Women’s Work gig happening this Friday!

From the Facebook event:

“Following the success of the first ‘Women’s Work’ gig, an all-female performance benefit for the Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre, we decided to do another one. Come along to the Fountain for outstanding performances from these talented women, for a night you will not forget in a hurry!

Performances from:

Fay Roberts
Catherine Adams
Eleanor Cramer
Leanne Moden
MOUTH
Netta Chachamu
Kate Smurthwaite

£7 on the door (£6 adv)
ALL PROCEEDS TO THE CAMBRIDGE RAPE CRISIS CENTRE”

It’s happening at 8 o’clock, 1st November at The Fountain pub on Regent Street. You can get advance tickets from Eventbrite here – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/event/5212075458

Facebook event – https://www.facebook.com/events/517711121650588

Cambridge Lose the Lads Mags Demo!

PROTEST AND PETITION IN CAMBRIDGE! MAKE YOUR VOICES HEARD!

Date & time: Saturday 24 August, 12:00-13:00

Venue: Tesco Express, 35 Cherry Hinton Road, Cambridge, CB1 7DZ [the mini Tesco store at the leisure centre, by cinneworld/the junction]

Join Cambridge Rape Crisis as we call on Tesco to lose the lads’ mags! Lads’ mags fuel attitudes underpinning violence against women. They have no place in Tesco stores.

“Good” corporate beauty messages, and their limitations

Dove kicked up a flurry of controversy in the feminist blogosphere recently with their advertising campaign, which showed that women tend to judge themselves less attractive, than a stranger would judge them. Some women appreciated this message, while others (myself included) reacted more cynically.

The hidden damage caused by the dominant beauty standard is huge. Many women suffer from eating disorders, and some even die. Even those of us who appear to get off scott-free still have to put energy into overcoming toxic beauty ideals, and this is energy that we don’t get to put into other things.

But as Imran Siddiquee showed in her excellent article Women are not their own worst beauty critics, the toxic and hateful beauty standard was not created by you or me, and it does not arise from ordinary women’s lived day-to-day experiences. The beauty ideals that harm so many of us are manufactured by (male-dominated) corporations and delivered in a non-stop onslaught by the (male-dominated) media – an onslaught that Dove is of course part of.

Read the rest of this entry »

Talking to teenagers about sex and feminism

Last week I spoke to students at Hills Road Sixth form college about feminism, taking ‘the equal right to sexual pleasure’ as my topic.  Here’s the blog post I’ve written for Gender and Education about it:

http://www.genderandeducation.com/issues/doesnt-being-a-sexual-subject-risk-you-being-slut-shamed-talking-to-teenagers-about-sex-and-feminism/

Reclaim the Night

Great to see so many people at an energetic Reclaim the Night last night.  There were three fabulous speakers and a performance poet, with several hundred of us hanging on every word in a candlelit Kings College chapel.

I wrote a statement for The Cambridge Student in advance of the demo (to be quoted as ‘a member of FAC’ not on behalf of the group, as discussed in the meeting last week), so I thought I’d share it with you, as it sums up quite nicely what Reclaim the Night is about for me:

I’m thrilled that the CUSU Women’s Campaign are continuing the hugely important tradition of Reclaim the Night marches.  This march is a rare space for the voices of women who have been silenced by sexual violence to be heard.  Marching together in a group of women also means that, for once, we can respond to the street harassment that most women experience frequently.  For once, we can actually respond to harassers without fear of escalation of violence, as we’re surrounded by other women who are in solidarity with us.  And we can shout about our truth – that rape is common, and victims are silenced. Read the rest of this entry »

FAC Review – Thankyou All

A big thanks to all who came to tonights review meeting, which was very successful. Minutes from the meeting, the outcome of votes and decisions passed are forthcoming. A second Review-Continued meeting will be organised shortly to cover the rest of the points [3-5] from the circulating agenda.

Watch this space…

Write to local MPs and cabinet minister for health about anti-abortion ‘advice’ centres

The following letters can be downloaded and sent to MPs and the local cabinet minister for health and wellbeing  about the activities of Care Confidential’s bogus pregnancy ‘advice’ centres. Please feel free to adapt the letters, and to use them for other areas where Care Confidential centres have been set up. Read the rest of this entry »