Sarah Riley(my older daughter) has published her second book Technologies of Sexiness: Sex, Identity, and Consumer Culture (Sexuality, Identity, and Society). The authorship is shared with Adrienne Evans.
Sarah is a Senior Lecturer in the Psychology Department at University College Wales, Aberystwyth. Her research takes a social constructionist approach to explore issues of identity in relation to gender, embodiment and youth culture. She has published widely in journals including Feminism and Psychology, British Journal of Social Psychology, Sociology and Journal of Youth Studies. She co-edited Critical Bodies: Representations, Identities and Practices of Weight and Body Management (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), and Doing a Qualitative Research Project (Sage, 2011). The current book explores the key cultural shifts which have enabled a “new sexualisation” of women. Neoliberal, consumerist, and post feminist media culture have shaped ways of understanding female sexuality, embodied by the figure of the choosing, empowered, entrepreneurial consumer citizen-woman, whose economic capital determines feminine success (and failure). Informed by older constructs of privilege such as class, sexuality, race and (dis)ability, this version of sexiness also constrains by folding contemporary femininity back into previous panics about youth, excess, “bad” consumption, and appropriate feminine behaviour. In Technologies of Sexiness, Adrienne Evans and Sarah identify how current understandings of sexiness in public life and academic discourse have produced a “doubled stagnation,” cycling around old debates without forward momentum. Developing a theoretical and methodological framework, they expand on the notion of a “technology of sexiness.” They ask what happens and what is lost when people make sense of themselves within the complexities and contradictions of consumer-oriented constructs of sexiness. How do these discourses come to “transform the self”? This book provides a framework for understanding how women make sense of their sexual identities in the context of a feminization of sexual consumerism. The authors analyze material collected with two groups of women: the “pleasure pursuers” and “functioning feminists,” who broadly occupy positions across the pre- and post-Thatcher eras, and the changes brought about by the feminist movement. As one of the first book-length empirical studies to explore age-related femininities in the context of what “sexiness” means today, the authors develop a series of insights into various “technologies of the self” through analyses of space, nostalgia, and claims to authentic sexiness. Technologies of Sexiness: Sex Identity and Consumer Culture is available from OUP: http://goo.gl/YPlDcL and at Amazon: http://goo.gl/0gLgqG
Nice Things
The Great London Dock Strike
Last Sunday I attended Mass at St. Mary & St Michael’s Catholic church in Tower Hamlets. No ordinary Mass, however, this was celebrated by Cardinal Vincent Nichols and was a Thanksgiving Mass for Cardinal Manning in commemoration of the 125th Anniversary of the settlement of the Great London Dock Strike. Manning was a key player on resolving the Dock Strike as the following from Ben Tillett’s Memories and Reflections (1931) indicates “From the first the Cardinal showed himself to be the dockers’ friend, though he had family connections in the shipping interests, represented on the other side. Our demands were too reasonable, too moderate, to be set aside by an intelligence so fine, a spirit so lofty, as that which animated the frail, tall figure with its saintly, emaciated face and the strangely compelling eyes. I could not withstand this gentle old man, who touched so tenderly the heart-strings of his hearers with solemn talk about the sufferings of wives and children, or impress him with a summary of social needs and economic complexities multiplying in the prolongation of the Strike. I never look back on that meeting without a sense of nightmare, but there was a final judgment and the Cardinal won”.
Manning’s contribution to Catholic Social Action went on to inform Pope Leo XIII’s first social encyclical Rerum Novarum (New Things). Today such attitudes inform the campaign for paying people a Living Wage instead of the Minimum Wage. As might be expected from a visit by the Westminster Team the homily was spot on the button, very well delivered and engaging with the congregation. At the end of Mass, Cardinal Nichols took his place by the door of the church and like any other Parish Priest greeted people and exchanged kind words.
The Hidden Virgo
Once again, Shelley Von Strunckel hits the button dead centre.
Last week in the Sunday Times she wrote “Virgos often have a seriously proper streak. However that belies their molten sensuality within”.
Similarly, she wrote of the then coming week “… usually doing a disappearing act would be unwise. Now, however it is best, as it allows you to avoid difficult conversations until the full facts surface”.
Now I don’t know what difficult conversations there might have been but I was glad in any case to spend a few days in Bucharest. Meanwhile I shall contemplate and cultivate the molten sensuality within.
A Decent Pie at Last?
Yesterday’s Daily Telegraph reported that a hospital canteen’s ‘fry-up’ pie had been described as a ‘heart attack on a plate’ (HAOAP).
A former government adviser called for ban on the pie crammed with bacon, sausage, black pudding and beans, with an egg on top, being sold for £1.50 at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee. Prof Mike Lean, former government adviser, and chair of human nutrition at Glasgow University, said it was a “shocking” example of a meal, adding: “It should never be anywhere near a hospital. It is laden with fat, salt and without a vegetable in sight. There should be strict guidelines for all food sold in hospitals.”
Prof Mike Lean obviously doesn’t consider beans as a vegetable. Nor does he consider the therapeutic effect of comfort food like this. For me the real problem is how cheap is the food for it to be sold for £1.50. Can anybody make any money from a food product like this at this price?
For many people, the HAOAP is a treat not a daily staple. The Professor’s remarks also exclude the possibility that the calories etc., may be being worked off either on the job or in the gym. If a little of what you fancy does you good, then this might be just the right thing.
Meanwhile the University of Glasgow boasts a number of cafés whose offerings include baguettes, baked potatoes, breakfast rolls, confectionery, deli cakes, desserts , hot chocolate, flavoured latte, ‘food for later’ range of soups and meals to take away, full breakfast(s), home baking, hot & cold drinks, hot filling jacket potato suppers , hot pastry savoury snacks, individual brasserie-style meals, pizza , sandwiches, soya milk options , speciality coffees and teas – made to order. There are Vegan, gluten free and vegetarian options available, but I’m sure that a closer scrutiny of the Bills of Fare would show a reasonable selection of artery hardeners. I’m glad the Professor is a former government adviser and not a current one.
The original article may be found on http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/11054202/Hospital-canteens-fry-up-pie-is-heart-attack-on-a-plate.html#disqus_thread
Well Deserved Reserved Results
More of Suffolk’s 16 year olds achieved expected levels of GCSE attainment this year. Provisional results suggest an overall one per cent rise in the number of students getting five or more A*-C grades, including English and Maths. In Suffolk it means that 56% of the County’s year 11s got the expected level of attainment. In 2013, it was 55%.
Included in the schools making significant gains on last year is Hadleigh High School where 69% of students achieved five or more A*-C grades (including English and Maths), up 25% on last year. Everyone agrees that the results are a testament to the hard work and dedication of teachers, heads, governors, parents and, most importantly, students.
The photo is of Hadleigh High School students celebrating getting their GCSE results.
L-R: Tom Blomfield (student), Callum Smith (student), myself, Eric Watts (student), Cllr Lisa Chambers (cabinet member for education and skills, Mrs Gibson (Hadleigh High School headteacher, Cllr Mark Bee (county council leader), Sam Champman (student) and Annabele MacFarlane (student).
Meanwhile the Guardian reports today that figures from the ONS reveal there were 955,000 Neets (young people not in education, employment or training) aged 16 to 24 in the UK in the period between April and June, down by 20,000 compared with January and March, and 138,000 lower than a year earlier.
Brett River Children’s Centre
Earlier this month my neighbour Jane Basham catalogued the activities and services available at the Children’s Centre. The list is very impressive as follows:
Access To Suffolk Library Services;
Autism Suffolk Parent Group;
Birth And Beyond;
Breast Feeding Workshops;
Career Advice And Support Service;
Child Health Clinic And Sensory Babies;
Child Health Clinic;
From Floor To Four;
Inbetweenies;
Infant Massage;
Made Of Money;
Making & Creating;
Marking;
Mini Maulers;
Parentcraft;
Place To Raise Child Protection Concerns
Rise & Shine;
Sing & Sign;
Snap Drop In Service (Housing Related Support);
Swap Shop (For Clothes);
Targeted Family Support Practitioners,;
Targeted Financial Support;
Time For Me;
Time With My Dad;
Walkers & Talkers;
Weaning Group;
And then she tells us that “it all FREE”.
Except that it isn’t. It doesn’t fall like rain from the skies. It must be paid for and if we wish to continue the services then the taxpayer has to put their hands in their pockets. The County’s consultation is about reviewing the way we provide services to the people who need them in the most effective manner possible. It is also about ensuring that residents get the best value possible.
The more responses the County receives to its consultation, the better informed they will be.
Streets Belong To The People, Roads Belong To Everyone – Benton Street
Over the past two days I have delivered letters to every household in Benton Street as follows:
“For a number of years we have experienced increased traffic on Benton Street using the street as a throughway to and from the A12. The incidence of overweight vehicles seems to have abated with the installation of improved signage at Copdock and at the East Bergholt/Hadleigh turn off, but we are still experiencing goods vehicles and private cars using us as a convenient short cut for the surrounding villages. Worse, drivers seem to think that they can drive on the pavements without regard to the residents.
A number of ideas have been circulating for some time. These include a bypass via Hook Lane, railings and a pinch point chicane/ priority traffic system.
Suffolk’s Economy Skills & Environment Department have suggested that we try a pilot programme of installing a priority traffic system between 50 and 60 Benton Street. The priority system would consist of pavement build-outs on each side of the road (see plan below). This will ensure that drivers are aware that it is not possible to pass each other in this narrow section of Benton Street and formalise the requirement to give way to oncoming traffic. Additional parking restrictions would need to be introduced to allow queuing in advance of the build-outs and approximately 7 parking spaces (including 1 advisory disabled bay, which is currently not being used) would be lost. However there would be facility to offset this loss by revoking some of the parking restrictions further along Benton Street.
If these proposals are pursued, SCC will introduce an experimental priority system, using temporary water filled barriers, for 6-12 months to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed treatment.
If you feel that Benton Street should remain the same, please tell me. Similarly if you want change, then please let me know which of the choices is most acceptable and if you have other ideas please share them with me.
A larger version of the plan will be on display upstairs in the Library at 10 a.m. on Saturday 13th September when this informal consultation will end. “
So far the feed back (on the street) has been positive.
However I would like written feedback so that we can go ahead with firmly based actions.
Heather Quinlan R.I.P.
Yesterday I went to the funeral service of Heather Quinlan. I had known Heather and her late husband Bernard ever since we moved into Hadleigh. They were very nice people and full of hidden depths. Heather died after a short illness and was just shy of 79. She had an eventful life which included being a child prisoner of war in the Far East and being a graduate of Girton College, Cambridge. Along the way she became a mother of five children and stepmother of a further three.
The order of service included the following extract from John O’Donohue’s Eternal Echoes “May You Awaken”
May you awaken to the mystery of being here and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence.
May you have joy and peace in the temple of your senses.
May you receive great encouragement when new frontiers beckon.
May you respond to the call of your gift and find the courage to follow its path.
May the flame of anger free you from falsity.
May warmth of heart keep your presence aflame and may anxiety never linger about you.
May your outer dignity mirror an inner dignity of soul.
May you take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek no attention.
May you be consoled in the secret symmetry of your soul.
May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.
In the current times of forever running around –(when do the retired get a day off?) it is always worthwhile to be reminded that one should take time to stand still and reflect upon one’s being and purpose.
John O’Donohue is also the author of Anam Cara – Spiritual Wisdom from the Celtic World.
God bless you Heather, may thanks for your friendship and introducing me to “May You Awaken” and reminding me that I have Anam Cara on my bookshelf.
Hadleigh & District Angling Society (HADAS)
Fishing is the largest participatory sport in England. In Hadleigh we are blessed with a number of nearby commercial sporting fishing ponds and we also have the Hadleigh & District Angling Society (HADAS). I allocated £500 from my County Councillor’s Locality Budget for the purchase of fishing tackle for the junior section of the club. They were used for a taster event held on the 12th July. The taster was very successful. Over fifty children turned up along with their parents and guardians to enjoy a nice gentle day in the fresh air. The fishing tackle will be retained for use at future organised matches and events for juniors.
The HADAS committee is full of hands on people who value their heritage and wish to pass it onto future generations. Hence my willingness to use the Locality Budget to support the junior fishing activity and to part fund their (previously enjoyed and lovingly restored) grass cutter.
The Society was established in 1929 to bring together people with a common purpose to preserve, and try and keep available fishing for local people. Membership of the Society in its first season numbered twenty two. The Society was temporarily disbanded during the Second World War, and was reformed in 1947. Over the years the Society has expanded their fishing rights along the Brett River and over local ponds and reservoirs.
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