Christina Hendricks in New York Magazine

“Christina Hendricks is absolutely fabulous,” says Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone, who held up Hendricks’ outline as an ideal shape for women.

Highlighting the “overexposure” of skinny models and the impact they have on body image among young people, Ms Featherstone went on: “We need more of these role models. There is such a sensation when there is a curvy role model. It shouldn’t be so unusual.” BBC.

What utter bollocks are we to only judge women on whether they fit a perfect figure or not – madness – it’s time we judged women for who they are not what fucking size they are – Christ we’re all different shapes and sizes it’s pointless trying to be a shape we aren’t – what’s the point of replacing one unattainable image with another?

Diane Abbott Labour’s first female leadership candidate

Australia has its first female prime minister, Julia Gillard, after Kevin Rudd stepped down as Labor party leader, avoiding a ballot he was certain to lose. Ellen Connolly, The Guardian.

Which leaves me wondering when will the UK next see a female prime minister? It seems the election of Margret Thatcher has made the likelihood of another female prime minster less not more likely.

As for government apart from a few exceptions the Con-Dems cabinet is stuffed full of Oxbridge educated white males.

Labour with the largest number of woman MP’s – in fact more than all the other parties put together has surely is surely best placed to provide a female leader although Labour has only just had its first female leadership candidate Diane Abbott – realistically Diane has little chance of success.

It’s high time this inequality was addressed – Harriet Harman’s call for 50-50 gender spilt in Labour cabinet is surely a start.

Diane Abbott Labour’s first female leadership candidate

What’s so special about that – Oh woman is 43 and the man is 19 – wouldn’t make the news if it was the other way round.

There’s been some controversy over the Marie Stopes advert for abortion services.

What is controversial over this advert is it will not be aired by Channel 4 in Northern Ireland because abortion is still illegal in the province. Where’s the outcry over the suppression of women’s rights in part of the UK?

I read The Guardian and other websites via Google Reader which allows me to keep up with websites without having to visit them individually it’s really good and you should give it a try.

However back to my point what is this advert doing on The Guardian’s feed attached to a post on Thailand’s protests? It’s something I’d expect of pretty much every other national news paper – not the Guardian. Find your soul mate? Looks anything but soul mates. I don’t want to see this and I certainly don’t want my children to see it either.

Of course you won’t actually see this advert on The Guardian website – I guess The Guardian believes users of Google Reader are all men – and don’t try to tell me this advert is trying to appeal to women – it doesn’t

Bottom right hand of page 136 in this month’s Uncut

The music magazine Uncut has these chat lines adverts – why? It’s not something I want to see and certainly not in a music magazine – let alone the fact that they have women reading their magazine – I know it might come as a surprise to Uncut but women like music too.

Planet Rock advertisment in Music Magazine Mojo

We’ve rightfully had an outcry over Danny Dyer’s advice in his agony column for Zoo to slash his ex-girlfriends face – but why doesn’t this offensive advert in music magazine Mojo for Planet Rock generate a similar outcry? I’m not ready sodding Playboy – don’t get me started on Playboy how they’ve managed to get so many women and young girls to wear their logo is beyond me – don’t they realise it’s a bloody porn mag? And for anyone in any doubts about the acceptability of porn I refer you to rmott62 and Surviving Prostitution – they’ll put you right.

Mojo needs to stop accepting such sexist advertisements.

Picture of Dyer's advice in Zoo to cut ex's face

Celebrity agony uncle Danny Dyer has told Zoo magazine readers that a heartbroken boyfriend should “cut his ex’s face, so no one will want her”.

Dyer’s reply was published in the latest edition of lads’ weekly Zoo, published by Bauer Media, in response to a letter from a 23-year-old reader – “Alex, Manchester” – asking for advice on how to get over his split from his girlfriend.

The actor and TV presenter says in his Ask Danny column: “You’ve got nothing to worry about, son. I’d suggest going out on a rampage with the boys, getting on the booze and smashing anything that moves. Then, when some bird falls for you, you can turn the tables and break her heart. Of course, the other option is to cut your ex’s face, and then no one will want her.” Steve Busfield, The Guardian.

Still I doubt we should be surprised – Zoo’s hardly a magazine of enlightenment as you can see from the front cover of this weeks issue – why on earth it’s available in my local supermarket is beyond me – in fact it shames us all – we should have complained long ago against such misogynist claptrap – I don’t want my sons exposed to Zoo let alone my daughter.

It’s time for men to step up and be feminists.

I was perusing my local news website This is Gloucestershire when I come across the headline
Harrie’s hoping to be crowned Miss Teen Queen.

STARDOM beckons for teenager Harrie Smith who could become Britain’s next top teen beauty.

After being spotted at the Clothes Show, Harrie, of Longlevens, is hoping to make it through to the final round of the UK’s Teen Queen 2010.

The 15-year-old was walking around the Clothes Show stalls at the Birmingham NEC when she was discovered. This is Gloucestershire.

You can Google the internet and find every local newspaper full of this crap, Ashley Hughes 14 from Halesowen, Leah Jones 13 & Nicola Maynard 14 from Rugby, Bryony Gibbons 15 from Exeter, Jessica Forster 15 from Lancashire, Ellie Jones 13 & Helen Major 18 from Worcester, and on and on it goes – not one local newspaper stopping to think for a moment.

Ellie Jones 13-years-old from Worcester and Jessica Forster 15-years-old from Lancashire

In fact Miss Teen Queen U.K. is a “Hot or Not”-style online beauty pageant which some are criticizing for its Lolita-esque practices. The teen girls’ bra sizes are posted up on the pageant site along with their shoe and dress sizes, plus some pictures that often look straight out of a Maxim photo shoot. Jessica Wakeman, The Frisky.

Rebecca Ryan 15-years-old

Young women are posed in sexy, provocative pictures, with most of the girls giving “come hither” stares and showing off their bodies, many of the underage girls are bent slightly forward, showing off their cleavage. There are also several photographs of 14 and 15 year-old girls lying down with their legs in the air.

…

Lina Perrini, director of the pageant, stands by her organization and says there’s nothing wrong with the pictures on the site: “As for whether or not I’m encouraging girls to grow up too quickly, well, unfortunately girls of 13 are thinking about their looks and figures regardless of whether they enter this competition. At their age, I was reading Bunty and playing with my toys. But I know from research we’ve done that in the UK today, girls of that age are already drinking alcohol and reading OK! Magazine.” So that makes it okay to post kiddie-porn esque pictures of them in the name of “modelling”? Are you fucking serious? Maybe instead of saying, “Well, screw it, they’re already drinking alcohol, let’s have them pose with their legs in the air,” maybe you should start a pageant that encourages young women to have respect for their bodies and provide them with a positive alternative to OK Magazine and getting wasted after school. God forbid we ever encourage young girls to do anything else but shut up and look sexy. Hortense, Jezebel.

And it was only the other day I was listening to radio reports on how young children are over exposed to sexual imagery? Miss Teen Queen UK not only exposes children to inappropriate sexual imagery it encourages their active participation.

The age of the child on the front page of Teen Queen Website leaves you in no doubt what to expect

New powers to control lap-dancing clubs are being given to councils in England and Wales, the Home Office has said.

Current licensing laws put clubs in the same category as pubs and cafes and councils can object only on the grounds of crime, nuisance or public safety.

From April, clubs will be classed as sex establishments and residents will be able to oppose venues for being “inappropriate” to the area.

Existing clubs will have 12 months to apply for a licence or face closure.

…

But lap dancing club owners said a change in the law would lead to job losses and lower investment in a £2.1bn industry. Source: The BBC.

Job losses and lower investment in sexist exploitation is a problem how exactly?