I was lucky enough to be invited to the US Embassy in Cape Town last week to meet Fran Drescher of The Nanny fame, and to hear her speak. Yes, she does sound like she does in the show, and yes, she does laugh like she does in the show. But, what I didn’t know […]
Jen Thorpe
Jennifer is a feminist, activist and advocate for women's rights. She has a Masters in Politics from Rhodes University, and a Masters in Creative Writing from UCT.
In 2010 she started a women's writing project called 'My First Time'. It focuses on women's stories of significant first time experiences. Buy the book on the site http://myfirsttimesa.com or via Modjaji Books.
Jen's first novel, The Peculiars, came out in February 2016 and is published by Penguin. Get it in good book stores, and on Takealot.com
Posted inNews/Politics
Do we start off good or evil
I read with horror the reports of more gang rape in the DRC over the past weekend. Many women and young men were raped by soldiers (of a form), with guns and violence that will impact on them for life. Many of these soldiers are themselves young men, who have grown up in a world […]
Posted inLifestyle
Have you been to ‘n Gat party?
On Saturday night I made my way in a Rikki taxi to attend what I expected to be an Afrikaans sokkie-jol in the heart of a suburb of Cape Town. We pulled up outside the rugby hall to hear what sounded like evangelical music pouring out the window. I looked around at the people in […]
Posted inGeneral
Money, money, money
I was reading an article about the rights that victims of crime have in terms of getting compensated after they have been to court. In this article, and the poll on the side of the post, there was the general sentiment that money simply wasn’t going to cut it. Maybe this speaks to a feeling […]
Posted inGeneral
If you know, should you tell?
A lot of the law around children requires ordinary citizens who know about child abuse or molestation to report it. It is in fact illegal to know about this stuff and not report it — if you don’t report, you are complicit. This makes sense in some respects, and some respects it doesn’t. Obviously it […]
Posted inGender violence, Lifestyle
The noises next door
Every year 1 400 women are killed by their partners, and maybe we were listening. If your neighbour plays music really loud on a week night, do you go over and ask them to keep it down? If they start banging their drums at 9pm in a residential area, do you think you should ask them […]
Posted inGeneral
Women’s sexual fantasies — what do they mean?
Pssst … hey you. Guess what? Women think about sex … sometimes more than once a day. Sometimes we’re thinking about it while you’re talking to us at our desks. Sometimes we’re thinking about it on the bus. Sometimes we’re just thinking about it while having our lunch. We think about sex. Pssst … there’s […]
Posted inGender violence
Do you have to say NO for it to be rape?
I was talking with some family members a while back about rape and something scary became apparent. Most people think that there is a grey area between yes and no, and that sometimes even when you say no, people are still sympathetic to the person who continues to have sex with you anyway. We were […]
Posted inGender violence, Lifestyle
Is rape something we can joke about?
I was watching Ricky Gervais’ Fame tour last night and about 30 minutes in he starts joking about rape. In the skit he asks “what sort of society has to remind people not to rape?” It’s referring to an advertisement that emphasises consent in sexual encounters. Instead of this being an insight into how much […]
Posted inMedia
Spam — not just a scary type of ham
You won’t believe what I’ve won this week. I’ve never been so lucky. I couldn’t believe it. My Karma cow finally moo’d into the pasture outside my house bringing with it a host of winnings and good fortune. This week I have simultaneously won the American Green Card Lotto, the Coca-Cola Lotto, the UK National […]
Posted inGeneral
The stupidest invention this century
I’m sure many a man has heard of the vagina dentata — a mysterious and powerful vagina with teeth that will devour a penis in seconds. It is a fearful picture to create in anyone’s mind, especially when the vagina is not like that at all. Somehow this crazy idea has been extended to build […]
Posted inEquality, Lifestyle
Pregnancy — slave to patriarchy or ultimate feminist act?
To have a baby is something that only women can do. A man can never feel his belly growing with life inside of it, feel a kick from the inside, or feel the body-crippling nausea that comes with morning sickness. They can never give birth, nor can they have a Caesar. They can never breastfeed, […]