Go read this by the always wonderful Melissa McEwan.
No wonder I'm burnt out from thinking about this stuff. It's inescapable.
Sunday, 11 October 2009
Thursday, 3 September 2009
Boris Keep Your Promise
There's a petition here about Boris Johnson, who has completely back tracked on his promises for the funding of rape crisis centres.
(Via the North London Fawcett Group)
(Via the North London Fawcett Group)
Tuesday, 18 August 2009
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Spot the difference.
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Sometimes what matters is not what happens, but what gets remembered.
I spent most of today in the British Library reading about female Victorian historians, like Agnes Strickland and Mary Anne Everett Green. So I had a good day.
One thing which kept coming up was that these historians have been neglected from the historiography. They do not quite fit with the conception of Victorian 'Whig' history, and their role as the pioneers of social and cultural history has too often neglected. Elizabeth Stone wrote a social history of England 30 years before her any of her male colleagues.
Since the early 1990s more attention is being paid to them - historians like Joan Thirsk and Bonnie G. Smith, and Rosemary Mitchell have all done some really interesting analysis, fitting Victorian female historians in not just with Victorian historiography but feminist theory.
As I was reading about this, I kept thinking about the Hottest 100, and the same pattern played out in twentieth century rock music. Grudging contemporary respect, and then neglect. And then a group of women going "Hang on, these women existed and they were awesome and why the fuck are they ignored?" (In the case of the historians, without the swearing. It's kind of frowned upon in academic articles.)
I can't help but wonder what other women have existed out there doing wonderful things that we just never hear about. Role models matter. That this reclamation of heroines is happening is brilliant, but it shouldn't have to happen.
One thing which kept coming up was that these historians have been neglected from the historiography. They do not quite fit with the conception of Victorian 'Whig' history, and their role as the pioneers of social and cultural history has too often neglected. Elizabeth Stone wrote a social history of England 30 years before her any of her male colleagues.
Since the early 1990s more attention is being paid to them - historians like Joan Thirsk and Bonnie G. Smith, and Rosemary Mitchell have all done some really interesting analysis, fitting Victorian female historians in not just with Victorian historiography but feminist theory.
As I was reading about this, I kept thinking about the Hottest 100, and the same pattern played out in twentieth century rock music. Grudging contemporary respect, and then neglect. And then a group of women going "Hang on, these women existed and they were awesome and why the fuck are they ignored?" (In the case of the historians, without the swearing. It's kind of frowned upon in academic articles.)
I can't help but wonder what other women have existed out there doing wonderful things that we just never hear about. Role models matter. That this reclamation of heroines is happening is brilliant, but it shouldn't have to happen.
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