Ladders. Patriarchal conspiracy. I’ll explain… This week I climbed a ladder. I was trying to reach a loft space, where ideally I could leave my Big Suitcase which at the moment is stuffed with fabulous knitwear. Seems like a simple operation, until I tried to, you know, put one foot in front of the other ...
It’s that time of year, when spring blossoms counteract the car pollution, beer gardens are filled with humans on the run from their sweltering offices and everyone briefly falls in love with someone they’d normally ignore. It’s also time for summer pursuits, like cycling. I’m in the market for a two-wheeler, having recently moved from ...
Airport security. Bloody nuisance. Also a conspiracy designed to subjugate women. Allow me to elaborate. Despite flying quite a lot, I’ve never been the focus of airport security attention, even though I always forget to take my lighter, tweezers or (on a recent flight) 250g jar of jam out of my handbag before entering the ...
Laptop bags; conspiracy of the patriarchal overlords. Oh yes. I am a woman with hands. The average-sized hands of an average-sized woman. So things should basically fit into my hands, especially the things I need to do my work on an average day. Like my laptop bag. My longest finger (the middle one, I’m not ...
There I was in the supermarket. It was an ordinary day, in an ordinary shop. Nothing sinister about the place apart from the peculiar choice of Duran Duran as background music. I weighed my apples, ground my coffee, selected my shampoo and reached for the tampons…and reached…and reached… Tampons on high shelves. TAMPONS ON HIGH ...
We all know that toy advertisements use a lot of gender stereotypes in their commercials. Girls get Barbies, clothes, makeup and rainbows. Boys get guns, war, action and loud noises. This is nothing new. But this website is new. A new site lets you “mash up” boys’ and girls’ toy commercials so that you can ...
There aren’t many gender-exclusive spaces left in our terribly enlightened society. Who needs them? Men’s clubs filled with (I guess) leather chairs, pipe smoke and oil paintings of hunting dogs have probably been fumigated and converted to pizza chains, while late-morning mothers’ groups have a healthy minority of full-time fathers. Only restrooms are gender-segregated, and ...
Since my friend had her first baby, she’s had her tits out all over town. Most folk have just ignored them, since they generally have an infant attached. She’s not pole dancing with sequinned tassles whacking people in the face or anything like that. Breastfeeding isn’t LIKE that. She didn’t make a decision to actively ...
It may be hilarious when every euphemism for a penis is thrown out there so we can all laugh when watching movies like Austin Powers, but when it comes to real life, let’s use real words. Of course, this is easier said than done. From early childhood, we learn words like “wee wee” and “privates.” ...
All women are real. I don’t mean to jump the gun, but there, I said it. I’m just so sick of women being separated into two distinct groups, one being “real” and the other “fake.” First of all, it seems downright derogatory to say that any woman is not real. I mean, is she some metaphysical ...
So, we’re having this baby. It’s due in a few weeks and we’re trying to get organized with all...
I recently heard about what is claimed to be the rising phenomenon of Japanese men remaining virgins for longer...
Ladders. Patriarchal conspiracy. I’ll explain… This week I climbed a ladder. I was trying to reach a loft space,...
Dear Madame X, My boyfriend needs to look at porn while we have sex. It bothers me because I...
Mrs. Dalloway is yet another feminist classic that I had to grow into. Wrapped up in Woolf’s instantly recognizable...
Last week saw a Big Thing come to our soggy little island. Well, it was a Big Thing for...
Last weekend I was entertaining a guest, you know, the sort I was planning to have lots and lots...
All little girls want to be princesses… right?! It’s bad enough that toy aisles are separated out by what...
