Postscript

I think I like the idea of this project more than I like my execution of it. If anyone wants to take the idea, I'd love to see the result. Seriously. 

Maybe I'll give it another go myself at some point in the future when I have more time. Ho, ho, ho. :)

Sexist Breakfast Summary

It's time to end this little project. In a month, I've gone from the steaming mountain of sexist bullshit that is the lack of women's voices in Egypt to the small cowpat of tissue box design. It's been interesting. But, curiosity notwithstanding, this has been the least enjoyable blog I've written. Consequently, it didn't take me long to get from, "oh, for fuck's sake!" to "ah, fuck it."

Usually, I'd just roll my eyes at the sexist thing and get on with my life. But this project has forced me to think about each instance. Mainly, it's underlined again how small things are linked into networks of shittyness.

This wasn't ever going to be a well-balanced blog, apportioning equal time to all facets of feminism. But consuming the news as much as I do on an empty stomach means, I repeat their skew, over and above the one in my head, while I'm actually trying to stay well-informed. So disabled women are more likely to be left out, transgender women, etc.

So news is the one that worries me the most, out of this project. Although the word "children" jumps out of the tag cloud too. I've worked with children and hate these sexist messages are aimed at them, making their lives  unnecessarily difficult.

On the upside, this project has made me more aware of positive things. A photo accompanying an article about programming in schools, that just happens to have three girls and one boy in it. A boy who choses to sometimes play with "girly" toys and is supported in that. And yeah, that old Lego ad from 1981 of a proud girl with her beautiful construction.

I'm choosing to be hopeful. Thank you all for reading and for the conversations. Merry Christmas, everyone.

Loos, Loos

Time: 11:45

The loos in the Blackett Lab at Imperial are reasonably easy to find, right next to the elevator. Unless you're a female visitor, in which case you have to go down two floors and hunt some more.

The Life Expectancy of the Homeless

Time: 7:47am

Today's Thought For the Day on Radio 4 was inspired by yesterday's news on the life expectancy of homeless people in the UK: 47 years, about 30 years less than the rest of the population.

What I hadn't realised until the Rev Lucy Winkett led with it this morning is that there's a gender gap. It's homeless men that have a life expectancy of 47 years; homeless women have a life expectancy of 43 years. Both the poor statistics and the poor reporting piss me off.

That's Not My Name

Time: 11:45am

I'm not Kimberley HISNAME.

(I'll forgive hyphenation because, hey, it's Christmas. ;-) But mostly because I think it's just Dutch people taking a shortcut rather than them thinking we've actually settled on a cacophony of compromise.)

So I Listen To The Radio

Time: sometime before lunch

Pinguin Radio's slogan is "No bullshit, great music!" Unfortunately, their definition of great music doesn't seem to include a whole lot of women. I could listen for an hour and not hear any. And that's bullshit. 

Pink & Blue: Are We Bored Yet?

Time: 7:45am

I don't know where this came from, but it was in my kitchen this morning.

Girl figure: pink shirt with a heart. Boy figure: blue with a worm hanging out of his pocket.

In the interests of fairness, I thought I should open it because the inside might more balanced.

In the interests of thinking, I should feed my brain breakfast before making it work...

The inside of the folder: where there was only a single Lego figure next to an item, it was male. I think the only exception was the house which had a female figure. On the odd occasion where there were two or more figures, the female was passive half the time while the male was generally doing something active.

I'm sure I remember when Lego used to be cool for everyone. :(