Magazines Matter

Things have been a bit quiet over the last week or so here at the Anti-Room, for various reasons, so sorry about that – we are all still alive, just very busy! But not too busy to raise awareness of some other female pop-culture junkies in their hour of need. The excellent and entertaining “feminist [...]

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R.I.P. Eileen Flynn

R.I.P. Eileen Flynn. Thankfully we’ve come a long way from the kind of misogynistic religious stranglehold that thought it was ok to deprive a woman with a young family of her income because she wasn’t married. Sadly, this only happened in 1982, not 1962. Good ol’ Ireland and its sexist, backward moralism….

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When it comes to women and power, there’s some good news, and some bad news…

If we were in any doubt that the prospect of a female leader fills some people with fear and loathing, the coverage of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin’s political careers should be enough to confirm our worst fears (although I’ve got to say that another one of my worst fears is a fundie, anti-environmentalist gun-nut [...]

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Helen Mirren and date rape

Post-holiday blues hit in a big way last week, and stopped me getting off my ass and finishing a post I started about Helen Mirren. Her recent comments about date rape tap into something I discussed in a post called Sex, Consent and Expectations.

I’ve always liked Helen Mirren. To me, she has always seemed [...]

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The Anti-Room bookclub #1… get voting

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions in this post about how to get the ball rolling in our inaugural Anti-Room Classics bookclub.  As much as we’d love to meet the delightful Rosie in person, it seems like it suits most folk to meet up online. As today is the 8th of September, why don’t we [...]

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Yet Another Reason to Love Jon Stewart

The awesome Jon Stewart and the Daily Show reminds us that while conservatives are now up in arms over the sexist attacks on Sarah Palin, they were singing a very different tune just a few months ago. Watch how Bill O’Reilly’s attitude to teen pregnancy has miraculously changed, while other conservative pundits and policy advisors [...]

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When Will the News Catch Up With Corrie?

There are many reasons I love Coronation Street. The sheer quality of the writing (never will I forget Norris describing Rita “fanning herself with the People’s Friend like something out of Les Liasons Dangereuses“). The funniness. The wonderful characters (Becky! Blanche! Eileen! Any one of that trio alone would make a programme worth watching). The [...]

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The Anti-Room Bookclub…

As a gale howls outside my door, I’m already drifting into hibernation mode, grumbling about the summer failing to appear and digging out a polo neck jumper to wear today. Given Honoria’s ‘switch it off’ post yesterday and an idea that arose in the comments section of this post, I’m proposing an Anti-Room bookclub – [...]

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Internet gone, free time rediscovered

Phew! My internet was dead for a whole ten days last week and it felt like part of me was dead too. I still had access in my job, but it didn’t feel like enough. At the same time, all of a sudden my life didn’t feel as bitty as when I have internet access, [...]

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Is Sarah Palin a granny?

John “I can’t remember how many houses I have” McCain is a canny man. Not content with stealing Obama’s thunder by announcing his vice-Presidential running mate less than 24 hours after the Democrat convention, he reveals that – gasp! – it’s a woman. Sarah Palin – an easy-on-the-eye “hockey mom” (albeit one who earned the [...]

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