Feminism
Weird and bold
Laura Elkin looks at women artists from the past century onwards who boldly portray the female body from their own intimate experience
The give and take of friendship
Claudia FitzHerbert explores the complex bond between two remarkable writers in the interwar years
Porn and pyjamas
It was recently reported that almost 8 per cent of global internet traffic is to pornographic websites. The rise of…
The virtue of restraint
Louise Perry is on a mission: ‘It wasn’t enough just to point out the problems with our new sexual culture,’…
How to get it all wrong
The Glass Menagerie directed by Jeremy Herrin is a bit of an eyeball-scrambler. The action takes place on a huge…
Overmilking the crime cow
Nothing new under the sun. Or at least it feels that way these days, doesn’t it? The movies are TV…
The feminist case for marriage
I regret to inform you that your kitten heels and morning suits will probably not be seeing service this wedding…
Accentuate the negative
For many years, Michel Houellebecq was patronised by the French literary establishment as an upstart, what with his background in…
Atwood adrift
Margaret Atwood is among the major writers of English fiction of our time. This is a very boring way to…
The great divide
According to Nina Power’s forceful and rather unusual What Do Men Want?, we in the West are currently engaged in…
Korea’s anti-feminists
How men’s rights became a big political issue
A right old song and dance
All the questions around Britney Spears can be condensed into this one: who should we blame? For a long time,…
Gender is contentious. The BBC is pretending it isn’t
The BBC has produced its annual 100 Women list, a showcase for women who have done interesting, important things. There’s…
When did traditional masculinity become toxic?
It’s hard for privileged white men to stay relevant in this age of identity politics but a number of fail-safe…
Women don’t ‘consent’ to their own deaths
A ruling by the Court of Appeal last week has further enshrined the notion that women can consent to their…
A cultivated mystique
It is 1158. A 17-year-old girl, born of both rape and royal blood, is cast out of the French court…
Why I love Basic Instinct
Our occasional series on cinema’s most underrated films arrives at what many have considered the peak of misogynistic trash. We’re…
Angry about everything
Is Lucy Ellmann serious? On the one hand, yes, very. The novel she published before this collection of essays was…
Divine comedy
Godot Is a Woman opens with three tramps standing on a bare stage beneath a solitary upright. This isn’t Samuel…
When feminists fight back
We have been told that our mere presence as academics makes students feel unsafe. We have been threatened with violence,…
In a state of flux
‘Something is afoot,’ wrote the academic philosopher Kathleen Stock in 2018: Beyond the academy, there’s a huge and impassioned discussion…
Why are London police telling women to stay at home?
The disappearance of Sarah Everard in south London has once again led to women being advised by police to stay…
Private passions of a public moralist
Ruth Scurr reveals what an impulsive, life-loving individual Mary Wollstonecraft was
Quite contrary
Frankly, it is rather hideous — but also quite wonderful, shimmering against the weak blue of a late November sky.…
Hold on to your hats, boys
Stephen Daisley 5 March 2022 9:00 am
The greatest ever social media spat took place before the first tweet was sent, and was conducted via fax, which…