Anyone watch 'Lefties' on BBC 4 last night and/or last week?

[motherinferior]

And if so what did you think? I wasn't sure about last week's, which I felt (a) slotted together the basis for about three different rather interesting programmes (b) was not quite politically acute enough, especially when it came to the endless ramifications of the Fourth International (no explanation, for instance, that the SWP was an offshoot of IS, or the divisions between the SWP and the WRP). Last night's, however, the feminism one, was I thought fairly good. Made me feel quite powerfully nostalgic, and slightly embarrassed to realise how much I had - and perhaps still do - found entirely reasonable. No mention of the highly divisive role of the Kings Cross Women's Centre, and it was a bit odd in its timeline (went right up to the end of the GLC, yet absolutely no mention of Greenham), but seven out of 10, I thought...anyone else?

God, I don't half go on about all this, don't I

I did spend a number of months trying, with little success, to copy the rather marvellous hairstyle of our mutual friend from Wadham. Now there was a woman who just oozed radical chic.

And I had a number of baggy jumpers myself .

She's still around, you know, rather eminent in her field.

Blimey, she is isn't she - I just googled her!

headscarves? at Oxford? am absolutely certain noone ever wore a headscarf in my days at Oxford. things must have changed fast in those year. i just remember a load of stripey shirts with collars turned up, and court shoes. perhaps not in the radical groups but even there there were definitely no headscarves.

There was a brief vogue for knotting a scarf around your chin in a traveller-ish rather than Queen Mum way. Dino managed it.

I don't know whether to be pleased or the opposite that this thread has mutated into a discussion of What We Wore.

It may have been a bigger shawl thingy. She managed to look wistfully frail in manner of Rowan knitting pic.

I do think you must be muddling me up with someone else mi! Or taking the mickey ...

I did have a number of very thin gauzy sort of scarves that I wore wrapped round my head - but I don't ever remember tying one under my chin!

racking my brain I can definitely recall stripey shirts with collars up and court shoes even in the feminist and other political groups I frequented.

in fact even succumbed myself, temporarily. pressure must have been very strong as am not and was never stripey shirt type.

'fess up fennel, which college and when?

I tried to watch this but couldn't. My parents met in the 50s because they were both in the Communist Party. We were then brought up listening to such dogma and utter prejudice from my mother (my dad had lost interest) that my flesh crawls when things get "too lefty" My hobnail boot on the end of a concertina-ish thing with a handle was twitching!
My mum and her peers drummed into us that things like getting married, having children, cooking, sewing etc were for stupid girls who had no independence or independent thought ..... yet they'd all got married and had children and were mostly SAHMs (and mine did NOTHING! lazy cow). It took me, my sisters and cousins some years to come round to the idea that we might actually like to have a husband/partner and children..... maybe even stay at home with the children I think it did us no end of damage tbh.
Sorry, going off on one a bit

wispy scarves - weren't those for tying round the ankle of a pixie boot?
(Why?)

Oh god, and there's me thinking this is about left handed people, mash potato brain sneaks away and hopes no one notices!!!

LOL at wimmins spaces being safe!
I was directing my first ever professional theatre production in the centre of an unholy trinity of RadFemLesbian separatists as designer, writer and lead actor. They TOLD me I was really a lesbian but was selling out and in denial because I was having a relationship with a man, and they hatched a plot to kidnap me and take me on a wimmins weekend to help me realise my true self. And when a patch of my hair fell out with the stress, the writer said it was a sign of parthenogenisis and my creativity was coming out of my head. One of them insisted on doing a Phrana massage, and I was in terror because I had never heard of such a thing and thought she said 'Pirhana massage'.

In the end, a I had a bit of a thing with the actress, which was all right, but then when I finished it (because I was then quite certain of the difference between politics and sexuality and felt I was doing women no favours by sleeping with them) her flat mate, who was part of the Spare Rib collective took to phoning me at home and work and lecturing me very fiercely.

Thank goodness that at no time did wearing a headscarf seem de rigeur.

Friend of mine was saying today how very nasty people were capable of being, under the guise of sisterhood. She had a particularly rough time of it, as she had in fact started life as a bloke.

But also, life long friendships were forged on common values, weren't they? I feel quite privelidged to have gone through it all, really.

Precisely, Blu. Not a nice way to treat a young sister, and just a tad predatory to boot.

ooh, x posted there!

I am glad I was there. And glad I'm not there any more.

Do you think I should agree, so as to conclude this part of the thread on a sisterly note?

No, you should point out that I'm too middleclass to have any sort of valid view.

BTW spoke to our former chunky volunteer today.

LOL Fauve!

LOL at predatory, too. I did feel a bit like Pirhana bait!

Oo-err, MI. You'll have to email me the details...

Message withdrawn

BLU! that is fantastic: you realise it is worthy of being a Piece in its own right?