Much as it pains me to admit it, perhaps Gillian McKeith’s got one thing right: we are what we eat – or even, what we don’t eat. I was reminded of this by a brilliant article in the Sunday Observer, ‘Let’s End Our Obsession With Making Food Sexy‘, by Steven Poole.  The piece was inspired in part by the furore surrounding Nigella Lawson’s cover shoot on ‘Stylist’ (pictured), where she’s covered in toffee sauce. Poole writes; ‘The fact that food-talk slips so easily these days ... Read More

Stuck for something to do with the kids this weekend? Well, fret no more. Why not take ‘em to Northampton – and the ‘Make Me Fabulous’ pole-dancing studio.  There, your four year-old can while away the hours with classes training them in the essential art of ‘holding their legs in a V-shape while sliding down a pole’. Not convinced? Well, maybe you oughta loosen up. As the site reminds us, ‘you were born with wings – don’t ever forget to fly’.  Damn straight. I’m like a bird, ... Read More

Six out of ten women view internet porn. However you package it, that’s quite a stat, (Guardian, 7 April, 2011 ). It is not a minor issue and nor is it confined to men. I’ve rarely heard it addressed in the secular media, let alone in a Christian context. Yet it’s a huge problem – particularly for the 17 per cent of women who claim to be ‘addicted’ to porn. (Internet Filter survey, 2006 ). And not just outside the church. A survey conducted in 2003 by ‘Today’s Christian Woman’  found that ... Read More

It’s Glen here.  I’ve wrested the keyboard from Emma for this one. Recently I’ve heard of worrying numbers of Christian women speaking furtively, fleetingly, but no less seriously about plastic surgery – botox, lipo, boob jobs, face lifts. Let me speak on behalf of 3 billion members of the human race.  Stop.  Cease.  Desist.   And not because blokes don’t care about physical attraction.  Of course we do.  Stop because you’re fueling the ugliest thing in the world – insecurity. And I don’t just mean that, on ... Read More

Yesterday we were thinking about whether or not eating disorders are linked to a loss of modesty and rise in promiscuity, (as argued by Wendy Shalit).  However, the  actress Portia de Rossi claims in her autobiography, that sexual repression triggered her anorexia. When de Rossi told her mother that she was attracted to women, her mum said that it was wrong and something to be ashamed of. As an actress, she also felt under pressure to keep her sexuality hidden, lest it cost her career. For de Rossi, anorexia was her ‘first love’.  She ... Read More

A  new generation of frightened, unhappy and overmedicated young women are having sex too soon. So argues Wendy Shalit, in ‘A Return to Modesty: Rediscovering The Lost Virtue’.   This was published back in 1999, but I’ve been re-reading her arguments in relation to self-harm and eating disorders. Shalit’s thesis is that sexual equality has forced women to repress their natural sexual modesty. We’re having too much sex, too soon – and this is why we’re experiencing such an epidemic of eating disorders. Why, she asks, do ... Read More

Ha – thought that might get your attention.  Never let it be said that my blog solicits cheap hits, eh? You filthy-minded lot. So, I’m sitting in a cafe and in front of me there’s an enormous TV screen playing music videos on a loop.  What’s on? Well, currently I’m eyeballing four or five gurning, gyrating girls.  I say eyeballing, but actually the view is slightly lower than that – all hot pants, bosoms, lippy, latex and glitter.  Funnily enough, over the course of several coffees whilst the songs change, the view remains ... Read More