As one series ends, another one must begin - mostly, I will admit, to keep me in the habit of regularly updating this blog, otherwise I fear it might die a slow and painful death. I'm nothing if not honest.
This series is pretty self-explanatory: Video of the Week. Like a great number of other people out there, I am addicted to YouTube. Every Friday I will post my greatest find of the week, be it serious, funny, informative or just downright weird. This week combines the themes of serious and completely and utterly adorable.
Little explanation is needed from me on this one: young feminist Riley articulates perfectly what many adults fail to realise. She's got a bright future ahead of her, and her parents must be very proud.
Friday 30 December 2011
Monday 26 December 2011
Feminists can be sexist, too.
There's something I need to get off my chest.
I know that sounds like an introduction to some confession of some sort (I cheated on you; I was born with a penis; I ate the last slice of cake... None of which are true, by the way. Well, except for maybe the last one), and I suppose that in some ways it almost is a confession. In some ways it is a confession that one of the causes which I so strongly support and dedicate so much of my writing to is still subject to one massive fundamental flaw.
The cause? Feminism. The fundamental flaw? The fact that the force which is fighting its corner, my sisters, my fellow feminists, are at times themselves misogynistic perpetrators of the enemy we are trying to defeat: sexism.
But I believe that if you support something and if you want something to succeed, then at times you will have to challenge it. You have to drag it up where it has made mistakes, tell it, "Oi, you're being an arsehole!" and set it on the right path. So that is exactly what I am doing now.
You see, a few months ago I published an article on sexism in football. If you haven't already read it then I encourage you to do so (because it's pretty damn amazing), but to summarise, in case you're short on time, it focuses primarily on the presence of sexism at the top of the game, with powerful people like the President of Fifa, Sepp Blatter, claiming that female footballers should wear "tighter shorts"; the pigeonholing of female supporters as "socerettes" (a scantily-clad, attractive woman who, if she knows anything at all about the game, is not encouraged to share her opinions) or WAGs, and the overarching isolation of female fans: the idea that football is for men; if a woman is there then it is only because she fancies Cristiano Ronaldo, and the attitude that "she may as well hold my beer while I pop to the loo". Whether or not you care about football, whether you appreciate the artistry and comradeship in it or simply think it's a stupid sport which promotes prima donna millionaires, is pretty much irrelevant. All that is relevant at this moment in time is the fact that I, among many other women, I am sure, identified sexism within football and felt the need to address it. And so I wrote this article.
I wrote the article back in November 2010. Why then, did it take me until July the following year, a full eight months later, to finally publish the article? Do I suffer from literary shyness? Am I so lazy that it took me a full eight months to copy and paste a chunk of text from Word into my blog? Nope, none of those reasons are responsible. While I may be shy, I have never been shy in my writing; in fact it was writing which always gave me the opportunity to get my thoughts and my feelings out there when my mouth was too timid to open up and utter a few words. And while I may enjoy the odd lie-in from time-to-time, I've never had a employer, teacher or professional describe me as "lazy" (and yes, I am kissing my own arse right now). So what was it that held me back from publishing the article, even when, in January this year, just two months after my article was written, Richard Keys and Andy Gray were making headlines when their sexist tirade of comments were caught on tape? When the rest of the world was talking about sexism in football, why did I hold back and leave my article gathering dust for eight solid months?
Stupidly, I now realise, I didn't believe the article was mine to publish. A month before the Richard Keys/ Andy Gray saga, I had "promised" my article to a well-known, reader-contributed feminist blog. I'd exchanged email correspondance with the editor who, following my pitch, told me "that does sound very interesting" and gave me the date of the following deadline, which I met without a hiccup.
I was fully aware when I handed over my article that it might have taken months before I saw it in print, but that was a sacrifice I was happy to put up with knowing that my work would be read by thousands rather than, say, ten. However, when just two short months later the headlines were being bombarded with what I already knew to be true - that football commentary is laced with misogyny and sexism - I expected my article to climb out of the editor's inbox and onto the web.
It didn't.
In fact, what I saw instead was a very recent (and I knew it was recent because it mentioned events which had happened in the preceding few days) article, written by... a man.
"That can't be right," I thought to myself. "Maybe they'll publish my article later on in the day."
But they didn't. My article went unpublished, not just for the next few days or weeks, but for months. Even when I emailed the editor, kindly but firmly asking that she confirm whether or not she wished to use my article, as I felt I could find a place for it on the web elsewhere if she chose not to, I heard nothing. Nothing appeared on their website, and no letter of recognition, even, appeared in my inbox. A feminist website, a website which is supposed to promote the voices of women in a world in which we are far too often silenced by patriarchy, ignored the voice of a woman, and instead gave room to the voice of a man; more than that, they gave room to the voice of a man in a realm which is already heavily-dominated by men. Perhaps they thought that if a man says it is sexist then it must be so, whereas if a woman says it is sexist... well, she could just be complaining again.
In some ways I blame myself for allowing my voice to get lost in the midst of the jumping-on-the-"Sexism-In-Football"-bandwagon and for not speaking up sooner. It took me eight months to take my article back, at which point I fiddled around with it, injected a little bit of stuff about the Richard Keys/ Andy Gray saga (because it would have been 'irrelevant' without it, it seemed) and published it on my own blog which, while perhaps not having a following of thousands, is at least mine and says the things that I wish to say, as opposed to some dude who is probably heard enough as it is already.
For the record, this blog post does not wish to shoot down other feminists and it does not wish to shoot down men; what it wishes to do is to demonstrate how easy it is to shoot down your fellow sisters and thus damage the very cause you are fighting for if you are not careful.
I know that sounds like an introduction to some confession of some sort (I cheated on you; I was born with a penis; I ate the last slice of cake... None of which are true, by the way. Well, except for maybe the last one), and I suppose that in some ways it almost is a confession. In some ways it is a confession that one of the causes which I so strongly support and dedicate so much of my writing to is still subject to one massive fundamental flaw.
The cause? Feminism. The fundamental flaw? The fact that the force which is fighting its corner, my sisters, my fellow feminists, are at times themselves misogynistic perpetrators of the enemy we are trying to defeat: sexism.
But I believe that if you support something and if you want something to succeed, then at times you will have to challenge it. You have to drag it up where it has made mistakes, tell it, "Oi, you're being an arsehole!" and set it on the right path. So that is exactly what I am doing now.
You see, a few months ago I published an article on sexism in football. If you haven't already read it then I encourage you to do so (because it's pretty damn amazing), but to summarise, in case you're short on time, it focuses primarily on the presence of sexism at the top of the game, with powerful people like the President of Fifa, Sepp Blatter, claiming that female footballers should wear "tighter shorts"; the pigeonholing of female supporters as "socerettes" (a scantily-clad, attractive woman who, if she knows anything at all about the game, is not encouraged to share her opinions) or WAGs, and the overarching isolation of female fans: the idea that football is for men; if a woman is there then it is only because she fancies Cristiano Ronaldo, and the attitude that "she may as well hold my beer while I pop to the loo". Whether or not you care about football, whether you appreciate the artistry and comradeship in it or simply think it's a stupid sport which promotes prima donna millionaires, is pretty much irrelevant. All that is relevant at this moment in time is the fact that I, among many other women, I am sure, identified sexism within football and felt the need to address it. And so I wrote this article.
I wrote the article back in November 2010. Why then, did it take me until July the following year, a full eight months later, to finally publish the article? Do I suffer from literary shyness? Am I so lazy that it took me a full eight months to copy and paste a chunk of text from Word into my blog? Nope, none of those reasons are responsible. While I may be shy, I have never been shy in my writing; in fact it was writing which always gave me the opportunity to get my thoughts and my feelings out there when my mouth was too timid to open up and utter a few words. And while I may enjoy the odd lie-in from time-to-time, I've never had a employer, teacher or professional describe me as "lazy" (and yes, I am kissing my own arse right now). So what was it that held me back from publishing the article, even when, in January this year, just two months after my article was written, Richard Keys and Andy Gray were making headlines when their sexist tirade of comments were caught on tape? When the rest of the world was talking about sexism in football, why did I hold back and leave my article gathering dust for eight solid months?
Stupidly, I now realise, I didn't believe the article was mine to publish. A month before the Richard Keys/ Andy Gray saga, I had "promised" my article to a well-known, reader-contributed feminist blog. I'd exchanged email correspondance with the editor who, following my pitch, told me "that does sound very interesting" and gave me the date of the following deadline, which I met without a hiccup.
I was fully aware when I handed over my article that it might have taken months before I saw it in print, but that was a sacrifice I was happy to put up with knowing that my work would be read by thousands rather than, say, ten. However, when just two short months later the headlines were being bombarded with what I already knew to be true - that football commentary is laced with misogyny and sexism - I expected my article to climb out of the editor's inbox and onto the web.
It didn't.
In fact, what I saw instead was a very recent (and I knew it was recent because it mentioned events which had happened in the preceding few days) article, written by... a man.
"That can't be right," I thought to myself. "Maybe they'll publish my article later on in the day."
But they didn't. My article went unpublished, not just for the next few days or weeks, but for months. Even when I emailed the editor, kindly but firmly asking that she confirm whether or not she wished to use my article, as I felt I could find a place for it on the web elsewhere if she chose not to, I heard nothing. Nothing appeared on their website, and no letter of recognition, even, appeared in my inbox. A feminist website, a website which is supposed to promote the voices of women in a world in which we are far too often silenced by patriarchy, ignored the voice of a woman, and instead gave room to the voice of a man; more than that, they gave room to the voice of a man in a realm which is already heavily-dominated by men. Perhaps they thought that if a man says it is sexist then it must be so, whereas if a woman says it is sexist... well, she could just be complaining again.
In some ways I blame myself for allowing my voice to get lost in the midst of the jumping-on-the-"Sexism-In-Football"-bandwagon and for not speaking up sooner. It took me eight months to take my article back, at which point I fiddled around with it, injected a little bit of stuff about the Richard Keys/ Andy Gray saga (because it would have been 'irrelevant' without it, it seemed) and published it on my own blog which, while perhaps not having a following of thousands, is at least mine and says the things that I wish to say, as opposed to some dude who is probably heard enough as it is already.
For the record, this blog post does not wish to shoot down other feminists and it does not wish to shoot down men; what it wishes to do is to demonstrate how easy it is to shoot down your fellow sisters and thus damage the very cause you are fighting for if you are not careful.
Saturday 24 December 2011
Series: The 12 Week Countdown
Series: The 12 Week Countdown
...1 Week To 2012: New Years's Resolutions
With this being the final week until the year 2012, it seemed only fitting that the final installment in this series focus on what will be at the forefront of everyone's minds as 2011 draws to a close: Just how am I going to make next year better?
Well, for a start you can stop being so self-involved and think about on how you can better improve society and the lives of others in greater need, rather than control your love for cream cakes or take up zumba because oh my gawd it looks like so much fun! But let's face it: that's never going to happen. So let's take a moment to look at the 10 most likely New Year's Resolutions for some of you lot:
10. Have a baby - This one doesn't apply to all of us, and certainly doesn't apply to me, but for all you newlyweds and broody lot out there, it's got to be hovering about in your brain somewhere. You probably keep seeing children in supermarkets and resisting the urge to reach out and squish their chubby little cheeks. You probably also find yourself saying "Aww!" a lot.
9. Read more - This is always one of my resolutions because, as a writer, I feel I really should read more. However, as a writer, I am often far too busy writing to read an acceptable amount. 2011 is drawing to a close and I am on my 18th book. In my defence, these have mostly been proper fat books; none of this fifty-page short story crap. Nonetheless, next year I need to at least get into the 20s.
8. Travel - We all want to be well-rounded, well-read, well-travelled individuals, and I am simply not the latter of these three. Personally, I think that London, whilst majorly sucking, is also pretty great and, can't imagine many places being better; I therefore feel little need to travel. Besides which, I fear going off into meadows and farmy places, encountering a farm animal of some sort and dying from excessive sneezing.
7. End a relationship - For those of you in a relationship right now, probably about 60% are unhappy and want their other half to piss off. For the remaining 40%, about 39% will someday (soon) become unhappy and wish to cease the relationship. If half of all marriages end in divorce, I think it's safe to say that almost all relationships will end in doors slamming, crying and the parting words of "F*** YOU, ARSEHOLE!"
6. Start a relationship - And yet, in spite of the above, all of those who end a relationship will soon seek a new one. We humans are social creatures and crave company, and so will ensue more desperate dating with dodgy dudes, which will likely die a dire death the following year.
5. Cut down on the drink - How many people wake up with a hangover on the 1st January every year and think, "Never again!" This resolution isn't necessarily a new year's one, though; I think this is simply something people resolve every morning following a ridiculous binge.
4. Quit smoking - C'mon, smokers! You can do it!
3. Get a new job - Ha. Good luck.
2. Get on top of your finances - Ha. That's even more funny than the previous resolution. Anyone reading this blog will probably hold similar political opinions to mine (if not - piss off) and will therefore not be a Tory twatting bastard who has money spare to wipe their arses with. Like me, you will still be skint this time next year; we may as well just accept it now and use it as fuel to start a revolution.
1. Lose weight/ get fit - Whatever you do: DO NOT JOIN A GYM. You will not attend more than twice; both these occasions will take place in January, cake will get the better of you, and your membership will gather dust in your purse/ wallet for the eleven months that follow, leaving you feel even deeper guilt about the failure of the above resolution (i.e. to get on top of your finances).
Really, making New Year's Resolutions is just one way to set yourself up for failure. But if you think you can make some of them, then go for it. You'll never know unless you try.
...1 Week To 2012: New Years's Resolutions
With this being the final week until the year 2012, it seemed only fitting that the final installment in this series focus on what will be at the forefront of everyone's minds as 2011 draws to a close: Just how am I going to make next year better?
Well, for a start you can stop being so self-involved and think about on how you can better improve society and the lives of others in greater need, rather than control your love for cream cakes or take up zumba because oh my gawd it looks like so much fun! But let's face it: that's never going to happen. So let's take a moment to look at the 10 most likely New Year's Resolutions for some of you lot:
10. Have a baby - This one doesn't apply to all of us, and certainly doesn't apply to me, but for all you newlyweds and broody lot out there, it's got to be hovering about in your brain somewhere. You probably keep seeing children in supermarkets and resisting the urge to reach out and squish their chubby little cheeks. You probably also find yourself saying "Aww!" a lot.
9. Read more - This is always one of my resolutions because, as a writer, I feel I really should read more. However, as a writer, I am often far too busy writing to read an acceptable amount. 2011 is drawing to a close and I am on my 18th book. In my defence, these have mostly been proper fat books; none of this fifty-page short story crap. Nonetheless, next year I need to at least get into the 20s.
8. Travel - We all want to be well-rounded, well-read, well-travelled individuals, and I am simply not the latter of these three. Personally, I think that London, whilst majorly sucking, is also pretty great and, can't imagine many places being better; I therefore feel little need to travel. Besides which, I fear going off into meadows and farmy places, encountering a farm animal of some sort and dying from excessive sneezing.
7. End a relationship - For those of you in a relationship right now, probably about 60% are unhappy and want their other half to piss off. For the remaining 40%, about 39% will someday (soon) become unhappy and wish to cease the relationship. If half of all marriages end in divorce, I think it's safe to say that almost all relationships will end in doors slamming, crying and the parting words of "F*** YOU, ARSEHOLE!"
6. Start a relationship - And yet, in spite of the above, all of those who end a relationship will soon seek a new one. We humans are social creatures and crave company, and so will ensue more desperate dating with dodgy dudes, which will likely die a dire death the following year.
5. Cut down on the drink - How many people wake up with a hangover on the 1st January every year and think, "Never again!" This resolution isn't necessarily a new year's one, though; I think this is simply something people resolve every morning following a ridiculous binge.
4. Quit smoking - C'mon, smokers! You can do it!
3. Get a new job - Ha. Good luck.
2. Get on top of your finances - Ha. That's even more funny than the previous resolution. Anyone reading this blog will probably hold similar political opinions to mine (if not - piss off) and will therefore not be a Tory twatting bastard who has money spare to wipe their arses with. Like me, you will still be skint this time next year; we may as well just accept it now and use it as fuel to start a revolution.
1. Lose weight/ get fit - Whatever you do: DO NOT JOIN A GYM. You will not attend more than twice; both these occasions will take place in January, cake will get the better of you, and your membership will gather dust in your purse/ wallet for the eleven months that follow, leaving you feel even deeper guilt about the failure of the above resolution (i.e. to get on top of your finances).
Really, making New Year's Resolutions is just one way to set yourself up for failure. But if you think you can make some of them, then go for it. You'll never know unless you try.
Saturday 17 December 2011
Series: The 12 Week Countdown
Series: The 12 Week Countdown
...2 Weeks To 2012: Secret Anniversaries
This has been a funny old week for me. If I wasn't enough of a "thinker" already, then this week has surely done it.
I haven't read the book itself (yet), but I'm familiar with one very famous quote from Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles:
It's not my intention to scare people (well, not on this occasion, anyway), but it's such a poignant quote, and one which, as well leaving you with a sense of total fear, can also leave you with optimism - depending on which way you choose to look at it.
We pass anniversaries every single year. Some of them have already been revealed to us - for all of us, our birthdays; for some of us our wedding anniversaries, and for others the anniversary of the day we first became a Gooner - and others remain, for a little while longer, a secret.
Our deaths will remain a secret until the day itself comes, but for those of us who aren't married, haven't had children and haven't yet achieved our ultimate goal in life, whatever that may be, those anniversaries are still waiting in the wings. We pass those dates every single year; we will pass them in 2012 and will know nothing of it, but that makes it no less significant.
...2 Weeks To 2012: Secret Anniversaries
This has been a funny old week for me. If I wasn't enough of a "thinker" already, then this week has surely done it.
I haven't read the book itself (yet), but I'm familiar with one very famous quote from Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles:
She philosophically noted dates as they came past in the revolution of the year; the disastrous night of her undoing at Trantridge with its dark background of The Chase; also the dates of the baby's birth and death; also her own birthday; and every other day individualized by incidents in which she had taken some share. She suddenly thought one afternoon, when looking in the glass at her fairness, that there was yet another date, of greater importance to her than those; that of her own death, when all these charms would have disappeared; a day which lay sly and unseen among all the other days of the year, giving no sign or sound when she annually passed over it; but not the less surely there. When was it? Why did she not feel the chill of each yearly encounter with such a cold relation? She had Jeremy Taylor's thought that some time in the future those who had known her would say: 'It is the ----th, the day that poor Tess Durbeyfield died'; and there would be nothing singular to their minds in the statement. Of that day, doomed to be her terminus in time through all the ages, she did not know the place in month, week, season or year.
It's not my intention to scare people (well, not on this occasion, anyway), but it's such a poignant quote, and one which, as well leaving you with a sense of total fear, can also leave you with optimism - depending on which way you choose to look at it.
We pass anniversaries every single year. Some of them have already been revealed to us - for all of us, our birthdays; for some of us our wedding anniversaries, and for others the anniversary of the day we first became a Gooner - and others remain, for a little while longer, a secret.
Our deaths will remain a secret until the day itself comes, but for those of us who aren't married, haven't had children and haven't yet achieved our ultimate goal in life, whatever that may be, those anniversaries are still waiting in the wings. We pass those dates every single year; we will pass them in 2012 and will know nothing of it, but that makes it no less significant.
Saturday 10 December 2011
Series: The 12 Week Countdown
Series: The 12 Week Countdown
...3 Weeks To 2012: The Queen's Diamond Jubilee
In 2012 the Queen celebrates her 60th year as head of our state. 60 years of waving like she's got a broken wrist. 60 years of opening hospitals. 60 years of reading some tosser's speech on Christmas Day. 60 years of not being amused. Whoopee?
I know it sounds like I've got something against the Royal family, but honestly, I'm simply indifferent to them. They're just a family, with as many dark secrets as every other family (and then some), and probably as many in-jokes that the rest of us just would not get. I appreciate the argument that they bring in tourism money and keep our economy thriving (really? Could have fooled me), but I'm not one for elitism, for bowing and curtseying to someone just because of who they are and what their name is and not because of what they may have done. I also don't know how we manage to call ourselves a multi-cultural society when our head of state is also head of the Church of England.
And so, for these reasons, the Queen celebrating her Diamand Jubilee next year doesn't move me, though I'm sure it will others: I anticipate street parties up and down the country, businesses making a profit off nothing merchandise and (please please please please pleeeaaaaase) another Bank Holiday. That last one is the only thing I'm able to get excited about here.
...3 Weeks To 2012: The Queen's Diamond Jubilee
In 2012 the Queen celebrates her 60th year as head of our state. 60 years of waving like she's got a broken wrist. 60 years of opening hospitals. 60 years of reading some tosser's speech on Christmas Day. 60 years of not being amused. Whoopee?
I know it sounds like I've got something against the Royal family, but honestly, I'm simply indifferent to them. They're just a family, with as many dark secrets as every other family (and then some), and probably as many in-jokes that the rest of us just would not get. I appreciate the argument that they bring in tourism money and keep our economy thriving (really? Could have fooled me), but I'm not one for elitism, for bowing and curtseying to someone just because of who they are and what their name is and not because of what they may have done. I also don't know how we manage to call ourselves a multi-cultural society when our head of state is also head of the Church of England.
And so, for these reasons, the Queen celebrating her Diamand Jubilee next year doesn't move me, though I'm sure it will others: I anticipate street parties up and down the country, businesses making a profit off nothing merchandise and (please please please please pleeeaaaaase) another Bank Holiday. That last one is the only thing I'm able to get excited about here.
Monday 5 December 2011
Why Little Mix should win The X Factor
I have been watching The X Factor since the very first season, when a now faint whisper of a man called Steve Brookstein walked away with the title. I was watching when Leona Lewis brushed aside Whitney Houston hit after Whitney Houston hit, and I was watching last year when a few unlikely lads came together to form the beast known to us now as One Direction - and known to many 13-year-old girls as "ONE DIRECTION AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!" And yet, in all that time, I have never seen a girl group really cement themselves in the competition or in people's minds. The only girl groups I remember are Hope, Miss Frank and Belle Amie, and a group of Irish sisters who were so awful that even Simon Cowell (their mentor) chose to vote them off the show over another mentor's act. Until this year, the judge blessed with the groups has chosen one obligatory girl group just to make up the numbers, has over-styled them, over-choreographed them and underlooked the talent, personality and friendship required to make a successful girl group.
Tulisa was the only woman for the job. I was never an N-Dubz fan (truth be told, I wouldn't be able to tell you the title to a single one of their songs), but there is no denying the feat Tulisa has managed to pull off here. She went into this job wanting the groups, wanting the challenge and ready to create something out of nothing - and I feel that is exactly the attitude needed to make a miracle. There was virtually nothing when Tulisa was given the groups: a few talented individuals who had found themselves placed haphazardly in groups of mediocrity... and then there was Little Mix (or Rhythmix, as they were back then). They were unique from the start - quirky and unsure, and yet they instantly looked right together. They were, however, just another girl group, and girl groups never do well on The X Factor, so while I expected them to get through to the live shows, I didn't expect them to progress much beyond the first three shows.
But they grew together alarmingly quickly. Their friendship grew and they became believable; they were styled perfectly, with enough quirkiness to stand out and enough glamour to look like stars, and most importantly of all, they were marketed with just the attitude every single (until now, male) mentor has failed to realise: with Girl Power. You cannot put together a girl group without looking at what made its predecessors so successful, and whether that's vocal ability (Destiny's Child) or relatability (Spice Girls), Little Mix tick all the right boxes. But, for me, the biggest box of all is the one which has been so noticeably vacant in these last few years: the ability to make young girls feel good about themselves. When band member Jesy spoke out about her weight and image insecurities early into the live shows, whether she realised it or not (though I am sure the producers realised it), she was reaching out to thousands of young girls out there and saying, "I am human." You could believe it when she got up on stage last week and sang Christina Aguilera's Beautiful, and you could believe her bandmates as they stood beside her and sang it with her.
I am tired of seeing the charts dominated by overly-airbrushed women who feel the only way to land a number one hit is to strip down and do some obligatory gyrating; I am tired of it being true that the only way to land a number one hit (unless you're Adele) is to strip down and shake your jelly. The fact that Little Mix have defied the odds and become the first girl group ever to make it into the final speaks volumes to me: girls are ready for change, and I am ready to support this change.
Little Mix has the X Factor!
Tulisa was the only woman for the job. I was never an N-Dubz fan (truth be told, I wouldn't be able to tell you the title to a single one of their songs), but there is no denying the feat Tulisa has managed to pull off here. She went into this job wanting the groups, wanting the challenge and ready to create something out of nothing - and I feel that is exactly the attitude needed to make a miracle. There was virtually nothing when Tulisa was given the groups: a few talented individuals who had found themselves placed haphazardly in groups of mediocrity... and then there was Little Mix (or Rhythmix, as they were back then). They were unique from the start - quirky and unsure, and yet they instantly looked right together. They were, however, just another girl group, and girl groups never do well on The X Factor, so while I expected them to get through to the live shows, I didn't expect them to progress much beyond the first three shows.
But they grew together alarmingly quickly. Their friendship grew and they became believable; they were styled perfectly, with enough quirkiness to stand out and enough glamour to look like stars, and most importantly of all, they were marketed with just the attitude every single (until now, male) mentor has failed to realise: with Girl Power. You cannot put together a girl group without looking at what made its predecessors so successful, and whether that's vocal ability (Destiny's Child) or relatability (Spice Girls), Little Mix tick all the right boxes. But, for me, the biggest box of all is the one which has been so noticeably vacant in these last few years: the ability to make young girls feel good about themselves. When band member Jesy spoke out about her weight and image insecurities early into the live shows, whether she realised it or not (though I am sure the producers realised it), she was reaching out to thousands of young girls out there and saying, "I am human." You could believe it when she got up on stage last week and sang Christina Aguilera's Beautiful, and you could believe her bandmates as they stood beside her and sang it with her.
I am tired of seeing the charts dominated by overly-airbrushed women who feel the only way to land a number one hit is to strip down and do some obligatory gyrating; I am tired of it being true that the only way to land a number one hit (unless you're Adele) is to strip down and shake your jelly. The fact that Little Mix have defied the odds and become the first girl group ever to make it into the final speaks volumes to me: girls are ready for change, and I am ready to support this change.
Little Mix has the X Factor!
Saturday 3 December 2011
Series: The 12 Week Countdown
Series: The 12 Week Countdown
...4 Weeks To 2012: The Presidential Elections
I know nothing about U.S. politics.
Well, not nothing nothing. I know they still have a load of stupid laws which, because they're a relatively new nation, haven't been brushed off yet - laws like gay marriage being illegal in certain states, while the death penalty is perfectly fine (ban love; kill people - what a great philosophy to go by), and I know that until recently their president (George W. Bush) did little besides stand there looking like a startled pigeon, but besides that, nope: not a clue.
So this is a pretty easy blog post for me this week. All I can say is that yes, there will be a Presidential election and yes, America have a tendency to elect idiots. Then again, so does Britain.
...4 Weeks To 2012: The Presidential Elections
I know nothing about U.S. politics.
Well, not nothing nothing. I know they still have a load of stupid laws which, because they're a relatively new nation, haven't been brushed off yet - laws like gay marriage being illegal in certain states, while the death penalty is perfectly fine (ban love; kill people - what a great philosophy to go by), and I know that until recently their president (George W. Bush) did little besides stand there looking like a startled pigeon, but besides that, nope: not a clue.
So this is a pretty easy blog post for me this week. All I can say is that yes, there will be a Presidential election and yes, America have a tendency to elect idiots. Then again, so does Britain.
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