Caitlin Moran - no more sold out gigs?

[FourLastSongs]

Saw in Popbitch (so it may be complete bollocks) that Caitlin 'Voice of Modern Womanhood" Moran is having trouble selling out her public events.

"Weekly seat filler update: Using the service to fill out their gigs this week... Caitlin Moran (in discussion with Alex James)"

It is almost as if the kind of women who would buy tickets to her events are not massively impressed by her seeming inability to say that maybe locking up male sex offenders with vulnerable women is not the best idea.

Years ago I would have loved to go see her talk. I really enjoyed 'How to Be a Woman', and rated her as a columnist. But I now actively avoid her. And even though I have a subscription of The Times I never read her now.

'So someone like Keyes, who is like, in the top 0000000.1% percentile, and HAS experienced hardship and addiction, has a responsibility. In my view. Not saying my view is right. Just what I think.'

No, you're right. I hear you

'Thing is with Caitlin and many others who played on the 'look how funky and Camden we are' ( and I lived around there mid 90s) is they are desparate in middle age still to be relevant and funky and hip'

I do find Caitlin utterly desperate. The gurning and face pulling, and the contrived wackiness. It's tiring. She seems so uncomfortable in her own skin. I have enjoyed some of her writing but I can't stand her in interview

@Lottapianos yep I feel this too - honestly she's a talented writer and clearly has a good brain - if I was her I would probably try and move over to the 'serious' analysing commentary stuff without the wackiness- think more Joan Bakewell or Jenny Murray 30 years ago! Lol

Thing is with Caitlin and many others who played on the 'look how funky and Camden we are' ( and I lived around there mid 90s) is they are desparate in middle age still to be relevant and funky and hip and therefore don't always I feel come out with what they think in reality

Hmm. I think this depends on what Caitlin Moran thinks the purpose of Caitlin Moran is. She describes herself as a feminist. Therefore she should engage publicaly with feminist issues, especially those as important and existential as this issue.

If Caitlin Moran doesn't in fact believe that she is a feminist, but that the chief purpose of Caitlin Moran is to be 'funky and hip' and well-paid and stay in with the right bien pensant circles, then she's a fraud, and she should get off the public privilege platform she's squatting on top of and let some other, real feminists take her space in publishing and in her newspaper column.

@GiveMeSpanakopita I'm afraid I think that's exactly what she is -but then again I think for many feminism can mean what you want it to mean -
I certainly think she is probably conflicted here- and hence why she has sat on the fence- her head probably thinks the feminist angle of 'protect and support women' - her livelihood and personal profile head probably thinks don't piss off the 'anything goes Im a very cool liberal person ' crowd.

I'm a cynic I'm afraid on such things- For many ethics and morals and taking the high ground go on the back burner if you have a livelihood to factor in- and she will be the high earner in that home I'm pretty sure.

There are a fair few “GC” writers at TheTimes - Janice of course, Sarah Ditum. Hadley Freeman and Kathleen Stock have both lost work previously due to expressing their views. Men like Alex Massie and Iain McaWhirter also regularly write very powerful pieces, yet the writer who is famous for writing a book on how to be a woman won’t offer an opinion.
I also imagine that CM is paid much more than these others - surely that must cause resentment?
I never read her stuff, on principle, and never will.

Yes, good point, I do check the Scotland section for Alex Massie and enjoy Hadley's column on a Sunday! Telegraph sub is cheaper though

I agree, but we're not talking about a middle income ordinary mum who needs to keep schtum about her GC beliefs in the workplace because she needs her job to pay the mortgage and bills. We're talking about someone who has a national newspaper column and several bestsellers, all specifically predicated on being a feminist, with interesting and fearless (ha) things to say about the realities of being a woman in UK today. And yet, refusing to engage a key existential issue facing women today.

So, a person who's probably in the top 5 percentile of earners in the UK, patently trading under false pretences.

If I traded as a plumber but refused to locate the stopcock in a customer's home, I'd lose the job.
If I traded as an accountant but said I didn't want to talk to HMRC because I found them intimidating, I'd be reported to the FCA.
If I traded as a midwife but said I didn't want to enter the labour ward because I found it 'bloody and brutal' (wah wah) I'd be summarily sacked.

So why does the professional feminist Caitlin Moran get a pass?

@GiveMeSpanakopita well she isn't really getting a pass- she's clearly not exactly impressed many mumsnetters who would no doubt be her target audience- so it may be she keeps the column but won't sell as many books or bums on seats on the talk circuit -she's kept one part of her market but lost another it seems -

You’re right @GiveMeSpanakopita and @Lottapianos , to clarify, I did say “almost give Marian Keyes a free pass”. I don’t though. She’s way way way too privileged to get a free pass. As has been said, with privilege comes responsibility

I don't know a woman who has no idea who she is, nor one who doesn't now give her a giant swerve.

All my friends have read and enjoyed her in the past and now just sigh and say no, thank you. What a waste.

What a massive disappointment Moran has turned out to be.

I don't read a word of hers now 🤷‍♀️

Popbitch don't post much but they are always right.

I do wonder how many of the audience that she has chosen to appease would actually subscribe to The Times, or go to literary festivals, or actually buy books.

I don’t know if there is a majority of women who may not scream in Twitter or BlueSky but who may just quietly withdraw their support and their case, but I bloody hope so.

However, in a piece of good news, did anyone else hear Dominic Sandbrook of the Rest Is History podcast get in a dig about Rupert Grint and his tax bill? Something along the lines of Karma catching up with him. He has consistently been sceptical of identity politics, which is unsurprising given his disdain for middle class people with luxury beliefs.

i will be buying his books for everyone I can think of.

Honestly? I think that the problem with Caitlin Moran is more that she has recycled her stuff so often. I know that she grew up in a council house in Wolverhampton and was homeschooled. It’s a bit like Giles Coren mentioning that he went to Westminster.

However, in a piece of good news, did anyone else hear Dominic Sandbrook of the Rest Is History podcast get in a dig about Rupert Grint and his tax bill? Something along the lines of Karma catching up with him. He has consistently been sceptical of identity politics, which is unsurprising given his disdain for middle class people with luxury beliefs.

I love Dominic Sandbrook. A genuinely intelligent man 😍

Dom and Tom make up for my massive disappointment in Rory Stewart and my utter disdain for the bloviating sexist waste of space that is Campbell.

I could have written every word of the OP @FourLastSongs

I won’t give her (or India Knight) the clicks for anything now.

what a disappointment of a woman. I despise weakness and cowardice, especially given her Times column wouldn’t be at threat at all if she spoke up.

Caitlin Moran is a woman who has made a living out of being a modern feminist, it's beyond ridiculous that she thinks she can take the fifth amendment on the largest issue in women's rights in the western world and still retain any relevance to her audience.

However I don't feel Marian Keyes has any obligation to declare her stance, for one thing she is mostly a fiction writer and while yes she does touch in serious topics, that doesn't mean she's obligated to get involved. We don't expect and decry male authors who don't enter the trans discussion, it's a little unfair to expect a female to do so just because she has a vagina.

JKRowling is amazing, I love that she gives no shits, but she has received death threats, been stalked, her books would have been cancelled apart from the problematic matter of her having written a series so famous it can't be erased. But it takes a lot of guts to be her.

I always knew that Campbell was a pr*ck.

Stewart turning out to be such an abject coward was more of a blow.

I knew he was a prick. I guess I hadn't realised how shallow his thinking was and how easily he'd throw women under the bus.

'I knew he was a prick. I guess I hadn't realised how shallow his thinking was and how easily he'd throw women under the bus.'

Campbell and Stewart are arrogant tossers. They've been asked repeatedly by female listeners of their awful podcast to seriously engage with the issue of female only spaces but they refuse. Campbell has recently been whining about being 'trolled' on Twitter by JKR 🙄 utterly pathetic

I’ve never understood the fawning over CM. She reminds me of me and my friends in six form in late 80s and hasn’t evolved her thinking. I don’t think she’s a funny or intelligent writer but I do think she has worked hard.

Loving the Sandbrook appreciation.

His participation in the Rest is Politics election coverage was a complete joy. His clear, concise, and considered analysis was in marked contrast with Stewart and Campbell’s woeful knee jerk posturing. There was such a disparity in the quality of their contributions that it got a bit embarrassing at times.

i wonder if it is a coincidence that the hosts of a history podcast, who have made their livings out of studying and writing about human development and conflict, don’t think that women can wish their way out of their physical vulnerabilities. Or that men who seek to invade women’s spaces have females’ best interests at heart?

There is, so far, no topic tackled by Sandbrook and Holland that I don't end up feeling glad I took the time to listen to.

A proper, long form, grown up conversation which doesn't seem to need to stick to approved opinions or deny reality. Bliss.

Oh I'm sure she'll keep the column. The clear nepotism of the mainstream broadsheet media and its commitment to keeping its mates in cosy jobs even when they are clearly not fit to hold a public platform (see also India Knight and Owen Jones) is the reason why so many of us real feminists have turned away in disgust from the mainstream media.