gender & feminism

Medieval painting of monk and nun conversing.

Friday Hoyden: Héloïse d’Argenteuil

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The second in my set of Three Wise H’s. Poor, tragic Heloise was one of the great minds of the twelfth century. Eventually Abbess of the Oratory of the Paraclete, she was not a nun by vocation, but through the medieval systems of sexual repression and ultra-strict gender role enforcement, along with a good sized dollop of bad luck.

Bora disappoints (again)

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Unfollowing Bora by Dana Hunter at Freethought Blogs summarises all that’s wrong about Bora Zivkovic’s blithe attempt to just come back to science blogging as if nothing ever happened.

There can be no healing at Nottoway Plantation

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In yet another example of white feminist cluelessness, Singer Ani DiFranco will hold her annual songwriting retreat this year on Nottoway Plantation in Louisiana. Righteous Retreat Song Camp is billed as a feminist songwriting retreat, and DiFranco’s choice to hold the event at this locale has drawn ire from Black women who note the offensiveness of the location.

Against the background of a starry sky, a girl stands on a window ledge looking excited to see the silhouette of a boy floating in mid-air surrounded by bright light.

Wendy and Peter Pan and the RSC

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Hands up who knew (or at least now remembers that they once knew) that the original play (and subsequent novelisation) by J.M. Barrie was titled “Peter Pan And Wendy” rather than just the “Peter Pan” that current publications and productions favour?