Back in the late eighties I was one of two girls out of thirty pupils in my 5th form Physics class. While girls were happy to take up the Biology and Modern Language options, inContinue reading
‘Hello my little Barbies’: Nicki Minaj and Masquerade
A few months back a youth work colleague voiced concern about the young women she works with listening to a rising new female rapper, Nicki Minaj. She felt that the lyrics and the image wereContinue reading
Bad Animals Sitting Sweetly: Some Thoughts on Naughtiness, Gender and What We Learn in School
Let it be known that my six-year-old daughter is a child rife with frolicsome mischief. The experience of parenting said child fostered my interest in naughty youngsters, the connections between misbehavior and personhood andContinue reading
In My Own Words: A Feminist Narrative
In the second of her autobiographical interviews with feminist academics, Carol Taylor talks to Valerie Hey. Currently Professor of Education at the University of Sussex, Valerie is well known for her theoretical and practical commitmentContinue reading
In memoriam: Shulamith Firestone
On 28th August, Shulamith Firestone was found dead in her Manhattan apartment at the age of 67. Firestone’s 1970 book, The Dialectic of Sex, is a carefully argued and inspiring call for a feminist revolutionContinue reading
Another August, another A level results day
On the 16th August I was taken back to my own A level results day and also to the day of A level results for the twenty-one young women I interviewed for my PhD research.Continue reading
No more pens envy: Bic market female biros
When my artist friend Mary Yacoob excitedly emailed me a link to ‘bic for her’, the new pen for girls and women, after I’d checked it wasn’t April Fools Day, I started to worry aboutContinue reading
FWSA Book Prize 2012
Dear All, I am delighted to announce that the winner of the 2012 FWSA Book Prize is Professor Clare Hemmings (LSE) for her text, Why Stories Matter: the Political Grammar of Feminist Theory. After reviewingContinue reading
The Muddy-Booted Boys: The Lads’ Redneck American Cousins
It was the first day of school, and we were standing on the bleachers in the gymnasium, waiting for the seniors to make their ceremonial entrance. I stood there with the ninth graders, craning myContinue reading
Cultures of Class: ‘Cashed Up’ and (Dis)Appearing in Place
In Fame, Folk Devils and Generation X-Factor, Heather Mendick and Kim Allen highlight the moral condemnation of the ‘get rich quick’ X-Factor generation, and the profound classing of ‘celebrity’ as (un)appealing and (dis)tasteful. Patterns ofContinue reading
