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.

Links round up

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer

 This needs to be said! Stephen Ira: 'Why I'm Not Saying "Tr*nny* And I'd Like It If You Guys Didn't Either, Please'.

Another Angry Woman on the links between anarchism and BDSM

"Often anarchist organisation delegates responsibility for certain tasks to voluntary working groups or meeting facilitators. Any social power given is strictly limited (e.g. to organising certain activities), and is subject to withdrawal at any time by the will of participants, a democratic version of screaming out the name of a fruit when the beating goes beyond one’s limits. Crucial to both anarchist and BDSM circles is the attempt to ensure that such hierarchies, established because they’re either practical or fun, are fluid, properly scrutinised, organised consensually and explicitly temporary."

Article on polyamory in the Guardian. Fearlessknits describes their own poly family, in response to allegations that Newt Gingrich asked his ex-wife for an open marriage.

"Had Newt Gingrich followed these principles and talked about his needs and desires, he might have negotiated with his wife to open up his marriage and pursued an interesting friendship. As it is, he appears to have asked to keep a clandestine, non-consensual relationship that he had already started. Who knows, maybe, if he had talked first, then instead of dealing with a media storm, he could have been coming home to both the women he loved."

Cis-sexism and Transphobia in the bi community, by bisexual genderqueer feminist Shiri Eisner.