Feminist Pub 16: where the Bluestockings develop armoured stockings to deal with the thousand paper cuts

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Carry on.

Don't chew your nails! Do Amy Cuddy power poses instead!

Good luck EElisaveta!

A friend linked on FB: Michelle Obama Gives Zero Fucks

Press your fingertips together and channel gravitas!

Gesticulate to Facilitate !

I am now standing tall whilst giving zero fucks. Remarkably liberating.

Right I am off to memorise facts, as my role in the meeting is to be the only one with any idea what she's on about the sector expert. Which has the advantage that if I make things up convincingly, no one will know.

Good luck Elisa. Stand tall, give those zero fucks and be awesome. Ovaries of steel and all that.

So.... they're doing a remake of Ghostbusters with an all-female team. Predictably, the comments are not pretty. Now I know that Hollywood is being very boring and churning out endless remakes, which is lamentable. But I can't help but feel this news would be much better received if the cast remained all male.

Does this mean they'll have to swap the sexes of the Gatekeeper and the Keymaster too? Or are they going to go seriously "edgy" and have a lesbian relationship. I would imagine not in a family film.

I'd read about Ghostbusters - I think it could be pretty good, if they're going to re-make why not mix it up a bit!

I've just been totally distracted by the advert on the right to win a risotto plus if you review any household appliance.. just how much risotto does someone eat if they require a device specifically to make it!

The time out in a tech environment is a thing, but somehow, I've spent 4 years out having a couple of kids and I'm going back at twice the salary I last commanded, just because I've been lucky in the hobby programming choices I made while I was at home (and I did a few talks at conferences - at the time to get out of the house and for a free ticket/weekend away, but in retrospect they've been really useful on my CV!). For a programmer at least, the time out gives you a chance to take a step back and do something interesting and new rather than the grind that a job can be, and that can pay off.

I hope that I get the support to be able to keep talking at conferences, and hire/mentor some young women in my new job - like EBear (or was it someone else, I've closed the page) - I feel like I'm seeing fewer women when out interviewing than I did before. It's just a feeling though, I haven't counted (and to be honest, we're so few normally that it's hard to compare)

Ugh, I promised myself that I'd really hone my Phython skills while I was taking time off work and instead I spent all that time napping

Admittedly I had a couple of pretty sleepy babies which made it easier.. now that the youngest is one I can't get anything done when he's around and I send him to a childminder for a couple of days for my sanity and continued development.

I think the biggest problem is finding something to actually do for a project - luckily I had someone approach me with something to give me deadlines and some pressure.

You can code for charities, but as I'm not a coder, I don't know the details.

elisa, I hope your meeting went well.

I just saw this thread, and thought it might be of interest? www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/2294133-Do-you-have-a-flair-for-debating-Come-share-your-advice-with-women-undergrads-competing-at-the-Oxford-Union?

I can't debate for shit. I only know how to argue

Am slightly intrigued about winning risotto. Do you win the rice? All other ingredients? Ready meal? A chef coming to make risotto for you?

Personally I think risotto is not worth it. Rice is so effortless. Why would you do a labour-intensive version? I'm sure there is a feminist issue here.

My debating style: hard stare to indicate opponent is so wrong it's not worth arguing.

I can imagine that's a good technique.

And it's so often right too.

Lordc I like your conserving-energy-for-those-who-deserve-it style

Urgh, don't get me started on risotto. Tasteless and mushy and generally the only vegetarian option. Ick.

I have thought about this business of "staple" food. Potatoes, rice, pasta, noodles, bread etc. These things are easy to cook and don't take much time or effort, which makes sense, doesn't it? You don't want to spend your life chained to the stove. So can someone explain risotto and polenta? They don't fit in my theory and it's annoying.

A feminist group I follow in FB has a thread going about how sexuality is a social construct and no-one is born either homosexual or heterosexual, and that the use of "born that way" to defend the rights of those who identify as homosexual is apparently "pathetic".

I don't understand. But I don't dare ask on there cos they can be scary.

Can someone please explain using small words?

I like a nice risotto, needs plenty of cheese. Like Nigella says, there is something very soothing about staring in to the middle distance while you stir it for 20mins. Plus, it always needs a glass of wine, which means opening a bottle...

Perhaps because some people used to use "born that way" to stop others being horrible (instead of calling out the horribleness for itself)

A bit like "she's somebody's daughter!" No, she's somebody.

annie, are they political lesbians? I used to be in a feminist group, which I stopped following because it wasn't for me, where they were very much of the view that sexuality is something you can choose, and women only choose to be straight because the patriarchy has brainwashed them into thinking sexuality is innate.

It doesn't sound like what you're describing, but since it's a feminist group, it might be?

I think in conservative communities, the "born this way" narrative is useful to gain acceptance. I personally don't care whether it is a choice or not as homosexuality or bisexuality is a positive or neutral way of life.

I have seen some heated arguments between political lesbians and real (?) lesbians on this topic where the real (?) lesbians are very offended and angry at the suggestion their sexuality is constructed. That makes sense to me however I don't feel it's for me to comment as I'm straight. (I realise I did just comment but I feel, hopefully, no-one will be too mad at me on here.)