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Anyone seeing the title of Betty Friedan’s 1963 classic -The Feminine Mystique(1) for the first time – could be forgiven for thinking that she is actuallypromoting some kind of strategy of perfumed seduction… but far from it.

Beth G. (a pseudonym) had eight miscarriages before she and her partner considered in vitro fertilization (IVF). The couple also discussed adoption but ultimately opted for a surrogate in India.

At the end of 2015 China announced the end of its One Child Family policy , established some 35 years ago.

Curvology purports to take us on “a scientific journey into the evolution of women’s bodies and what that means for their brains”(2). Engagingly, David Bainbridge attempts to diffuse the unease or scepticism generated by the title by stating his credentials and limitations for this task upfront; ” I am a reproductive biologist and a vet, I have a zoology degree…I am a forty-something Caucasian male…I could be argued to be a dispassionate observer or a biased voyeur”. Each reader will judge for herself or himself where on this spectrum the Mr Bainbridge lies.

South African athlete, Caster Semenya, won the 800 meters at the 2009 Athletics World Championships in spectacular time, and immediately fell foul of the “gender” police at International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). After testing, not in fact for gender identity, but for “biological variables” they pronounced, with their usual finesse and sensitivity, that “She is a woman but maybe not 100%”. This was perhaps the first such incident to receive wide public notice.

Stephen Greenblatt, Pulitzer Prize winner and a specialist in early modern literature, explores in The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve the enduring fascination of the Genesis story despite or because of the fact that different versions are open to a variety of interpretations.

Pink Kat George’s Pink Bits published as an e-book by Thought Catalogue original books is an example of the growing volume of media products – books, blogs, films, television shows – produced by young women primarily for a specific demographic of girls and women ( roughly 11-28?), though George invites young men along for much-needed enlightenment. Typically of these products Pink Bits jumbles the genres of autobiography, self-help manual, personal empowerment literature, and homespun philosophy, the essential message being “I have been through all of this and still love myself and you can do it too…because you’re worth it!”. Some examples of this genre are lightly fictionalized though Pink Bits has the air of verisimilitude throughout. This is basically a new type of literature gestated in social media which challenges received notions of what is a book and who can write an autobiography. Given the subject matter and the fact that the author is stated to be ‘an early adopter of feminism’ (move over Mary Wollstencraft b.1759) the question should also be posed as to how it fits in the feminist cannon. Kat George takes us on a breezy, irreverent and only very moderately raunchy ride (despite perhaps pretensions otherwise) through chapters dedicated to her experiences – foetal, fecal, menstrual, virginal, coital, coital, coital, girl-on-girl action, and –inevitably- medical, ending with philosophical self-approval and blessings for her readers and their vaginas. She comes across as the ideal big sister one never had who is actually prepared to “tell it like it is”. Some handy coinages which deserve some further mileage include “the sacred fig”, “vagina panic” and “the terror dome of sex”. Although overwhelmingly self-referential the author appears at one point to reference the sainted Super Model Kate Moss by inverting her iconic statement – “almost everything feels better than skinny feels”. George’s legions of fans (who follow her at Vice, Jezebel, Bullett, Noisey, The L Magazine ,The Vine, Oyster, Galavant and Everything Is Fucked/Everything Is OK)will no doubt be delighted and looking forward to the sequel of sexual and gynaecological events still to be experienced in her hopefully long lifetime. Whilst it would be easy for those of us not in the target demographic to dismiss e-books such as this, it is important to recognize that they serve a valuable function for their many readers and have to be counted as part of the new democracy of feminism along with mumsnet and other platforms which don’t fall neatly into traditional feminist categories. https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/review/pink-bits Kat George addresses many current issues such as poor body image, bullying, female feelings of lack of self-worth leading to high risk sexual behaviour (“would you like me better if I fucked you”)and many other resonant concerns. Pink Bits needs to be seen for what it is as “unprocessed” feminism, and as valuable to its audience as recent works with many more pretensions such as Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean-In” which addresses for another demographic the same issue of the need for greater female self-assertiveness. Kat George is no doubt aware of the broader context of which her ebook is a part, perhaps the most obvious being Lena Dunham’s HBO series “Girls”. And she may or may not be familiar with earlier works dedicated to the female organ such as The Vagina Monologues (Eve Ensler 1998). In any case it might be enriching to her own product and for her readers as she proceeds merrily through life’s vicissitudes if she could compare and contrast her views and situation with some other practitioners in the field? Also as she says she does not “believe womanhood to be bound up entirely in my sexuality” and it would be interesting to hear about some of the other “princess cut(s) of facets” that makes her who she is. Can we also make an old-fashioned plea for some old-fashioned page numbers?
See also full review: https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/review/pink-bits

Hillary Clinton’s campaign to be the next American President has been a case-study in the complexities of contemporary “Feminism”.

Sex and Gender are topics of perennial interest, but only in recent years have they moved out from under the covers into mainstream popular debate.

Gender Sexy Has Olympics 2012 made gender equality a ‘sexy’ aspiration and policy direction for decision-makers, politicians, the IOC and other movers and shakers, such as the mainstream media? Ahead of the pack (if there turns out to be a pack) UK shadow Olympics Minister ,Tessa Jowell , has shrewdly been the first to head up a campaign for Rio 2016 as the ‘gender equality Olympics’. This has received a rather muted response so far from the IOC who will ‘do their best. https://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/aug/10/rio-olympics-gender-equal The possibility of their field acquiring some status could come as an exciting prospect to ‘gender experts’ who are accustomed to labouring in a ‘sector’ which is under-resourced, under-recognized and under-valued. And not always supported by women who arguably have the most to gain. Women’s and Gender Equality Ministries are often the weakest and least interesting to donors or ambitious young civil servants looking to make a good career; the post of gender officers or gender focal points in other institutions is very often occupied by the most junior female staff member, intern or volunteer who however capable or committed they may be have least access to decisions and budgets. Whilst countries work for parity in non-controversial areas such as equal access to education or health care… and the somewhat more controversial area of contraception and reproductive health… gains in these areas have not been mirrored in gains in gender equality overall where many other ‘values’ issues come into play. But if supporting gender equality becomes a contested area where everyone wants to shine this could certainly change the picture. The Sports sector traditionally the domain of men and youth may provide the unexpected ‘tipping point’. Gendercentric has been following gender equality issues throughout and even before the games in terms of participation, access, coverage (and un-coverage as in beach volley-ball). Most people agree that the participation of women from all countries..including Brunei, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia… was a triumph. Even though athletes from these three countries were ‘un-medalled’ they were loudly cheered by the euphoric crowds. Olympics 2012 saw an unprecedented number of Arab women athletes take part. Predictably not everyone was happy; the collective of NGOs Justice for Women protested at ‘the inclusion of veiled women in contravention to (sic) neutrality principles’ ; and called for a ban on male only delegations, though not, we note, on female only delegations such as that of Bhutan? Boxing and taekwondo were opened to women for the first time though not yet canoeing,and overall more events and more medals are available to men than to women….30 more medals being available in men’s events.Nevertheless, two-thirds of USA medals were won by women. The UK men’s swimming organization Out To Swim Angels continue to protest their exclusion from the synchronized swimming competition.  https://www.outtoswim.org/syncronised-swimming?rq=synchro The issue of testosterone-testing which peaked rather early turned out to be a damp squib with only one athlete ( a German cyclist) being reported as having failed the test, and Caster Semenya, the presumed target of the testosterone police, running a decorous 800 meter race to come second. But a decisive position on the utility and ethics of testosterone testing needs to be arrived at before Rio 2016. Maybe the Out To Swim Angels have too much testosterone to enter the synchronized swimming though so far only women are targeted for the test. There are other issues of gender balance in decision-making bodies in national sports federations and in the IOC itself which we hope that the energetic Ms Jowell and others like her…including some men….. will address. Overall the media coverage has been a model of even- handedness and it was striking that almost all commentators reflected on the issue of women and gender balance in a serious way. And many women athletes spoke up about the discrimination in funding, equipment, exposure that they had experienced BBC ‘body match calculator’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19050139 was a brilliant attempt to show the range of possible athletic body types to encourage all of us ! In the light of this euphoria some of the usual knee-jerk feminist grumbles look a little tired & even mean-spirited. http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2012/08/09/thumbs-up-thumbs-down-a-feminist-look-at-the-olympics-part-2/ We think that no-one but no-one complains about being called ‘hot’ including the Dutch field hockey team (& anyway ‘hot’ has more than sexual connotations?) ; or at least let us get equally upset by the ‘girls’ who think Tom Daly is ‘hot’ & let’s also criticize the great Usain for collecting Swedish hand-ball players! Gender equality need not mean the end of sex-as-we-know-it. We just need a few more female medallists to start behaving badly, or to praise Boris, Mayor of London for being ‘as sleek as a wet otter’.