The 50 Men Who Really Understand Women, plus, the trouble with men, and the appeal of George Clooney. (or, welcome to 1907)
Posted by Anna Bull on February 13th, 2007
No, it’s not Heat. Or Cosmopolitan. Or even Grazia. It’s the Observer. Not only is it too scared to utter the word ‘feminism’ in its new(-ish) Woman magazine, but it offers up content which assumes that the feminist movement never happened – and that’s the first wave.
I’ve been waiting for quite a few issues now for the Observer to come up with some content which appeals to anyone who isn’t white, under-40, straight, and rich, but yesterday’s issue was, unfortunately, typical: aside from the gems mentioned above, there were articles on fashion (x3), beauty (how to get rid of blackheads), and relationships, plus four-page spreads on shoes and bags respectively. It’s even more of a pity because the quality of some of the writing is excellent. However, the advertising says it all: L’Oreal, Jaeger, Estee Lauder and Chloe, just to mention a few. My guess is that the Observer thought it could make a quick buck on advertising revenue while propogating the already all-pervasive myth that women are all size 8 (or less), submissive (just look at the photos) whose lives revolve around men.
(if you’re wondering, the 50 men who really understand women include the inventor of Botox, John Frieda (who makes hair products) and Gordon Brown.)
Filed under: clareification, gender on February 13th, 2007
Now this is strange. The blogosphere is alive with posts about a Clare College student being disciplined for publishing a cartoon of Mohammed, yet the Clare politics blog has no comment on it at all.
Is it just not seen as a big deal or have you lot been got at?
Yes, what is going on with this Mohammed cartoon business, and why no comment?
Hi everyone,
Thanks for your comments. To clarify, Clare Politics is an independent student society with no administrative connection to the Union of Clare Students, publishers of Clareification. Each of our bloggers writes independently of the Clare Politics executive committee, of the Union of Clare Students and of Clare College. A number of bloggers are not even members of the college. The posts that appear here therefore reflect only the particular interests of our bloggers at a particular time.
Best wishes,
Matt Clifford
President, Clare Politics
“The posts that appear here therefore reflect only the particular interests of our bloggers at a particular time.”
Matt, are you saying that none of your bloggers were/are interested in this issue?
Ok, as a blogger for Clare Politics, yes I am interested in the issue of the cartoons. It would be foolish to pretend that it hasn’t occurred to me, and foolish to pretend that I didn’t consider blogging on the subject. However, the debate itself is relatively uninteresting- it is just standard freedom of speech stuff. Yeah, I’m a fan of freedom of speech. So are lots of people, and the opinions of the blogosphere seem, in my opinion to endorse that view. But I don’t have much to add. It is just a round of free speech v. offense v. safety. The blanks can pretty much be filled in by anyone.
So although quite exciting at the time, it really doesn’t seem worth blogging about. The arguments are tired, and have been put by far more articulate people than me far too many times.
I’m sorry guys but i must be living in a parallel universe.
“the debate itself is relatively uninteresting”
Are you kidding? I am sitting here in Sydney and the local newspapers are talking about Clare College.
As an ex-student myself (i was at Christ’s) i cannot believe how a Clare blog isn’t full of articles and comments about this issue (both for and against?). What the hell is the matter with you guys? Too worried about your studies? Or too scared to talk?
Someone say something.
Anyway, i’m a writer and reporter and i’ll pay good $$ to get some inside track on what the hell is happening. Who wrote the article? Where is he now? Why did he have to go into hiding? Was he directly threatened? Can you send me a copy of Clareification? What do the students think of this?
Talk!!
If you have information, email me or a drop a comment on my blog.
Matt, that’s a non-statement if you don’t mind my saying so. The question was not that you should be obliged to comment on the goings on, but merely why you hadn’t (and consider the sexual charisma of George Clooney to be more important).
This is an issue which is making your soc and college well kent names, and has the potential to be much more than a minor flap in media land, methinks. At the moment, I’ve been able to find little more than apparently sentationalist reporting from the Cambridge Evening News which seems to be damning the Clarefication’s editor before due process. Comments from sources within your university also appear to have forgotten any notion of parochial care owed to people who are effectively still children.
Acquiescent comments from Owen strike as very, very, very odd. Maybe there are more articulate fellows than he is, but why are they not commenting? This strange conspiracy of silence, and news lock-down, which seems to be in force has the potential, as much as owt else, to allow rumours of your institution pandering to intolerance to flourish.
If you are concerned about privacy issues, I can assure you that Pommygranate is trustworthy. You needn’t even leave your names. A scanned copy of Clarefication wouldn’t go amiss!
Matt
“The posts that appear here therefore reflect only the particular interests of our bloggers at a particular time.”
If the story of one of your fellow students forced to go into hiding because of something he wrote doesn’t ‘interest’ your bloggers, then what, pray, does?
Thanks to the hysterical reaction of your Senior Tutor, Dr. Fara, an awful lot of people around the world are looking very closely at Clare College right now.
Do students still believe in free speech? Or is getting into Goldman Sachs more important?
I also suggest you familarize yourselves with the tale of Thomas Aitkenhead.
Free speech is a “tired debate”, “uninteresting” and one where you can just “fill in the blanks”..
Wow. Laying on the fin de siecle ennui a little bit thick aren’t we ?
Wow !
You really got the Muslims fundies riled up !
Better hire extra security and install metal detectors now !