Links round up

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer



This week in Oxford - Vagina Monologues at the Old Fire Station. All proceeds to Oxford Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis Centre.

SarahLizzy - Aggressive Secular Workplace Discrimination? - UK equality legislation outlaws discrimination based on nine "protected characteristics", but what happens when two of these appear to conflict?

Dystopian feminist science-fiction by Amanda Ching: ILU-486. Author summary: In the not-so-distant future of Virginia, the Personhood Act has outlawed abortion and chemical birth control. That doesn’t mean they don’t exist, though...


Fascinating article by Clarisse Thorne about pick-up artist culture in relation to feminism and BDSM - trigger warnings for rampant misogyny, possible sexual assault.

8 Stupidest Defences against charges of sexism in comics - includes questionable assertion about how  ‎'being a straight male is tremendous fun and sexuality's lowest difficulty setting', but otherwise makes some really interesting points.

Of Labels and the Notion of 'The Other

Posted by Jenni


One of the most common arguments I see regarding asexuality is “Why does everything need a word?”


Whilst there are many people who could identify with a label such as gay, queer, or similar, but choose not to, the fact remains that a lot of people who have non-heteronormative sexualities, and non-standard gender identities use labels. And so there must be a reason for it.

Links round up

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer





Amnesty International petition to defend LGBT rights in Russia.
Authorities in St Petersburg, Russia, are in the final stages of creating a Bill that severely restricts freedom of expression and assembly for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in the city. The Bill will introduce fines for “public actions aimed at propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality, transgenderness amongst minors”.

The Open University is researching couple relationships. You can fill out their survey and let them know about the glorious variety of relationships here: www.enduringlove.co.uk

TW: physical abuse
You didn't thank me for punching you in the face Great post on the problem of teaching girls that boys bother you "because they like you"

Mitt Romney meets a gay Vietnam Veteran (link is to video). The end result? Veteran 1, Virulently Homophobic Politician 0.

CN Lester on trans issues in the media and the launch of a new trans magazine, META

The Bisexuality Report

This in-depth report summarises national and international evidence and draws out useful recommendations for future bisexual inclusion in many different settings.

Oxford International Women's Festival have lots of events planned over the first two weeks of March.

Scott Henson (who is white) writes about being stopped and handcuffed by the police while out walking with his granddaughter (who is Black).


My Application to Write for Unilad Triggers for rape culture, misogyny, homophobia and, well, Unilad
Brilliant satire of a horrifically misogynist website

Happy birthday to us!

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer

It's a year today since we launched this blog!

Thank you to all our bloggers - Sebastienne, Sally Outen, Jenni, Goblin, Galatea, and Annalytica.

And thank you to everyone who has commented - we've been delighted to have such engaged, thoughtful and above all respectful commenters.

Have a picture of a feminist cake, courtesy of  http://seagullhair.typepad.com/seagull/2009/04/feminist-cake.html

Image is of a cake covered in pink icing and edible glitter. There is a "banner" in white icing across the top of the cake with the words "revolution grrrl style now!" written in black icing.

Which have been your favourite posts over the past year?

CBT and me (TW: discussion of depression)

Posted by Annalytica
As I may have mentioned, I suffer from depression. Like many people with depression (and increasingly, like many people with any kind of mental health problem), I have at various points been recommended cognitive behavioural therapy. CBT is extremely helpful for a lot of people, but it isn't the magical panacea that many mental health professionals and policy-makers seem to think. In this post I want to explain why it has been particularly unhelpful for me.

To begin with I'll briefly explain what CBT is, for the uninitiated.

Links round up

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer

From Shakesville: Why I'm Pro-Choice, and My Boyfriend Is Too. Guest blogger BrianWS very cleverly links the ways in which anti-choice ideology demonstrates a wider lack of respect for bodily autonomy in all areas of life:

I will never need an abortion. It's a fact of my life as a cis gay man in a relationship with another cis gay man, but being fervently pro-choice is very important to me, and it's also very important to me that I found a partner who shares that belief.

Not strictly feminist, but eee, Hipster Disney Princesses and more Hipster Disney Princesses. I think Hipster!Cinderella is weirdly reminiscent of Ella Scratcher of Lashings pantomime fame..

Jane Fae writes in the Guardian about a trans man giving birth. Steer clear of the comments.

On Stonewall

Posted by Sebastienne



OK, so, everyone's heard of Stonewall, right? They are the leading queer rights organisation in the UK. They're the ones who put up billboards everywhere saying "Some people are gay.. get over it!". They've been around since 1989 and have had a hand in everything from the abolition of Section 28 to the creation of Civil Partnerships.

So why, when Lashings got offered a charity gig raising money for Stonewall a few weeks ago, did we seriously consider turning it down?

Links round up

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer





One Town's War on Gay Teens This piece tells the tragic story of LGBT students driven to suicide by bullying, and the efforts of their friends and parents to challenge the rampant homophobia in their district. Be warned: this is a very harrowing article to read, but desperately important.

The Pervocracy: A different kind of love Really resonant piece about all the things our culture insists romantic love comes packaged with.

Things White Activists Say to Activists of Colour. The "X x-people say to x-people" meme has its problems, but this iteration is amusing... and definitely hits home.

Sex Educations: Gendering and Regendering Women Absolutely awesome breakdown of a radical feminist theory of gender, with an emphasis on the similarities and differences of gender 'education' for trans and cis women.

You made a story about *us*

Posted by Annalytica

Friday night was the very first (and also penultimate) performance of the Lashings Panto. We took over the Pirate Castle in Camden (chosen for its winning combination of accessibility, location and name - arrrr!) and turned it into "a liberal queer feminist lesbian bi queer asexual poly trans* genderqueer kinky cabaret pantomime" (thanks, @scattermoon!)

If you are planning to come and see the show in Oxford, fear not, I will avoid spoilers as far as possible in this post! The evening is probably best summed up by the phrase "from the sublime to the ridiculous", which, I think, is exactly how a queer feminist panto should be.