Mind the Gap

This is from Kira Cochrane’s Sidelines column today. I realise the column is meant to be tongue in cheek - although its sassy ‘all of us sisters together’ tone pisses me off a bit. Still, this kind of shows how out of touch this woman is, even though she’s one of the national faces of feminism in the media:

Whither sisterhood?

The classic 1973 feminist novel, Fear of Flying, by Erica Jong has always been controversial, what with its coining of the term “zipless fuck”, and some really quite unattractive descriptions of penises. And it’s still stirring up scandal. The New Yorker reports that at a recent literary conference, Jong’s sister, Suzanna Daou said that “Fear of Flying has been a thorn in my flesh for 35 years”, later remarking that she felt the book “was not a novel … it was a memoir something like James Frey’s memoir. A lot of nastiness went into that book. But I forgive her for everything, except writing that my husband crawled into her bed, which he didn’t, and asked her to perform fellatio, which he didn’t”. Jong responded by saying, “I thought I was writing a mock memoir,” and calling her sister “insane”. Proof that feminist texts can occasionally prompt some rather unsisterly feelings.

Wow, really? You could have knocked me over with a feather! Of course, I don’t want the mainstream media to represent feminism - that’s another story - but still, Kira Cochrane will be talking at this year’s Fem ‘08 conference. Yet, judging by this, she seems totally unfamiliar with 99.9% of feminist discourse over the last 30 years. Yet she feels qualified to offer a message from feminism on what shoes to wear:

Sock it to ‘em

Grazia magazine provides a useful service by showing us 10 of the perfect “in-between” pairs of heels, for women looking for extra height, and who want to be able to … you know, walk. In the same advisory vein, we offer another suggestion. Socks and trainers. Happy days!

Yeah, whatever. I may be wearing heels, but at least I’ve read the odd bit of feminist theory.