birthday party – Bad Reputation

Ta Very Much From BadRep Towers

Miranda — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 08:00:34 +0000

Thank you to everyone who came to our party, and who reads, enjoys, and interacts with our site. It’s been a great year and we are dead pleased to have met so many great people.

Our party was a blast. Most of all, we were glad to see such a mix of genders there. (In the first half hour the bartender commented, with obvious interest, that there were “kind of a lot of dudes for a feminist party”. Then our Steve walked in wearing a badge which read I WROTE THE ONE ABOUT JU-JITSU OLD LADIES¹. I’m not sure what the bartender thought by the time we put the Lady Gaga/Ghostbusters mashup on the stereo, but he looked, at the very least, intrigued, so I call victory.)

Thanks to reader Matt who had this made as a surprise for us!

Also this, which is part of what it says on our business cards. And cheers to Gideon, who brought chilli gingerbread for everyone! :D

Our own effort: we do not do this 'cake' business by halves. If you're gonna cake out, DO IT WITH CAPS LOCK. A caps lock cupcake is cruise control for cool.

Next time, we'll try to have more veggie/vegan/gluten-free options along. And we will try not to hoover up all the veggie Percy Pig sweets before the party has started. Ahem. ;)

Thank you again for all your support.

– Team BadRep

Here, if you were bemused by that reference.

Linking on a Friday Morning

Miranda — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 08:00:04 +0000

Very nearly gin o’ clock, as @Queen_UK would say. Here are your end-of-week links.

It’s our birthday party next week! You have to come! Bring your friends! (The ones that will dig this sort of thing, anyway. If you have friends in the EDL, that could get awkward. NICE FRIENDS. Yes.) Here’s the facebook event!
The (Tattooed) Beauty Myth – an interesting blogpost on women, getting inked, and the tattoo press.
Is Sex Positive Ever Negative? – the Good Men Project considers the term.
The Six Chix – “innovative weekly comic strip devoted entirely to the work of female cartoonists.”
The Guardian‘s Rebecca Nicholson revisits The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
That DC Reboot Business: the best links are, we think, this, this (and indeed, the whole No More Mutants column series is ace), and this.
Men-Ups! – men take traditionally ‘female’ vintage cheesecake pinup poses

Revolting Women: The End (But Not Really) and some Links

Miranda — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 08:00:06 +0000

That’s our Revolting Women fest all done and dusted for the moment at least. Obviously there are loads of things we didn’t manage to cover, but we hope you enjoyed it.

In the meantime, here’re some relevant links, some of which throw the baton to you. If you’re feeling like revolting, now’s the time…

Block The Bridge, Block The Bill, 9th October: “On Sunday October 9th, join UK Uncut on Westminster Bridge and help block the bill. On one side of Westminster Bridge is Parliament. On 7th September, MPs in the Commons voted for the end of the NHS as we know it. On the opposite side of the bridge is St Thomas’ Hospital, one of Britain’s oldest medical institutions. If the bill passes, hospitals like St Thomas’ will be sold to private corporations, the staff put on private payrolls and beds given over to private patients. Despite the government’s lies, this bill represents the wholesale privatization of the NHS and, with it, the destruction of the dream of comprehensive healthcare provided equally to all. We will not let a coalition of millionaire politicians and private health lobbyists destroy our NHS. Be on Westminster Bridge for 1pm on October 9th and together let’s block this bill from getting to our hospitals.”
I work at one of the hospitals UKUncut are talking about. It looks no better from the inside. We’re having our birthday party < 48 hours before (you're totally invited! see below!), but I will be hauling myself out of bed for this. Readers, join Team BadRep as we revolt against both Torygeddon and our inevitable shared hangover in one giant last stand.
TUC March For The Alternative: 2nd October
All Out: our new favourite campaign. “We are organizing online and on the ground to build a world where every person can live freely and be embraced for who they are. Gay, lesbian, bi, transgender or straight, we need you to go All Out to build this historic movement for equality.” The page on Alice N’Kom, Cameroonian attorney and activist, is particularly inspiring: “I’m 66, and in ten years of defending LGBT people in Cameroon, it has never been this bad.”
WomanKind Worldwide’s Overseas Aid Mythbuster: “Print off this page, put it in your bag and next time you hear someone complain about the UK giving money overseas challenge them with the facts.”
Say Yes to Gay YA: authors Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith on young adult fiction and sexuality: “The overwhelming white straightness of the YA sf and fantasy sections may have little to do with what authors are writing, or even with what editors accept. Perhaps solid manuscripts with LGBTQ protagonists rarely get into mainstream editors’ hands at all, because they are been rejected by agents before the editors see them. How many published novels with a straight white heroine and a lesbian or black or disabled best friend once had those roles reversed, before an agent demanded a change? This does not make for better novels. Nor does it make for a better world.”
COME TO OUR BIRTHDAY PARTY ON OCTOBER 7! We wanna meet you! Find out more and RSVP here!