Tag Archives: feminism

Malala, Muslim women and “misery” memoirs

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Samira Ahmed

Oct 10th 2014 update: This was originally posted ahead of an Asia House panel discussion about women, freedom and the Islamic world, when the multimillion pound book deal of Malala Yousafzai was announced. It seems just as relevant since her … Continue reading →

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From avenger to screamer: How Dr Who assistants remain trapped in time

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Samira Ahmed

The Reunion programme for Radio 4, produced by Peter Curran, recently brought together some of the original cast and crew of the first episode of Doctor Who. The first Dr Who team was notable for its diversity — Waris Hussein … Continue reading →

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Philip Larkin and how internet porn began in 1963 (sort of)

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Samira Ahmed

1963 was a remarkable year. Among the glut of cultural and historical anniversaries — Dr Who, the assassination of JFK, Billy Liar and Oh What Lovely War! — we should I reckon be marking 50 years since the invention of … Continue reading →

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Poor Cows and Angry Young Men: 50 years of Kitchen Sink Drama

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Samira Ahmed

The director Ken Loach and the theatre critic Michael Billington remember the dawn of the 60s well. “The 50s weren’t bleak and depressing,” spluttered Loach, listening to art critic Rachel Campbell-Johnston explain the grim postwar era that spawned the new … Continue reading →

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The secret elite club of ex-Virgin Marys

Posted on December 23, 2012 by Samira Ahmed

“I was always the sort of child who got picked on to DO things, you know?” recalls Julie Christie’s Darling, in the 1965 film, as we see her as a 6 year old Mary in the school nativity play. (watch … Continue reading →

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The Curse of the Typewriter

Posted on November 20, 2012 by Samira Ahmed

The last typewriter was made in Britain yesterday at a factory in Wales. But has the stigma of typing for women really been lost? This was originally written earlier this year to look at how far the QWERTY keyboard might … Continue reading →

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Troublesome slags: What Rochdale reveals about our attitudes to teenage girls

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Samira Ahmed

Heywood, Rochdale (Photo by Peter Byrne/PA) A provisional multi agency report into the scale of sexual abuse of young girls in Rochdale published today admitted there were issues about the legitimate sexual “consent” of 13 year old girls that the … Continue reading →

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No Mr Bond, I expect you to cry.

Posted on July 29, 2012 by Samira Ahmed

This column (updated since it appeared in The Big Issue last week) explores whether old James Bond films can still be enjoyed in a more feminist, more racially equal society. And then Danny Boyle put him at the heart of … Continue reading →

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Call Me Sir: Ben Kingsley, Fifty Shades of Gray and Victorian erotica

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Samira Ahmed

A tech journalist once told me that if watching tv on your mobile phone was such a great idea, loads of people would have been walking around with a primitive giant tv on their brick sized phones long ago. By … Continue reading →

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No Children of Ours: Rochdale and conveyor belt grooming

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Samira Ahmed

Posted 2012 15 years ago the renowned filmmaker Peter Kosminsky made No Child of Mine, a controversial drama about a teenage girl in care who’d ended up being passed around by men for sex. The phenomenon was called “conveyor belt … Continue reading →

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