Sci-Fi, Sex Discrimination, My Best Day

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture

4.1 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 10 September 2019

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Margaret Atwood's new novel is out today. It's science fiction and is called The Testaments. Science fiction is often stereotyped as a male genre, but we forget that a woman was one of its first authors: Mary Shelley who wrote Frankenstein. When it comes to recognising science fiction talent, male authors have got many more awards than women but that's changing. To discuss why science fiction really does appeal to women, we hear from Mary Robinette Kowal who's won this year’s Hugo Award for best science fiction, as well as British writer, Temi Oh.

Teenage girls are getting advice about what’s a healthy relationship and what’s not. The young adult author, Holly Bourne, is the ambassador for a new campaign launched by Women’s Aid. Holly says, “When you’re crazy in love with someone it’s hard to know what’s OK and what’s not OK in a relationship.” The campaign talks about gas lighting, consent and gives advice about what to say if your partner asks for your social media passwords. The answer is: NO!

What’s the link between feeling discriminated against because you’re a woman and depression? Dr Ruth Hackett from University College London explains.

And our series called My Best Day. You sent us some pictures of when you looked and felt great. Today Nilufer Algas tells the story behind her snap from the eighties.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Jane Garvey and welcome to the Women's Hour podcast. It's Tuesday the 10th
0:09.6	of September on the podcast today in the light of the nighthood given to Geoffrey Boycott,
0:15.5	the cricketer, who does have a conviction for domestic violence. We talk about that on
0:20.0	the programme today. You'll also hear from two fantastic authors about women and science
0:24.9	fiction and that's the conversation that we carry on at the end of the podcast today and what
0:30.0	else do we discuss? Oh yeah, the possible link between feeling that you've been a victim of
0:35.5	sexual discrimination and depression. So that's all on this edition of the Women's Hour podcast.
0:41.8	But we started with a conversation with the writer Holly Bourne. She's written successful books
0:47.0	like How Do You Like Me Now? Her new book is for young adults and it's called The Places I've
0:52.1	Cryed in Public and Holly Bourne has been lending her support to a separate Women's Aid campaign.
0:58.4	So not connected to Geoffrey Boycott although it happens to be all in the news on the same day.
1:03.3	This is a Women's Aid campaign trying to teach young women about what is good and bad in a
1:08.8	relationship. So here's Holly on why she was happy to be involved in the campaign.
1:14.0	I think it's because it's such a huge issue. I'm not afraid to use the word epidemic in terms of
1:20.7	women being in a coessively controlling relationships and a kind of doubling down on that by
1:27.2	sometimes don't even know that they're in abusive relationships because we just don't really
1:32.2	understand what they are if you don't have a black eye and you're carrying in the corner.
1:36.7	And the damage that this causes to young women that I speak and meet every day as part of my work
1:41.8	just as maybe realize that something needs to be done. We not only need to stop this. We need to
1:45.6	learn what it is in the first place. But why is the situation apparently getting worse?
1:50.7	It's always hard to know if it's just people are more aware of it. So they're reporting it more
1:56.9	compared if it's actually getting worse. But I think it's just the kind of ongoing nature of
	...

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