Hegemony and the Desexualisation of Children

The so-called sexualisation of children has been all over the news this week with a report for the home office being published by Dr Linda Papodopoulos. Amongst recommendations are those about softcore men’s mags such as Nuts and Zoo being made to be top-shelf publications, as they are often seen by eight to fifteen year [...]

The Grey Ceiling

This is a guest post by Francesca Rose Lewis.
Much has been written recently on the malaise (if not quite death) of feminism. In 2006 Ariel Levy’s Female Chauvinist Pigs bemoaned the desire of women to become sex objects in a perverse re-reading of female power. Germaine Greer went on Celebrity Big Brother, and, in the [...]

Sex, relationships and the weird world of Liz Jones

The taboo on relationships between older women and younger men is one of the stranger and more persistent ones in modern Britain. No one seems to think much of Rod Stewart being married to a woman 26 years his junior, but the love lives of Sam Taylor-Wood and Iris Robinson are the focus of a [...]

Thanks but no thanks

So the Tories want to incentivise marriage? Who says romance is dead?
I got married two years ago (please contain your disappointment…). Contrary to popular belief I did this by choice. It hasn’t made one iota difference to our relationship, it does however change how others treat you (I now get patronised even more by bank [...]

When open misogyny apparently passes for debate…

Next Friday my Students’ Union will host a ‘Playboy Mansion’ themed club night. Over the past few weeks at what is still quite a new University for me I have been more and more bothered by the sexualised atmosphere promoted by the union’s venues. But, with my attentions largely elsewhere (on job cuts, the fact that [...]

Why Men’s Societies Could be a Step Forward

Across the left there has been an explosion of mockery and outrage at the formation of men’s societies at Oxford and Manchester universities. This is, in part, because of the reputedly dubious activities of the Manchester men’s society in particular. Equally there has been an instinctive – and to some extent reasonable – reaction against [...]

Beauty and the Beast

This week the identity of one of the internet’s most infamous bloggers was revealed. Belle de Jour, who wrote anonymously about her life as a highly paid call girl turned out to be Dr Brook Magnanti, 34, a research scientist in Bristol. Cue moral outrage and titillation – the favourite combination of the right-wing press.
“By [...]

Girls Only

Guest post by Ruth Lukom
A new coffee bar has opened at the bottom of our road. It is modern, stylish and the smell of coffee and cakes is very inviting. It is a Women Only café.
I live in Waltham Forest, an area with a high Muslim population. For the past 20 -30 years they were [...]

Side Effects

An online site advertising prostitutes received an unexpected boost from the minister for women and equality this week – is all publicity good publicity?
On the final day of the Labour party conference Harriet Harman gave a rousing speech where she attacked businesses that exploit women. Chief among her targets was a website called Punter Net [...]

Skinny celebrities, ‘real women’ and misogynist vitriol

Well apparently September is fashion season in London. This is probably not common knowledge in the left blogosphere. In fact, as somebody who invariably dresses in bad leather jackets and beanies, catwalk events barely registered on my radar until the shitstorm kicked up a few years ago about so-called ’size zero’ models. It was a strange moment [...]