Victoria Pendleton

My friend's just written a (brilliant if massively harrowing) book on women's rights which has this heartbreaking interview with some teenage girls talking about how they have to spend ages on their hair and their make-up before school every day because "it's important to look good. People don't like you otherwise."

meh

My friend's just written a (brilliant if massively harrowing) book on women's rights which has this heartbreaking interview with some teenage girls talking about how they have to spend ages on their hair and their make-up before school every day because "it's important to look good. People don't like you otherwise."

meh

Whats the name of this book and is it out yet? I'm quite interested in reading it and how it seems to be in today's society.

Nah it's not out till next year.

I will be telling everyone to read it then.

Must be a nightmare being a parent these days

i had a very unconventional (yet not unusual) upbringing, by several families not my own. I have seen the benefit of letting my children express themselves. We have no money for material things. They used to make alot of their own clothes, recycling material, they baked, they climbed trees, flew kites, made bow and arrows, we still cycle around London and the home counties alot to see interesting things.

we have one rule, that as long as they don't hurt themselves (except falling out of trees which is a rite of passage) or anyone else, then they can do anything, but ask first.. they also need to make mistakes and learn from them, that is how they develop life skills..

my children are good looking already, so don't have a complex about getting themselves looking good.. make up is also banned at both schools anyway,

where as knives are apparently not..

i had a very unconventional (yet not unusual) upbringing, by several families not my own. I have seen the benefit of letting my children express themselves. We have no money for material things. They used to make alot of their own clothes, recycling material, they baked, they climbed trees, flew kites, made bow and arrows, we still cycle around London and the home counties alot to see interesting things.

we have one rule, that as long as they don't hurt themselves (except falling out of trees which is a rite of passage) or anyone else, then they can do anything, but ask first.. they also need to make mistakes and learn from them, that is how they develop life skills..

my children are good looking already, so don't have a complex about getting themselves looking good.. make up is also banned at both schools anyway,

where as knives are apparently not..

Good stuff. Sounds a bit similar to my childhood. Riding bikes and climbing trees are the best.

Riding bikes and climbing trees are the best.

+1

there are no boundaries in life, only in the mind..

Victoria Pendleton legs got airbrushed to look thinner in FHM.

said it all really.

is that from men or wimmen? i would have thought most men would consider them attractive (i know i do*) but perhaps not to other females?

*female cyclists legs with a bit of tone to them, not anyone's in particular

both, mostly women though

i would have thought most men would consider them attractive

Victoria Pendleton legs got airbrushed to look thinner in FHM.

.

I don't even think it's the media's fault, necessarily, or exclusively. Little girls are encouraged from every angle to carefully construct, and then to value, their femininity above all other virtues. It doesn't matter if they're brainy, or sporty, or musical: everything available to them is branded as pink, and sparkly, and princessy, and girly. When I was a kid you could at least be a tomboy; I'm not sure that they even exist anymore. Now it's all wee girls with playboy pencil cases. Who's really surprised when young women turn out to care so intensely, and so exclusively, about the way they look? The world does, too.

Not all girls are like that.

My daughter despises pink.

And she cycles.

She does want a stepper-bike though. Most worrying.

Not all girls are like that.

My daughter despises pink.

And she cycles.

She does want a stepper-bike though. Most worrying.

More power to her elbow. Ach, one step at a time :D

+1

there are no boundaries in life, only in the mind..

Repped

http://www.pashley.co.uk/news/

appolgies if posted before

I get 'wow, don't you have really manly thigh muscles from cycling all the time?' on a regular basis.

I don't. I think it must be because my thighs are so OBVIOUSLY big and manly and muscly that people don't need to ask - they just look at them, gulp, and think "don't mention the thighs, don't mention the thighs".

I am also well proud of them. Likewise my massive manly shoulders.

Nah it's not out till next year.

I will be telling everyone to read it then.

puts note in diary to hassle TB next year

I don't even think it's the media's fault, necessarily, or exclusively. Little girls are encouraged from every angle to carefully construct, and then to value, their femininity above all other virtues. It doesn't matter if they're brainy, or sporty, or musical: everything available to them is branded as pink, and sparkly, and princessy, and girly. When I was a kid you could at least be a tomboy; I'm not sure that they even exist anymore. Now it's all wee girls with playboy pencil cases. Who's really surprised when young women turn out to care so intensely, and so exclusively, about the way they look? The world does, too.

And god yes, this is right. I was a very conventional little girl in many ways - did all the riding bikes and falling out of trees, but also tried very hard just to fit in, and have blonde hair and a pink Barbie doll like everyone else. It took me years to deconstruct and reconstruct my femininity once I realized it didn't fit.

(There was an article about tomboys in the Guardian (where else?) a while back. Apparently they are a dying breed.)

And why are femininity and masculinity so important anyway? You know, the worst possible insults are gender-based - calling a man unmanly; accusing a woman of being masculine, etc. Why? (I have my own theories, but I want to know what everyone else thinks.)

And god yes, this is right. I was a very conventional little girl in many ways - did all the riding bikes and falling out of trees, but also tried very hard just to fit in, and have blonde hair and a pink Barbie doll like everyone else. It took me years to deconstruct and reconstruct my femininity once I realized it didn't fit.

(There was an article about tomboys in the Guardian (where else?) a while back. Apparently they are a dying breed.)

And why are femininity and masculinity so important anyway? You know, the worst possible insults are gender-based - calling a man unmanly; accusing a woman of being masculine, etc. Why? (I have my own theories, but I want to know what everyone else thinks.)

Aye. When I was a teenager the worst thing you say to a girl was call her a slut; now, I suspect, it's calling her fat. Progress, schmogress.

Blonde (not my fault) tomboy here too, btw :D

Tomboy high five?

Yowsa.

and yet Tomboys are still the most attractive and fun girls. What a pity the Hilton complex is so widespread.

Angry feminist piece in the Times today

ah I do like a good feminist rant.

Maybe women’s mental health is damaged by the absence of feminism: the negative, hateful and omnipresent messages that our bodies are ugly, our choices wrong, our mothering inadequate. We need to debate whether we want a society in which a new lap-dancing club opens every week, where little girls grow up believing that their life’s work is tending to their bodies and the sex industry is allowed to wash through our culture unchecked, so our young have their nascent sexuality defined by the grinding industrial genitals of porn. Feminism has slumbered too long: it is high time it woke up.

More VP:
http://www.roadcyclinguk.com/snippets/victoria-pendleton-as-audrey-hepburn/5036.html

Remember kids: 1) have breakfast 2)Holly Go-lightly was a lady of the night

More VP:
http://www.roadcyclinguk.com/snippets/victoria-pendleton-as-audrey-hepburn/5036.html

Remember kids: 1) have breakfast 2)Holly Go-lightly was a lady of the night

:) my girlfriend does the hovis brand design and has been promising me these photos for ages.

More VP:
http://www.roadcyclinguk.com/snippets/victoria-pendleton-as-audrey-hepburn/5036.html

Remember kids: 1) steal breakfast from someone elses table 2)Holly Go-lightly was a lady of the night

fixed

Mmm... toast.

hovis, 'trust us, we make bread'
-fuck off.