The Enemy

Posted by Sally Outen

"Well - I don't know about you, but all this talk of oppression is making me feel rather bellicose right now. I'd like to show those nasty oppressors a thing or two... just as soon as I've worked out who they are, obviously. Say - who is the real enemy here...?"

Lashings performances, TONIGHT in London and next Thursday in Oxford

Posted by Annalytica

We're gearing up for Edinburgh with two preview shows, where we'll be performing some of our new material as well as lots of old favourites.



First, TONIGHT, we're performing at the Dogstar Ballroom in Brixton, London as part of Moulin Rage.
Doors open at 7, performances start at 7:30, and we'll be on at around 10, but do get there before then because the other acts will be awesome! Tickets are £6 or £4 unwaged, and all proceeds go to Rape Crisis South London.

Please note that The Dogstar Ballroom is on the second floor, and does not have step-free access. For more access info, please see http://thecutlerydrawer.wordpress.com/


Then, next week on Thursday 4th August, we are performing at the Bullingdon Arms, 162 Cowley Road, Oxford. From 7:30 - 10:30 we'll be entertaining you with a double bill preview of both of our Edinburgh shows, including a full hour of stand-up comedy from the sensational Sally Outen, and the usual eclectic mix of song, dance and sketches from the rest of us. Tickets are £7, or £5 for concessions. Facebook event here

The Bullingdon performance space is on the ground floor and there is an accessible toilet.

We hope to see you at one or both of these events!

Links round-up

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer

Welcome to the weekly Lashings links round up! Feel free to add your own links in the comments, with a brief description and trigger warnings if appropriate.




Timeline of women's right to vote is an interactive map showing which countries granted suffrage to women in each decade.

Lashings in the blogosphere:

• Percolate Magazine: 10 Things We're Loving Right Now
• Liztopia: On media misrepresentation and feminism
• The List: Top-rated Edinburgh Fringe shows of 2010 - Lashings comes in at 160, the same as Stewart Lee and Alan Cumming! (That puts us in the top 10% of last year's shows. Pretty good for some grassroots political comedy, eh!)

Polyday is a one day event held in London for everyone who knows that happy and honest relationships don't have to be monogamous. It's on Saturday 27th August this year, at the fabulously named Dragon Hall

March against disability cuts in Oxford: TOMORROW

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer

My Life My Choice and Oxford Save our Services have organised a march in Oxford on Saturday July 23rd. They say:

"The banks caused the recession. It's the “invisible” people in our society that are paying the highest price, especially people with disabilities.

My Life My Choice and Oxford Save our Services invite you to join us on the streets of Oxford on Saturday July 23rd to show that we won't let the media and the politicians make real people and their needs invisible.

Come and be loud and proud and show them that we are together and that we want a fair society for all!

Assemble at 11 at Manzil Way, march at 12 to Bonn Square where there will be a rally. Speakers at the rally will be ordinary people talking about their experiences, not politicians and activists. If you'd like to tell your story, on the Oxford SOS blog or at the rally then please email uninvisiblepeople@gmail.com. 

If you can help by delivering leaflets or putting up posters in your area, email back or text Jim on 07894 085505.
More details to follow, including a route map with accessibility info and details of the rally. Please get in touch with any questions. If you'd like a buddy to assist with any mobility or access needs then email uninvisiblepeople@gmail.com or leave a post on the Facebook wall  saying what you need and we'll do our best to help. We're hoping to provide a BSL interpreter for the rally, if you know anyone who can volunteer to help with this please put them in touch :)

Please sign up to the Facebook group and let us know what you think."

I'm bi and monogamous

Posted by Annalytica

This is the second post in the Hand in My Pocket series. For the first post, see "I'm queer and vanilla". For the perspective of someone who is bi and poly, see this post by Sebastienne.



In the Lashings version of “Hand in my Pocket”, we list some of the labels we use to describe ourselves which might be regarded as contradictory. We also invite the audience to share their own labels on the Board of Contradictions. The song and the board pretty much just put the labels out there, as a way of drawing people’s attention to the fact that yes, people who are both of those things do exist. Here on the blog I’d like to explore some of my own lines from that song in more detail - what do the labels mean to me, and why might people think they are contradictory, and how is it possible for those things to co-exist in one person? And why, when labels are associated with so many problematic stereotypes, are we so keen to use them?

Lashings gig in London!

Posted by Annalytica

Lashings are extremely excited to be performing at Moulin Rage, a night of cabaret, music, and activism with all proceeds going to Rape Crisis South London. There's a great line up including dieselpunk cabaret from our good friends The Mechanisms, and genderqueer singer-songwriter CN Lester.

When: Wednesday 27th July 2011. Open 7-11:30pm, music 7:30-11pm

Where: The Dogstar (2nd floor – The Ballroom), 389 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton

Cost: £6 waged, £4 unwaged

Buy tickets here

Sign up to the Facebook event here

This will be a chance to get a preview of lots of the amazing new acts we'll be performing in Edinburgh. Hope to see you there!

Links roundup

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer

Welcome to the weekly Lashings links round up! Feel free to add your own links in the comments, with a brief description and trigger warnings if appropriate.



The latest issue of BoLT magazine features an interview/review of Lashings, written by the marvellous Ariel Silvera.

Transgender Europe (TGEU) is organising a 2 day Capacity Building Seminar for trans* activists and organisations across Europe hosted by the Scottish Transgender Alliance.

Online survey as part of a study to increase researchers’ understanding of the experience of bisexual women who are in monogamous romantic relationships. Specifically, the study investigates bisexual women’s experiences of both stigma against and support for their bisexual identity, and explores possible links between experiences of stigma and mental health.

Lashings' own Goblin analyses an issue of Cosmopolitan page by page in her new blog Cosmopolitics

On Being A Christian

Posted by Jenni

Today, I’m going to discuss something I’ve mentioned in passing before – the fact I’m a Christian. This is a very important part of my identity, and it’s also the part that gets questioned most – even more than my being asexual. You see, to many people being Christian, queer, feminist and liberal is a contradiction. I’m not going to go into lots of detail for you all, and I’ll try to keep the bible-talk to a minimum (references will be given if you want to look up the verses in question), but I’m just going to share how the Christian part of my identity fits in with everything else. And maybe give you a view of a Christian you might not have seen before.

Links roundup

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer

Welcome to the weekly Lashings links round up! Feel free to add your own links in the comments, with a brief description and trigger warnings if appropriate.



"Of Course I'm Queer: Opera's latest homophobia scandal." - The awesome queer feminist opera singers over at Better Strangers give their take on the community opera which was almost cancelled due to the sexuality of the protagonist.

In The Privilege Delusion, Rebecca Watson writes about how misogyny within the atheist community led her to feminism.

In "A Cunt of One's Own",  Kate Forbes writes about her experiences accessing health care as a trans woman.


A very silly video by Team Gina:

Lashings at the Edinburgh Fringe

Posted by Annalytica

It's just six weeks until Lashings of Ginger Beer return to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and we can't wait!



We have a gorgeous new poster designed by the hugely talented andustar, lots of exciting new acts, and a fab new venue.

Lashings will be taking not one but two shows to the Fringe this year:  the usual melting pot of song, dance and sketches that is Lashings of Ginger Beer Time, and a full hour of stand-up from the sensational Sally Outen in her show "Sally Outen: Non-Bio?"

You can find out more about both shows on our website, book tickets for Lashings of Ginger Beer Time here and for Sally here, and sign up to the Facebook event here

It's going to be even better than last year!

What is burlesque?

Posted by Sebastienne

If I tell you that I'm going to start this post by remembering the first time I came across burlesque, what does that lead you to expect? The reminiscences of the burgeoning sexuality of a bisexual teenage goth, flaming into life at the sight of Dita von Teese's leather and lace?

Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I first came across burlesque in a GCSE English lesson.

Feminist events in London this weekend

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer






The Feminist Library Bring-and-Buy Summer Book Sale

The Feminist Library says....

"Our seasonal bring-and-buy book sale is back this weekend on Saturday 9th July. Pick up some bargains to enjoy on holiday or curl up with on a rainy weekend at home. We warmly welcome all books, whether explicitly feminist or not. Paperback prices start at £1.50.

Tours of the library will take place throughout the day – come along and check out the collection. Refreshments and a soundtrack of summer hits will be provided. All proceeds help to keep the Feminist Library going."

When? Saturday 9th July, 11am to 6.30pm

Where? The Feminist Library, 5 Westminster Bridge Road, London, SE1 7XW Map

Bring: Books and good quality bric-a-brac.

Buy: Cheap books and rare Feminist Library duplicates, our famous Feminist Library Tote Bags, vintage copies of Spare Rib magazine, and more!

On Facebook


Pro-choice Demo

Organised by Swansea Feminist Network, the event aims to bring together the growing number of people who are angry at recent attempts to restrict access to abortion and erode the principle that reproductive choice is a fundamental women’s - and human – right.

When: Saturday 9th July 1:30 - 4:30

Where: Old Palace Yard, Westminster

More info

Facebook event

Links roundup

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer

Welcome to the weekly Lashings links round up! Feel free to add your own links in the comments, with a brief description and trigger warnings if appropriate.



Random Black Girl (singing the soul) (transcript in the comments) - I want this act for Lashings! Brilliantly deconstructs the parts available to Black actors on Broadway.


New bi pride tumblr

One of the Boys: Female Musicians and Gender Play

Hugo Schwyzer on talking to girls about beauty

"we also need to remember that fashion isn’t the enemy. Cruel and narrow standards and impossible ideals are. Ignoring subjects like clothes and hair does nothing to equip our daughters and little sisters (and, let’s face it, ourselves) to deal with the pressure to look good. All it does is leave many girls feeling shallow for still caring about beauty.

It’s not evidence of superficiality to take an interest in clothes or shoes or make-up. Girls can care about fashion while also caring about books, about sports, about nature, about making a difference in the world. We need to get past the myth that an interest in beauty makes you vain and frivolous. Girls need to be reassured that it’s okay to care about clothes and hair, but they also need reminders that they are valued for so much more than their looks. Let’s lose the false choice that says we either validate little girls for their brains or for their beauty. We need to be fearless about praising both."

Women and Power in the films of Hayao Miyazaki

Posted by Sally Outen

"Our princess is as strong as they come!"
"Indeed, she rescued me earlier!"
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind


In a Disney film, dialogue like this might be written to be self-consciously subversive, a knowing attempt to play upon that whole "rescue-the-princess" cliché. It might come across as empowering, but it's just as likely to ring false, as though the writers aren't sure whether their main objective is to provide strong female role models, or just to show off how clever they are at messing around with fairy-tale tropes.

But these lines actually come from a film by Hayao Miyazaki, and it's difficult to find the same flavour of cynicism in them, within context. In Miyazaki's films, women are every bit as likely to be heroes as men, every bit as likely to be in positions of power – and the majority of Miyazaki's protagonists are well-characterised women. Miyazaki is often described as a feminist (most notably by Studio Ghibli president, Toshio Suzuki), and his films are frequently noted for their feminist themes, as well as for their elements of environmentalism, pacifism, socialism, and complex attitudes towards good and evil. For me, this was always going to be a winning formula, and in evaluating Miyazaki's output, I tend to find myself squeeing incoherently rather than taking an attentive critical viewpoint. So here's my attempt to offer a broad feminist analysis of Miyazaki's work, highlighting the aspects that I've found potentially problematic, alongside more squeeworthy elements.

OK - a couple of warnings. Firstly, this post turned out a bit longer than usual, proof that I should never start typing while watching anime. Secondly, it contains spoilers for Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbour Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, and Ponyo. It can be inferred that these spoilers will extend to the novels and manga on which some of these titles are based. I haven't included Castle of Cagliostro (from the Lupin III canon) in this analysis because I'm not sure to what extent it is possible to detect Miyazaki's own directorial voice in this film from early in his directorial career.