Realist

This video has been all over my feeds since its release. I eventually got time and watched it today. This piece is raw, abrupt, makes no excuses, addresses tough issues in an eloquent manner.  Emmet Kirwan has unquestionably an exceptional talent. I'm particularly drawn to his work due to his exceptional use of colloquial language. Colloquial language or Dublin slurs have always been something that appeals to me and I have personally embraced with full force. Emmet seems to place similar values on this unique language. The colloquial is welcomely embraced by beautiful poetry combining politics, everyday and women all in one.  Various harsh and tough issues are challenged, from pregnancy, class, judgements. These beautiful words cannot help but provoke various emotions, extremely intense ones at that and in doing so causes any viewer, regardless of their position or views, to reconsider their own views, values and perhaps even their own judgements.  ...

If you don't know Garbage, you need to sort that out immediately.  I was pretty much raised on Garbage when I was younger and Shirley was a real role model for me. When the alternative female icons were people like Britney Spears it was so amazing so see some sassy, grungey and smart presenting something really edgy.  Shirley still remains iconic. Shirley is an artist who really promotes a strong feminist agenda, but unlike every other female artist like Taylor Swift she does so by promoting actual theory and arguments rather than bold statements about sexism. Recently sharing Rebecca Solnit's book Men Explain Things To Me on Instagram. She's really maintained her role model identity in my eyes.  Here's an all time 90s classic by Garbage. 

I had been sick the last few days and have been reading The Female Eunuch the last few weeks so I decided to spend my sick days off work binge watching feminist documentaries.  I started off with 'She's Beautiful When She's Angry,' which began by looking at the origins of the feminist movement. Here I have included the trailer to give a taste.  What I always find fascinating about watching documentaries and reading books from earlier feminist movements is the changes I can almost instantly consider. This documentary begins by conveying how second wave feminism came into existence in an extremely inspirational way, as something which started off small but grew followers, attention and more support. Equally, the documentary explored the opposition feminism faced from the media, politicians and even other females who wanted to remain housewives. She's Beautiful When She's Angry moves at a wonderful pace and explores every single issue in depth a...

Everyone seems to be on the feminist train at the moment. However seeing a comibination of feminist values and movements combined with perhaps the ultimate 90's jam was something I never dreamed of.  #WhatIReallyReallyWant

This is a very important message from the lovely Kate Nash. I feel as though spoken word does not get enough publicity at all these days, so it was a breath of fresh air to hear it featured in this song. It very powerfully gets the message across - promoting as Kate says self respect among women. I figured I would try to get a video of Kate performing it rather than just a photo of the album cover. Apologies if it isn't the best quality.

Recently there has been a lot of hype around the blogger  Zoella  after an article by  Charlotte Hamilton  was released on Tuesday. To summarise, very briefly, Chloe suggests that Zoella is not a good role model for young teenage girls due to her providing tutorial videos for teenage girls on how to do make up, hauls on what products to buy and so on, thus Chloe evidently felt that Zoella saying "girls should not fret about their appearance" is contradictory. I'd like to make it clear that I'm not on either side of this argument, it just raises a rather interesting debate I think. A lot of things I post on my blog particularly are very "serious" I suppose, truthfully I would love to publish more beauty related things but I'm conscious that it may come across as contradictory since a lot of posts deal with feminism, body issues and serious topics like this. I suppose more broadly this raises issues of feminism and beauty. Are you expected to...

This wonderful link popped up on my newsfeed from  The Huffington Post  about this music video. Since gender is kind of my field, I always think its fantastic for it to be challenged, however it's done. This video challenged it with precision, accuracy and simplicity which worked so efficiently. This is absolutely wonderful to see. I don't know a lot about Ruby Rose at all, in fact I hadn't heard of her before this. This is a fantastic song which I do really like. It's safe to say I've become a rather immediate fan. I'm also tempted to cut my hair now!

Recently, there have been some videos on youtube challenging the ridiculous sexism which women experience by letting men experience it.  These are two of my personal favourites.  If Girls Hit On Guys Like Guys Hit On Girls.  Get Your Arse Out This particular one was done by the Guardian in line with the #EverydaySexism project which has been trending all over twitter and the book has recently been published.  Initially I found this hugely entertaining, but it simply highlights the stupidity of comments and experiences of women on a daily basis.  I recently received Everyday Sexism as a lovely present, so hopefully review will be up soon.  For more visit  http://everydaysexism.com/

In the last year I've become completely consumed by gender issues, predominantly due to college work. It's something which I've always had an interest in, but it's becoming much more prominent. I found this video a month or so back, I thought it would be something to consider before we start a new year. I think until it's pointed out, it's almost easy to forget how important this issue is, partly because it is everywhere and it's becoming normalised, which is half of the problem. Don't get me wrong, everyone has a choice to do what they want with their bodies - that is entirely their choice. It's when their bodies are being taken advantage of and the majority of the time, people aren't even aware of it. Having watched this, walk down you're nearest high street or shopping centre and you might just notice how much of this miss representation is around you.