Reflections on the puddle of life

A little while ago I read this book called Living Dolls by Natasha Walter, which was sent to me by Virago for me to review as part of their first look review deal. How it works is this: they send me a free book and I review it and because I review it they send me another free book to review and so on. And I get my review posted on their forum and their blog and website. Virago is a publishing house I very much admire so I’m happy to do it, and the free books are good too.

Anywho, I read this book and it’s not the kind of book I would normally read but I’d agreed to read and review it so there it was. The book is about the ‘rise of sexism’ and I approached it pretty sceptically but I have to say that although I was unconvinced at the beginning as I read I did find myself beginning to be swayed. It’s an interesting read, whether or not you agree with all Walter’s arguments, and I’m not sure how far her ideas extend beyond the UK, but for the UK she raised some interesting points. Like how the language of ‘choice’, the feminist language, has been perverted into the language of exploitation – women are ‘choosing’ to bare their chests for Nuts magazine, ‘choosing’ to work in prostitution and how this is being used to limit the concept of how women gain ‘success’ so, for example, many girls now see Jordan as their key role model, see glamour modelling as a mainstream career choice or rather a route to money and stardom. And women are still under-represented in the boardroom and in government, and where they are in the boardroom and in government they’re still judged by their attractiveness and what they wear, and either sexualised or demeaned in a sexual way (I’m thinking along the lines of the ‘Nailin’ Palin porn movie). And the idea behind the book is that we’ve actually taken a bit of a backward step in permitting the language of choice to be used to coerce women into willingly subjugating themselves to men’s sexual desires, rather than pursuing and being empowered in their own right – a matter that the recent SLUT marches have, quite vocally, highlighted.

Anyway, I digress as I wasn’t really looking to review the book here, though if you ever do read it and want to discuss let me know. What I wanted to talk about was this: as I was reading this book, and generally getting a bit mad about things, the whole issue of role models came into question, like I said for many girls today Jordan is their strongest female role model. And it got me to thinking about when I was a young girl, who my role models might have been. Certainly it seems that there was a greater array of female role models for me than there are for my daughter. For a start, when I was growing up the most powerful person in the country was a woman – Margaret Thatcher. Love her or hate her, she did prove that women could hold roles of power and that aspiring even to be Prime Minister is within a woman’s grasp. Kate Adie was reporting from every war zone around the world; if there was peril, she’d be in it. In music you had Chrissie Hynde, Blondie, Alison Moyet, Kate Bush, Annie Lennox – women who were great musicians not just underwear models who could prance around and mime (The Saturdays!). Even someone like Beyonce, who has the most amazing singing voice, a real talent, seems to feel it’s necessary to strip down to her underwear and dance provocatively in order to be a success. Did Diana Ross need to do the same? Or Dionne Warwick, or Aretha Franklin? Gone are the days where it was enough for a woman to be a talented musician or singer to succeed. Now talented + sexy is the expectation and it seems tough for a woman in the music industry to do well (Susan Boyle aside – and the reaction to her was an indictment anyway) without having both those attributes. A pole dancer that sings nice. That’s what people seem to want.

And in cinema I grew up on Doris Day, and for every Marilyn Monroe there was a Kim Novak, and for every Jane Russell there was a Katherine Hepburn. All beautiful women, but not strippers. You get my point.

See, I’m ranting again. But there it is – what became apparent to me is that I need to think hard and look hard to give my daughter some strong female role models, or rather a range of female role models who are high profile enough that she isn’t left with the impression that a boob job and a face caked in makeup is the only choice she’s really got. But it’s hard, flipping heck!

So after thinking long and hard, and struggling with it long and hard, this is my list of great female roles models. It’s a small list. I’m hoping to make it bigger. I've deliberately restricted myself to the living - if I included the dead my list would be longer but a role model is hard to follow when they're dead. So here goes:

Shami Chakrabarti
Outside of the UK you probably won’t have heard of her. She’s the closest I can get to a politician, particularly in the current clime in which, Theresa May aside, the government is almost exclusively white, male Etonian in which case it’s not just the representation of women that presents a problem. But the less said about that, the better really (honestly, once I get started on Curious George it’s hard to shut me up. The man can’t even find his own front door – and he’s in charge of the economy?).

Shami Chakrabarti is the head of an organisation called Liberty which is a human rights organisation which strives to protect and secure civil liberties within UK (and to a certain extent, outside). She appears on TV programmes like The Today Programme and Question Time. She’s rational, cogent, calm and incredibly intelligent. As a role model, she’s my no. 1. She’s the kind of intelligent I’d like to be, but didn’t quite manage. She holds her own against attacks on her views and doesn’t bend her moral code even when faced with hard opposition. Admirable, in every way.

Björk
Björk is pretty high on my radar at the moment as I’m going to see her Biophilia concert at the Manchester International Festival on Sunday. I’m actually beside myself with excitement. I’ve admired Björk since I first encountered her in the Sugarcubes (I loved Hit) when I was only a wee mite of a child and I’ve pretty much loved her ever since. Björk is a true original, she’s probably one of the few truly original music makers around, her sound has morphed and changed and developed, and each album is unique and special and innovative in its own way. Her Biophilia project is a prime example of how she continues to ‘push the envelope’ when it comes to music and art – for the concert she’s developed a number of new musical instruments including musical pendulums, Tesla coils which play the base, a ‘gamaleste’ which is an amalgamation of a celesta and a gamelan. I’m sure there’s more but I can’t think of them right now. I can’t say that Björk is a musician who will appeal to all; she’s kind of like Marmite, you love her or you hate her. But what she is, is irrepressibly original, an artist right down to her bones. There’s no mould that Björk fits in. Her latest album is going to be an App album, for use with the iPad and, I think iPhone too. I’m not happy about that (as I have neither) but it does sound great – incorporating music, games, video, a truly interactive experience. Björk is to music what I'd like to be to writing, though I have neither the talent nor the originality to achieve that goal. Ho hum. One can but try, as they say.

Helena Bonham Carter
Okay, she’s kooky, she’s weird. She’s also another original, a great actress not afraid to plough her own path. She won’t whiten her teeth. She’s got crazy, mad hair. She’s married to Tim Burton and props up most of his movies. But she’s herself. I think that’s what I admire most about these women here in this list. They don’t give. Where there’s pressure to conform, to fit in, none of these women do it. They say: ‘this is me, here I am, take me or leave me.’. I guess I wish I was brave or original enough to be able to do that but I’m not sure I am. Anyway, I was talking about HBC. Watch Harry Potter and she’s scary. Watch A Room With a View (one of my most treasured, favourite movies) and she’s wilful and a bit silly and confused. Watch Fight Club and she’s trashy. Watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and she’s a Mum. A great actress, not always rated as, I think, she should be.

Helen Skelton
Another person that those outside the UK (and some inside) wouldn’t have heard of. Helen Skelton presents Blue Peter, which is a kids’ TV programme. It’s not her presenting skills I want to talk about here, though she always comes across as a lovely, natural person. But it’s her tenacity and adventurous spirit which makes her a fantastic role model. In 2009 she ran the Namibian Ultra Marathon, 78 miles in less than 24 hours. She was the only presented to actually finish the marathon. Then last year she kayaked the entire length of the River Amazon – 2010 miles in total. Her kayaking challenge was televised and if you ever get chance to watch any of the footage I hope you can understand, instantly, why she’s an amazing role model. It was a tough challenge, she suffered and she could have given up but she didn’t. In the process she raised a lot of money for Sport Relief, and for her bravery, her tenacity and her all round good nature she more than deserves a place here as a great, fantastic even, female role model.

Doris Lessing
She's not dead yet! A truly magnificent writer, with extraordinary range and a piercing intelligence. I'd love to sit and talk with her about writing, but she has the kind of intelligence which is slightly intimidating and, again, I am sure I would find myself inadequate in her company. But a true great, a real female icon of writing and definitely someone to look up to.

It’s a sparse list, and I’m sure there are some great, strong, amazing women I’ve missed. Please feel free to share.