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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Is feminism dead - BBC R4 tonight

33 replies

Xanthangum · 20/06/2020 08:17

8pm this evening. Might be worth a listen?

"Journalist and author Ella Whelan asks if contemporary feminism has lost its way. Is it in fact... dead?

Maybe feminism used to be a dirty word, but now it’s on the lips of politicians, actors or almost any public figure male or female as a must-have badge of credibility. Ella doesn't use the label feminist to describe herself, but she still believes passionately that women’s freedom in all its potential has yet to be achieved.

In Girl Power RIP, she looks back over the battles women have fought for greater equality and pinpoints where she feels it went wrong. Weaving through the big wins and debates for women over the past 50 years - from abortion rights, contraception and equal pay to anti-porn, No More Page 3 and #metoo - she looks at where we are now and questions whether the current discussion around women’s rights and women’s freedom is helpful or even healthy.

Speaking with feminist journalist Julie Bindel, women’s activists Sophie Walker and Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, and academics Joanna Williams and Zoe Strimpel, Ella asks if feminism is still relevant or whether the fight for women's liberation has ended up spawning a culture of victimhood that's damaging women."

OP posts:
nauticant · 20/06/2020 20:50

Ahh, it seems that Whelan's motive for making the programme is becoming clear as being a chance to rubbish #metoo as harmful because it has encouraged women to retreat into victimhood.

nauticant · 20/06/2020 20:54

"Women in their 20s are out-earning men."

Come on Ella is you're going to base your argument on that surely it would be honest to comment on women in their 30s, 40s, etc.

Melroses · 20/06/2020 21:02

Hmmmmm

That was an hour. I am not sure I am any the wiser.

dayoftheclownfish · 20/06/2020 21:05

Think it went downhill a bit, and the ‘women have only got themselves to blame and should snap out of victim mode’ became tedious. Obvsly no mention of the most contentious issue in feminism right now but plenty of interviewees saying ‘sex’, not ‘gender’ ...

TornadoOfSouls · 20/06/2020 22:15

Liberal feminism has lost its way. The only way to be a feminist now is the be a radical. Radical feminism is far from dead.

I agree with this.

TehBewilderness · 20/06/2020 22:18

Is this newly recorded or a replay from the 1980s or possibly the 1950s.
Feminism has been dead or dying in journals and journalism on a quarterly basis for as long as I can remember so I tend to lose track.

MaMaLa321 · 21/06/2020 09:28

I enjoyed it. It was good for her to have an hour to develop the subject.

I disagreed with her in some areas, but not in others, and it was useful for me to hear other POV.

I wanted to hear a lot more from Julia Bindel (I thought she spoke very well about Hate Crime) and Camille Paglia. But then, I can fill in the gaps myself.

The big elephant in the room was transgender issues. Not mentioned once, unless I missed it. Now THAT would be an interesting programme - how transgender issues affect Feminism. I can't see the BBC doing it though.

Melroses · 21/06/2020 15:07

Julie was good. Definitely the best bit, and yes they could have done with a lot more of her.

Did anyone hear The Listening Project?

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000k94h

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