Francesca Da Rimini

Quick Notes

• Further proof that sexism at The Sun runs SO much deeper than Page 3. From Gorkana: "This Sunday, Fabulous magazine will dedicate half of its pages to men. The back half of Fabulous will be called MF, which stands for Men’s Fabulous, and will include men’s stories, an interview with Freddie Flintoff, pics, reviews and tips. There will still be plenty for female readers, including an interview with Cheryl Cole." THANK GOD there will be an interview with Cheryl Cole. Because otherwise I was going to struggle to relate.
• This afternoon I received this press release. I particularly enjoy the way the bit about the bikini body is in bold. Are you taking the bikini body countdown seriously, ladies, ARE YOU? Don’t Let the Washout Ruin Your Waistline This less than fabulous May weather has left us all with an unusual dilemma: with just a couple of months to get a bikini body it should be time to enjoy lovely crisp salads and ice cold water out in the sunshine but as the wind whistles and the rain lashes all we want to do is curl up under the duvet and gorge on stodgy winter warmers. Rather than springing into Summer it’s starting to look like we might all be dragging ourselves and our hibernation bellies kicking and screaming into the sunshine. Well, gosh, now that you mention it, it is an unusual dilemma. You know, in the sense that I have never thought about it before in my life. But good point. I mean, God forbid I go out in public with my hibernation belly on display [is this even a thing?]. But what am I to do? Under normal circumstances I fucking love eating leaves and drinking tap water but the rainy weather just makes me want to stuff my face with deep-fried carbs. Oh what an endless cycle of failure and self-loathing my life is... but I digress. Luckily for hibernating ladies all over this grey and unpleasant land, Tefal has the answer. Praise be. The world shall not have my flabby gut inflicted on it after all. Tefal ActiFry uses a unique heat pulse technology to cook food using just one spoonful of oil meaning you can whip up a healthy stew, chilli con carne or even popcorn and indulge without worrying about your waistline.  First of all, most recipes only call for a tablespoon of oil anyway and you can cook all these things in a pan so I'm not entirely sure what the point of this product is. Secondly, all this talk of food has reminded me that it now costs about £1.30 for a courgette which means the chances of me getting anywhere near a beach this summer are severely limited anyway. Thirdly... wait, what was my third point again? Oh yes, fuck off.
• Is 'gal' the female equivalent of 'guy'? And is it time to reclaim it from the cutesie, skirt-swirling, rockabilly associations of old? Lily Rothman reckons so -  "I Am Gal, Hear Me Roar"  
•   So I'm guessing the conversation went something like this:   Purity PR exec 1: Hmm, what new tactic can we use to put horny teenagers off sex?" Purity PR exec 2: Oh, I know, I know! A talking teddy bear. PPR exec 1: Hey, nice one! We know how well 17-year-olds respond to stuffed toys. This will definitely work. PPR exec 2: I know, right? PPR exec 3: Yeah, and how about we give it a weird, monotonous voiceover too? And have it loom up over the kid's shoulder. PPR exec 1: Nice. Undertones of a psychotic episode there, I like it. It's almost a subliminal message. PPR exec 3: Yeah... sex before marriage gives you schizophrenia. PPR exec 1: Bingo! All: Amen to that.   (Thanks to Jezebel.com as usual for this one...)
• Love this. I sigh so much. I even write *sighs* on Facebook and Twitter. What a loser. This video started life as a Twitter account exclusively posting things women supposedly say (NB American women - not sure I've ever said "twinsies") and now the Guardian CiF section is asking... what do MEN say?
• What do you think of the Harvey Nicks 'walk of shame' advert? Some people have called it snobbish and sexist. Lezzy mag DIVA reckons it's harmless. Me? I think it's quite astute. Sure, it's a bit snobby. Also patronising (not one of those girls is wearing a coat - just because we shop on the high street doesn't mean we're fucking stupid). But sexist? Meh. I don't think so. The 'shame' in Harvey Nichol's walk of shame is demonstrably not in the hook-up but in the bad outfit. The truth is, no one cares if they're seen heading home at 7am after sleeping at someone else's house - what they care about is doing it with smudged make-up, bed hair, and shoes they can no longer walk in. And if you think men don't do 'walks of shame', you are very much mistaken. It's just that they are less conspicuous. Lack of sleep/screaming hangover aside, men generally look about the same in the morning as they did the night before. And unless they've been at a black tie or costume event, their eveningwear is not all that distinguishable from their daywear (and in fact, I did once see a guy doing the walk of shame dressed as the back end of a pantomime cow). Anyway, if you think the differences in the way men and women dress and how they are interpreted are in some way the result of sexism then I'm not going to argue with you. It's a very fair point and I'd probably agree. But I still quite like this ad.
• In a joint study by Middlesex and Surrey universitys, psychologists asked Are sex offenders and lads’ mags using the same language? The short answer is yes. And if you want proof, here is an example: Mascara running down the cheeks means they've just been crying, and it was probably your fault . . . but you can cheer up the miserable beauty with a bit of the old in and out. Who said that? Click here to find out and while you're there, have a look at the full list of comments used in the study. * As a bit of an afterthought, and because somebody pointed out to me that lads mags aren't of course WRONG when they say that some women like being tied up and playing the helpless victim, here is an interesting article on The Frisky about rape fantasy and role-play. I am now thinking about this a LOT and may have to write something more coherent soon.
• Check out the trailer for Jessica Valenti's documentary based on her book, The Purity Myth. Jessica is the founder of US feminist wesbite Feministing. She wrote The Purity Myth back in 2009 as a response to the (American religious right-wing) cultural pressure on girls to abstain from sex before marriage. It covers the disturbingly deferential "purity balls" where teenage girls promise their fathers that they will remain virgins until they are wed and, perhaps more alarmingly, the pro-virginity activists who attempt to claim that sex is a life-threatening activity (I'm not kidding, one clip sees a woman yelling that "these girls will end up sterile or DEAD"). You think you want to laugh but, mainly, you want to scream and cry. The Purity Myth Trailer from Media Education Foundation on Vimeo.
• Some women just aren't wife material, says Femail (who else?). But wait... it then goes on to explain WHY. It talks to an author. And a psychologist. What they say doesn't really matter. The content is both predictable and irrelevant. It's the premise I'm worried about. As in... WHY WE ARE EVEN TALKING ABOUT THIS??
• *Feel free to post anonymously* - I just really want to hear some opinions... So I read this post on Jezebel a little while ago and wondered what people thought. Personally I've always felt that you can't possibly know a person after one date. You can't know if you really like them, whether you're romantically compatible, whether you even have that many shared interests. But you can tell if you fancy each other. You can tell if there's a sexual chemistry. So I figure you might as well cash in on that and have some great sex while you can. That said, I have also had some fairly lousy sex on first dates/one night stands. And my current boyfriend has told me he had no intention of sleeping with me on our first date and would have turned me down if I'd tried. As it was we waited until the third by which point I think we both definitely knew we liked each other for more than just a casual fuck. Plus the anticipation that had built up in that time was really exciting. So all in all I think I'm a convert. What do you reckon?
• Thank GOD, HTC has invented a phone my brain can actually understand... I mean, obvs not the technology but whatevs. It's called 'Bliss', what more do you need to know? Plus I totes heart the colour. Thanks Wired for this excellent review.
• American Apparel 'plus size' model comp gets its just deserts - love this story. Satire triumphs in the face of adversaries.
• Turkish men pose 'as women' to expose inequality. This is a pretty cool idea and a really interesting read.
• How can anyone who calls themselves a feminist believe that what you wear equates to how you behave? Banana Republic does "retro misogyny"
• Interesting idea in the wake of the London Riots. This site aims to collate images of looters from the last few nights to help identify and catch the perpetrators. What really beggars belief is the idiots who let themselves be photographed. Check it out here.
• @LizJonesSomalia - Undoubtedly the best thing I've seen on Twitter for a while. Partly because it's turned a truly negative occasion (Tha Daily Mail sending Liz Jones to Somalia) into something positive. And partly because it's just really good satire. Over £15k raised so far. Click here for details.