My stint volunteering on the Funny Women WOW Festival Stall started at 2pm. Arriving at Waterloo on a sunny, warm Saturday lunchtime I was somewhat confused by the inordinate amount of police vans and cars lining the streets near the Southbank Centre. Last count before I alighted the number 59 bus, 12 police vans; 8 cars and several serious looking constables surveying the pavements. Pavements that were heavy with throngs of women everywhere I looked, there we were. Were the Met expecting a riot, 'Pussy' or otherwise? I never found out, but I can honestly say that my three and a half hours talking to a myriad of fabulous, eager woman showed no signs of disdain, nor the merest whiff of anger. A surprise considering the rubbish we still experience, in the name of womanhood.
I wanted to big up all the wonderful women I spoke to who showed interest in Funny Women, and what the movement has to offer. It is a movement that encourages women to stand up and be heard and most of all, to be funny. Many women I spoke to found it refreshing that during the heats of the Funny Women Awards, they would be able to watch a whole night of just female acts. Some were interested in trying out the 'Stand Up to Stand Out' workshop to boost their confidence, including a lovely woman who is a wheelchair user and visually impaired. I say lovely because she took with good grace my attempts at acknowledging the sensitivity of the language, whilst also knowing that things that sometimes are not supposed to be funny can sometimes make you laugh, hard and heartily, with no intention to offend.
Helen Reddy’s song 'I am Woman, hear me Roar' was ringing in my head as I arrived and said so to my co-volunteers. So, admittedly it is an old anthem, and the girls were a fraction of my years, but my mere mention of it seemed to turn them off, “It was a crap song, and ruined further by being included in 'Sex in the City 2'". This brought home the rather interesting concept that the history of the Women’s Movement often gets clouded by the current fashionable feminism of the time.
As a child, the only girl in a family of three older brothers, and eight cousins, all boys, I took great joy in watching my mum and aunts drunkenly singing along with Helen at the end of the ‘70s. I knew their lives were clipped, and limited. I was the girl that helped set the table whilst the boys played. I was the girl told by my older cousin that “Girls don’t climb trees”. He also physically tried once, to prevent me from doing so. He never tried again, as I have quite a determined spirit, much to his detriment. It was a lecture I didn’t mind getting from my aunt, but I will always go for the “Fleshy bit”, should I feel that I am being hindered by what it is I want to do.
Sheryl Sandberg, CEO of Facebook, this week launched the 'Ban Bossy' campaign. It is endorsed by many leading successful women, and men, whose sole purpose is for women to feel confident standing up, speaking out. The advert ends with Beyoncé stating, “I’m not Bossy, I AM the BOSS!”, yet another superb, powerful message for all the women out there.
Carol Vorderman is going to attempt to follow Amelia Earhart’s route around the world. Carol has learnt to fly, and has said that it was something she has always wanted to do. Whilst Amelia did disappear in sad circumstances, she did doing something she wanted to do, something she was passionate about. Two of my favourite quotes attributed to Amelia are: “I lay no claim to advancing scientific data other than advancing flying knowledge. I can only say that I do it because I want to” and “One of my favourite phobias is that girls, especially those whose tastes aren’t routine, often don’t get a break….it has come down through the generations, and inheritance of age-old customs, which produced the corollary that women are bred to timidity”
When Carol Vorderman announced her idea, it was met with much scepticism. Rather vocally in the press Martin Shaw (Doyle), harangued her for being “inexperienced” and “insane”. I do not remember the same response when Mr Richard Branson announced his first, and subsequently four other, attempts at circumnavigating the globe in a hot air balloon! Oh no, not one single, long-forgotten female TV personality came out to slate his rather ambitious attempt.
I think the message there is, lets leave all the hot air to the fellas, and we should just get on with the tasks in hand. Viva la Vulva Sistren!!
