A Little F’d Up

It’s hard to decide what I like best about A Little F’d Up: Why Feminism Is Not a Dirty Word. Is it that the author, Julie Zeilinger, wrote this when she was just 18? Is it that Seal Press had the good sense to take a chance on a teenage feminist blogger and ask her to write a book? Is it that the resulting book is a damn near perfect example of what a book explaining feminism to teenagers should be? It’s probably all three. That and the fact it’s peppered with phrases like: “And that’s when the shit hit the fan.”

Julie started her blog, The F Bomb, in response to her own interest in feminism, and it rapidly grew into a platform for others to share and contribute ideas and articles. It’s a great space, and well worth checking out. Sure it has a US focus, as does A Little F’d Up, but then Julie is American, so what did you expect?

Split into six sections, the book opens with a lengthy and excitable exploration of the feminists who came before us, and leaves no stone unturned. What comes across is Julie’s enthusiasm for our feminist foremothers, and the reasons why she wants her readers to understand why it is so important to acknowledge and celebrate what’s already been done, and how we can use that to inform what we do in our own feminist activism. An approach I wholeheartedly agree with.

After having introduced her readers to the cream of the US feminist crop, Julie marches on to explain why feminism has a PR problem (and how to get around it), why the ‘us vs them’ philosophy is never going to work, the problems (and strengths) of internet feminism, some stark facts about global misogyny (FGM, sex trafficking etc), and also why feminism is the answer to every teenage girl’s problems.

The world has been crying out for a damn fine book, written by a sassy and clued-up teenager, about feminism for teenagers. Sure, Michaels Kimmel and Kaufman authored a great book last autumn called The Guy’s Guide to Feminism (also by Seal Press) but, as the name suggests, that’s geared more to steering our brothers along a supportive path. And there are several good books introducing feminism to women in their 20s or 30s, but these can seem alienating to teenage readers. More than anything, as Julie understands, the PR problem that feminism is irrelevant can be lessened by explaining to teenage girls exactly why feminism IS relevant to them. Because, heck, are they going to need feminism to get them through university, work and life.

PS – If you’re after a more UK-focused book to introduce young girls to the joy and power of feminism, keep an eye out for my upcoming review of The Exciting Life of Being a Woman, by Feminist Webs (HammerOn Press).

Big Sex Little Death

Susie Bright has made a career promoting sex-positive feminism to women and men, and Big Sex Little Death (Seal Press) is her newly published memoir.

And boy, what a life she’s had. From an abusive childhood, Susie ricocheted from parent to parent before decamping to the International Socialist party when she wasn’t even 18. She fully immersed herself in the world of politics and free love, before she was booted out while still a teenager.

This takes more than half of the book, which leaves you wondering how Susie could condense the remaining 30ish years of her life into an equal amount of pages. She does this by whizzing through time to share the highlights of how she came to co-found the lesbian erotic magazine On Our Backs, and become a mother when she least expected it.

Written in a brash, no-holds-barred style, Big Sex Little Death is loud, proud and in your face. Interspersed with a few saucy descriptions of Susie’s own sex life, the book is a kick in the face to those who say feminists are all frumpy and frigid – neither of those claims are true of Susie!

While I don't agree with all of Susie’s achievements, such as contributing to bringing porn into the mainstream or teaching pornography at university (I'm an anti-porn feminist), it is still fascinating to read such a confident assertion of one woman’s determined track to achieve so much. Because whatever you say about Susie, she is certainly a woman who has never been shy of standing up for what she believes and going out and doing exactly what she wants.

Susie and I may come at feminism from slightly different perspectives, but nonetheless I respect almost any woman who sees what they want, and goes and gets it. Big Sex Little Death is a fun and fascinating insight into one of the noisiest women in our recent feminist history. And like her achievements or not, this is an entertaining read.

Click here for more details about the book from Seal Press. Click here to visit Susie’s webpage. 

'Crunch' by Gary McNair

Concluding my Mayfest triptych is Gary McNair’s solo show, Crunch, at the Brewery Theatre, Southville.

Aping an American-style motivational lecture, Glaswegian Gary appears on stage in a sharp suit, with his hair slicked back, banknotes poking out of his pockets, and to the accompaniment of Bruce Springsteen-esque power rock – reminding me of David Brent’s attempt at motivational speaking in The Office. Gary spends the first few minutes silently making eye contact with every person in the audience, before saying he has a good feeling about us, that he believes that we’ve got it in us to be winners, and that we all look lovely today.

Gary is good at what he does. And what he does is beautifully mock the motivational speaker genre, while talking absolute sense about the unhealthy relationships humans have with money… harking right back to the age of bartering.

Throughout the evening, Gary introduces us to his five-step programme to revitalise our relationship with money, and to show us that we are worth far more than any amount of money. And he does this via some really engaging audience interactions. With one woman, he tries to barter for her cardigan. With another, he offers to donate to charity a £10 note if only she’ll shred one of her own £10 notes. And the centerpiece of his show is an auction, where he asks the audience to spend three minutes bidding on an unspecified amount of money in a sealed envelope… which ultimately proves his point that winning a sum of cash generates a huge rush. And also underscores our distasteful belief in money, and our greed for money.

Gary leaves us with a closing thought, which is that next time we’re thinking of frittering £10, £20 or more away on an impulse buy… why not stop and consider donating that money to charity instead, where it will never be frittered away.

Crunch is a really interesting idea for a show, and Gary is great at delivering it. He’s funny, he knows what he’s talking about it, he has great rapport with the audience, and he leaves his audience thinking more about his ideas. A job well done.

Minsk 2011: A Reply to Kathy Acker

Mayfest is upon us once again, Bristolians, so last night I hotfooted it over to the Tobacco Factory, where the Belarus Free Theatre are putting on Minsk 2011: A Reply To Kathy Acker.

The performance, directed by Vladimir Shcherban, runs until Saturday, May 26, and is presented in Russian with English subtitles. Think that’s intimidating? That’s the least of your worries...

"Right rib, left rib, sternum and the rest of the ribs. In 1996, at a ralley on Chernobyl Way, I was seized by riot policemen and brought to the KGB inner courtyard. I spent three hours being stretched wide open against the wall. 

"Scars adorn a man. Many girls find it sexy. In this regard, Minsk is a beautiful and very sexy city. Welcome to Minsk! The sexiest city in the world!"

Dzenis Tarasenka, member of Belarus Free Theatre

Strip clubs, underground raves and gay pride parades pulse beneath the surface of a city where sexuality is twisted by oppression. If scars are sexy, then Minsk must be the sexiest city in the world. Minsk 2011 is billed as a response to American artist Kathy Acker’s piece about sexuality in New York, NYC 1979. However, Minsk 2011 takes a more twisted slant on this, highlighting the brutal repression of personal and sexual expression in Belarus.

Performed by a nine-strong cast, Minsk 2011 is the angriest piece of theatre I’ve ever seen. Many of the cast have served time in prison, gone into hiding or been exiled… largely for nothing worse than attending a protest (Natalia Kaliada, Nicolai Khalezin, Svetlana Sugako, Yana Rusakevich), and many have lost their jobs or been heavily fined simply for being a part of the Belarus Free Theatre.

It is the knowledge that the stories are performed by people who have experienced the hell they describe that makes Minsk 2011 all the more chilling and compelling. Because while this is a blunt and aggressive performance, Minsk 2011 is also an important piece of political theatre, sharing the grim reality of life under Europe’s last dictatorship to the privileged UK. For many people, Minsk means nothing more than the remote-sounding city where Phoebe’s scientist boyfriend moves to in Friends.

The audience is confronted by aural aggravation (distorted feedback, human screaming, glass clanking, endless thumping)… and by uncomfortable visual spectacles (violence, degradation, a woman stripped naked and painted entirely in black ink before her shape is printed on paper). Perhaps the most heart-breaking scenes are the ones where the female cast members simulate lap dances for a male actor, under the desperate illusion that what they are doing is art and will fund their lives. Couple this with the story of a woman, inexperienced with men and consumed with self-hatred, who invites strange men into her home, where she strips and dance for them in the belief she will be respected. Together, they form the most soul-destroying images of women forced to sell their bodies in order to exist and feel like they are worth having faith in.

This belief becomes even sharper towards the end of the performance, when we hear that mayor Mikalai Ladutska decreed in February of this year that 42 sex workers who were serving time in Minsk prison be released during the harshest, coldest winter to clean the impacted snow from the streets. Ladutska joked that the sex workers were making the streets a nicer place for themselves to work on when they were released from prison.

While Minsk 2011 is a grim and often confrontational piece, it is also extremely well done: well performed, well devised, well directed and a piece of political theatre that is well worth seeing. Not least to broaden your own knowledge of what is going on in Belarus.

Please click here for more information. Minsk 2011 is also touring the UK, so even if you’re not in Bristol, please check to see if it is coming to your city.

Please click here for more information about all the other shows in Mayfest 2012.