Feminist Pub XVIII, in which the Bluestocking greets the first signs of spring with a glass of something soothing

[PuffinsAreFictitious]

Just starting this one as the last is nearly full

Morning all. Is it too early for vodka?

I only ever shave my legs and pits when they will be on show. I do trim my facial hair though otherwise PCOS would leave me looking a bit beardy.

I wiĺl be getting married in 2017 and will be changing my surname ( because I dislike my own) but using Ms rather than Mrs. Apparently DP is disappointed. Which surprised me a bit

Suggest he changes his title to Mrs if he likes it so much?

I epilate when legs, armpits and bikini line will be on show in public. I fully accept this is my socialisation.

Sera, there's tons of IT in Reading, which is why I feel it won't out me too much by saying I work in IT in Reading. Not the same company, though.

I quite enjoy waxing in a mildly masochistic way - it's more a moment of discomfort than pain - don't do it when you're cold, though. It's easier if the pores are warm and open.

I like the way you think Chopper

I wax my top lip & chin about every 3 weeks or so - doesn't hurt at all.

Never wax if you have a bug of any sort - always leads to a nasty red rash.

I have nothing to add to the discussion about women shaving body parts as it's none of my business.

I don't shave anything anymore.

At first I was quite self conscious, but now I realise that no one really looks at anyone else anyway, so it doesn't matter.

I'm just thankful my Celtic roots mean my body hair is mostly invisible, allowing me to accrue feminist points without really putting myself in the firing line for social thingy. What's the word? I want to say opprobrium but suddenly realise I have no idea what that word actually means. And now I feel too stooopid for this thread. Anyway. I'll never be in a position to choose whether to stick two fingers up at the patriarchy by growing a splendid moustache.

I lasered my bikini line off. Well, enough of it to be swimsuit ready but no more than that. Still, I don't recommend it. Oh the pain!

OMG - just watched a Time Team thingy about War of the Roses, and Baldrick has just done a big thing about where the Duchess of York was while her husband was fighting wars, and then attempted to decide if Edward IV was legitimate or not. They did this by dating the conception of Edward 40 weeks before his birth.

If the entire historical community, the BBC and Baldrick himself can't understand that pregnancy lasts 38, but is dated by 40 weeks from the previous period as the most reliable date, then what hope do we have for women's bodies EVER to be understood?

I'm sure that they know really, but shifting the date to the correct one makes Edward's legitimacy far more likely, and pretty much wipes out the rest of the program, so hey, ho. Let's ignore facts and spread complete piffle about pregnancy just for the sake of a bit of TV!

Mind you, I've just remembered: my GP got my due date wrong as she worked out 40 weeks from conception (which I knew to the hour, due to fertility treatment) rather than 38, and I had to explain to her her how it worked, then get my records changed, as there is a BIG difference between a scan at 5 weeks or 7 weeks.

It also assumes that the pregnancy was full term, rather than a week or two early or late (am assuming that earlier births than that in mediaeval times wouldn't have had much chance of survival.)

They do vary it from country to country, though, don't they? I think France has 41 weeks as norm.

But still

Talking about the war of the roses, has anyone read the Phillipa Gregory books? Some truly amazing women that I had only sort of vaguely heard of before now.

Noooooooooooo!

I haven't read any of those books. However, I do quite like historical fiction these days. Although I always end up reading around the general period to separate the fact from the fiction (academic tendencies never quite leave you).

To be fair to Baldrick I did find it very confusing when I first found out I was pregnant and the magic stick thing said 1-2 weeks and the NHS calculator thing said 4 weeks. So I was pregnant for two weeks when I wasn't pregnant??

Good morning.

Nothing to report (well, if I did post I might out myself) but thread in danger of falling off my horizon.

I've not read Phillipa Gregory...

Hands up those who hate it when people say "oh men don't make decisions - it's our wives who are the boss who make the decisions". Help me find nice short punchy replies please or I may just go for the punching!

I think France has 41 weeks as norm.

I remember reading something about that - and as a result they have fewer induced labours, unsurprisingly.

The idea of dating from the previous period and adding 2 weeks being reliable is of course itself liable to make someone with PCOS howl with sad laughter.

I found the whole pregnancy dating thing very confusing too. My pregnancy with dd1 was dated from 2 weeks before I met her father . I do understand it, but the whole PCOS thing means it's really not very accurate for me because I can regularly go for 6 months or more without a period.

I've got a couple of Philippa Gregory books on my kindle ready for a school trip I'm going on next week. I'll have 8 hours each way on a bus, then 3 days away with plenty of time to read between activities, so I'll probably manage to get both of them read. I'm consciously reading only female authors this year, but I'm also doing a reading challenge so some of the categories will be difficult to pick a female author because they're group choices. I'm trying to decide whether to miss those books out of the challenge, or read them even though I'd prefer to stick to female authors.

LordC just punch them, it's the quickest and easiest way. They won't understand your replies about why it's a problem.

I know it is only 4:30 but I really want a . I have had a crap afternoon.

Absolutely nothing to do with anything but I think this is the safest place to say that I find the line 'All the mummies go chatter chatter all day long' in The Wheels on the Bus really annoying. Sometimes I suspect if mummies didn't chatter chatter to their DC, the DC would go scream scream all day long.

Also, I have no other mummies to chatter chatter with and I hate the trivialising word because mothers couldn't possibly have anything important to talk about. And I agree with MsDragons, LordC.

Yes that wheel on the bus line is mega annoying. The mummies on the bus mutter fuck off shut-the-fuck-up what-are-you-staring-at don't-fucking-call-me-mummy is more like it.

Don't know why I sound grumpy. Apart from a couple of emails to be dealt with in a similar way to the comment about wives making decisions, I've had a relatively calm day.

Can you email punches? >