I’m a heterosexual man. I always have been. I was a child in the 1970s and a teen in the 80s. I have made lots of mistakes in my life and my attitudes have evolved over time – I’m sure that despite my trying to live in a better way, I have attitudes and unconscious […]
Feminism
Oh Dear, Dr Greer
Perhaps the first serious, scholarly book I ever read for pleasure, rather than as part of a syllabus, was The Female Eunuch. I can’t remember now how I came across a copy or who recommended it to me, but I most certainly can remember the experience of reading it; I had never thought about my […]
Weaponising Fragility
Weaponising Fragility How Ruth Davidson betrayed women, yet again On May 25th, in the late evening, Ruth Davidson tweeted that at lunchtime she had been followed through the streets by a man shouting Indy slogans while filming her as his dogs barked. As someone who has experienced my fair share of street harassment (I speak […]
The Price You Pay for Having Ovaries
It’s not until you start paying attention you realise how ridiculous it is. £2 for a tampon out of a machine. You must have the right change – 2 individual pound coins or you’re goosed. And that’s one of the cheaper scenarios! If you use the women’s toilets, have a look next time. […]
The G Word
As a gay woman I’ve been lucky enough to have a broad range of inspirational females to befriend. Recently there has been furious debate about the changes to the Gender Recognition Act. I have friends on both sides of the debate. As I consider myself to be a generally liberal feminist (in the literal […]
Weesht For Indy – Not…
Weesht For Indy – Not… I am part of a political group that agrees to disagree on pretty much all of the razors of political analysis that cause splits, tantrums and forked tongued statements. Ungagged is a website and political podcast that has pretty much every left view somewhere in its archive, said by people […]
White Ribbons for Indy
“It is incumbent upon each of us to be the woman that [killer’s name] wanted to kill. We must live with this honor, this courage. We must drive out fear. We must hold on. We must create. We must resist. Andrea Dworkin (2007) Online, in an increasingly polarised section of the internet called “the […]
If you Wanna Be My Lover…
I like to think most men agree that grabbing a woman by the vagina without asking permission first is not a nice thing to do. Most men would, I hope, agree that forcing parts of yourself into a woman while she is passed out drunk behind a dumpster is also not very nice. Most men […]
V’s Fee, East Kilbride Yes and Manels
How Victoria Pearson, a writer in Bedfordshire who works for Scottish Pro-Indy podcast Ungagged, ended up being trolled as a result of being caught in the crossfire of the twitter storm about all male panels.
Universal Chaos
A shocking government briefing paper written by David Webster of the Child Poverty action Group has come to light exposing the failings of the Tories flagship Universal Credit system, including skyrocketing sanctions against pregnant women, and people with mental health problems. The scheme, which the government agreed in its universal credit white paper (pdf) was […]