As you may know my day job involves, amongst other things, discussing philosophy with teenagers. One of my Year 13 students commented recently that it must be a wonderful job, sitting around having conversations all day about the great mysteries of the universe, and for the most part, it is. We’ll ignore the marking for…
Tag: Feminism
The Token Women
I went to university with a woman-let’s call her Liv-who, some years after our university days had ended, I spotted walking up the street in the dead of winter wearing nothing but a pair of hotpants and a T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan “I AM NOT A TOKEN WOMAN.” Liv could never have been mistaken…
“I’m Sure Your Husband Will Do It.”
“It’s not going to fit. It won’t go up those stairs.” The delivery man places the brand new pink velvet chair that was perfect for the loft room, but turns out to be somewhat larger than it appeared in store, down underneath the loft stairs and examines the underside, where four slim gold legs poke…
Three Reasons You Should NEVER Take a Toddler to Choose Their Own Birthday Present
Let’s get this out of the way first. I know I’m a monster. If I was any sort of mother, I would have arranged for someone else (in an ideal world, my doting husband and babyfather, for example, if such a person existed, we are talking about a hypothetical IDEAL world here, not the one…
Feminism: The Label We Should Wear With Pride
“Miss,” the boy whispered to me during a Year 9 lesson. “That Miss Smith,* she’s a feminist, you know. She’s always talking about feminism. And….” (his voice dropped to a whisper) “we think she might be a LESBIAN!” Ah yes, feminism, the word spoken of in hushed tones by teenage boys everywhere. There was a…
Just Another Tear-Streaked Election Post
This morning, as I imagine many others around the world also did, I awoke and reached immediately for my phone. Not, as is my usual custom, to simply turn off the alarm. Not this morning. I don’t generally make a point of going straight onto a news website at 6am. I’m usually more interested in…
Having a Baby: What’s The Right Time?
Another day, another brief trawl through the news; another headline flashing a great big red warning light decrying the trend for women (note I said “women” and not “people” here, as if women alone are responsible for furthering the next generation of humans) to have children later, and admonishing us all for being hard-headed careerists/wanting…
Boys and their Toys
I had high hopes for my son. I imagined that he would be the next John Stuart Mill. Studying the classical languages by the age of three, and a master of the ancient Greek philosophers by eight; most importantly he would be a visionary, a man ahead of his time, a frontrunner in the fight…
High Heels: Aren’t We Good Enough As We Are?
I am five feet one inches tall. On a good day. On a day when I am stretching and standing on the tippiest of tippy toes, like we all used to in primary school when trying to prove we were taller than a similarly-sized friend and therefore obviously much more mature, serious and commanding of…
Having it all? Or just being a bit rubbish at it all?
Today, dear readers, I am going to talk about Having It All. Because that is a topic that doesn’t get much airtime, oh no, no one writes about the Blessed Womanly Curse of Having It All. For me, Having It All means working full time, parenting and then trying to blog in the evenings after…