Live webchat with Natasha Walter, Thurs 4 Feb at 12.30pm

[GeraldineMumsnet]

Natasha Walter, one of Britain's foremost feminists, has a new book out on Thurs 4 Feb called Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism, about the effect our hypersexualised culture is having on young women and girls.

We're delighted to say that Natasha is coming to the Towers for a live chat on Thurs, from 12.30pm to 1.30pm.

So please post your questions here and hope you can join us.

Sorry, long pause while I was looking in horror at Onebat's link.
I have to go now, but I have really enjoyed this discussion and thank you again for raising such interesting points.
Particularly I'm sorry I didn't write more about what we can do now, as although this book is much less optimistic than my first book, I don't feel despairing about the current situation. There are so many good campaigns going on - including the suggested campaign by Mumsnet against products that sexualise young girls, and the work of organisations such as Object and the Fawcett Society. Although there is so much to make us angry, there seems to be a rising awareness in many places in society that sexism hurts both men and women and that a truly equal society would enable more of us to fulfil our potential. It's not time to give up!

onebatmother that is truely disgusting. Poor child. Definitely a candidate for professional intervention.

Hear hear. Whatever we all think about the causes of all this, its effects are horrific (we only have to look at that link!) and we can all teach our daughters that they are worth more than just the way they look. Clever, funny, imaginative, inventive, strong etc etc being far more important.

And TheShriekingHarpy does it really matter? What matters it what we teach our children & the expectations they have about their lives - both our boys & our girls. I suspect the biologists have it up to a point & the sociologists up to another point. And its probably different for every individual based on their own positive & negative experiences & the strength of those experiences & influences. But faced with the kind of thing onebatmother just directed us to - it doesn't matter. That is not the message we should be sending young people about their roles in society.

Onebat's link has been removed - the company deny the story. Apparently it is a company run by two mums who make tutus and dancewear for children. The "lingerie" story has been denied.

Oh rilly MP, sorry all ? But, the pics were pretty telling, I thought.

Do you mean the video or the pics of her from last year's Halloween party?

The video has been withdrawn.

The company is run by two SAHMs. They make cuetsy things like this. They are devastated by the story apparently which was put about by Perez Hilton.

YY re Object/Fawcett

well as natasha was on here i got my order dispatched email from amazon

The pole dancing pics?

Also personally thought Halloween outfits/lipstick/fetish boots only very tangentially related to Halloween and a general indication of slipping boundaries etc. Didn't look at the video other than as a still - should have done, apols - in a rush.

she did pose for pole-dancing pics but you can blame her parents for that rather than some commercial deal she's got going on

I think you can blame her parents for quite a lot tbh

onebat - that is so depressing, poor little girls

Am half way through book. It's timely, although depressing, if, like me, you have a daughter about to go up to mixed secondary school...will she retain her tomboyish independence or will she join the orange face/ miniskirt/and laughing self-hatingly as the internet gonzo porn goes round the class/brigade?

Think I need to check out Object, and have just ordered her "biographies of inspiring women" (there are not that many and they seem a bit old school) to counteract
the culture.......

Interesting thread. I've been interested in Object. Off to look them up now.

Girls are Best
Dp and I bought this for our teenage niece

For as long as history has been recorded, girls haven't had much of a look in amongst all the great men we remember. But that doesn't mean they weren't there. And it doesn't mean that they didn't achieve great things, come up with wonderful inventions or win battles! Lots of people have heard of Joan of Arc, Boadicea and Florence Nightingale, but...Did you know that there were actually female Gladiators - Gladiatrices? Or that Nimkasi was the Sumerian Goddess of Beer? Or that it was Mary Jacob Phelps who invented the bra? In this book, Sandi Toksvig shows that His-tory is actually Her-story. Though they're often ignored or overlooked, they have changed the world. There's no question about it...Girls are best!

I know I talked about equality earlier and I meant it but sometimes the balance needs redressing, it often is His-Story, not Her-Story.