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    The ‘Real Housewives of ISIS’ sketch: When funny is harmful

The ‘Real Housewives of ISIS’ sketch: When funny is harmful

by Jennifer Philippa Eggert

 Image: BBC Two/ BBC iPlayer: ‘Revolting’ Episode 1

If you follow the news, you have probably heard about the controversial new BBC sketch ‘Real Housewives of ISIS’. I do like some good comedy and have no issue laughing at Muslims or issues that arise in Muslim societies. There are great sketches on that. As a student I used to laugh […]

The War Rages On: Women in the British Military and the De-Politicisation of War in ‘Our Girl’ (2014)

The five part BBC drama series Our Girl (and the 90 minute TV film which preceded it) centres around the experiences of Private Molly Dawes, a young medic serving in the British Army. Molly is assigned to a unit referred to as ‘2 Section’ as a combat casualty replacement, and with them deploys to Afghanistan. Her colleague in 2 Section, Private […]

Where have all the cyberfeminists gone? Part 2

In a prequel to this post I have briefly introduced the history of the cyberfeminist movement and some developments leading to the status quo. Here, I would like to think about its legacy and potential contemporary relevance. In the introduction to Cyberfeminism 2.0, Gajjala and Ju Oh ask “where have all the cyberfeminists gone?” Were I prompted for a marginally informed guess, I […]

Rape culture, Taylor Swift and silencing women who speak up

Friday nights are a sacred space. I enjoy coming home to do my laundry, tidy up my room…and shamelessly sing off pitched lyrics to ditties that are oddly reminiscent of my high school freshman diary while I simultaneously dance around in my running spankies and jump on top of my bed. Friday night is Taylor Swift ‘n Sing Karaoke Clean-up […]

Still dealing in dichotomies?!

On January 18, 2013, The New York Times reported anticipation among leading women of the world about the rise and globalization of women’s issues. A month later, however, The Observer reported a decline in women’s presence in British public life. So which is it? Are women’s issues genuinely featuring more seriously on the political agenda and are we truly witnessing […]

The media furore surrounding Rihanna and Chris Brown is a missed opportunity for helpful discussion about intimate partner violence

In this post, Harriet Gray, first year PhD student at the LSE Gender Institute, discusses how the public discourse surrounding Chris Brown’s abuse of then-girlfriend and singer Rihanna has turned in to a discourse of victim blaming rather than being used as something constructive to publicly discuss the issues surrounding domestic violence.  Singers Rihanna and Chris Brown are back in […]

Women looking at women, women looking at men

Akane Kanai, an MSc student at the LSE’s Gender Institute studying Gender, Media and Culture. Here she muses over differing utilisations and perceptions of masculine and feminine beauty, the diverging experiences of presenting the self and experiencing the presentation of others.

 

‘The female body is a… work of art. The male body is utilitarian, it’s for gettin’ around, like a […]

The Pains of Rendering The Iron Lady ‘Palatable’

  In this post, LSE MSc Gender, Media, & Culture student Kimberly Killen explores her reaction to the film The Iron Lady. She looks at how the film portrays a woman in power and the problems that arise therein.   Let me get this out of the way: Meryl Streep is great in the film The Iron Lady. That’s not […]

‘Where My Girls At?’: When Pop Goes Political

Laura Lazarus Frankel is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow pursuing a PhD in political science and a Certificate in Feminist Studies at Duke University, studying the politics of media, race, and gender. In this post she explores the gender and racial politics of Beyonce, Glee and “girl power”. Like many Americans of my generation, I have become obsessed […]

Lost and lost in translation

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