The Uncensored Household
We’re women and we’re feminists. Bunty and I have always identified as feminists and we grew up in feminist households where the men were also feminists. What is International Women’s Day about?
Is it an annual appraisal of ‘women’s issues’ based on progress and regress of women’s rights? Is it about celebration and protest? It it
What does it mean to be a celebrity feminist and do they help or hinder the cause? Can they even call themselves so?
In an article in The Guardian, a journalist forensically analyses the contribution of so-called Hollywood Feministas (my word) and whether they failed. Feminists such as Emma Watson are berated
What an amazing city London is. Not only a world capital, a fashion capital, an art and architectural capital, but can it now claim to to be the most tolerant and integrated capital city?
After what everyone agrees was a racist, vicious campaign by the Tories and their candidate, Zac Goldsmith, the majority election of
The last event I attended on the final day of the Edinburgh International Book Festival was an event centred around feminism: In Praise of Pioneering Women by Caroline Criado-Perez. Caroline was catapulted into media attention after she started the campaign to put an inspirational woman on the £5 note. Her campaign led to her being viciously trolled on social media and subsequently the Crown
Kamila Shamsie at Asia House
Internationally successful writer, Kamila Shamsie sat with the Chatterjis for a wee interview at the end of her event at the Asia House Bagri Foundation Literature Festival 2014. Quality literature could be Pakistan’s second biggest export after Mangoes and Kamila Shamsie’s work sits on the most coveted international shortlists. Calm, confident and endearing, Kamila gave a wonderful interview and we hope you enjoy it:
You live and work between three locations in three different countries, what aspects do you enjoy and dislike?
Now I only live in London, I used to live in Karachi, London and upstate New York. But now I live in London the most. What I love most about Karachi is that it’s home, it’s where I grew up it’s familiar. My family is there, the sea is there so it’s everything I’ve grown up with. So Karachi is in the way you love your childhood. And London I love in the way I embrace…the future I suppose.
Do you describe yourself a feminist/ what does the term mean to you?
I absolutely describe myself as a feminist. What it means to me is…being against patriarchy, there are more complicated ways of that. We live in a society that is structured in an unjust way and that’s wrong and should be changed.
What do you think identity means today for yourself as a dual citizen and for British born Asians?
I just finished reading Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook. It is a wonderfully bold book charting, amongst other important events and cultural/social changes, the freedom of women.
Free to have careers, sex and their own opinions it is set during the evolutionary stage of female emancipation that we, women of today, can relate to even though the book is set from the 1930s onwards. This was a groundbreaking novel when it was published in 1962 and I would say it still strikes a chord today.
Vineet Bahl WIFW AW 2014
My fellow blogging buddies and I had to keep reminding ourselves that we were seeing AW collections as both Anupamaa and Vineet Bahl showed collections that could easily overlap the current Spring/Summer trends. Shame we have to wait for the collections to hit stores!
Vineet Bahl used to be one of my favourite Indian designers due to his Western silhouettes which were gorgeous. Over the last couple of years he has started specialising in India ethnic wear which I guess has more commercial sense for him but he was truly a refreshingly different designer for Western design.
His new AW14 is inspired by the celebration of every moment of life without prejudice and judgement. The collection began with muted earthy handloom silks occasionally peppered with neon embellishment detail and pastel shades slowly crept in and made way for a myriad of vintage inspired colours and delicious combinations such as Prussian blue with peach. Want!!
My sis sent me the link to a news story covering a free app whereby people can start mini campaigns or vent their anger at companies or products that promote or condone sexism and/or misogyny.
I downloaded the app this evening and I like it but I wish it had more functionality. It is quite straightforward to use, users upload images of things they are annoyed with or campaignin against and others users can
I started reading Nancy Mitford and took an interest in her after hearing about her on the BBC Radio 4 Great Lives programme. She sounded so wonderfully witty, sharp and unsentimental that I decided to buy a few of her books.
The Pursuit of Love is a as much as finding love as it is about celebrating the love that an extended family can bring. If you are lucky enough
Kareena Kapoor made news in India today as she declared that she will not be starving herself tomorrow in order to prove her love to her husband, Saif Ali Khan. What’s so special about tomorrow you ask? Well…tomorrow is Karwa Chauth – a one day festival whereby women fast from sunrise until sighting of the full moon (through a flour sieve…) of that same evening and it’s all to ensure the safety and long life of their husbands. Some women also include their sons in this ritual.
Religion is funny business if you ask me and every religion seems to have their few eccentric laws/traditions/customs that remind women they are worthless,
Phew! As Aamby Valley India Bridal Week ended in Delhi PCJ Couture Week 2013 began across the city in a different plush five star hotel… high heels and big smile back on!
Anju Modi kicked off proceedings with her collection inspired by one of the great heroines and goddesses of Indian history. Ms Modi is one of the founding members of the Fashion Design Council of India and I had the pleasure of
What wonderful news that Jane Austen is to be commemorated on our new £10 notes. Shock, horror, can campaigning really work?
The glorious Bank of England announced that it was going to replace Elizabeth Fry, the only female historical figure on a banknote, with Winston Churchill. This sparked a huge campaign
The Guardian today published a lovely article written by Australian comedian Ben Pobjie addressed to Australian men about the embarrassing sexist attitudes reaching international media attention, particularly as it is directed at Australia’s female prime minister. I was only just gearing up to write about the disgusting menu presented at an Australian fund raiser for their opposition party where the Australian PM’s body parts were described when today another news story broke. This time the Australian PM was asked whether her hair stylist husband was gay.
Whilst the article makes for an interesting read and I’m glad to see Australian men upset at the behaviour of other Australian men, the most interesting part of the article for me was a tiny paragraph in the middle of the article:
But I understand the urge to deny that sexism is happening, because I’m a man and I hate talking about sexism: it makes me feel guilty and self-conscious. It is, frankly, awkward.
So now I turn my post away from Australian men to men in general. Why does sexism make you feel guilty and awkward?
Well done to the Everyday Sexism Project – what incredible women they are.
They have won their battle against Facebook for having pages that glorify and poke fun at “hilarious” topics like “Raping Your Girlfriend Just For Fun” and another one that shows women lying in pools of blood “failing to make a sandwich”.
At first, Facebook came back with free speech arguments
At work we are all reading 50 Shades of Feminism – less than £10 and in hardback (unless you prefer Kindle) so get your copy asap, you will love it. I would recommend this book particularly if like me, you have a short commute to work and love to read little bite-size nuggets of delightfully well-written essays.
This book is written by 50 authors, young and old, and from all different backgrounds
Why are younger women so blase about blatant sexism? I despair.
Tulisa has released her album “The Female Boss” – it is bad enough that she can’t sell anything without getting her cleavage out but does her album need to have such a patronising title? Of course, all “regular” bosses are male, yes sir Mr Big Boss Man! Has she never heard of a female boss or is she not sure that she is female and has to remind herself?
Beyonce Beyonce Beyonce, I cringe at her patronising lyrics – fake female empowerment
“We used to wish for any mother but this one.” So lamented the sons of, arguably, one of the world’s greatest fashion editors and icons: Diana Vreeland. Their loss was fashion’s gain.
Diana Vreeland lived from 1903 to 1989 and she spent her last years with the same energy and enthusiasm as her younger years – she always wanted to be where the action was. The Eye Has to Travel is a new documentary all about Diana and since she was inseparable from fashion and photography it is is a celebration of that too.
With a wicked and mischievous sense of humour, Diana Vreeland narrates
Lady Gaga opened Philip Treacy’s London Fashion Week exhibition with a bang in a hot pink transparent burqa and how fab it was!
I’m a Muslim, no one in my family wears head scarves or burqas therefore unsurprisingly I am in the burqas-are-opressive camp. Apparently not all women who wear them are forced
Oprah Winfrey caused a stir in India this week as she visited Mumbai, Agra and finally Jaipur for the literature festival. As I checked to see what one of the USA’s most influential women has been up to since The Last Show I was intrigued by this enquiry on her website:
Are you a middle class woman in Mumbai?
Are you a typical middle class woman living in Mumbai who can you talk to us about what it is like to be a woman in India today? Do you have an opinion about how women
Tuesday, 8 March marks the global centenary of International Women’s Day.
Until this year I have never bothered doing anything for International Women’s Day as I thought it was celebrated merely as part of global politics and never achieved anything significant. Last year, however, there was a reawakening of the feminist within me
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