about a woman who has... →
Some interesting points raised in this. I’d like to have a read of her blog
Good news →
Abortion amendments and my thoughts on the whole...
With the proposed abortion amendments in the news this week the topic has been brought to the forthought of debate again. It seems, as the week unfolds, that the government will vote against these amendments, thankfully. But never-the-less the whole thing has got me thinking again about this sensitive subject.
The whole pro-life vs. pro-choice debate seems to me to be far too black and white. If...
August 2011
2 posts
Article about Catherine Hakim's ridiculous new... →
This woman has made me so angry with what I’ve read about her new book ‘honey money’, in which she promotes the idea of erotic capital; apparently what women should be using to get ahead in the world. Read this article!
http://huffingtonpost.com/mina-samuels/obsessive-bo... →
July 2011
7 posts
Update on DSK case →
This poor woman has been so unfairly portrayed as a money grabbing liar. I think she is brave and courageous speaking out about her attack, many would be, and are often, too afraid.
Grrr... →
Post from feministing about Hilary Clinton being criticized for what she wears…ugh! Come on world!
Interesting article about Dominique Strauss Kahn... →
Airbrushed photo ads banned. Marvellous! →
Annoying
Just saw a woman being interviewed on the news, she was asked if she was excited about the Olympics and replied “maybe it’s because I’m just a girl and not that interested in sports, but I’m not that excited”. Winds me up when women enforce loopy gender stereotypes like ‘girls don’t like sport’. Also ‘JUST a girl’?! Please! And that is my...
Ricky Gervais provokes a reaction →
