What it's like to be a news intern at The Jewish Chronicle

Judith Butler, combining topical Jewishness with general excellence

Hello! I've been interning at the Jewish Chronicle for the last fortnight, writing news and consuming my own body weight in cake. As anyone within earshot of me at any point knows, I have a dream that one day I will be paid to do journalism. Until that point, however, I'm learning valuable life lessons - like not assuming it's ok to use someone's surname (complaint number 1), not accidentally misquoting someone (complaint number 2) and not calling someone a lesbian unless they say you can (complaint number 3).

The JC, as it is affectionately known, is a highly pleasant place to work. On morning one they put me at a desk and told me to get on with it. It's exactly the kind of working environment I like. I've been able to engage in quintessentially journalistic pursuits like finding my own stories, doggedly tracking down people to talk to and calling up Russia for a chat.

Here are some of the stories I've written. Also, look out for forthcoming exciting reports on how a flaming meteorite hit Siberia and what to expect at this year's Jewish Book Week (hint: it includes Judith Butler).

First off, a guy called Rodrigo Rosenberg set up an elaborate plot to bring down the Guatemalan government:

'Perfectionist' lawyer arranged own murder


There was an exciting case of Holocaust 'fraud':

'Reich's youngest Nazi' investigated over Holocaust 'lies'


I continued my foray into LGBTQ oriented news, this time with a Jewish slant:

Gay marriage: shuls ready

Gay Jewish parents slam Catholic MP's anti-family allegations


There was a spate of (two) antisemitic attacks in France:

Antisemitic attack in Marseille

Knife-wielding woman threatens boy at Toulouse Jewish school


And most important of all, in light entertainment news:

Sacha Baron Cohen is best-paid British actor in the United States

Jewish burial hope has film star Drew Barrymore seeking tattoo removal

Galliano shocks in Chasidic garb

The rise of Golden Dawn and Venezuela 'spying' on its Jews

Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn members looking like the cast of Les Miserables, except fascist.

As part of the long, hard, unpaid road into journalism, I am currently interning at The Jewish Chronicle. It's super exciting and I get to write serious stories about fascism and the Jewish community and Venezuela and the Jewish community, so far.

I've also written a forthcoming piece in which I interview civilly partnered Jews about their relationships and thoughts on nearly-legal equal marriage. I spoke to a Conservative politician about this at 7.45 this morning, which to me smacks of utter dedication in all respects.

There has been some discussion of 'The Only Way Is Essex' in the office, but luckily the finger of light entertainment writing doom has not been pointed at me.

Here are some news pieces I have written so far. The first is kind of a big deal:

Biggest Golden Dawn rally in Athens since election.

The second is also massive. Chavez's secret services have allegedly been spying on Venezuelan Jews. For anybody with fluent Castilian, there is a cache of secret intelligence documents floating around on the internet:

Venezuela 'spying' on Jewish community:

The rise and fall of the lesbian shock factor

Madonna and Britney get down at the MTV Video Awards. Cue worldwide shock.

I'm getting to grips with some really tough topics at Gay Star News these past days. Forget the Israeli elections and impending in/out/shake-it-all-about Eurogeddon. Put aside rampant un(der)employment and the destruction of the welfare state.

Instead, I present to you a gritty investigation into performances of same-sex desire in the British public sphere. Otherwise known as:

The rise and fall of the lesbian shock factor

I've also written a barrage of entertainment stories, including -

Alice Arnold, partner of sports presenter Clare Balding, speaks out on gay marriage:

Lesbian newsreader calls anti-gay marriage MPs 'hurtful'

Everyone's favourite child wizard chats about being a beat poet:

Daniel Radcliffe: Why not all English men are gay

This flamboyant guy who can't really sing (but who cries with incredible panache) is in another reality show:

Rylan Clark leaves Big Brother house for secret X factor rehearsals

Parents leave The Joy of Gay Sex book on son's pillow

The definition of feel-good. On at least two levels.

 A quick stories round-up from last week at Gay Star News.

This one is particularly heartwarming and was most-read on the GSN website for a day or two:

Parents leave The Joy of Gay Sex book on son's pillow 
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/parents-leave-joy-gay-sex-book-sons-pillow170113 

Winning at the unspoken 'best sign at the protest' competition

I also got sent to report on the anti-transphobia protest that took place outside the Observer in the aftermath of Burchill-gate. Having got some brilliant quotes from people who were there, I wrote it up in feature form:

Trans Brits demand to be freed from a hate-filled media 
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/trans-brits-demand-be-freed-hate-filled-media180113
 
There is also a lovely and brave video campaign being run by LGBTQ Jamaicans.

Gay Jamaicans go on video to show the world who they are
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/gay-jamaicans-go-video-show-world-who-they-are180113

Also, I foray gently and tentatively into the murky world of crime reporting:

Lesbian claims partner tortured, murdered bus driver for his PIN  
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/lesbian-claims-partner-tortured-murdered-bus-driver-his-pin170113

And there is more news about cervical cancer, in that the BMA say young gay men should be given the vaccine as well as the school-age girls who currently receive it.

Vaccine must be given to gay men to prevent anal cancer, says BMA 
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/vaccine-must-be-given-gay-men-prevent-anal-cancer-says-bma170113 

Finally, in a case of interns being given the most important news of the day, some bloke from Glee did an interview with the Metro newspaper. I was at the scene (of being able to read the Metro and rewrite what was said):

Chris Colfer: 'I'd love to do a Glee meets Downton special'
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/chris-colfer-id-love-do-glee-meets-downton-special180113

Jodie Foster's six greatest moments

All Jodie, all lesbian, all of the time

Today it was literally my job to watch clips of Jodie Foster movies on Youtube. I mean, I may not be being paid, but I'm certainly being allowed to sit in an office and assess the merits of (now openly) lesbian film stars. Who else knew that Jodie Foster was Lindsey Lohan in the original version of Parent Trap? Not me. This important morning's work became the literary tour de force, 'Jodie Foster's six greatest moments':

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/jodie-fosters-six-greatest-moments160113

I also wrote a news piece about the 'Protest Transphobia @ the Observer' demo, taking place tomorrow afternoon. Do I need to mention Julie Burchill again?

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/anti-transphobia-protests-scheduled-following-withdrawal-burchill-hate-rant160113

Also, it turns out that queer women have to go for cervical screenings because lesbian sex is real, just like other sex. I think that the speculum may be irrelevant to smear tests, really. They do it just to punish women:

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/lesbian-and-bisexual-women-risk-cervical-cancer160113


As I didn't blog yesterday, you can also read up on a couple of pieces I did then. First, a Stonewall walk against homophobic bullying:

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/want-stamp-out-anti-gay-bullying150113

Second and finally, there's a big gala being held to celebrate the Teddy queer film awards in Berlin:

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/soir%C3%A9e-diversit%C3%A9-awards-ceremony-launches-berlin-film-festival150113

Gay Star News stories of the day

Credit: GSN website. I hope they don't sue me or sack me for stealing this image. 

I'm doing a stint of work at Gay Star News, which is a website reporting international LGBT news. This means that instead of simply writing biting, funny and insightful commentary, I get to REPORT the NEWS. The real live events that are happening as we speak.

Over the next two weeks I'm going to post my stories up here daily. If you would like to know what's happening to queer people around the world (supposing you believe in global queer identity/ies) then I suggest you keep checking back.


Here is a selection of stories I wrote today:

1. Ghana Christian group slams pro-gay gender minister

Essentially, Ghana's new Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection is being badmouthed by a group of homophobic Christians:

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/ghana-christian-group-slams-pro-gay-gender-minister140113

2. Calls for Burchill to be sacked over 'disgusting' anti-trans rant

I don't think there are any members of the British commentariat who haven't written an opinion piece about Burchill-Moore-gate over the past two days. But this is NEWS, and therefore bears reporting. The story is about how former Minister for Equalities Lynne Featherstone tweeted that Burchill should be sacked. It also has some other juicy info.

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/calls-burchill-be-sacked-over-disgusting-anti-trans-rant140113

3. Aboriginal gay man murdered in Canada

This is a sad one. It's also the most interesting story I wrote today. Dolan Badger, the man who was murdered, had previously written a really exciting piece about two-spirit identities and his struggle with different kinds of oppression: race, gender, indigenous heritage and so on. I linked to it in the report.

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/aboriginal-gay-man-murdered-canada140113

4. Judge says UK civil partners can divorce like married Canadian couples 

Some men who were civilly partnered in Britain were allowed to divorce in Canada. Because their partnership amounts to a marriage. Good news for people in favour of equal marriage. Actually, it's great for one of the guys involved because he can get a divorce settlement and rights and so on. Excellent.

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/judge-says-uk-civil-partners-can-divorce-married-canadian-couples140113

"Intersectionality", let me Google that for you

So great? 

It's all kicked off on twitter over the last two days since The V Spot's problematic blog "In defence of Caitlin Moran and populist feminism".

In response, I've written a piece over at New Statesman.

It's called "'Intersectionality', let me Google that for you." It's on the issue of who feminism is for: http://www.newstatesman.com/lifestyle/2012/10/intersectionality-let-me-google-you


Here are some great pieces by others on the same debate:

Dear Vagenda editors: http://blackfeminists.org/2012/10/23/dear-vagenda-editors/

You don't need an MA in Gender Studies to know that race matters to feminism: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/23/race-matters-to-feminism

How to be better: on intersectionality, privilege and silencing: http://stavvers.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/how-to-be-better-on-intersectionality-privilege-and-silencing/

The graduate without a future: British creativity has not gone quiet, its just struggling to be heard

An artist who I think is really really good 

Here's a new piece I wrote for a Guardian Comment is free series, (ironically?) named "The graduate without a future": British creativity has not gone quiet, it's just struggling to be heard. 

If you fancy a brief meditation on the sheer wretchedness of humanity (or that represented below-the-line on Cif, at least), have a look at the comments. Suffice it to say that my choices of interesting young artists were, according to one delightful commentator, examples of:

"No skill, artless, derivative nonsense. Dishonest"

In any case, I totally rose above it by lying on my bed for much of the day feeling sorry for myself, resolving never to step outside the comfortable territory of gender related sarcasm ever again.

But then the next day I took part in a really fun live Q&A session with great and goods Paul Mason, Shiv Malik, Ed Howker and Oliver Laughland. You can find it here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/06/graduate-without-future-q-and-a

The sex lives of others are our greatest fetish

Allegedly this man's guilty feet have got no rhythm

Rather belatedly, here is my blog at the New Statesman on George Michael, the public interest, and the salacious press creation of "sex scandals":

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/media/2012/05/sex-lives-others-are-our-greatest-fetish

The lesbian adverts that "One Million Moms" should be protesting

Mothers beware! This advert could influence your teenager to purchase tie-die.  

Urban Outfitters has been in the news as the target of a campaign by homophobic, optimistically titled hate group "One Million" Moms. The reason? A catalogue photo depicting this exceptionally chaste kiss between two flouncily-clad women. I hate the idea that tie-die is in fashion again, but apparently that's not the reason for the protest. Apparently One Million Moms campaign against "immorality, violence, vulgarity and profanity." That they have decided to make this ad a focal point for a campaign suggests that this "picture of two women kissing in a face holding embrace!" (as they call it, complete with exclamation mark) falls short on one or more of these points. It must be the old "immorality" chestnut.

As queer adverts go, though, "two women kissing in a face holding embrace!"is pretty tame on the immorality scale. Not even a 2 out of 10. Its nice to see some lesbian-ish (who knows, they could even be bisexual, or just good friends) action, but it's not inflammatory enough to get me out on the streets looking for the nearest straight child to forcibly convert. Of all the queer adverts that One Million Moms could have picked on, some are far more risque.

Relatively few adverts depicting same-sex attraction between women exist, but those that do seem to fall broadly into two categories. The first, and this is by far the biggest, is the shameless lesploitation genre. These adverts may feature same-sex activity between women, but they have about as much to do with self-defining queer women as Margaret Thatcher has to do with feminism. This ostensibly-lesbian-but-actually-lesbophobic-and-misogynist Jim Beam ad - which makes me want to sick in my mouth - is a prime lesploitation candidate.

Ignoring the poor dress choice, I think that the Urban Outfitters' "face holding embrace!" advert falls into another, second category. Its a normal scene (if your version of normal heavily involves Urban Outfitters Spring/Summer 2012), in a normal room, between two normal (if exceedingly slim, white and pretty) women. Unabashedly, it's a consumer capitalist image, but at least for once the content is aimed at the demographic it depicts. It's pleasingly devoid of gratuitously oiled-up nudity. It's a women's same-sex image, aimed primarily at women. 

Unfortunately, One Million Moms' immorality klaxon doesn't seem so tolerant as to enable any consideration of subtlety in intent or representation. Obviously not. If their main worry is that their kids might catch gay from a picture, or that they might be influenced by some queer subliminal messaging sneakily inserted into a handbag advert, then of course they couldn't care less whether the imagery does anything good for queer visibility or not. 

All the same, if they're looking for some other quite nice representations of queer women in advertising to protest, I've found my favourite five: 

1. KY scoops the lesbian audience

Ok look, I obviously hate the idea of orgasms as "that big moment", but actually this is pretty cute observational comedy. There's even a sneaky cat in the top left corner. I can imagine lesbian couples seeing this, then buying lube. Works for me (the depiction, not the lube itself. I haven't tried the lube. Yet).  

2. Lesbian cruises for lesbians: "It truly does change your life." 

An ad made by queer women, for queer women, featuring queer women? Also advertising an niche lesbian service, I know, so not attempting to corner a widely commercial market. But still, stop the press, butch lesbians have made it into an advert! 

3. Martina Navratilova: can't see past her incredible arms to work out what she's selling

Something to do with the supposed "pink pound"? I don't know. It's got Martina Navratilova in. 

4. H&M does ambiguity 

H&M are prime offenders in the sexism stakes, not least for their propensity to photoshop models' heads onto computer generated, identikit mannequin bodies. This ad, however, is part of a series of beautifully constructed ads using intimacy between women to sell to women. 

5. Devin & Glenn: Overturn Prop 8 and Make Homosexuals Marry!

Self-evidently this has little to do with lesbianism, but it is my favourite gay ad ever. If One Million Mom's were to protest anything, it should surely be this. Join them and let them know here: http://www.onemillionmoms.com/register.asp

Regeneration: "The Feminist Evolution: Queer Feminism for the Next Generation"

My first print publication is out! It takes the form of a chapter in a book entitled Regeneration, mainly edited by Guy Shrubsole and Clare Coatman, but edited a bit more by Ben Little and Shiv Malik. It's primarily a book about intergenerational justice - proposing solutions (to pervert a favourite Tory phrase) to 'this mess we've inherited'. The first print run has already sold out, which suggests to me that it's bloody good. 

My chapter is called "The Feminist Evolution: Queer Feminism for the Next Generation". It has little to do with intergenerational justice, but much to do with how feminists might - and are - reconfiguring the movement in opposition to both new and old problems.

You can download the book (literally for free) here: http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/ebooks/Regeneration.pdf 

Here's an extract: 

To adopt a queer approach to gender is to recognise that transgression, subversion and play are kinds of anti-normative political activism that can also disrupt existing gender hierarchies. One person born with a body called ‘female’ assuming the trappings of masculinity is unlikely to change any government policy about women as a class, but neither was the vote won by one women chaining herself to the railings of Westminster. In time-honoured suffragette style, the more people who, by manipulating gender, expose cultural dogma about men and women for what it is – arbitrary and abusive – the more the binary line dividing ‘M’ from ‘F’ trembles.

My chapter is on p.70 - but the whole book is very much worth a read. Feedback on my ideas also very much appreciated. 

Other info here: http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/ebooks/Regeneration.html

Also if you're dying to get this book in the hard, papery flesh, there should be another printing at some point. Stay tuned! 

"Justice" for Dominique Strauss-Kahn? Don't make me laugh.

Oh hey! Do you like knowing you're right? Me too! What about justice? Hooray for justice! How about demonstrations of blindingly ignorant privilege coated in the faux-language of 'objectivity' or 'reason'? Wait, what..?

Privilege Denying Dude: he's always right

I didn't study gender at school. My school syllabus was based on the theories white English guys made up about the world for the past thousand years. At school, some things were up for nuanced interpretation, like English literature (a girls' subject). Sometimes, at most, we were asked to consider 'the role of women in...' But hard, manly subjects like science and maths, defined as fact, could not be disputed.

Apparently there's a major branch of theoretical thought called 'feminist epistemology', or something. Most people don't know about it, because we only learn white-guy-theories at school. One of the great things it does is to challenge the idea that what a culture thinks of as "knowledge" is objective, or neutral. Here's a quote that summarises the central point nicely:

"One cannot survey the human race from a great and learned distance, proclaiming loudly that one has found the truth for the good of all the nameless faceless abstractions that one has never bothered to take seriously." (Elshtain, 1981)

And here's another:

"Reflection on how social phenomena get defined as problems in need of explanation in the first place quickly reveals that there is no such thing as a problem without a person (or groups of them) who have this problem: a problem is always a problem for someone or other." (Harding, 1987)

In other words, feminist epistemology focuses on the roles of real people in abstract theorizing. When we're talking about knowledge, it matters who is doing the knowledge acquisition, and who the knowledge is being acquired about. The people involved - their positions as members of oppressed or privileged groups - affect what facts get churned out, and who gets to decide what counts as fact.

What falls out of feminist epistemology is the extent to which "knowledge" generally reflects the perspectives, not to mention the will to power, of the people in charge. How do societies come to believe that we are most threatened by those who are worst off: the Jews, the immigrants, the blacks, the gays, the benefits scroungers? As a direct result of the taken-for-granted "knowledges" made up by those with more power, that's how. And we believe it. We read the newspapers, we absorb the prejudices handed to us.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, despite facing (or rather, evading) repeated allegations of rape and sexual assault, gets to speak at the Cambridge Union debating society because of these power imbalances in the process of knowing. Facts about "the law", "justice", "innocent until proven guilty" are taught to us year in and year out. These are the representative tenets of our great liberal democratic society. They are the mighty principles of the fair society, we must uphold them, free of nuance, free of interpretation, lest we become a Stalinist Soviet Union! Innocent until proven guilty! That's an objective fact! You don't get to decide the law, the law does, and the law is defined as not-wrong!

But there are other facts here that don't get heard, or taught, or learned. These are the facts about the crimes of those with more power against those with less power, and the proportion of the time that the law fails to uphold justice when the victim is a woman, or a person of colour, or someone defined as 'vulnerable'. Could a black chamber maid ever prove a rape case against the white male leader of a political body? I doubt it, whatever the evidence was.

Do I need to quote, again, the attrition rate for rape cases in the UK? It's less than 6% Do I need to mention that 1 in 7 women experience sexual or physical violence whilst students, that about 1 in 4 women are sexually assaulted as adults? Is it worth pointing out, again, how many cases there are, how few of them reach the police? What about the figure for the number of cases reported that are simply dropped due to what dominant knowledges say about false allegations?

I'm so bored of talking about these facts, but no one from the "innocent until proven guilty" camp considers this to be valid knowledge, worth using to interrogate Dominique Strauss-Kahn's free pass to propound his views. Instead, we hear "innocent until proven guilty" repeated over, and over, and over, like a cult mantra. That's the only knowledge that counts, the justice that protects the rights of the guys in charge.

What about the "innocent until proven guilty" that should have been upheld for Nafissatou Diallo and Tristane Banon? Instead we had the "guilty, just guilty" treatment meted out to Diallo, and the "you have a case, but the law is designed to stop us from pursuing it" reaction to Banon. Given that the law did nothing for them, I reckon Cambridge should give them the benefit of the doubt. I'd suggest that we should believe that they aren't just vindictive, pathological liars - but of course that's not the kind of justice that we're used to.

For what it's worth, I agree with "innocent until proven guilty". It just doesn't apply here. We don't have a fair process for finding people guilty. Dominique Strauss-Kahn isn't going to court on these charges - he got let off. 

The case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn is damning: Diallo and Banon are just the women who have come forward. Their heinous treatment at the hands of the law, in the name of "justice", suggests to me that Dominique Strauss-Kahn will go on to rape and to assault with impunity. And all the while student debating societies will invite him to chat about economics. After all, it's a much more important subject, rooted in facts and objectivity. That's the stuff that really counts.

To sign the Disinvite Dominique Strauss-Kahn petition, click here: http://www.womens.cusu.cam.ac.uk/campaigns/strausskahn/

A well regulated press would also be a freer press, if it could do anything to end media sexism

Not another picture of Pippa Middleton's ass

The Leveson inquiry drags on, akin to the 1000 pages in the middle of The Lord of The Rings where the hobbits do nothing but walk across a cliff. We're still only on the first half - the bit of the inquiry in which press culture, ethics and practices are vigorously talked about. In fellowship terms, we're barely out of the shire.

Lord Justice Leveson is now indicating that he is unlikely to consider any government regulation. That may not be so disappointing, given the government's seeming view on regulation, otherwise expressed as 'we hate regulation'. But this does leave us to speculate on exactly what actions Leveson may be intending. In a manner quite dissimilar to that of Tolkien's oeuvre, the inquiry does not seem to be leading to any massive inexorable conclusions. 

At the end of last year coalition of mainstream feminist groups (the End Violence Against Women coalition (EVAW), Eaves, OBJECT and Equality Now) submitted to the Leveson inquiry that it should address press sexism as part of a full investigation into the relationship between media and society.* How unbelievably heinous; it takes a country-wide media culture overhaul to enable official challenge to media myths of the alien species, 'women', who do nothing but lie about rape, wear clothes, or not wear clothes.

In this video, a Sky News commentator speculates - ever so insightfully - that the inquiry's outcome may be a 'tougher, beefed up, testosterone fuelled regulator.' Sexist language aside (and the identification 'good=masculine' could be one of the first things to go, if you ask me) a proper independent press complaints commission would seem to be one highly logical outcome of the inquiry. We already have one, after all, giving it teeth would be relatively easy. 

The problem is that enabling it to take action against sexism would take greater ovaries than Leveson could ever countenance. The culture is too longstanding, and it runs too deep in the national psyche. The suggestion of any anti-sexist regulation stronger than 'um, guys, can you please play nicely?' is invariably met with the outraged cry: 'FEMINIST CENSORSHIP!!!!' or 'A FREE PRESS IS THE SOLE HALLMARK OF A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY!!!' or, as with Clare Short's campaign to end Page 3, you are clearly just 'fat and ugly' and 'jealous of beautiful young women'. 

Here is what will (probably) happen instead. Between now and the announcement of a new PCC, the bit of the inquiry that was about countering media misogyny will get lost. Or looked over. Or watered down so much that it will become irrelevant. Some concession may be made to not displaying 'inappropriate' materials pre-watershed, 'where children can see'. But the banal onslaught of everything that is idiotic in our culture, the four hundred pictures of Pippa Middleton's bum, the appraisal of women politicians on the basis of their clothing choice - all this will continue.

Those who get on the high horse about the inalienable right to free expression forget that in practice this has meant the unabated reproduction of unsubstantiated ideologies about less powerful groups who, non-coincidentally, have less press control. The people who read rape reports focusing mainly on 'false' accusations, skirts, and alcohol consumption, are the same people who comprise juries who sit in on rape cases from which rapists repeatedly walk free. That's the very definition of a vicious circle.

To mandate that women should be represented as people who partake in the public sphere in roles which are not primarily aesthetic is simply to mandate representations closer to the truth. An end to the barrage of boobs and bimbos would make life a lot freer for the women who would like to be assessed on the basis of their actions rather than for the shape of their behinds. I hope Lord Leveson is brave enough to say so.


*Disclaimer: I don't agree with everything that was put forward by all of these organisations, but implementation of anything vaguely anti-misogynist would be better than what we have now. 

A helpful guide to not being a horrible nagging shrew this Christmas

Poor bird 

Here is a third December guest blog for The F Word, just in time for the big day: http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2011/12/a_helpful_guide

All I want for Xmas is a stocking full of really arousing feminist porn

Originally published at The F Word: http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2011/12/all_i_want_for_

This isn't quite doing it for me

Wrongheadedly, I visited Anne Summers the other day. Hidden at the back of the store next to the 'Dominatrix' range (exclusively advertised with pictures of submissive women - I don't think they get it) was the section marked 'Porn for Women'.

A less interesting porn section could scarcely be conceived of. Whoever is designing this porn seems to think that women will descend in droves to purchase any porn which replaces the 'for men' signifiers 'slutty/anal/hungry/cock/bitch/fest' with the more delicate, pleasant, feminine word 'couples'. As if 'couples' is any draw in a film that conforms in every other respect to the male subject/female object binary.

I'm sorry for women if that's what porn 'for women' amounts to. Perhaps I shouldn't expect revolutionary female-driven narratives about sexualities and the female gaze in the Anne Summers porn section, but I would at least like to be slightly titillated. The barest hint of a sensation in the knicker department would be enough.

Still, it's only the most commercially successful sex shop 'for women', after all. In a more fringe way, women, or rather, feminists, have been conceiving of, directing and distributing feminist porn - or porn which tries to subvert the misogynist narrative - for ages. The downside is that the lack of mainstream market support results in small, independent distributors who seem to spring up and then go under (and not in the fun way, either). Last month, notably, saw the sad departure of Filament Magazine, billed wonderfully as the 'thinking woman's crumpet'.

It's a small relief that the Feminist Porn Awards are out there, attempting to give voice to the desires of those mind-numbingly bored by the restrictive fare conventionally on offer to women (let's not even get started on the soft/hardcore misogyny that passes for general/men's porn). The Feminist Porn Awards reckon that porn is feminist if it is hot and:

"1) A woman had a hand in the production, writing, direction, etc. of the work.
2) It depicts genuine female pleasure
3) It expands the boundaries of sexual representation on film and challenges stereotypes that are often found in mainstream porn."

Or, as Caitlin Moran succinctly put it, "I JUST WANT A MULTI-BILLION-DOLLAR INTERNATIONAL PORN INDUSTRY WHERE I CAN SEE A WOMAN COME."

That all sounds great, so why is it rare to find hardcore porn which fits these quite minimal criteria? There are, of course, commercial successes. There are the Anna Spans of the straight world (though her failure to look critically at mainstream porn is rather damning), and there are the Courtney Troubles and Shine Louise Houstons on the other end of the spectrum. But it isn't enough, it isn't available enough, and what there is doesn't do enough to undermine the free tube sites of the industry.

Isn't it strange that an activity which - much of the time - is something men and women do together, should be so invariably so distorted when put on camera? I don't think there is anything about the presence of a camera, or indeed a mass market, that necessarily turns sex into misogyny, but it is depressing when this is so often the case.

Lisa Saunders' interesting and well-argued anti-porn/pro-sex article on this website yesterday suggests that 'it's about as easy to get hold of 'ethical' pornography as it is to score 'ethical' cocaine.' My suspicion is that feminists will lose out if we completely write pornography off, forever, the end. The continued presence of feminist voices in other unethical industries hasn't created any feminist industries, but it has changed some things for the better.

The sustained critique of the industry and its wider cultural normalisation that anti-pornography feminisms provide are extremely persuasive, but I am reluctant to condemn all porn that exists or could exist on the basis of the industry as it stands. Women watch, and get off, on porn which doesn't cater to them, which is misogynist, racist, and unethical in every other respect. If this is the case with such rubbish porn, how much better could it be if feminist porn were to flourish?

Can feminist porn can break away from mainstream misogynist narratives? Are the criteria given by the Feminist Porn Awards enough to make porn feminist? Is there feminist porn which genuinely represents women's sexualities? Have you seen any that really stood out? What are your recommendations for feminist porn?

The comedians that Mock the Week missed out

The twitter war against @mocktheweek has finally ended. It could most closely be described as akin to a battle in which cannonballs are fired at a person who, protected by an imaginary brick wall, simply denies that the cannonballs, the wall, gravity, or any form of Newtonian law exists.

The social media face of Mock the Week, known only as "@mocktheweek", refused, in the face of all reasonability, to accept that there is anything sexist about a panel show in which women comedians are a: rarely booked and b: hate appearing when they do get booked. I can't be bothered to explain, again, why it is very, very, very, very, very sexist, so I will simply recall here that the all-female episode of Whose Line is it Anyway was one of the funnier ones. Just saying. Four comics who were women did comedy on a stage and it was funny. Anyway, if you are confused about why Mock the Week is very, very, very, very, etc, sexist, go on twitter, search 'mocktheweek', and scroll down the exchanges. I'm not linking.

Anyway, and instead, let us feast our ears on a compendium of comedians who, if they were men, would probably be Mock the Week regulars/would by now have their own road-shows and a pile of free money gifted to them by the BBC:

1. Isy Suttie:



In exhibit A (above, literally just above) we see a comedian making funny jokes to a large audience of people who are laughing. That comedian happens to be a woman, and therefore either a: will not be booked to appear on Mock the Week, or b: will not appear on Mock the Week because it is a particularly nasty atmosphere for women comedians - see Jo Brand.

2. Sarah Kendall [Edit 22/1/12: transphobia warning at around 11.30 mins]



One of my favourite comedians who probably won't ever be on Mock the Week. Unlike Russell Howard, who gets to be a regular in virtue of having a real penis, probably. I hope Sarah Kendall does go on it, but if she is her jokes will probably get edited out in favour of some look-at-me-mummy-i'm-clever-now nonsense.

3. Shazia Mirza



Bit of an obvious choice, but also, why the hell doesn't she already have her own show?

4. Josie Long



Pretty well known and stuff. Pretty funny. Probably hasn't been on Mock the Week, and I hope she doesn't go on it. I have a suspicion her style would get lost in the celebratory cockfest. She's spot on with the bit about turning 'go on then, make me laugh' guests into 'I like drinking water out of sponges' guests.

5. Here, to finish, is a trailer from the Funny Women awards of 2010. What's that about female comedians just 'not existing'?




Other things to look at -

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/09/52-female-comedians_n_833214.html - because they have women comedians in America too.

What's that? Another women comedian talking about how Mock the Week is horrible? http://www.birminghammail.net/what-is-on-in-birmingham/birmingham-comedy/2009/12/11/comedy-shappi-khorsandi-takes-on-the-male-world-of-stand-up-97319-25366685/

Good stuff on the most recent sexism debate: http://minority-thought.com/culture/2011/09/twitter-diversity-audits-and-mock-the-week-why-the-bbc-is-failing-its-audience

The Awesome/Outrageous Roundup

Oh hi there. I am now back from my sojourn in San Francisco. In honour of a return to the mundane, here are some interesting bits and pieces I've picked up over the last month.

The oldies are the goodies, right? Right?

Awesome:

Stuart Hall gives the best journalistic analysis of the rise of of neoliberalism in British politics that I have read: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/sep/12/march-of-the-neoliberals

Heart playing Crazy On You live in 1977. Everything about this is incredible. The intense fingerpicking solo intro, the singer's voice, the lead guitarist in open chested white silk blouse and wiggling snake hips, the bit where they unexpectedly all start singing together, the triple harmonized solo, and to top it all THE FUCKING HIGH KICK AT THE END. I can't get over how great this is, must be one of the greatest performances of all time. I have to watch it again right now.

Well interesting piece by Maeghan Winter about hair covering amongst Orthodox Jewish women: http://www.believermag.com/issues/201109/?read=article_winter

My piece on transphobia in radical feminism was cross-posted at The Transadvocate: http://www.transadvocate.com/you-cant-smash-patriarchy-with-transphobia.htm

Awesome/Outrageous:

Awesome - action from Amnesty/Change.org attempting to save life of Troy Davis, a man sentenced to execution despite considerable evidence in his favour. Outrageous - case of justice miscarriage and legal unfairness. http://action.amnesty.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1194&ea.campaign.id=11962&utm_source=social&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=deathpenalty&utm_content=troy_sharefb

This: http://www.stylist.co.uk/stylist-network/why-having-a-penis-is-worth-10000#image-rotator-2

Jenna Marbles chats shit for a while, on the topic of "How to trick people into thinking you're good looking". I like her unashamed brashness. Recommended to me by a friend I made in San Francisco: http://youtu.be/OYpwAtnywTk


Outrageous:

Links to info about arsecrack nonsense-peddler Tom Martin suing LSE's gender department for 'anti-male bias' (the silly season is officially open):
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23983895-former-student-sues-lse-over-its-gender-bias-against-men.do
http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2011/09/on_tom_martins_
http://toomuchtosayformyself.com/2011/09/17/tom-martin-the-lse-and-the-missing-minister/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/sep/07/gender-studies-anti-discrimination-case

I mean, what? Just... what?! If this comes off I'm totally suing African Studies courses for discrimination against white people and stuff.

There's more to the UK riots than class vs. criminality

Protesters at Tahrir Square

When they were first released, images of women participants in the Arab Spring, particularly in Tahrir Square, were eagerly seized upon in the UK. We wanted to hold onto the idea that Middle Eastern feminisms were beginning to sow results recognizable in the language of Western democracy. We wanted to identify the uprisings with the values of the so-called liberal West - democracy, freedom of speech, and the right for women to participate.

But to participate only, and when the cameras were turned away from the Middle East, it was clear that those who had quickly heralded feminist revolution had delivered little more than overblown rhetoric. The rapes and virginity tests that shortly followed - designed to put women back in their place - were an unwelcome reminder that it takes more than a few women's faces on the streets to signify anything more than incremental progress.

Where riots are, mostly, women are. Yet when women riot, it is something that is focused on. It has been pointed out that women, as well as men, have been participating in the looting and rioting of the last few days. As I went to sleep in San Francisco last night, the most watched item on BBC news was this video: Riot Girls Brag About Violence. Women's participation in the public sphere, such as it is, is much greater in Britain than Egypt, and still it is notable, surprising even, when women take to the streets.

The empty pronouncements of our political leaders about 'criminality' are so devoid of critical engagement as to be self-parodies. But neither are these riots just about an underprivileged class reacting violently to deprivation, or even alienation. Nor is it just today's youth taking a culture of conspicuous acquisition to its logical conclusion. It is that, but that's not enough to explain it.

Aside from everything else, the UK riots are also what happens when a form of masculinity reacts when its sense of entitlement is confounded. I'm not 'blaming' masculinity. I don't think attributing blame willy-nilly is helpful here. I think, also, that it's a rightful sense of entitlement; we should all have access to jobs and housing (at the very least). It is, however, a particular cultural masculinity that allows for structureless violent disorder as a tenable response. This needs to be spoken about.

That men are allowed to react violently when threatened is a message taught and then reinforced. The cultural message that boys will be boys, that boys can't verbalise feelings, that an intimidating physical presence is sexually desirable, and so on, is everywhere to the point of nausea. Just yesterday on the bus, I listened in on the conversation of three teenagers; two boys and a girl. One boy was annoying the other boy, who quickly responded with, 'how about I smack you in the face?' The girl just laughed appreciatively.

Which is not to say that women aren't violent. Masculinity is not only (or always) found in men. But when we see women displaying the wanton violence that we associate with masculinity we find it shocking, and the exceptionalising and patronising media coverage often reflects this sense of shock. Violent women rioters are acting outside of their prescribed gender role. 'What are these girls doing on the streets rioting? Can we get a shot of some girls gone wild at the riots to symbolise the utter degeneration of our society's youth? You know, instead of tit-flashing we can have looting and destruction? Great.'

Even this, however, is better than its reinforcing counter-narrative, in which women and girls are represented as pretty, lovely peace-keepers. Remember this image from the student protests? Yawn. Tell me more about the looting yobettes.

Real villains and film villains. More Rebekah Brooks please.

Even though she's basically the anti-christ of the world, Rebekah Brooks is a little bit cool, isn't she? Isn't she though? She's brilliant but evil. Talented but ruthless. Relentlessly successful, she conveys remorse without feeling the slightest shred of it. Possibly a domestic abuser, homophobe, racist, and/or sexist. I'll say it for her, her brand of villainy has panache. If wearing a T-shirt saying 'I heart Rebekah Brooks' wasn't the public equivalent of wrist slitting, I'd probably do it.

Massive badass

Phone hacking is only the icing on the cake of Brooks' malevolence. As Chief Exec of News Corp, she was perfectly happy to oversee the hate-n-prejudice projectile vomit that is constantly spewed out by The Sun, The NOTW, and their ilk. I heard that she had once complained about page 3, but as editor of The Sun, let's face it, she only had to stretch out her little finger to eradicate it to the folder marked 'embarrassing blights on World history'. She didn't give a damn. Instead she picked an enemy; peodophiles, and whipped up a national preoccupation; scaremongering about peodophilia.

Even when sitting in front of the Select Committee to answer for her crimes this week, she exuded an untouchable superiority that Murdoch-squared could only dream of. She combines not giving a shit with the skill of understanding just how to tap into public hysteria. It's lethal.

In fact, she's the perfect film baddie. Cast your mind up to the 130th floor of News Corp Towers. Imagine a black leather rotating chair, a gigantic semi-circle desk, and Brooks holding a massive ginger cat. You have the scene.

Except, I have a sneaking suspicion that if/when any major film company gets their dirty little hands on this story, everything I like about Rebekah Brooks will be written out. Its just too obvious that instead of a powerful evil badass, Rebekah Brooks would become a shrieking harridan straight out of the Glenn Close school of female stereotypes. Possibly played by Mick Hucknall, if the spoof videos floating around are anything to go by.

One of my favourite artworks by the Guerilla Girls sums up this trend perfectly >>

Its true. Not that Hollywood would ever do a film about one of the most important human rights movements ever, but if they did, it would look like this.

And though real life female baddies exist, in Hollywood they invariably become a: sexy skin-tight leather aficionados (not that I have anything against skin-tight leather, just, you know), b: (sexy) psycho bitches who just want to be loved by a man or c: ugly, two-dimensional objects of pity.

That's not to say that female actresses haven't, over the years, put in unspeakably strong performances as villains. Kathy Bates in Misery is incredible, for example. But she still falls under category b: evil psycho man-love-needing bitch. I can't think of any proper female film baddies who get to be powerful, where their power isn't their sexuality. Where are the female villains who get to do the awesome speech at the end about how extensively they've planned for this moment? What about the female masterminds who work out convoluted schemes for world domination? We've got real life female villains, how about celluloid ones? If Hollywood are stuck for inspiration, I suggest starting with our friend Rebekah.

Where rape is concerned, talk isn't good enough.

I have a guest blog on The F Word. Hopefully it is not triggering, but it does concern rape and recent discussions of rape. If you'd like to read it, click here: http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2011/05/rape_in_the_media

What ludicrous distinctions, its obviously the same person. Oh, I didn't need to say that. This brilliant image makes the point all by itself.