Much talk of girls and girlhood on International Women’s Day 2012 inspired me to re-read the most inspirational book of my own girlhood, Roald Dahl’s Matilda. Matilda is not unusual for a Roald Dahl character — a small person who turns the tables on the big people — but she is unusual amongst girls in ...
One Christmas I finally got Holiday Barbie. After begging my parents for years, I could breathe a sigh of relief. The only problem was she was too pretty to play with. I couldn’t even take off her elaborate white dress. Already, I wanted to take my Lego back out of its box. What reminds me ...
When you think of the Middle Ages, feminism and gender equality rarely come to mind. Men are kings, knights and lords while women are silent and submissive. The setting of George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones is just as sexist: whore houses abound, marriages are arranged at a startlingly young age, and rape is ...
Ad campaigns featuring feminine hygiene products often feature a woman with long flowing hair jumping around in a field of fresh flowers, if not a depressed woman in a hoodie looking embarrassed. Thankfully, Summer’s Eve has stopped trying to convince women they need to smell like lilacs down there. Their ad campaign celebrates the vagina ...
Thick black hair, smouldering good looks, barrel chest, 6’2”; the strapping fireman bursts into your blazing apartment, risking his life to whisk you from the flames, scaling the 10-storey wall to deliver you from danger — but not before he ravishes you on the balcony. It’s a lot to live up to. Mills and Boon, ...
Idol worship can be dangerous. We’ve read the news stories where mobs of Beatles or Justin Bieber fans end up hurting people. Now imagine these crazed fans were trained, given guns and had pledged to die for their idol? It sounds dangerous, and also a bit frightening. Hundreds of women, from young girls to ...
Men have always complained about paying their ex-wives alimony. They have to work longer hours to shell out spousal support for a relationship that’s long over. Well, the tables have been turned and successful women with big bank accounts are bitter, explains an msn article. It’s easy enough to say that men have been doing ...
(As in the Son of God, not the guy holding the stack of dollar bills). A former exotic dancer found Jesus but won’t give up the pole. She runs the classes on Sunday, and all students must provide evidence that they attended Church that day. “I decided to take the part I liked about that ...
He’s bringing sexy back, yeah. In a new ad for his tequila brand, Justin Timberlake ventures into the complimentary areas of oral sex and female empowerment. Using alcohol to sell sex is nothing new, but it is rare to see a woman on the receiving end. A well dressed woman walks into the room, talking ...
Dear Madame X, I have just started seeing this girl. She seems great, but she recently told me she...
Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved arrived in my hands via a public library, when I was a broke teenager with...
My attention was drawn this week to an article about the reaction at a Canadian university to proposals to...
Airport security. Bloody nuisance. Also a conspiracy designed to subjugate women. Allow me to elaborate. Despite flying quite a...
The Cannes film festival has kicked off this week with controversy over the lack of films made by women...
Dear Madame X, I seem to be only attracted to men who are macho assholes. I like them at...
When A Clockwork Orange was published in 1962, the term sexualized violence wasn’t in use. The distinction between sexualized...
Skincare. Not so very long ago, a man would have been mocked mercilessly for using just the word, never...
