JUNE 2020 LOCKDOWN HAPPENINGS

January seems like a lifetime away and now in late June there is the stirrings of remergence from lockdown and the new routines we have been inhabiting during.Feels like the world’s mood is shifting to what matters…

Lucky to have been furloughed from the bookshop where I work and had time for those things I always feel I don’t have time for – like creative projects and writing. In fact I have bullied and cajoled female friends and family of all ages to contribute to a new Good Being A Girl Zine art project as part of Brooklyn Art Library’s Sketchbook project https://www.sketchbookproject.com/

Fern rubbings, cutting and pasting zine pages, photos, screen prints, my sister,my Mum, my friend’s 8 year old. Will upload the finished sketchbook when done .See below lovely screenprint of a friend by her wife.

Melonie Syrett’s ‘How To Support Your Daughter Through Puberty’ is the ONLY puberty book specifically for mothers of 8-13 year olds! It provides all of the facts around puberty and periods that mums need to know to support their growing girls PLUS ‘How To’ advice on answering questions and picking the right time to speak to your daughter. Melonie Syrett is an Educator and Specialised Menstrual Health Expert. She offers real life experience and questions and combines these with facts and advice to ensure that mums feel supported and that the next generation of girls grow up shame free and body loving! Melonie’s work has been rolled out across schools in the UK as City to Sea’s Rethink Period’s Campaign which has been fully funded by Waitrose, she has been involved in the creation of the Period Friendly Bristol Education guidance and recently trained Girl Guide leaders and Youth Workers in how to confidently support young people with periods. She also trains women to work with girls and their mothers outside of education and holds puberty and period sessions.https://www.meloniesyrett.com/

Tessa Saunderson’s follow up book to Ruby Luna’s Journey is Ruby Luna’s Moontime .

Ruby Luna starts her period at 10 years old and keeps a diary for the next two years all about the menstrual products she tries and the things that happen to her and her friends. It is aimed at 10-12 year olds, but would be suitable for any girl starting her period earlier than that. It also covers the transition from primary to secondary school. It is written with humour to keep the topic light and entertaining, but includes lots of information from the impact of diet on periods to when girls historically started menarche (first period) in an accessible way.

Next year in 2018 there will be lots of celebrations and remembering of all those women and men who campaigned for the vote in the UK, including Centenary of the Vote -100th anniversary of the Representation of the People Act 1918, which enabled all men and some women over the age of 30 to vote for the first time; and 90th anniversary of Equal Franchise Act 1928, which gave women the right to vote at age 21 on the same terms as men; plus much more

see https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/vote-100/vote-100-project/vote-100-project-info/

So I have begun my own It’s Good being A Girl pilgrimage to statues, blue plaques, monuments and places that recognise significant suffragettes, suffragists and other women who made a stand for us all.Starting in London with freedom fighter and nomad Laurika Bretherton

Also with me on this feminist adventure is my very own suffragette Josephine, who as well as standing proud on the steps of the house that Sylvia Pankhurst lived in on the Chelsea Embankment, way before it was posh, was extremely popular at the https://filia.org.uk/filia-conference-2017/

Making Pink Lemonade is now available to buy from two wonderfully radical  bookshops in London:

Housmans
5 Caledonian Road London N1 9DX www.housmans.com

Bookmarks
1 Bloomsbury Street London WC1B 3QE www.bookmarksbookshop.co.uk