Biketopia: Feminist Bicycle Science Fiction Stories in Extreme Futures

It’s as if this book was written just for me as it manages to combine three of my favourite things: bicycles, sic-fi and feminism. I practically squealed as I unwrapped it. Most on the nose birthday present ever! And what’s more, isn’t that one of the most gorgeous book covers you have ever seen?

Biketopia is the fourth volume of the Bikes in Space series of feminist science-fiction about cycling. How awesome is that? There are more books like this out there! A couple of months ago I came across another title from the same series: Pedal Zombies. Cycling, feminism and zombies! If you want to check out any of these books, or any of th other awesome titles they have, just visit Microcosm Publishing’s website.

We Are The Best

A couple of weeks ago I went to a film showing by the London-based feminist activist group “Feminist Fightback”. It was a nice laid back event and I got to meet some really cool women. And I really enjoyed the film.

We Are The Best is a 2013 Swedish film written and directed by Lukas Moodysson and adapted from the graphic novel Never Goodnight by his wife Coco Moodysson which was loosely based on her own childhood experience. It is a fun, fresh, optimistic film about a trio of awesome 13 year olds.

Portrait of the female as a sex object

There is a lot going on on the news at the moment. A lot of thought provoking stuff. But I have been having a series of ongoing discussions with friends, the threads of which I am going to try and pull together into some semblance of a coherent whole.

It’s about the age old question of the objectification of women and how they are portrayed in the media. In the particular discussions we were having we focused on the music industry.

If you are wondering why we are still talking about it, it is because it is still relevant. We will stop talking about it when it stops becoming an issue. When everyone and their dog stops having an opinion on women’s bodies and sexuality.