Gina called, infuriated. She was marking a music student's work, and the student had declared 'Dr Helen Reddington says that women are inferior to men'; the accompanying illustrations were of Madonna and Lad Gaga in their undies. Or similar.
Well, Dr Helen Reddington has never said anything like that, ever, even ironically (although watch this space, and she will do, in 30 seconds).
It is easy to despair and to decide not to bother with this type of education, the type that encourages young people to question the world around them, a world of attitudes and 'facts' that are ladled into them through magazines such as Heat and OK, and newspapers such as The Sun and The Daily Mail.
For of course, lap-dancing is empowering!
Cazz Blaise has published her final stimulating piece about women in punk music: http://www.thefword.org.uk/features/2011/01/punk_women_writ
And the talented artist, Caroline Coon, continues to write interesting and challenging responses to the force-fed attitudes of mass culture in her blog, here: www.carolinecoon.com
Lad Gaga? Is that her brother then?
ReplyDeleteHa ha! I will leave the typo. I like it!
ReplyDeleteCan't we just all agree that men and women are different - or would that put a lot of feminists out of work?!
ReplyDeleteYes, they are very different, but I don't believe they should stop each other from doing things just because of their gender. That's what feminism means to me, and that's important to me because I have two daughters that I hope will have the opportunity to do what they want when they leave education (although it's going to be difficult because of the recession).
ReplyDeleteIn my version, men get to do a lot of nice things too!