For the past five years, London-based photographer Jo Metson Scott has been travelling back and forth to America, photographing and speaking with US marines who spoke out against the invasion of Iraq. The resulting project The Grey Line combines photographs and words in an attempt to examine the personal struggles of men and women grappling with doubt on the frontlines of the “War on Terror”.
Below are some exclusive previews taken from Jo’s scrapbook, where she’s documented the journeys, stories and testimonies of men and women who spoke out about their doubts at varying consequences.
The Grey Line will be published and exhibited in 2013 to coincide with the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq a decade ago.
Taking gloss to task, nothing seems to slip through the watching eye of the Vagenda team. Launched in February this year, Vagenda is made up of a collection of anonymous industry moles, as well as recent graduates.
Whether it’s hilariously showing the way stock photos reinforce gender stereotypes, or lampooning the predictability of women’s magazine features, Vagenda are a sharp and funny redress to the all too often complacent way what women want to read is construed in mainstream media.
Twin spoke to Vagenda’s editor about their work and world…
Who and what is the Vagenda?
The Vagenda takes a humorous look at the women’s magazine industry and how it perpetuates anti-feminist stereotypes. We feel that laughter is the best weapon. In terms of who, well, we are a group of girls in our twenties living in London. Holly and I edit it and came up with the concept but the others have been instrumental in providing hilarious and witty content for the blog and producing great ideas. Most of us went to uni together. However, since the blog launched and became so popular we’ve had contributors from all over the world- EVEN MEN!
What’s your earliest feminist memory?
Mine personally was being a toddler in London’s Dartmouth Park and a much older boy (he must have been about six) asking me, “Are you a boy or a girl?” My mum had just given me a pudding bowl haircut and I remember feeling outraged. I’m sure the others all have their own memories too.
What do you feel is wrong with modern women’s media, mags etc? It’s our feeling that the content alienates a lot of women. It’s very body focused and a lot of the time pretty stupid. The way female celebrities are portrayed, especially when they are going through some kind of crisis and trauma, is often cruel. There’s little to no focus on politics or art or music, or any of the fun stuff we like doing.
What makes the Vagenda team angry? We all vary. We try to steer away from polemic on the site as it can be alienating, but obviously women’s mags drive us crazy a lot of the time. We also had a really terrible night out in Soho not long ago where the DJ at Punk nightclub was urging women to flash their “gash for cash”. We were pretty angry about that, and one of us cried. The way rape cases are reported in the press is also incredibly anger inducing.
What three changes would make the world a better place? Only three? That’s a tough question as there are so many changes that need to be made and women in the developing world are being treated appallingly. For this country, however:
1/ A greater understanding on the part of men that the division of domestic labour is still pretty unequal. We’re the ones who are still, in the main part, having to scrub the toilet bowl, yet often this type of women’s “work” goes unrecognized. Equal pay and more flexible working hours would be nice, too.
2/ Better sex education in schools. It’s mostly crap and if young women are growing up with their only source of this information being women’s magazines, of course they are going to start subscribing to a manufactured version of female sexuality.
3/ We’d obviously like it if the media started giving a more balanced view of women and femininity. And we’re going to keep calling them out on it and laughing at them until they are embarrassed into doing it.
Who are Vagenda’s heroes?
We have so many. The UK is fortunate in that we have many incredible women journalists who are already out there giving the patriarchy hell. We love Eva Wiseman, Suzanne Moore, Caitlin Moran, Harriet Walker, Helen Lewis, Laurie Penny, Hadley Freeman, Rosamund Urwin. For every great woman journalist, however, there seem to be umpteen ones who don’t give a toss about female equality and instead write complete and utter drivel, which is sad.
What’s Vagenda’s approach to fashion?
Each of us has a different approach. I’d say a lot of us wear vintage and secondhand clothes, but some wear high street too. I personally have been boycotting Topshop for over a year now but I don’t know about the others. I used to have a bit of a shopping addiction and my house is so full I have no need to shop anymore. Fashion is great as a tool for personal expression, but that’s not to say that there aren’t aspects of the industry that make me feel a bit sick. Those flowery trousers, for example. We all have some pretty mental garments tucked away and that’s fine. But when a magazine is actively trying to get you to look mental, then there is a problem.
What does the future look like?
Not vagina-shaped, that’s for sure. At the moment, it’s a cross between Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror, Orwell’s 1984 and the Handmaid’s Tale. In other words, pretty shit. But we’re staying chipper and fighting the power in our own small way.
Publisher and bookshop Persephone Books has a strict remit; female writers – mostly neglected ones – from the early Twentieth Century.
In 1983 Persephone founder Nicola Beauman wrote A Very Great Profession: The Woman’s Novel 1914-39. Sixteen years later, many of the writers she had discussed were still out of print, so she decided to do something about it. In 1999 Persephone was born and thirteen years on and Beauman hasn’t wavered in her mission to retell old stories to new audiences.
With 96 books to choose from, Twin asks Persephone for their recommendations…
A book for Spring…
We think our upcoming titles Harriet by Elizabeth Jenkins, and Virginia Woolf’s posthumously edited A Writer’s Diary will make great Spring reads – both out on the 19 April.
A book to make you laugh…
Without doubt Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day – No. 21 -. This is a hilarious fairy-tale account of a dowdy governess’ accidental encounter with a glamorous night club singer. Although those with a dryer sense of humour might prefer Julia Strachey’s short novel, Cheerful Weather for the Wedding.
A book to make you cry…
You’d have to have heart of stone not to cry at Still Missing – a book you wont be able to put down. William: An Englishman – No. 1 – is also extremely emotional, as it brings home the terrible human cost of the First World War through the fate of one very ordinary English couple.
A book that will shock you… Margarita Laski’s To Bed With Grand Music – No. 86 – follows the protagonist, Deborah, as she sleeps her way round London, completely debunking the cosy myth of women patiently keeping the home fires burning while their husbands were fighting on the front line.
A book about style… High Wages by Dorothy Whipple – No. 85 – is about a young woman who sets up her own dress shop in a northern town around the time of the First World War.
It includes some really interesting details about fashion and style in the period, and explores different women’s responses to the opening up of different opportunities both in terms of how they can dress and how they can make their mark on the world.
A book for living in the city…
Farewell Leicester Square by Betty Miller – No. 14 – or Helen Ashton’s Bricks and Mortar – No. 49 – are great books about London in the first half of the twentieth century.
A book to expand your mind… Round About a Pound a Week – No. 79 – and the suffragette novel No Surrender – No.94 -both explore different but equally important aspects of women’s lives before the First World War.
A book you won’t be able to put down… Still Missing – No. 88 – by Beth Gutcheon is literally impossible to put down. It is a beautifully written and extremely tense novel about a little boy who goes missing from his Boston home. We both cried when we read it. A lot.
Currently on show at the KK Outlet, Words of Wisdom is the second exhibition from the W Project. Launched to coincide with International Women’s Day with the noble aim of celebrating, connecting and inspiring women across the creative industries, Loren Platt and Teo Connor asked a mix of female talent to contribute an answer on a postcard to the question – what are your words of wisdom?
On Saturday night they also held a symposium dinner where filmmakers Quentin Jones and Kathryn Ferguson spoke about their work and Rhonda and Lulu of the Darkroom enlightened and inspired guests by telling the story of starting out and setting up their beautiful shop on Lamb’s Conduit Street. All round wise words and wisdom from creative women. Thank you W Project.
If you haven’t already, head down to the Southbank Centre and check out the Women of the World festival. For the second year running, Artistic Director Jude Kelly has put together a rich and inspiring schedule of readings, talks and performances.
“Throughout history, many women’s achievements have gone unnoticed or unsung,” says Kelly. “I created WOW to celebrate the formidable power of women to make change happen, to remind us of our history, to draw attention to injustice, to enjoy each other’s company and to encourage men to add their support as we set out to achieve a fairer world.”
With events featuring names such as Natasha Walter, Bidisha, Emeli Sande and Annie Lennox, we reckon it’ll be pretty difficult to ignore the female talent busting out of the Royal Festival Hall this weekend.
Southbank Centre’s Women of the World Festival is on until March 11th 2012. For the full schedule of events visit southbankcentre.co.uk/wow
Look at your calendar. Today is March 8th. For over 100 years, today is when women across the world come together to celebrate and shout about women and issues affecting women.
Author and journalist Kira Cochrane was the Guardian’s women’s editor from 2006 to 2010. She also edited an anthology of Guardian feminist writing, Women of the Revolution, which is out on paperback today.
Twin caught up with Kira to talk about how things have changed for women…
What did you discover about feminism and the way it’s changed from editing Women of the Revolution?
Looking at the history of feminism over the last forty years, what’s interesting is how many of the issues essentially remain the same, even if they’ve shifted and hopefully improved in the meantime. In the Seventies there was huge concern about sexual violence, abortion rights, equal pay, political representation, and there still is today. Also, the attitudes we have to challenge – in ourselves as much as anyone – stay similar, and there’s something powerful in realising that. One of the pieces I love in the anthology is by Jill Tweedie, from 1971, when she writes that women have to fight “the continual and largely unconscious compulsion to be nice”. I think that message is as relevant as ever!
Can you remember your first meaningful contact with feminism? When and what was it?
It was really the example of my mother. I grew up in a pretty non-political household in Essex – I don’t think my mother’s ever referred to herself as a feminist, and we didn’t have political conversations or anything like that – but it was a really political situation. My father died of a heart attack when I was two, my brother was run over and killed when he was eight and I was six, my younger brother was born with serious learning disabilities, which mean he’ll always have to be looked after, and my mother had a major rift with her family, and stopped talking to them almost thirty years ago.
She’d left school at sixteen, and I’ve watched her, throughout my life, work exceptionally hard to look after me and my brother, as a single mother, often working minimum wage jobs (in the days before there was a minimum wage – so we’re talking REALLY minimal!). That provided a pretty awe-inspiring example of female strength. It impressed on me just how powerful women can be, and also how important it is for us to have financial and emotional independence, and a society that values women’s work, while supporting people of both sexes, all backgrounds, when they’re hit by circumstances beyond their control.
What are the main issues affecting women’s rights today that particularly provoke you?
What still really shocks me is the high incidence of rape and sexual assault – and the low incidence of convictions on those charges. I’m as enraged as ever by that.
Have you perceived a change in the way women will identify as feminist in recent years?
Over the past five or ten years it seems the number of young women identifying as feminist has soared – there have been so many great feminist voices appearing online, and I think they’ve underlined how relevant, how current, all these issues still are. I think there was a moment, back in the Ninenties, when there was huge talk of us living in a ‘post-feminist’ age, and women were embarrassed to call themselves feminists, worried they’d be seen as hairy of armpit and dour of personality, but we seem to be beyond that backlash now. I think now too, when we ARE hairy, we’re hairy and proud!
Why is International Women’s Day important?
Obviously, in an ideal world, there would be no need to have a single day set aside for women, but given the issues still facing us, it’s a great opportunity for conversation, activism, performances, campaigning. I became women’s editor of the Guardian in 2006, and there seemed a lot of activity back then, but nothing compared with the explosion of events taking place this year.
What will you be doing on International Women’s Day?
I’ll be interviewing people for a feminist piece I’m writing, and then attending whatever events I can around that. On Friday and Sunday, I’m appearing on panels at the Women of the World festival on London’s Southbank, and I’ll be trying to see as much as I can there too, because it’s a great programme they’ve put together.
What artists/writers/musicians do you admire for promoting female creativity and issues?
So many! Not all of them would define themselves as feminist, but on the art side, Cindy Sherman, Yayoi Kusama, Yoko Ono, Susan Hiller, the Guerrilla Girls, Alice Neel, Louise Bourgeois, Gillian Wearing. I went to New York last year, and made a small pilgrimage to see Judy Chicago’s great feminist work, The Dinner Party, on long-term display at the Brooklyn Museum. That’s some proper Seventies feminist goodness!
In terms of writers, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Carol Ann Duffy, Jo Shapcott, Maya Angelou, Zadie Smith, Muriel Spark, and Paula Fox. I remember being profoundly moved by Andrea Dworkin’s memoir Heartbreak, and I had never really understood the true meaning of the phrase ‘mind-bending’ until I read Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House last year. That last book is extraordinary, as is Jackson’s short story The Lottery, and her final novel, We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
When it comes to musicians, I’d say Nina Simone, Dinah Washington, Billie Holliday, Aretha Franklin, Bjork, Sinead O’Connor, The Breeders and Tina Turner. I love the way Beth Ditto has spoken about her feminism, and I still love the anger and energy of Liz Phair’s 1993 album Exile in Guyville all these years later.
And then there are the women filmmakers – too many good ones to mention them all, but Nicole Holofcener for making truly grown-up films, Kim Longinotto for making intensely powerful documentaries, and Claire Denis for making really startling, beautiful work.
Which writer would you point young women curious about feminism in the direction of?
I’ve spoken to a lot of women recently who had never really encountered feminism, who have absolutely loved Caitlin Moran’s How to be a Woman, and found it a brilliant introduction to all sorts of ideas. I also think it’s worth checking out Jessica Valenti’s books; Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy; and Living Dolls by Natasha Walter. And one of the reasons I had for putting Women of the Revolution together in the first place was to create a book full of serious ideas, and excellent writers, so that people could discover them and decide who they wanted to read more widely. So many women who have inspired me are in there: Susan Brownmiller, Nawal El Saadawi, bell hooks, Gloria Steinem, Joan Smith, to name just a few.
What are you working on next?
I have about 1500 ideas for feminist articles, so I’m just working my way through those – also, plans for another feminist book, and a couple of novels, so it’s a question, as ever, of working out what there’s time for, and then seeing what sticks!
KIRA COCHRANE is the editor of Women of the Revolution (Guardian Books, £9.99) out today. She is a features writer for the Guardian and co-edited the anthology of women’s journalism, Cupcakes and Kalashnikovs. @KiraCochrane
For the relaunch of Vogue Paris’ website this week, editor Emmanuelle Alt took an approach Twin can’t imagine many other Vogue editors braving. Clearly unafraid to embrace her silly side, Alt has enlisted top models, Karmen Pedaru, Kendra Spears, Jasmine Tookes and Anja Rubik, as back-up dancers for her retake on Wham!’s Eighties classic, Wake Me Up, substituting slogan tees for Vogue t-shirts.
With the spotlight firmly online, it seems a fitting time to announce Twin’s own soon to be unveiled web redesign. While we can’t promise any George Michael, we know you’re going to love the newlook Twin website. Just watch this space…
For fashion students, photography lovers and art fanatics, Claire de Rouen’s bookshop, hidden away above a sex shop on Charing Cross Road, was an oasis of rare prints, signed editions and fledgling publications. A larger than life character, with her striking ageless style and ever present alsation pug Otis, Claire’s passing last week after a prolonged illness is a loss to all who prize independence and personality and to those resisting the creeping tide of a homogeneous culture.
There was room for everyone in her shop, all were free to browse or buy, and on her shelves young talent jostled happily alongside huge names. Twin can only thank and pay our respects to a woman who strove to deliver the best and allow the young to flourish.
As that rarity, a female photojournalist in the Fifties, Eve Arnold joined the Magnum Photographic Agency, home to the likes of Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson. Already in 1948, as the only female in her photography class in New York, she had distinguished herself amongst her male peers. Taught by the art director of Harper’s Bazaar, Alexey Brodovitch, and with Richard Avedon among those in her class, Arnold took her camera to the catwalks of Harlem, where an alternative to mainstream fashion had found its feet.
Over the subsequent decades her eye for an image and her awareness of her own minority status, never failed to help her cast light upon those whom the camera might have otherwise ignored. She recorded the civil rights movement, American agrarians, South African shantytowns and Mongolian horse trainers. Always interested in women’s issues, in 1971 she made a film, Women Behind the Veil, going inside Arabian hammams and harems.
In her celebrity photographs, her understanding and compassion resulted in original interpretations of the glitterati. A favourite with actresses like Marlene Dietrich and Joan Crawford, most famously her naturalistic aesthetic, took Hollywood star Marilyn Monroe out of the glare of the studio portrait and gave the world an enduring intimate insight into her beauty.
Her passing away last week at the grand age of 99 is a reminder of her legacy, not only of the startling images she took, but of a woman with a rare light, who lived brightly and bravely.
For our final rewind, Twin names the art shows, books and music that made it big, as well as those waiting to enter centre stage…
Francesca Gavin – Art Editor
For me this has been the year of Mark Leckey – both his solo show at the Serpentine and an hypnotic installation at the Printemps de Septembre in Toulouse. I’ve been obsessed by his work for years and think he has a massive influence on a whole younger generation on artists with his fascination with pop culture, technology, music and screens. I like many others wait with excitement at whatever comes next.
In 2012, I’m really looking forward to surviving the apocalypse and visiting the Marrakech Biennial in February. Some really great artists are in the line up including Aleksandra Domanovic, Jon Nash and Matthew Stone and I think its going to be a fascinating trip.
Elsewhere 176 new monthly programme of emerging artists, Yayoi Kusama and Edvard Munch at the Tate Modern, Rashid Johnson’s big shows at Hauser and Wirth NYC and London throughout the year, Urs Fisher at Palazzo Grassi in Venice, and the Berlin Biennial (which can only be an improvement on two years ago which was uber-dull).
Aimee Farrell – Features Director
In terms of writers in 2011 it has to be Caitlin Moran at the top of the list. How To Be A Woman managed to make feminism funny and accessible.
In 2012 I’m excited about Rachel Cusk. Her Granta essay about life after marriage, which throws a feminist light on the institution of divorce has been developed into a major new work of non-fiction, called Aftermath: On Marriage and Separation. Published by Faber the book will be a series of meditations on women’s mid-lives and family life after divorce.
Last year marked another 12 months of female dominance in the music industry, whether it was Beyonce at Glastonbury or Adele taking America. There were strong albums from the likes of Feist and a great debut from songstress Anika. For me though, the highlight was PJ Harvey storming the Mercury Music Prize for a second time. Let England Shake easily summed up the zeitgeist for 2011 and proved that there are still important albums being made.
For 2012, there’s a feeling it’s going to be the year of the viral superstar. We’ve already had Azealia Banks’ 212 and Lana Del Rey’s Video Games, now we need to hear the albums.
In the second part of our look back over the past year, Twin’s fashion team name their stars of 2011 and who to watch out for in the next 12 months…
Celestine Cooney – Fashion Director
My favourite show of 2011 was Simone Rocha Spring/Summer 12. I fell in love with the whole collection, it felt so modern and was executed so perfectly with the combination of traditional lace with sheer tulle and rubber. The use of colour in Spring/Summer 12 was also really inspiring with bright pink and a lucid green popping in a collection of black and white.
I think Simone Rocha is a star in the making. I find what she is doing and the collections she is producing, incredibly exciting.
Naomi Miller – Fashion Editor
I loved the Celine collection for Spring/Summer 2012. It was very chic, the couple of knitwear pieces they did were beautiful and so innovative.
Obviously it’s been an incredible 2011 for Sarah Burton, but I’m also stoked for Olivier Theyskens for putting Theyskens’ Theory on the map this year. I also loved the Thomas Tait show – and loved the styling with the sneakers!
As one year passes to the next, Twin thought it time to pause and reflect. And who better to kick off our New Year rewind than Twin editor, Becky Smith…
So, 2011 was a mad mix. From the Kardashian’s, who spread throughout the globe like a new herpes type of disease, becoming the most googled thing in the UK, to the riots, which were basically extreme shopping. There was structured reality courtesy of TOWIE, Made in Chelsea and Desperate Scousewives. WARNING – this can bring on early dementia and is to be avoided unless hungover. There was also 4D TV – total bollocks – and the Beckhams posing the big question, has Victoria finally worn us down into believing she is credible? Not to forget the Higgs Boson. Does anyone actually know what this is?
To sum up the best and worst of 2011, here are a few of my favorite Portmanteaus: Après-olution: relaxation that follows the ritualistic but often quixotic making of New Years’ resolutions.
Occupy-movement: New mode of urban habitation which has replaced loft living. All the best people are now doing it, though most only stay a night or two.
Bunga bunga: Phrase associated, for largely unknown reasons, with Silvio Berlusconi’s sex parties. I think I get it though.
Lottoroticism: The arousal and satisfaction of excitement within or by oneself as one imagines what they would do if they hit the lottery. I think I feel this every year.
Planking: See here. The act of balancing yourself in a horizontal position on top of unlikely objects. There are strict rules for proper planking: the planker must be lying face down, completely still, with his or her hands by her sides – I can’t help but think of the economy right now.
And so, to 2012. The events I’m looking forward to are: Becoming a Mumpreneur: A woman who combines running a business with looking after her children. Actually, this is a lie. I don’t have children or plan to.
Flying Cuddle Class: When two airline passengers buy an additional seat so that they can recline together.
And above all…
Mamil(s): A middle-aged man in Lycra
AND
Mullet dress(es): A woman’s skirt cut short at the front but long at the back.
In the Nineties a three-piece band from Seattle unwittingly created a cultural shift that ensured grunge would be one of the most enduring phenomena of the decade. This September marks twenty years since the release of Nirvana’s seminal album Nevermind. To celebrate The Loading Bay Gallery are hosting and exhibition of the bands work. A hoody worn by Kurt Cobain, tour posters and other memorabilia, it’s all about Teen Spirit and a mark of the ongoing influence Nirvana has with their fans old and new.
Bloom: The Nirvana Nevermind Exhibition is at The Loading Bay Gallery, Brick Lane until 22 September 2011.
Few fashion designers are as uncompromising as Yohji Yamamoto. Guided by strict aesthetic principles, the Japanese radical has spent 30 years perfecting his dark, androgynous style. As he says in a new 30 minute documentary to be released this autumn, “I’m not interested in fashion…I’m just interested in how to cut the clothing.”
Staunchly private, for a few short months in 2009, Yamamoto let the cameras observe his Y-3 Spring/Summer 2010 collection taking shape, from initial design through to show styling and PR. With measured gravitas, Yohji Yamamoto: This is My Dream is a portrait of a grand master, whose musings on fashion, creativity and life have fuelled a global empire. Watch and learn.
Yohji Yamamoto: This is My Dream will be released on DVD in September AW11 and is available from Y-3 stores. thisismydreamthefilm.com
This spring isn’t for cleaning. Granta have launched their new issue and it’s all about women wielding pens, not dusters. For The F Word, the magazine has enlisted a posse of female writers to share their thoughts and imaginations on the nature of feminism now and way back when.
From Rachel Cusk on divorce to A.S Byatt on academia in the Sixties and Seventies, it’s clear that while there have been some almighty leaps, there remain some distinct bounds. Jeanette Winterson holds a mirror up to contemporary romance, while Clarisse d’Arcimoles’s photo essay Un-Possible Retour is a lemon-sweet study of girlhood from adult-memory. With stories emerging from Ghana to Great Britain The F Word is alive with love, sex and house-hold chores, but in a post-feminist world the role of women is far from clean-cut.
But in twenty-five years she’ll be silver
In fifty, gold
A living doll, everywhere you look.
It can sew, it can cook,
It can talk, talk, talk.
- Sylvia Plath, The Applicant
“The thought police would get him just the same. He had committed–would have committed, even if he had never set pen to paper–the essential crime that contained all others in itself. Thoughtcrime, they called it. Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed forever. You might dodge successfully for a while, even for years, but sooner or later they were bound to get you.”
George Orwell, 1984.
“Words! Mere words! How terrible they were! How clear, and vivid, and cruel! One could not escape from them. And yet what a subtle magic there was in them! … Mere words! Was there anything so real as words?”
-Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Grey.
Darlings. I’ve abandoned you. But there is a reason for this, quite a sensible one, I’m sure you’ll agree. I decided that to fully live up to my moniker of Ms Shelebridee I had to start acting more like one. I was inspired. And it’s all Mariah Carey’s fault.
I realised that to be a real star I must stop – absolutely stop – actually doing anything at all. Just like her. I wanted an entourage. Entourage equals power, and that, darlings, is something that’s been severely lacking in Ms Shelebridee’s life for a while now. I wanted to be my own very mini-Mariah, right here in my own little corner of West London.
But it didn’t work. It was the tooth-brushing that did it.
I had recruited Gay Boy Number One as my assistant in this noble aim. Ms Shelebridee couldn’t quite afford any new staff, but luckily he thought this would be fantastic fun. So he carried me down the stairs at The Cow in Notting Hill which got us a few raised eyebrows, and he spoke on my behalf during a shopping trip down Sloane Street, while insisting no-one actually look me in the eye. GBNO even guided me around Waitrose and carried all my shopping home, but when I broached the subject of tooth-brushing, the Tiffany rattle was thrown out of the designer buggy.
No matter how much I stamped my feet and tossed my professionally blow-dried hair GBNO refused to brush my teeth for me. Even after I told him that Mariah Carey probably had her teeth brushed, he wouldn’t budge. While he said he’d brush Mariah’s teeth – mine, apparently, aren’t quite the same thing.
Truly, truly hurt I was. I even managed to ruin my new blow-dry. GBNO and I haven’t rowed like that since I said the Sticky and Sweet tour was boring. But true stardom is dependent on such frivolity. If he wouldn’t brush my teeth then the whole noble project had to be sent straight to the recycling bin. Mariah just wouldn’t approve if we tried to do this by halves. Sigh. Maybe in my next life I can develop a true entourage, without having to put up with Gay Boy Number One’s petulance. And if thinks he’s going to be my plus one to the Strictly Final, he’s got another thing coming.
When I was a kid you the way you worked out your porn star moniker was the name of your first pet plus your mother’s maiden name. Real life porn star Sasha Grey – born Marina Ann Hantzis – took her name from the founder of German industrial rock band KMFDM, Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ and the Kinsey scale of sexuality – which puts everyone on a scale from 0 (heterosexual) to 6 (homosexual). Logically Grey is in the middle which means both, or all, or everything.
The magic of Sasha Grey is that she embodies everything a man/woman desires – and has tenacity – sexual and otherwise – beyond her years. At 21 she already has a number of AVN awards (the Oscars for the adult movie industry) including ‘best three way sex scene’ and ‘best group sex scene’ – amongst her alternative accolades. She’s in a band called Altacine that makes experimental death dub noise, and has her own production company, LA Factory Girls.
Now, director Steven Soderbergh has cast Miss Grey in his latest film ‘The Girlfriend Experience’ out on Friday. Ok, so we know that her transition from adult to mainstream film has been greeted with mixed reactions by critics – but we can’t help but look on with fascination. She’s hot enough to sway anyone’s Kinsey rating, and somehow we can’t help but love her.
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