INTERACT!
I HAVE A NEW WEBSITE! PLEASE SEE
drfinnmackay.co.uk
CONTACT: fm9817@my.bristol.ac.uk
PROFILE: View my recent publications, audio and videos on my workplace website here.
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TWITTER: I’m twittering on about politics and life @Finn_Mackay
NEWS AND UPCOMING EVENTS:
My TEDx Covent Garden talk on why Feminism is NOT about equality, is now live on their website here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVB7BWHaUT4
I’m excited to be chairing this event on the recent BBC TV series ‘Gentleman Jack’ with award-winning writer and director Sally Wainwright (Gentleman Jack, Last Tango in Halifax, Happy Valley) and writer Anne Choma author of the accompanying BBC book, plus rare appearance from O’Hooley & Tiddow who will perform the title track to ‘Gentleman Jack’. 30th August, Bristol. More details here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/gentleman-jack-extraordinary-women-tickets-62470053612
New article just published in Women’s Studies International Forum “Always Endangered; Never Extinct: Exploring Contemporary Butch Lesbian Identity in the UK” FREE link here until August, open to all, no need for institutional access or University membership. Open link https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/9HKYJ4INTV89N8MYCBVN/full?target=10.1080/10894160.2019.1565521
June 6th 2019 I was a keynote speaker at a conference on the Future of Gender Relations after MeToo, at University of Kent in Canterbury. More info here
May 29th 2019 I was honoured to chair and be in conversation with the Feminist legend that is Joan Smith, who was in Bristol for the Festival of Ideas, talking about her new book ‘Home Grown’ on the links between domestic abuse and terrorism.
My panel debates from last year’s How The Light Gets In philosophy festival are now online. Beyond Men & Women on gender/binary and identity is here https://iai.tv/video/beyond-men-and-women Panel with Peter Tatchell, Brooke Magnanti and Rowan Pelling on politics of pornography is here on soundcloud and also available on itunes podcasts https://soundcloud.com/instituteofartandideas/e145-the-future-of-pornography-finn-mackay-rowan-pelling-peter-tatchell
I was on the BBC Big Questions on Sunday 3rd Feb 2019, on the topic of is Feminism in crisis. You can watch the show on iplayer here – https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0c2f38j/the-big-questions-series-12-episode-5
New academic article published in The Journal of Lesbian Studies, discussing trans, transgender & lesbian identities and overlaps, titles ‘No Woman’s Land? Revisiting with border zone denizens’. Unfortunately this may only be accessible through institutional access via a University https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10894160.2019.1565521
I am very excited that the fabulous Let Toys Be Toys have used my guide on raising children without gender constraints and turned it into 20 tips for parents, on a lovely A3 colour poster, complete with cartoons! They will be available to download from their website.
Sociology at the University of the West of England and The Arnolfini hosted Professor Jack Halberstam, on the 4th June 2018, visiting us from Columbia University New York – more details here: http://info.uwe.ac.uk/events/event.aspx?id=22657 I hope to have the audio of the event online soon, watch this space.
I was back at the Philosophy festival in Hay on Wye – How The Light Gets In 2018, speaking on two panels. Look out on IAI website for filmed debates being uploaded, and watch this space for my two panels, one on the politics of porn and one on beyond the gender binary.
I took part in the BBC World Service programme ‘The Conversation’ discussing organising women’s marches, the programme was broadcast 12th March 2018. More info.
Recent article on my experience of being a lesbian parent, or what is called an OtherMother to my 2yr old son, my blog in 3 parts is being hosted on We Are Family Magazine here
Recent blog on Teachwire about boys, masculinity, sexism and gendering -https://www.teachwire.net/news/combatting-toxic-masculinity-in-our-schools-un-teaching-gender-stereotypes-
My presentations and debates from previous year’s How the Light Gets In philosophy festival in Hay on Wye are now all online at IAI TV – Philosophy in the bedroom; How to be human; Myths about Feminism and more. I will be speaking at the festival in Hay again this year, May 2018; check their website for more details, including this debate with Professor Jack Halberstam and Angela Eagle, what an honour!!
Recent blog on Huffington Post about street sexual harassment. It does matter, they always mean something by it and it is not right http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dr-finn-mackay/for-men-who-dont-mean-any_b_14898816.html
PAST EVENTS 2019
May 2019 3rd I presented a paper on UK female masculinities at the AHRC Network launch Masculinity, Sex and Popular Culture, at Birmingham City University.
February 2019 I was on the BBC Big Questions on Sunday 3rd Feb 2019, on the topic of is Feminism in crisis. I spoke with Linda Riley, the Editor of ‘Diva’ magazine. You can watch the show on iplayer here – https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0c2f38j/the-big-questions-series-12-episode-5
PAST EVENTS 2018
June 2018 I invited Professor Jack Halberstam to deliver a public lecture in Bristol for my University, the University of the West of England, at the Arnolfini. Professor Halberstam was talking about their new book “Trans: A Quick and Quirky Guide to Gender Variability”. The event was accompanied by a performance from Rachael Miles and Tom Marshman on gender variability and growing up under Clause 28.
May 2018 Back in Hay on Wye for the Philosophy festival, How The Light Gets In. I spoke on two panels, one on the politics of pornography and one on beyond the gender binary. The debates were filmed and should be live on the IAI website in a few weeks, I will upload them here.
May 2018 I was back in Sweden, speaking in Malmo for policy makers and social sector professionals on the origins of Intersectionality.
I was very proud to speak at the Bristol International Women’s Day event at the City Hall on the 3rd March 2018. I spoke on a panel with Jacqui Furneaux, Dr Naomi Paxton and author Jane Duffus, to launch Jane’s wonderful book ‘The Women Who Built Bristol’; all the proceeds of which go to Bristol Women’s Voice.
In January 2018 I was pleased to speak at the Unison South West conference for new activists called Get Active. The conference took place in Taunton and I spoke about what feminism means to Trade Unionists.
PAST EVENTS 2017
January 2017 started busy as I was off to the beacon of gender equality – Sweden! I was invited to a national conference on gender equality in practice. I took part in a panel discussing intersectionality and also was given the honour of delivering one of the closing speeches. There was much discussion about what intersectionality was, is and could be – so I shared this article, a few years old now, but still current, on intersectionality. You can read it on my work website here
March 2017 7th – I’m organising a University of the West of England Social Science in the City event in Bristol on men, masculinities, shame and blame with speakers from organisations: White Ribbon Campaign UK, A Call to Men UK, Off the Record and Babassa Youth Empowerment. Places are free but registration is required. You can register for the event here
The Centre for Women’s Justice held a South West launch at my University! April 2017 at UWE, Bristol.
14th/15th October 2017 I was proud to be speaking at the largest Feminist conference in the UK – FILIA. London https://filia.org.uk/welcome
I’m attended and gave a presentation at the European Lesbian Conference in Vienna, October, talking about initial findings from my research on Lesbian and Queer Masculinities.
I spoke at the Bristol Men in Early Years Network about feminism, gender and roles in early years teaching https://www.bmiey.co.uk/network-meetings Before the meeting I had a conversation with members of the Network about addressing gender essentialism, getting more men into Early Years and lots of other topics. They have made this into a Podcast here https://player.fm/series/bristol-men-in-early-years-network-podcast/dr-finn-mackay
I spoke at at the Bristol Festival of the Future City on the 19th of October 2017, on a panel discussing – If Women Built Cities https://www.futurecityfestival.co.uk/events/if-women-built-cities/
I delivered a TEDx talk this year at TEDx Covent Garden Women; the theme this year is Bridges. The event was held in the West End on 4th November 2017 https://www.tedxcoventgardenwomen.com/
November was as usual the time to Reclaim the Night! I kept it local this year, Reclaiming the Night in Bristol and Cheltenham.
2016 past events:
November 21st I’ll be back in my motherland in Scotland, speaking at the University of Strathclyde on feminism past and present. More info here
October 7th London I took part in this panel debate on men, masculinities and feminism at the Camden People’s Theatre as part of their Feminist Festival – Calm Down Dear. More info Camden Peoples Theatre
November 2016 I’m very pleased to be taking part in this event on Masculinities Studies at ‘the other University’ in Bristol ! Masculinity in the Curriculum, more info Masculinities Studies
September 27th 2016 I was honoured to be part of a panel at the Bristol Zero Tolerance film festival, where we saw a series of excellent short films followed by the feature ‘Sin by Silence’ which documented the lives of women unfairly imprisoned for killing violent male partners in self-defence, after decades of abuse. More info on Bristol Zero Tolerance here
August 2016: Spoke at the new ‘Speaker’s Corner’ stage at Boomtown Festival, Winchester on an introduction to Feminism.
May 2016: I took part in four debates and panels this year at the annual philosophy festival in Hay on Wye, “How the Light Gets In”. More info here
May 11th 2016 I was in Glasgow at the Glasgow Women’s Library for an event on Histories of the Feminist Anti-Violence Movement. More information here
April 2016: I took part in an Institute of Arts & Ideas debate at Kings College London titled ‘Rethinking Feminism’ to launch the annual How The Light Gets In Philosophy and Music Festival in Hay on Wye in May. The video of the whole debate is now online here
April 2016: I spoke at the Business & Professional Women BPW UK annual conference on their themes of safety and justice. More info about BPW here
International Women’s Day 2016 I attended and took part in a panel debate at the Cambridge Women of the World Festival. Podcasts and photo gallery Women of the World Cambridge
March 2016: I was proud to take part in the Women for Refugee Women #SetHerFree petition for the human rights of asylum seeking and refugee people. See more info Women for Refugee Women
6th June I was proud to speak at the mass rally protesting at Yarl’s Wood for the rights of refugee and asylum seeking women. The existence of that place is a shame on our country.
I have a short blog about the great Andrea Dworkin online for the brand new The Heroine Collective. You can read the piece Dworkin Behind the Myths.
A new website for Sheroes, Harpies and Amazons is online, called The Heroine Collective. Here you can read a short interview with me for their new project.
I’ve had a couple of articles in the Huffington Post recently, and am enjoying writing for them. The first one is on the diluting of Women’s Liberation and you can read it here
The second follows up my meeting with Naomi Wolf and hearing her in conversation. She is a wonderful stateswoman, she clearly cares deeply about women’s rights, potential and opportunities. I disagreed with her faith in neurosexist gender ‘science’ which she is excited about, whereas I find it essentialist. The link to that article is here
March 23rd 2015 Short opinion piece in The Guardian Comment is Free on ‘choice-feminism’, difficult to fit everything into 600 words, but here’s a start!
Reviews of my book. A fair review here from Professor Lynne Segal (…except that of course there’s a link between feminism and a more just society – empowered women are going to get us there!). A lovely review here from Trouble & Strife magazine.
In one recent article I break silence on one of the most triggering Feminist fault lines affecting the movement today, the age old struggle of cats versus dogs. You can read the article in the latest online issue of Trouble & Strife magazine.
My new book! My new book on feminism, what it is, what it was and what it can be is now available in paperback from Palgrave. “Radical Feminism: Feminist activism in movement”. Endorsements are in from famous feminists – Kate Millett, Susan Brownmiller, Nimco Ali and Julie Bindel. View details and order here.
“Tireless activist and rigorous philosopher Finn Mackay takes on the hot-button issues in this new book. She has a way with words that breathes new life into Radical Feminism. I agree with her 96 percent of the time.” – Susan Brownmiller, author of: ‘Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape’ (1975).
“Finn Mackay studies the movement from the point of view of the women’s marches; the highs of those moments; the nib of organizing – she knows all the angles. Mackay is a great organizer herself – she would be fun to know.” – Kate Millett, author of: ‘Sexual Politics’ (1970).
“Today’s younger feminists will find this new book useful and inspiring. This is the kind of book that soon to be wonder women have on the shelves for years to come with pride. I would recommend this book to all new to feminism and those of us that want to give the next generation something to ensure they start on the right foot. I will be buying a copy for my niece.” – Nimco Ali, Daughters of Eve and The Girl Project
“Amidst all the lies and distortions about the radical feminist movement here comes a truthful account of its proud history, and where we are today. A brave and compelling book.” – Julie Bindel, author and feminist activist. Author of: ‘Straight Expectations’ (2014).
October 2014: Feminism in London Conference 2014! Biggest Feminist conference in the UK returned to London with another sell-out success. Over 1000 activists of all backgrounds joined together to witness and create the variety and strength of Feminist activism and theory. I was proud to deliver the closing speech to the conference, the text of which is published here on Open Democracy.
Academic journal article on Radical Feminist activism in the UK “Getting Real About Contemporary UK Radical Feminism” now published in the journal of Social Movement Studies. This will only be available to people with institutional access through University libraries etc. The link is here on the journal website.
What is Revolutionary Feminism? Read all about it here in my interview with a Revolutionary and Radical Feminist from the 1970s. Article available here.
Book review on recent academic book studying third wave feminism is now available to view on the University of the West of England research repository. You can read the review here.
My book review on a book studying trafficking for prostitution as a ‘moral geography’ is now available to read online on the University of the West of England research repository. You can read the review here.
My article on young feminist’s activism in the London Feminist Network is now available to read through the University of the West of England research repository. You can read the whole article from this link.
On 12th July 2014 I gave the plenary speech at the Rape Crisis South West conference in Taunton. It was an honour to meet activists in the Rape Crisis movement.
I was back in Hay on Wye this Summer, in May 2014 at the annual philosophy festival ‘How The Light Gets In’. I delivered a presentation on what feminism is, a talk on myths about feminism and also took part in a panel debate on prostitution law reform.
Recently I was back on BBC Radio 4 joining the team of debaters at the Moral Maze. We were talking about whether prostitution is a victimless crime – I was arguing that it is not, and for the decriminalisation of all those in the industry alongside the criminalisation of the purchase of another human being for sexual purposes – because my ideas of morality don’t stretch to people being for sale. You can listen to the programme here.
February 2014 I had a short article published in the journal Feminist Review, in their latest volume, a Special Issue on Revolutions. My article is on Revolutionary Feminism and is in the Open Space section. Unfortunately, it will only be accessible to those with access to an academic library. You can view Feminist Review here.
The film of my debate at the Hay philosophy festival last Summer, with Feminist psychologist Carol Gilligan and a Tory MP (!!) on the meaning of matriarchy, is now online to watch on IAI TV. You can watch the film here. To accompany the film is a short interview with the Institute of Arts & Ideas on the failure of patriarchy. You can read the interview here.
I am very honoured to be one of the first Ambassadors for the Worker’s Educational Association, the WEA, provider of community training and education for empowerment since 1903. You can find out more about their work here.
I have a new blog on the Feminist & Women’s Studies Association (FWSA) blog site, on Feminist arguments against prostitution, beyond the abolitionist versus legalisation binary.
I have a short article in a new magazine – Gaze Review, out now. See their website here. You can purchase the magazine online for only £3.99!
Someone has made a blog and video review of Reclaim the Night London 2012, including filming the speakers at the rally, including my speech, which is last, right at the end of the video.
There is a review of the women’s rights panel at Tolpuddle, which I was part of, in the ‘Morning Star’ online.
On Thursday 17th May, Julie Bindel, Elly Levenson, Carrie Pemberton Ford and myself won the debate at the Oxford Union arguing that prostitution should not be viewed as a legitimate business. We won against Dennis Hof, owner of a legal brothel in Nevada and the rest of his proposition team, which included the ECP/Wages for Housework.
I am very pleased to have an article published in ‘Interface’, an International academic journal on social movements, addressing the role of young women in Feminist activism. Unlike most academic journals the journal is open and you can read the article and view the whole special issue here.
Upcoming Events 2016:
October 7th 2016 London Camden People’s Theatre, panel debate on men, masculinities and feminism. More info Men feminism
November 30th 2016 Bristol workshop on Masculinity in the Curriculum at University of Bristol. More info here
2015 EVENTS:
28th November 2015 I spoke at the Sphinx Salon with Kate Smurthwaite and Bea Campbell on Feminism Where Are We Now.
16 December 2015 I was talking about my book and signing copies at Housemans Bookshop in London, near Kings Cross, at 7pm. The link to listed events at Housemans is here
16th December 2015 I was at a British Sociology Association event on Sociology and Feminism; bringing together two of my favourite things!
24th/25th October 2015 I was at the annual, national Feminism in London Conference for the weekend, signing and selling my book as well as delivering the closing keynote speech. It is always humbling to see what the team have done with the conference and how it has grown in size and success, it is always an honour to speak there. The text of my speech is uploaded via links on the right hand side.
20th October 2015 I organised a film showing and Q&A panel debate at my University, the University of the West of England UWE Frenchay, which is about what academic scholarship, across the disciplines, can teach us about animal rights and wrongs. There will be guest speakers including an academic from the University of Bristol who specialises in studying veganism and feminist political theory. It was open to all, not just students.
My book “Radical Feminism: Feminist Activism in Movement” is now published in paperback from Palgrave. It was formally launched in London at the Southbank Centre as part of their annual Women of the World festival on Sunday 8th March in brief WOWBite and signing copies via the Foyles store in the Southbank riverside.
16th December 2015 London for BSA Sociology and Feminism event
16th December 2015 London book signing at Housemans Bookshop 7pm
28th May I will be back at the Hay philosophy festival How The Light Gets In doing two talks, at 1.15 and 5.30, see their full programme here
29th May 2015 I’m proud to be speaking in Brussels at the European Women’s Lobby to celebrate their 25th anniversary, more details here
28th May 2015 I was back in lovely Hay at the philosophy festival How The Light Gets In, doing two talks at 1.15 and 5.30, see their full programme here
17th April 2015 I was Book signing and in conversation in Bristol for Bristol Festival of Ideas.
21st May I have a short article on the writing of Naomi Wolf in her latest book, following her visit to the UK. In the Huffington Post here
May 19th I travelled to Oxford to play a small part in a debate with the famous feminist author Naomi Wolf, which was filmed for Al Jazeera’s high octane debate show called “Head To Head” presented by Mehdi Hassan. This will be screened on Al Jazeera in June 2015, more info will be posted here.
April 17th 2015 I was in conversation about my new book and signing copies in lovely Bristol at a sell out event as part of the Festival of Ideas. Waterstones in Broadmead. More details here.
14th April I had an article on the diluting of the Women’s Liberation Movement published on the Huffington Post. The link is here
March 23rd short opinion piece in The Guardian Comment is Free on ‘choice-feminism’, so much to fit into 600 words, but my main point is that there is nothing inherently feminist about making decisions! Having said that, the choices that are available to women and men definitely is a political matter!
14th March I was on a panel at the Bristol Women’s Literature Festival and signing copies of my book too. More information here.
12th March I was in York for York Women’s Week talking about my book and signing copies in city centre location.
March 4th Short piece on my new book published on the Theory, Culture & Society open blog space here.
2014 EVENTS:
November 22nd. Ten years of Reclaiming the Night! Around 2000 women shut down the streets of central London to shout a loud NO to rape and all forms of male violence against women. The rally followed with some great speeches from Object and the 50/50 Campaign, a line-up of women DJs closed the evening. I was proud to return to the platform to give the closing speech to mark ten years of the protest since I founded the revived march in 2004. More info about the movement here Reclaim the Night.
November 12th 2014 I was honoured to attend the Worker’s Educational Association annual awards ceremony in Birmingham and deliver a short speech to open the proceedings. It was an inspiring day listening to the work of students and tutors who have made a difference to their own lives and the lives of others.
October 25th 2014 I was proud to deliver the closing speech to the annual Feminism in London Conference 2014. This was another successful event with over 1000 activists attending. My speech has been published here on Open Democracy.
September 2014. I have an article in the academic journal Social Movement Studies on UK Radical Feminist activism. Link is here. Will only be available to those with institutional access unfortunately, such as through a University library.
July 12th 2014 I gave the plenary speech at the Rape Crisis South West conference in Taunton.
July I have two items in the latest issue of Women’s Studies International Forum, which will only be available to those with academic library access. One is a book review of a book on trafficking and the other is an article on the early roots of the Reclaim the Night marches in the UK.
June 6th I was at Exeter University delivering a talk for Fair Play South West to mark their Manifesto for Women with Trade Union colleagues from Unison. Details here.
June 4th I was back in Nottingham chairing and giving a speech at the Worker’s Educational Assocation conference on Women Overcoming Disadvantage. Details here.
May 9th I was in Yorkshire, in Barnsley speaking at the Northern College on gender politics and feminism as part of their TD, Teach Different programme on bringing diversity into teaching.
May 22nd – 1st June 2014 I was back in the lovely Hay on Wye for the annual philosophy festival How the Light Gets In. I delivered one solo presentation (bra) busting myths about feminism, one online course on what feminism is and also took part in a panel debate on prostitution law reform. All the details are on the festival website here. All will be available shortly on IAI TV to watch, including the online course.
March 19th I was on BBC Radio 4 on The Moral Maze, I was talking with the debaters about whether prostitution is a victimless crime. I was arguing for the decriminalisation of all those in the industry, alongside the criminalisation of the purchase of another human being for sexual purposes. I don’t think morality should stretch to people being for sale. You can listen to the programme here.
March 7th I was in Sheffield in a panel debate to mark International Women’s Day. The debate was chaired by Libby Purves from Radio4 show Midweek. I talked about what feminism is and what the movement might look like in the future, along with Bea Campbell and other fabulous speakers.
March 5th, Manchester. I spoke in Manchester with the Manchester Metropolitan University on a panel at a conference on 21st Century Feminism. More details here.
February 2014 I had a short article published in the journal Feminist Review, in their latest volume, a Special Issue on Revolutions. My article is on Revolutionary Feminism and is in the Open Space section. Unfortunately, it will only be accessible to those with access to an academic library. You can view Feminist Review here.
February 2014 I have a short article published in Feminist Times, about feminism and lesbianism. You can read it online here.
January 21st I took part in a panel debate at the LSE, hosted by the Gender Institute. It was a panel debate as part of a series of events to welcome the Women’s Library to its new home after the sad takeback of the dedicated building by London Met. The debate was audio recorded and is available to listen to or download here.
2013 EVENTS:
November 25th 2013. I spoke on a panel at the Watershed in Bristol on Monday 25th, to mark the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women; alongside the fabulous Joan Smith and Nimko Ali.
October 26th I gave the closing plenary speech at the Feminism in London Conference. I was also proud to attend the tenth London Reclaim the Night march in the evening following the conference. My speech at the conference was filmed and is available to view here. A slightly edited version of my speech is now available as a transcript on the Open Democracy website here.
September 21st – Chaired and gave plenary and closing speeches at the Nottingham Women’s Conference. See details of their fantastic conference here. Feedback: “thank you for helping make it a day to remember for us and all who attended. You really held things together for us and we couldn’t have asked for a better, more inspiring and energizing start to the day than your introductory speech. We were inspired and motivated by you and will carry it with us in our daily lives and as we go on to organise more feminist action”.
September 18th Took part in a tweet up, Twitter Q&A with AS level Sociology students at Reigate College who are studying feminism.
July 24th I spoke about UK feminism to a visiting group of students from Seattle University on their London residential course.
June 5th I was on Woman’s Hour, discussing Radical Feminism in an all too short debate. You can listen again to the programme here.
May 25th How The Light Gets In philosophy festival, Hay on Wye, panel – ‘A World Beyond Men’, 10.30 Saturday morning. Info here. Debate was filmed for BBC4 and is currently available to watch on IAITV. You can watch the film here. There is also a short interview to accompany the film here.
April 13th – I gave a lecture and workshop at WEA Women into Politics residential course in Nottingham. More details are here.
4th March 2013 – I was on Radio 4 ‘Start the Week’ with other guests, there is a podcast of the programme available here.
8th March 2013 – I spoke at Wales Reclaim the Night in Cardiff.
February 11th – I delivered a lecture at the University of Bristol on UK feminist activism for students on the Masters degree in Policy Research.
2012 EVENTS:
10th December – I was honoured to both chair and give a plenary speech at the Welsh Women’s Aid conference in Cardiff City Hall. A copy of my speech is posted here on this site.
24th November – I was very pleased to march on and speak at the London Feminist Network’s 9th revived London Reclaim the Night march. Someone has written a blog and video review of the march, including filming the speakers at the rally, and my speech, which is last, right at the end of the video here.
26th October – presented a paper on contemporary radical feminism at academic conference in Leeds, ‘Forthcoming Feminisms: Gender Activism, Politics and Theories’.
Sunday 14th October – I took part in panel discussion at the North East Feminist Gathering in Newcastle; and attended their party too and open-mic night where many feminist talents were on display, including singing and clog dancing!
29th September – spoke at Regional Women’s Conference, Unison. Taunton.
28th September – Feminist & Women’s Studies Association conference in Nottingham, I ran a workshop on women, the cuts and education.
5th July – I was invited back to Hay for their Hay Fayre Summer talks; I spoke on the feminist resurgence and why feminism is still relevant. It was a lovely event and a great group of women – more power to Hay Feminists!
14th July – I joined Comrades to speak at the Tolpuddle festival on a panel on women’s rights. There is a review of the panel in the ‘Morning Star’.
15th May 2012 – I spoke on the panel at the ‘Future of Feminism’ debate at the Watershed in Bristol as part of the Festival of Ideas; to launch new book ‘The Lightbulb Moment’ edited by Sian Norris.
On the 12th January I was very pleased to be invited back to join the crew at Bristol LGBT radio ‘Shout Out’ to discuss Feminism, activism and camping…. For the interests of Bristolians Shout Out takes over community radio every Thursday evening and you can listen online, join in debates and get involved with the show.
7th February 2012 I took part in a GLAD Conversation and workshop on Feminist activism at Durham University.
29th February 2012 I delivered a workshop for the staff of West Mercia Women’s Aid on the Feminist resurgence, Feminist activism, the history of Feminist theory on male violence against women and why it is all as relevant as it ever was!
8th March – International Women’s Day 2012 – I delivered a keynote speech at the Equality South West regional event in Cornwall.
12th March – Cardiff Feminist Network day conference on ending violence against women. I delivered a keynote speech and took part in a panel debate.
23rd March – paper on young feminist activism at Birkbeck conference on Thinking Through Time & History in Feminism
16-17 April – presented a paper on young feminist activism at the PIDOP conference at the University of Surrey
2011 EVENTS:
I was very honoured to have been ‘woman of the week’ recently for the fabulous Platform 51, for reviving the Reclaim the Night marches, the article is online here. (Though they get my age wrong; I’m 35!)
October
27th October, Nottingham, I was part of the launch for a new programme promoting women’s leadership called ‘Women Leading for a Change‘.
28th October, I delivered a workshop at the Worker’s Educational Association (WEA) annual conference in Nottingham. There is a review of the session here.
November
NUS. 3rd November. I delivered a workshop on Reclaim the Night in the UK at the NUS ‘Sister Activist’ training.
Cumberland Lodge Conference on Gender Equality in the 21st Century, I spoke on gender and violence on Thursday 17th November. A review of the conference is here.
December
Rights of Women, delivered training on Feminist theory, activism and the history of women’s action against male violence against women. Feedback: “Thankyou for inspiring and energising us at your workshop”; “enlightening and empowering”; “we are still all talking about it in the office”.
On the 24th September I spoke at the Labour Party national women’s conference in Liverpool on: ‘A Women’s Movement for the 21st Century’.
I recently spoke on the role and importance of direct action in the Women’s Liberation Movement, as part of a panel at the UK Feminista Summer School in Birmingham on Saturday 13th August. All the plenary panels are available to view online.
I was interviewed for a feature in the new issue of the University of Bristol magazine ‘Nonesuch’, you can read the online version here.
I delivered a workshop on engaging with contemporary feminist activism and the current feminist ‘resurgence’ at the national Women’s Aid conference in Warwick on Friday 8th July.
I took part in two panel debates at the 2011 Philosophy and Music Festival at Hay, ‘How The Light Gets In‘. The first debate, ‘The Skin We’re In’ can be viewed here. The second debate ‘When Women Rule The World’ is here.
To mark 2011 International Women’s Day in March I spoke at the Bath Literature Festival on Saturday 5th March 2011, on the subject “Does Feminism Have To Start All Over Again?”. There is a review of the session here.
I gave one short ‘WOW Bite’ talk on the history, importance and inspiration of Reclaim the Night, and also spoke in a panel debate titled ‘The Campaign Trail’, along with Ruth Bond, Chair of the W.I, and human rights activist Bianca Jagger; all as part of the Women Of the World (WOW) Festival at the Southbank Centre, on Saturday 12th of March 2011.
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