I have shed my Dorset skin and made my cheery way back to Southampton living. The sun is out and lord am I feeling grand. Famous last words but currently not even three stodgy essays due can get me down. I think I am a sufferer of Seasonal Affective Disorder - I am unfathomably happy in this beautiful weather. Friends: be prepared to feel my wrath if it changes any time soon. Apologies in advance.
Easter has been an interesting period. I spent one half at home and the other half at home. The other home. With my other family. This alternative family consists of several people, namely feminists and allies, and our relationships are ones consisting predominantly of emotional support and heavy doses of humour and debauchery. We also endeavour in political chitchat when we have nothing better to do but since our opinions rarely differ, such debates are excellent for re-establishing our initial beliefs but can hardly be deemed challenging. We sit, self-righteously, putting the world to rights. My blood family on the other hand provide ample levels of heated debate so I don't feel like I am missing out on much. Our latest was the AV referendum. A contentious issue when under the roof of one Tory, one Liberal and one floating voter (who reads the Daily Mail), I can assure you.
My father's argument went a little something like this: "First Past the Post isn't properrr democracy but it's the way it's always been and we shouldn't change that". Oh cripes. I understand that to someone who has got used to something, change can seem daunting. Like having to buy a new pair of shoes to replace a really lovely but resolutely worn out pair which you have lived in for five years. They have holes in them and make you an eyesore at any civilised occasion but they used to be great and it's nice to own something so comfortable. But one must step - literally - into a world where shoes evolve with the times ... or something. My argument to my father was then based loosely on the principle that not everything traditional has been great. It used to be a tradition to keep a black slave, that wasn't great. It used to be tradition to beat your wife, far from ideal. You get my jist. I shall say no more - in my last blog someone got offended by an apparently insensitive reference to the Holocaust. Yikes. To conclude: AV is sexy, let's do this shit.
Speaking of insensitive jokes, I couldn't help but get rather peeved with the "boob-gate" story which circulated a few days ago. See http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/lucyjones/100053061/pmqs-whose-boobs-are-these/ if you had the privilege to miss out on such a tale. Thank you Lucy Jones, serious and demure journalist extraordinaire, you've done women all over the country a real favour by reminding millions of people that sexism is inherent and unremitting in politics. Let's all have a good gawp at a young lady's rack because of course, since a small portion is on show, she is fully deserving of such lewd attention. It's not as if she's wearing a really smart suit and she's an extremely professional politician sitting and listening avidly in the Cabinet and the mammary glands that her sex equips her with to feed her young are protruding by approximately one inch. Oh no, wait. If everyone could grow up and accept that women have breasts and some times you can see them, that'd be lovely. It really does make a lass resent being gifted with the means to provide for your newborn. And as for comments which state that it was her fault because she was dressed inappropriately, do me a favour and SHUT UP. That attitude smacks rather sharply of the ignoble dross that imbeciles spout on rape cases: look at what she was wearing, she was asking for it. Nobody ever asks to be raped. And certainly nobody ever asks to have a picture of the crack of their chest circled sloppily on Paint and thrown around the internet like some jaw-dropping pornographic image, completely undermining your already very tricky to maintain sense of political authority. .... And breath.
In related news - SlutWalk is hitting Britain! I expect a blog shall be dedicated to this cause sooner or later so I'll save it until then. But do get involved, it's going to be a riot. Of the best, most "slutty" variety.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=197363420301422 - the event
http://www.facebook.com/slutwalkuk - the page
http://www.slutwalktoronto.com/ - the history
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