Feminist Pub 15: The Bluestocking hangs up its, err, stocking and hopes for a chatty Christmas and a Feminist New Year

[YonicSleighdriver]

Festive greetings!

This is the 15th incarnation of the Pub and is meant as a place to drop by with random thoughts and meandering chats, on feminist or other related themes. Anything you want to mull over but not necessarily start a thread about. Alternatively, get some booze and snacks and hang out! Lurkers, newbies and oldbies welcome.

We have a pub goat, a feminist cannon for firing at crazy sexists and we cheer each other up when patriarchy grinds us down...

Last pub drinkie linkie:

Pub 14

I've spent some time today road testing LinkedIn Premium (quite rubbish frankly, and I'm glad I'm using the free month offer) and it showed me a list of "professionals like me". They were all managing directors or CTOs (and male, of course). I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry because there is a part of me that just knows that! were I in possession of a penis! I would have got the leg up (no pun intended) needed to really advance my career.

But I'm not bitter

Fibonacci, I have to give you a big punch on the shoulder, buy you a pint, and turn away while talking in a slightly gruff voice about sport or something. I fucking feel you, man. woman. lady. comrade. sister. Whatever we call each other here.

Anyway. let's all change the subject and punch the air about new era

www.theguardian.com/society/2014/dec/19/charitable-foundation-dolphin-square-new-era-estate-london

FUCKING WOOOO!!!!!!

I am so thrilled about this! This is a successful act of physical resistance by ordinary (I mean brilliant, actually, but ordinary in a non-privileged sense) people, primarily women. It worked. IT CAN WORK.

this is an example of what I was thinking of when we were arguing about violence. I am not for a moment suggesting that the new era people were ever literally violent but their resistance was physical. Not semantic, not verbal (oh yes they did all that too) but what made the difference was they put their bodies in the space and would not move them.

I love them. I am thrilled by this.

What next?

YY Fib.

caught up with The Fall now, phew.

President Obama held his last press conference of the year today. I watched the whole thing. When it was over, it dawned on me that he only called on women reporters to ask questions. And they asked very good questions.

Scone, I read that on Shakesville. Good for him.

On another note, can I have a padded wall to bang my head against? The threads about that poor woman in Ireland are doing my head in. Why is it so hard to grasp that it isn't actually about what she would have wanted, it is about the fact that it wouldn't matter what she wanted? Aaaargh!

Fibonacci, I mostly stick to groups like Women in Technology on LinkedIn. I've been to a couple of networking events through them, too. Nearly cried at the first one, as I'd never been in a room fully of techy women before, only ever a minority.

I suspect LinkedIn premium is really only useful for recruiters, but as I've never bothered with the free trials they've offered, I could be wrong. I was going to update my profile yesterday, and then decided I didn't want to bother with all the contacts from recruitment agencies thus then triggers. After Christmas - not least because I will be looking at internal jobs and I have it on good authority that they tend to look at LinkedIn in, rather than the profiles we're all meant to put on the intranet.

I know of an investment bank who needs a good DBA...

I never understood LinkedIn. There are so many fake CVs on there it's difficult to believe that anyone takes them seriously. But apparently people do. The careers service has LinkedIn days. I think I'm getting old.

Ebear, you can opt not to push updates to your network.

I've had quite a few interviews through LinkedIn, and one job offer (which I turned down, but it as actually very useful for how I saw myself, and made me a lot pushier in the job I stayed in.)

Have you EBear? I take it all back then. We've had a few bad experiences with LinkedIn where people either were not what they said they were or said what they were not. Or is that the same thing?

I'm starting on Longbourn - Pride and Prejudice from the servants' point of view. Anyone read that? Is it any good?

I'm sure there are people who are not what they say they are, but then that's not very different from a traditional CV/application form way of applying, really - you can't always be sure people are telling the truth, unless you check their qualifications and references, and it's why you interview them. There have always been people who don't match up to what they say, whatever the recruitment tools in use.

It may also vary by industry. I work in IT, so it's natural to use IT to find employees, and I haven't had a single interview which hasn't included a technical test as part of the process.

It's just that they advertise themselves to be affiliated to us when they are not ...

Oh, I can understand why that would be annoying. Even if you can get them removed, it takes time and effort.

I enjoyed longbourn lordc. It wasn't perfect (rather far-fetched in terms of plot IMO), but i found it really interesting (e.g. Description of what it must have been like for a servant in Georgian times dealing with five daughters of the house having their period at the same time!)

Catching up late - ellis, I cheered a bit inside at that too. The Guardian picture of Russell Brand is irritating, though. Way to swoop in and hog the limelight.

That is good and reminds me of the amazing focus e15 mothers group (who I think were evicted in the end?) - though those stories were latterly dominated by pics of Russell brand too!

I don't blame Russell Brand, his heart is in the right place. I blame the media for making it all about him when the women started it and did the long term stuff. they are such heroes

Russell Brand is a misogynistic arsehole.

Phew, that feels better (sorry!)

Ha I agree with both of you there!

I didn't read the article because of the picture of Brand. Can't do it. Like having strong suspicion of your house being infested by rats.

It's my turn to have a cold. Am holing up in bed with Longbourn which I'm quite enjoying.

FibonacciHusband has the manflu too. He's cranky.

I'm plodding through LOTR as I do every three years or so since I was 13. You see, the thing is I first read a fabulous translation into my mother tongue, so now every time I read it in English I find it a bit...hard going. But it's LOTR so I can't stop loving it (despite the fact that there are only like two women in the book and one of them is really scary because you can't quite trust powerful women, you know)

I've only got a normal cold and am not cranky.

I've finshed Longbourn. It's quite a nice read. Interesting perspective from the servants. What a hard life! It does make me see Elizabeth a bit differently...

I like reading LOTR though I think if I think about it (IYKWIM) I would probably like it less. What language did you read it in Fibonacci or would that give you away too much?

This rage-inducing steaming pile of excrement was in The Spectator located (appropriately) on my mother's bathroom floor. (photos uploaded by phone so I hope you can read it)