Feminist Orchestra: I Call Myself A Feminist- Edited by Victoria Pope, Rachel Holmes, Amy Annette, Alice Stride, Martha Mosse.

The first book for March in Jean (BookishThoughts)'s book club, The Feminist Orchestra, is I Call Myself A Feminist: The view from twenty-five women under thirty. An edited collection of essays, written by women under thirty, this book offers various perspectives from women on their reasons for calling themselves feminists. There is plenty of discussion going on the thread on the Goodreads page where everyone one seems to be coming to a similar consensus.

One common comment is on the feeling that some of the chapters could go a little more in depth than they do. Depth was a bit of an issue for me in some of the essays. Some of them almost felt like first drafts... and this was all the more obvious next to the stand out chapters, where I became really aware of the difference in quality of writing. However I'm willing to chalk this up to an earnest attempt to get multiple voices of women under 30. Not meaning to imply younger writers are not good writers, but more that in some cases this will have perhaps been their 3rd essay on feminism and not their 100th.

It's also maybe a taste thing. I was really drawn to the more stylised or topic specific essays like Naomi Mitchison's 'A Typical Engineer', which focussed on feminism in the male dominated engineering industry, and Alice Stride's 'This is NOT a feminist rant: the language of silencing women' , which looked at the all too persuasive 'sexist whisper', and 'My journey to feminism' by Louise O'Neill, which had a similar outline to other chapters, but was full of O'Neill's clever wit, sarcasm and humour. In these essays the author's personal voice or writing style really strongly showed through, and I preferred these in contrast to the almost schooly personal statement vibes I got from a few.

The effort to include non-white and non-cis and non-straight feminist voices, however was so great to see. I felt like my claims of intersectional-feminism were bolstered by these diverse stories. Maysa Haque's 'Islam is my feminism and feminism is my Islam' was so interesting, and I always appreciate some cat love. '"Roti kamana": stories of survival' by Samira Shackle was equal parts immensely illuminating and horrifying. And the words of Meltem Avcii in her essay 'Why I call myself a feminist' were seriously powerful.

So I have finished with the feeling that I could probably manage to get my teeth into some more advanced/academic feminist writing, which is an exciting thought as I'd quite like to have a bookshelf full of feminist books that I've actually read AND understood. 

This month it's Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, which I plan to read in a much more timely manner than I did with this one!

Top 6 Podcasts by Women

Within the last year I have become an avid podcast listener. I think I started by listening to people I liked being interviewed on The Nerdist (over that now), started listening to Comedy Bang Bang religiously, and after Serial became obsessed with This American Life, delving right into the archives. I spent my summer last year walking around the city listening to funny and interesting podcasts and now most corners have a little audio memory that pops up when I walk by. As a nerdfighter I listen to Dear Hank & John every week, and had a fling with Gilmore Guys for a while too. I listened to all the Adam and Joe Show archives I could find, and then super enjoyed Adam Buxton's podcast last year too. But today I specifically want to talk about the podcasts I love that are by women. I made a conscious shift in my listening to find more female voices as a lot of the popular podcasts ruling the roost, and the ones I devote a lot of time too, are male led. This was not a fruitless effort and I am continuing to find funny, entertaining, inspiring podcasts by women all the time. In fact I found a whole bunch more when I was looking at other 'top female podcast' lists in prep for this post. So here are my Top 6 Podcasts By Women, and not just FOR women, I reckon most of these should have universal appeal. In no particular order, here they are:

1- The History Chicks

Hosted by Beckett Graham and Susan Vollenweider, this podcast focusses on the oft-ignored women of history. I recommend episode 60: Four Inventors for a taste of what the tone of the podcast is like. Normally it is one woman from history per episode, so have a scroll through to find some of your favourites.

The History Chicks- Episode 60: Four Inventors









2- SRSLY

Hosted by Caroline Crampton and Anna Leszkiewicz of the New Statesman, SRSLY covers all things pop culture in music, film, tv, books, internet. I recommend episode 29: The One Where They Take it Seriously, a special episode on Friends, which is a little different from their usual episodes but very fun in their in depth analysis of the series. Their special episode on Harry Potter is just as fun. Usual episodes cover current pop culture phenomenon, which is also fun!

3- Call Your Girlfriend

Hosted by Ann Friedman and Aminatou Sow, this podcast covers pop culture and politics and everything in between and encourages my new favourite girl-love thing, Shine Theory. I recommend episode 42: Twitter Ninja, which covers the all-lady congress during the DC snowstorm, menstruation and marijuana, and Kanye's Twitter rants. 

4- With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus

Hosted by actor and improver Lauren Lapkus, a frequent Comedy Bang Bang guest also known for her roles in Orange is the New Black and Jurassic World no less! Lauren Lapkus is the guest and her guest is the host in this improv podcast. I believe the guest brings the character and set up for Lauren to improv along to. I recommend the episode Eliza Skinner: Post-Apodcastlypse, which is a very funny post-apocalypse survivor broadcast. Fun fact: I'm listening to this one right now!

5- Criminal

Hosted by Phoebe Judge, Criminal is a podcast about crime. I found it looking for a true crime podcast to fill the gap after Serial season 1. I recommend episode 35: Pen & Paper, about a courtroom sketch artist. This episode is not particularly creepy or gruesome, just pretty interesting. There are much more crimey episodes for sure. 

6- Funny Lady Film Club

Hosted by Alexandra Fiber & Danielle Gibson, this podcast is pretty much what it says in the title: funny ladies talking about a particular film each episode. I recommend episode 25: Charlies Angels with Tessa Hersh, in which it's discussed whether the 2000 film stands the test of time.

That all folks! Apart from a quick shout out to Black Girls Talking, an awesome podcast that I didn't include in this list because I've only listened to one episode so far!

Enjoy! :) Let me know your recs! 

The Feminist Orchestra Book Club- Jean 'Bookish Thoughts'

Jean Menzies of Bookish Thoughts is launching a feminist book club called The Feminist Orchestra. The plan is to read and discuss one feminist text a month, and Jean has chosen a range of books from novels to non fiction and graphic novels to poetry. All the details are on the Goodreads page, where people are recommending books and will discuss each month's read. I plan to blog about each book on here too! This book club's launch was perfect timing for my resolution to read more feminist literature. It also feels a little bit more accessible than Emma Watson's Our Shared Shelf, which has over a hundred thousand members to The Feminist Orchestra's 1000 odd. I feel like more meaningful discussion will be able to take place in this smaller community. The first book is I Call Myself a Feminist: The View from Twenty-Five Women Under Thirty, to read during March.

 Follow along on #FeministOrchestra!

The Legacy of Buffy Summers: Katniss vs. Bella.

This blog post was originally given as a talk at Ms. Biddles Presents: Buffy The Vampire Slayer in Glasgow at The Old Hairdressers in March 2014. The many pictures/gifs were part of my presentation on the night... and they were just too good to leave out.

With ten years since the final episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the legacy of this ‘strong female character’ can still be felt. Joss Whedon wrote a character who was not only strong, feisty, and beautiful, but flawed, reluctant and real. Fans saw Buffy grow up to come to terms with her role as the slayer, and she was potentially ahead of her time in modern media, where in 2014 the representation of women is still problematic.

Buffy has left behind a legacy that can be seen manifested in the female characters of more recent young adult media. With Twilight’s Bella Swan arguably as a polar opposite, and The Hunger Games’ Katniss Everdeen carrying the torch, it is clear to see where Buffy has set the bar. By exploring Buffy’s legacy in the characters of Katniss and Bella, I hope to see how the ‘strong female character’, as a positive role model for young audiences, has progressed in the last ten years.

Looking at online fan opinions from all sides of the argument, it is clear there are positive and negative views of each character. What makes Buffy a better role model than Bella? Why is Katniss given more respect as a female character than Bella? What is it about Bella’s ‘weakness’ and Katniss’s ‘strength’ that can be related back to Buffy’s influence?