In the second of her autobiographical interviews with feminist academics, Carol Taylor talks to Valerie Hey. Currently Professor of Education at the University of Sussex, Valerie is well known for her theoretical and practical commitment to exploring the entanglements of class, gender and feminist politics, and for her subtle analyses of the constitution of subjectivity. Here, Valerie reflects on her career, muses on education in Con-Lib times, and speaks of the enduring importance of feminism.
On 28th August, Shulamith Firestone was found dead in her Manhattan apartment at the age of 67. Firestone’s 1970 book, The Dialectic of Sex, is a carefully argued and inspiring call for a feminist revolution that still feels ahead of its time 42 years later. I’d just finished rereading it when I heard the news of Firestone’s death via the Guardian’s obituary of her and as a tribute I have collected here some of the parts of that work that I found the most provocative and powerful in the hope that others will be moved to read or reread this classic of feminist theory. Firestone is perhaps best known for her call for women to take ownership of the means of reproduction, and so take advantage of advances in medical technologies to free themselves from their oppression. However, her work is far more wide-ranging than its represented as in the many textbook accounts. Here I look at what she had to say about schooling and about sexuality. The page numbers are taken from the 1979 Women’s Press edition.
On the 16th August I was taken back to my own A level results day and also to the day of A level results for the twenty-one young women I interviewed for my PhD research. These young women collected their A level results in August 2006 and as one might expect, it was a mixed bag of joy, surprise and disappointment. Of the twenty-one, fifteen took up places at university that year. Some had to retake, others decided to defer their university place, or to reject it altogether. Continue reading “Another August, another A level results day”
When my artist friend Mary Yacoob excitedly emailed me a link to ‘bic for her’, the new pen for girls and women, after I’d checked it wasn’t April Fools Day, I started to worry about her sanity. Happily she reassured me that she also found the idea offensive but that I should check out the reviews. This little pack of pens has garnered a massive 288 customer reviews on Amazon, compared to just 9 for a standard bic pen multipack. The reviews are funny and angry at the same time. Saddler1993’s pithy review is typical, “I think this is possibly the best thing to happen since my Great Aunt Maisie chained herself to John Menzies in the ‘Drawing Pins For Women’ campaign of 1922. God bless you girl…. how far we have travelled!” I share a few of my favourite reviews here but if you’re ever bored in the office or the classroom or anywhere else, I’d recommend working your way through a few of them, they range in style from Victorian romance to dystopian science fiction. Continue reading “No more pens envy: Bic market female biros”
Dear All,
I am delighted to announce that the winner of the 2012 FWSA Book Prize is Professor Clare Hemmings (LSE) for her text, Why Stories Matter: the Political Grammar of Feminist Theory. After reviewing a strong shortlist of eligible submissions, all three judges were particularly impressed by Clare’s submission. This excerpt from the judge’s reports illustrates the high praise this text received: Continue reading “FWSA Book Prize 2012”
It was the first day of school, and we were standing on the bleachers in the gymnasium, waiting for the seniors to make their ceremonial entrance. I stood there with the ninth graders, craning my neck, trying to get a glimpse of the new senior class as they lined up in the hallway. We show our respect by standing during the seniors’ entrance; they usually reward us by putting on a show while walking to their seats. Continue reading “The Muddy-Booted Boys: The Lads’ Redneck American Cousins”
In Fame, Folk Devils and Generation X-Factor, Heather Mendick and Kim Allen highlight the moral condemnation of the ‘get rich quick’ X-Factor generation, and the profound classing of ‘celebrity’ as (un)appealing and (dis)tasteful. Patterns of culture, consumption and aspiration manifest variously across different national and international contexts and as a visiting scholar at the Australian National University, I’ve had the opportunity to consider the shape and ‘stick’ of class in the Australian context. Specifically, I’ve been intrigued by the figure of the ‘bogan’ as a negative descriptor of white working-class poor populations and an identified ‘new tribe’ of Australians (similar to the UK figure of the ‘chav’, excessively clothed in the wrong brand, and lacking the ‘right’ cultural capital, see ‘Neighbourhood Types’). As Mendick and Allen’s piece highlights, behavioural traits are captured and mis-represented as individual character facts, or flaws, disguising fundamental divisions around legitimacy, authority and material inequalities. Continue reading “Cultures of Class: ‘Cashed Up’ and (Dis)Appearing in Place”
On 17 July 2012, fifty women teacher trade unionists from 11 countries (Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, and Yemen) met in Amaan, Jordan. They were meeting to decide whether they wanted to launch a regional women network under the auspices of Education International, a global trade union federation covering 30 million workers. They decided that they did. Continue reading “Arab Women Teachers – sharing their hopes and standing together”
The UN has declared that October the 11th 2012 will mark the very first International Day of the Girl Child. Continue reading “October 11th: International Day of the Girl Child”