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 ...
Skincare. Not so very long ago, a man would have been mocked mercilessly for using just the word, never mind the products themselves. But now we’re all mature, we’re all free, non-judgemental, confident in ourselves and our sexuality. Yes, whatever yins your yang, it’s all totally groovy. So we’re all using skincare products, nobody’s mocked ...
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 ...
When Fashion Weeks continue around the world, the media turns its attention for a brief moment to the fashion world. The Fall/Winter 2012 shows are no exception: new trends, shapes and cuts have been born on the runways of Paris, New York and Sao Paolo. The creativity of the designer’s interpretations of the latest styles ...
Dear Madame X, My boyfriend and I decided not to do anything for Valentine’s Day this year. Some of my friends think that this is a sign of us not being “into” each other and that our relationship must be dying. Does not wanting to celebrate this holiday really mean that you don’t really like ...
My attention was drawn this week to an article on the resurgence of the market for men’s underwear. It claimed that men’s underwear is becoming a real “growth category” for the fashion industry, with design innovation coupled with celebrity endorsement (particularly by sportsmen) creating a bigger market. The idea is that, if you can say ...
It was almost two years ago when my co-worker, Laura and I were breaking out. We were not breaking out of prison, or the underground club scene, nor were we breaking out like MC Hammer doing the running man in front of a harem of spandex-clad dancers. We were breaking out in acne, presumably a ...
I think it’s fair to assume that most of us have at least one self-help book sitting among our bookshelf, or possibly hidden at the bottom of our underwear drawer, safe from the eyes of inquisitive company. Mine is a metaphysical extreme titled, Spirit Babies: How to Communicate with the Child You’re Meant to Have ...
If you’re a woman, forget drinking the new version of Dr. Pepper. It’s for men only. At least it’s so heavily marketed towards men that we’re safe calling the Dr. Pepper Ten (for ten “manly” calories) ad campaign an extreme example of “manvertizing.” However, it goes beyond just targeting men. At the end of the ...
I was looking through a magazine for old ladies the other day. Not in a sinister way, you understand – I wasn’t scanning for incontinence bras or ogling the side-entry baths. In fact, my mother writes for some of these magazines, and I was reading one of her contributions. Anyway, when I picked up the ...
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...
