April 6, 2012 by sophieatherton

You’re a brick Samantha

A few thoughts on a misogynistic internet shitstorm

A friend texted me to ask if I was going to write something about the Samantha Brick debacle. For those of you who have missed it she is the woman who has been ridiculed, vilified and torn apart by various ‘commentators’ (read internet users with nothing better to do/too much time on their hands) because she wrote an arrogant article for the UK’s Daily Mail newspaper in which she expressed how difficult her life was because people thought she was so beautiful. Men apparently fall all over themselves to fawn over her and bestow her with gifts and free drinks, while women despise and loathe her because they perceive her as being more attractive than they are and therefore likely to lead their husbands/partners astray.

The Daily Mail wouldn’t want you to see me like this!

Part of me thinks I should just ignore the whole thing because it’s just yet another tabloid-press induced sideshow in which women’s appearance is deemed more important than what they do. That the Daily Mail is a particular proponent of this attitude has already been admirably considered and summed up by Hadley Freeman in The Guardian (see end of blog for link to her article) and doesn’t surprise me because I once wrote a piece for them that was subsequently spiked because my editor asked someone at the paper to rewrite it and they did so to the extent that it was both no longer my story and included things that were products of the re-writer’s imagination – presumably because the truth didn’t fit the Daily Mail’s vision of womanhood (again see Hadley Freeman’s article because she’s spot on with her analysis). Their vision of womanhood also extends to the way they photograph women for the paper – perhaps you’ve noticed how everyone on the pages of Femail looks suspiciously similar – as when I was photographed I wasn’t allowed to wear my own clothes or make-up; I had to remove nearly all my jewellery and have my hair curled. I drew the line at having my eyebrows plucked. I looked so different from my true self that when I showed my partner a photo of myself in Daily Mail Womanhood Guise he asked me who it was.

But back to Samantha Brick. The reason I’m writing this is not to slag her off like almost everyone else has done, but to say that her story is merely an example of a society that measures women’s worth by their looks rather than their deeds and to suggest that this is still one of the main issues for today’s feminists (and in case you are a Daily Mail Reader, a feminist is someone who believes in equality between the sexes, not someone who hates men, and women who they feel are better looking than themselves).

Which leads me to the subject of another text message – from a different friend – who had been to a screening of the film Miss Representation. She texted that she was walking round London feeling infuriated by it and that the “demeaning attitude towards women [illustrated by the film] fuels violence against us.”

Although I haven’t yet seen the full film just the trailer, Miss Representation would seem to be about tackling exactly the kind of narrow representations of women embodied by the Samantha Brick article – and again I’m not attacking her for writing it, but the question has to be asked what kind of newspaper commissions something like that?! (If you are familiar with The Daily Mail you’ll realise that was a rhetorical question). Except that Samantha Brick is the thin end of the wedge.

“Like drawing back a curtain to let bright light stream in, Miss Representation uncovers a glaring reality we live with every day but fail to see. Written and directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the film exposes how mainstream media contribute to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America. The film challenges the media’s limited and often disparaging portrayals of women and girls, which make it difficult for women to achieve leadership positions and for the average woman to feel powerful herself,” is how the website of the organisation set up to take action on the issues raised by the film describes it.

The organisation itself says:

“The film Miss Representation exposes how American youth are being sold the concept that women and girls’ value lies in their youth, beauty and sexuality. It’s time to break that cycle of mistruths.

In response we created MissRepresentation.org, a call-to-action campaign that seeks to empower women and girls to challenge limiting media labels in order to realize their potential.”

If you’re a reader from the UK you know this film is just as much about British culture as that of the US. The question is what are we going to do about it?

An example of how women are misrepresented on a poster ad in a London Underground station.

As the organisation suggestions, we have to start speaking out about the pigeon-hole most of the mainstream media would like to squeeze us into; we have to make sure our daughters and our sons (by which I mean the next generation – because not all women are biological mothers) realise there is more to being a woman than tits & arse, make-up and clothes and we – women – have to make sure we realise that as well – because our value should be measured not by what we look like but what we do.

Beer is a feminist issue

As well as writing and blogging about feminist issues I am also a beer enthusiast and have a beer blog called A FemAle View: This post is an example of how my two specialist subjects sometimes cross over.

Granted it’s not the biggest issue facing womankind, but an area where we still face prejudice and some discrimination is beer and brewing. As with many women’s issues there have been ups and downs. There’s a fair amount of evidence that women were the first to brew beer, but as recently as the 20^th century (and do shout if you know any examples of it this still happening) if women went to the pub at all they were restricted to the lounge bar or even considered prostitutes. Bizarrely, women going to pubs – and shock horror drinking beer in pint measures – has also been used as a way of gauging our sexuality – it apparently means you are a lesbian. Yes, this is anecdotal, but it’s a conclusion that’s been made about and pointed out to me on more than one occasion, albeit many years ago now.

Peculiar attitudes to women who work in the beer and brewing industry still persist though. From the relatively minor such as comments from men, including male bar staff along the lines of “What’s a nice girl like you doing drinking something like that,” to, a brewery employee who laughed openly when I mentioned I was planning a piece about women brewers, commenting that he didn’t think there were that many because the job requires a lot of physical strength; (At least one female brewer – or brewster – I know pleaded with me to tell her who said this so she could punch him on the nose backed with the same muscles used to dig out the tonnes of spent grain from the mash tun, a job she usually does solo) on to some of the horribly sexist imagery used to sell beer, be it on pump clip or advertising, from the recently headline-hitting Slaters brew Top Totty, to more obscure but no less problematic beers with names like Hanky Panky, both using pump clips featuring images of a semi-naked females which not only objectify and degrade women, but also indicate the brewers think that only men (or lesbians?) drink beer.

Women having a beer

What I’ve highlighted above is a problem not just because it is sexism but because it might put women off trying and/or enjoying the fantastic drink that beer is!

Luckily there are many women (too many to mention in one blog post in fact) aiming to redress the balance and make sure other women don’t miss out and this week there is even a women-only beer event where we can enjoy a few glasses of this magnificent beverage free of any of the anti-women sentiment that sometimes goes with the territory. It’s being held in Birmingham and hosted by a pal of mine, Marverine Cole who goes under the moniker of Beer Beauty. I must confess that it won’t be a 100% womanspace as she does have two male co-hosts, but only female punters are allowed in for the six-beers-paired-with-six-tapas-dishes-bash.

Bash might not be the best description actually, as the evening is designed to be a glamorous event for discerning women who either already love beer, or would like to find out just how far it has moved on from its blokey, beer-bellied, flat cap and whippet image; how great it tastes and how many different kinds of beer there are.

For example, there are dark beers with coffee and chocolate flavours, honey-sweet golden beers, crisp and refreshing lagers (nothing like your average pint of Fosters/ Stella/Heineken) and strong, fruity beers that sometimes get their flavour from actual fruit but often from a skilful blending of malt (made from barley) and hops. There are hundreds of styles of beer and even more individual beers within those styles. It is, quite simply, one of the most varied and exciting drinks there is and something that women shouldn’t be missing out on!

So, if you are in Birmingham (in the UK’s West Midlands) this Thursday, 29th March (2012), come along to FemALE at the Malmaison Hotel and strike a blow for women enjoying yet another thing that for too long and too often has been designated only for blokes.

Tickets are £25 – which covers beer, food and a goody bag to take home.

Visit: http://www.malmaison.com/hotels/birmingham/local-events.aspx to book.

Marverine Cole’s Beer Beauty blog can be found here: http://www.beerbeauty.co.uk/

And my beer blog here: http://afemaleview.wordpress.com/

February 6, 2012 by sophieatherton

Let’s get physical

Women journalists, bloggers and other writers went on the record in the UK quality press last year about threats and abuse they’ve been subjected to simply for expressing their opinions in writing. It reminded me of my suspicions that I’d been treated unfairly, and certainly viewed in a bad light, for being a forthright and assertive woman who was unafraid to express her opinion in the workplace (or elsewhere for that matter).

Although, thankfully, no one threatened me with violence or suchlike I recall one particular occasion where a colleague complained to my boss that I’d been aggressive in a team meeting when hand on heart I can say that although I had disagreed with the female complainant in said meeting, I was not aggressive. I simply made my point. I thought her suggestion was a bad idea for our team and disagreed with what she was saying.

I also remember telling my male boss that I thought it a ridiculous complaint and him responding that ‘other people’ (it turned out this actually meant one other colleague – who was a man not known for beating about the bush) had made the same observation about me. That was when it hit me. It wasn’t about me being ‘aggressive’ it was about me being a woman who dared to speak her mind when she thought something wasn’t right.

I could think of countless times when my boss or male colleagues had shot ideas down in flames, sometimes in a less than gentle manner, but no one complained about them. But it wasn’t fashionable to point sexism out in our relatively leftwing and politically correct workplace (How could such a thing happen here? Don’t be silly etc etc) so I ended up putting it away and wondering whether my feminist antennae were being over-sensitive. Until I read about the reactions from some quarters to women writing their opinions. And then I remembered something else.

I was suddenly reminded of my 18-year-old self. I was heavily influenced by the film Thelma and Louise, by another less well known Australian film called Shame* and by the character of Sarah Connor in Terminator 2. I wanted to be physically strong, muscular and tough and literally able to take on all comers – especially sexists and misogynists. I was full of fight and, back then, I was aggressive, and belligerent too. I wanted there to be a battle. I wanted to be as violent to those men who hate and hurt women as they are to us.

Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor in Terminator 2

I feel now that my younger self was wrong in her desire to be violent but I still believe that it is a good thing for a woman to be able to successfully physically defend herself should she be attacked and that physical strength is something women and girls should aspire to and not be ashamed of possessing. So I was overjoyed to read this article by Julie Bindel: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/feb/03/michelle-obama-ellen-press-up-feminist in which she expresses many of the same views I have and also hails one of my role models Sarah Connor (Yes, I still think she is marvellous!).

While many battles of feminism have been won, leading to laws on the statute book that ban discrimination on the grounds of sex, there is still a war to be waged against attitudes to women that would put us in tiny little boxes and try to make us all behave according to a narrow set of so-called feminine norms.

Instead of things getting better, on this front over the last 20 or so years they have become worse, the rise of sexualised culture, the prevalence of reality TV and the lack of diversity in the representations of women in the media generally – as if the only females that existed were thin, enthusiastic about baring their breasts and desperate to be looked at; rather than coming in all shapes and sizes and being capable of ACTUALLY DOING things rather than merely parading around while people watch them doing nothing (or pretending to be lesbians).

It may take a great deal of courage to refuse to behave in the way ‘women are expected to’ but the more of us that do the easier it will become for us to be who we really are and the harder it will be for those who want to diminish us.

And if you think it’s aggressive of me to say so you know what you can do with it.

*Shame was released in the late 1980s and starred Deborra-Lee Furness as a motorcycling lawyer who tries to win justice for a young woman who has been gang-raped in an isolated outback town. The strong, independent and leather clad Furness was a potent role model for me – despite the outcome of the story.

November 11, 2011 by sophieatherton

How to be angry

I was quite shocked when I realised that I hadn’t written anything for this blog since August, partly it comes down to prioritising paid writing over blogging, but there’s more to it than that.

It is both an exciting and frightening time to be a woman. Exciting because there is a lot of feminist activism going on and some decent coverage of it in the mainstream press, but terrifying in terms of the way women are still being viewed as sex objects and the way our culture has legitimised this, the way that violence against women, including rape, is taken lightly and even viewed as something to joke about (a man I know innocently told me this joke last week: “What time does an Indian wife-beater start hitting his missus? At six o’clock, on the dot.”) and the fact that the UK coalition government’s austerity measures are hitting women so hard that it threatens the progress that has been made towards equality.

Then there are the things I read or hear about in the news. The conviction of Vincent Tabak for the murder of 25 year old landscape architect Joanna Yeates and the apparent sexual motive of the killing; the murder of 21 year old Casey Brittle by her ex-partner even though she had complained to the police about him many times (there being little comfort in the fact the Independent Police Complaints Commission found the Nottinghamshire force had failed to protect her) and the ongoing debate about the way women journalists and bloggers are threatened and condemned for expressing their opinions in print and online. So many stories about women being criticised, abused and killed because they are women.

I thought about writing about many of these things but when it came to it I was overwhelmed and got no further than being shocked, saddened and angered, which reminded me of a poem by a fantastic writer called Joolz Denby, who used to go simply by the name Joolz when publishing and performing her poetry.

Fuel to the flame (which you can read in full here: http://joharrington.blogspot.com/2011/09/fuel-to-flame-by-joolz.html) resonates that dreadful feeling of being overwhelmed by one’s anger but there is a line that seems to offer a little advice on how not to waste it:

“And it takes control to be angry, you must be precise, get hold of the twisting screaming thing each day and leash it tight, because otherwise you burn up inside and nothing gets done…”

So, I will put my anger on its leash once more and try to find productive ways of using it so that it doesn’t get the better of me.

'Fuel to the flame' can be found in The Pride of Lions by Joolz Denby.

My starting point for this mission is to attend the FEM 11 conference in London this weekend, where issues such as abortion rights, women-only activism, ending violence against women, the sexual objectification of women and fighting back against the government cuts that threaten women’s equality are on the agenda and a host of women’s organisations are represented.

If I manage to keep my anger in check I’ll report back on how feminist activists are channelling their anger and on my efforts to do the same.

UK Feminista is the organiser of FEM 11. Read more about it here: http://ukfeminista.org.uk/events/fem-11-agenda/

Find out more about the brilliant Joolz Denby here: http://www.joolzdenby.co.uk/

Read about what happened to Casey Brittle and the findings of the IPCC investigation here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/oct/18/police-failed-mother-beaten-death-casey-brittle

August 16, 2011 by sophieatherton

Irritating everyday sexism: Dirty mums are making kids ill (allegedly)

Mums are more concerned about whether the kids wash their hands after going to the loo than they are about germs on the family computer. Eighty per cent of mums do clean the pc though, but apparently they don’t do it often or thoroughly enough – despite increasing evidence that computer keyboards can contain more bacteria than a loo seat.

I gleaned all this from a press release I received today issued by a company, AF International, which makes computer cleaning products. They arranged a poll of 1,000 UK mums in order to gather statistics about family hygiene habits. The poll also found that more than a quarter of mums reported their children were laid low by a mystery sickness or unspecified illness for one day or more in the last three months and seemed to suggest that mum not cleaning properly was to blame.

Here’s the part of the release in question: “From this evidence [referring to kids being unwell as described above], it would appear that mums are right to focus on the personal hygiene of family members but the poll findings call into question whether they are focusing their cleaning efforts in the right place.” [My emphasis].

I realise this is just a press release and not an article in the BMJ, but what an outrageous conclusion to jump to. The kids are under the weather so they must have picked up a bug from all the time they spend on the dirty computer their mum doesn’t know how/can’t be bothered to clean. No mention of how some kids swing the lead to get a day off school (I know about this because I did it all the time), or questions about how clean the computer in the classroom is, just jump straight into ‘blame the mother’.

Obviously this company isn’t the first or only to use, abuse and/or demonise women to publicise and sell its products but that doesn’t exempt them from criticism. Acknowledging the fact that it’s mostly women who clean the house is one thing, blaming us for not doing it properly and making our children ill while at the same time ignoring the facts that other members of a household also ought to shoulder some responsibility for keeping the place clean and the home isn’t the only place children are exposed to germs is plumbing the depths.

I’ve got a great solution for stopping your kids picking up germs from the computer though, don’t let them use it. Give them a book to read or play a board game with them instead.

Risking life & limb using potentially germ ridden, deathtrap laptop.

Here’s a link to the full press release so you can make up your own mind about it:

http://www.sourcewire.com/releases/rel_display.php?relid=66547

July 29, 2011 by sophieatherton

Letter to a stepdaughter about make-up

Dear T,

I’m sorry I was annoyed when you came home from your school disco the other evening. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. I was just surprised because you were wearing a lot more make-up than I thought you ought to be. I thought the green eye shadow I gave you was more than enough and that mascara was a step too far for an 11-year-old attending her primary school disco – even if it is your last one before going up to Big School!

I can’t actually send you this letter (it will probably form one of the chapters in “I’ll tell you when you’re 18” though) but I wanted to explain why I don’t think you should be wearing make-up just yet.

Make-up basically makes your eyes look bigger, your lips fuller and in some cases makes your cheeks appear flushed. Although the reasons why women wear make-up may have changed over time, making the face up has its basis in sexual attraction and at 11 you are obviously way too young for that.

I know you’re already going through puberty and that, coupled with your height, makes you look older than you are. You are starting to become aware that you don’t look 11, as shown by your friends not believing your age when you went camping at half term – but mentally and emotionally you are still a child.

That isn’t meant to be patronising or negative. It is just a fact. You are starting to mature, but you’ve a good few years to go yet before you have the life experience that puts you on the road to adulthood. Until you get there you will make yourself vulnerable if you wear clothes and make-up that make you look more mature than you actually are.

I know you think (as all kids past, present and probably future do) that I don’t understand because I’m older than you and things have changed since I grew up – in the ‘olden days’ – but if you have your own kids one day I think you’ll understand that’s not the full story.

Wearing make-up is adult behaviour and is related to attracting a mate. That basically makes it the first step towards a physical relationship and, as you know from the PSHE classes you’ve had recently, sex education isn’t called The Facts of Life for nothing.

I realise I am jumping way ahead. Your reasons for wanting to wear make-up are probably more to do with having a fun time putting it on in the company of your mates, but by wearing it you are heading into the territory I’ve described above – whether you realise it or not. The trouble with that is you are sending out a message about yourself without understanding what that message is and without intending to send it, but those around you will get the message and my fear is they will respond. Their response might be nice, or it might be nasty, but either way it is something you shouldn’t have to deal with.

You’re 11. You have your whole life ahead of you. It might be annoying to have to wait but there’ll be plenty of time for wearing make-up when you’re older and you understand the implications of it. I’m not asking you to wait a hundred years – just two or three and maybe by then you’ll have worked out why I didn’t want you caked in mascara at 11.

Lots of love,

Soph.xxx

June 17, 2011 by sophieatherton

Lady you can drive my car… but I’d rather you could drive your own

Celebrating and supporting the Women2Drive campaign in Saudi Arabia

I can’t imagine what my life would be like if I wasn’t allowed to drive. Although I didn’t start learning until I was 26, passing my test and getting my own car has played a major role in being able to be an independent woman.

My first car, a battered Ford Fiesta, cost me just £50. I only had her (she was called Bessie) for about six months but there are countless things I might not have done without her – including my journalism training.

I’ve had three different cars since then and have driven all over the UK, from Cornwall in the west of England, to Norwich in the east and as far north as Aberdeen in Scotland. Much of my driving is to visit friends or to see my favourite band, New Model Army, wherever they might be playing and I’ve made new friends who also travel to see them.

Being able to drive, having my own car and being able to go where I want when I want have shaped, influenced and probably revolutionised my life. It has allowed me to stay in touch with old friends and strengthen ties with newer ones; it’s enabled me to work, as I’ve often had to commute, and when I was a newspaper reporter I couldn’t have done my job without being able to drive to places to interview people or cover the events that made stories; it’s allowed me to escape boredom and loneliness by going places to take my mind off things or be with other people; I’ve been able to give lifts to friends and family and I’ve even helped people move house.

Without a car, the weekly shop (for a family of four) couldn’t be done in one go (I can’t imagine how long it would take or how many times I’d have to go back and forth) and I’d be dependent on the willingness of others to take me places – which would have a huge impact on both my work life and social life.

I expect that many of us take driving for granted, but be in no doubt, having your own car, which you can drive where and when you like, is an empowering thing for a woman in any country.

So, today, I’m thinking of all the women in Saudi Arabia who don’t have the freedom that I have and wishing good luck to those taking part in the Women2Drive campaign (see link below) which asks women to get behind the wheel and to post images and videos of themselves driving. This campaign of direct action will apparently continue until the ban on women driving is lifted. Let’s hope they don’t have to wait too long.

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