It was as much a mess then as it is now. What’s interesting to me is that it really exposes the faux-feminist, hollow female empowerment shtick of late nineties pop/commercial RnB. Not that submissiveness is inherently anti-feminist, or that Bey’s (or anyone’s) feminism is perfect now. But DC was super inconsistent in…

Let’s not even get into how Princes Andrew (paedophile) and Michael (literal traitor of the Crown) are not being asked to relinquish a damn thing. The irony is that if they dropped the Sussex titles bestowed on them by Liz, they would revert to Harry’s (unremovable) title by birth - Prince and Princess Henry of Wales.…

Did anybody else recognise the Effie Boyle journalist character as Amy Manson (Maladie) in a bad blonde wig, blue contacts, false teeth and dulling makeup? Am I seeing (and hearing, thats definitely her voice) things?

Exactly. And while I feel bad for Britney, the impact of Justin’s actions on the two women can’t be compared. Justin fed into an existing problematic double standard that was used to bully Britney. No doubt terrible. But the alleged cheating did not stop her, in fact if I recall correctly, it fed into the ramping up…

Maiysha, I really don’t have the energy to comment these days, because really... So just to say just that we still here and the time, the energy, warmth and expertise you bring to the Glow Up make a difference in these dark days! I won’t be buying Soulcare cos I’m too invested in my current skincare line and it’s…

Great piece! And how nice it is to revisit content from that era that isn’t completely problematic. 

Best thing was the Bristol mayor’s sorry not sorry response.

There aren’t enough terrible things that could happen to them or Kemi Badenoch. What is the cost of one’s soul to be black/brown and a senior cabinet member in a Tory government? How can you care so little about your own?   

No lies detected. I was 16 when they were promoting it in London, and neo-soul just didn’t have the following at that time for it to get the attention it deserved (and the solo names didn’t have the wide read:white recognition. You knew if you knew), so my bestie and I and followed them around like unabashed groupies r…

I remember Biden’s letter to the Chanel Miller, the Stanford rape survivor. She met the empty and unreasonable standards of courts set out for ‘perfect’ victims - in that she had literal Scandinavian, male heroic witnesses, rape kit, did the things you’re supposed to do, enjoyed privileges that usually curry favour…

Unlike all the real and hypothetical battles I’ve seen so far, I’m already too deep in my feelings for this one to be anything but a zero sum game. I just can’t.

100%. The Root women have been killing it as they usually do. But I also felt this way about Maiysha’s latest. We’re all more than our worst mistakes, and putting good out into the world is well, good. But drawing a link between the rape case and a more socially conscious Kobe is tenuous and generous at best. A more…

Ugh this post is a mess. It was late. That should have a video of Laurence Fox on QT and it was Diane Abbott who got half complaints. I’ll link rather than me clever with link. Otherwise please just ignore me.

The U.K. is in such a dark place on race issues right now, as we all shift to the filthy right. I’m physically tired. And the BBC once a bastion of sensible, insightful perspectives has repeatedly in these last two years made some catastrophic errors. Samira Ahmed, a leading anchor, having to sue them for unequal pay…

Is there going to be post about Amber Heard and Johnny Depp? The deafening silence from mainstream blogs who claim even a hesitant link to feminism and reported widely on earlier developments of the case, is playing right into the hands of abuse deniers. 

It’s not a zero-sum game so any comparison to serial predators is reductive. The point in the article I related to is about the impact of this single case on how rape was treated in the media, and how survivors could expect to be treated as a result because of what Kobe meant to many. 

I’m sorry to hear that, I hope you have had some good support around you this week, and that it gets a little easier.

Thank you so much for writing this that sums up the last week so eloquently. It needed to be said, and to be said here in this specific space.

About time. It almost feels as if the class of the 90s that made it here seem to get a pass for sheer longevity. But Diddy has beeeen shady. He’s reinvented himself so many times - now as condescending, out of touch faux philanthropist- we’ve forgotten how much side-eye he received for shamelessly profiting off…

I love her trademark candour here. But Kelis is one of the many left of R’n’B artists, especially late 90s, early 00s, whom even a casual observer could tell was mismanaged. She had everything and there’s no simply no accounting for the big lows and lack of sustained success in her career.