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Woman's Hour

Swearing, Women in north east India, The 'grey pound' and fashion, A story of brutal crime, forgiveness and empathy

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture

4.13K Ratings

🗓️ 10 November 2023

⏱️ 58 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

If you've been following the Covid inquiry, you may have noticed a lot of strong and swearing language. So why do we swear, and are women judged differently for swearing than men? In her new book For F*ck's Sake: Why Swearing is Shocking, Rude, and Fun, Dr Rebecca Roache explores double standards, the misogynistic roots of certain swear words and the challenges in reclaiming them. Anita Rani is also joined by the scientist Dr Emma Byrne who discusses why she swears, swearing in front of children and her own relationship with certain swear words.

Six months ago, there was a horrific act of violence in north-east India, when two women were stripped, paraded naked, and allegedly gang raped by a mob. It made the news nationally when their ordeal was made public in a viral video. Now the two women have spoken for the first time, in a face-to-face interview with the BBC's Divya Arya.

Luxury fashion brand Loewe recently made headlines with the face of their Spring/Summer 2024 pre-collection campaign: 88-year-old Dame Maggie Smith is pictured modelling some of their best-selling bags. Is this a step in a new direction for the world of fashion? Are major brands waking up to the consumer power of the 'Grey Pound'? Anita Rani is joined retail analyst Kate Hardcastle and former British Vogue Editor Alexandra Shulman.

In 1985 in Gary, Indiana, four girls aged between 14 and 16 years old entered the house of an elderly woman and brutally murdered her. They took her car and a small amount of cash. The girls were black and the woman was white. Ruth Pelke was a Bible school teacher, a widow, well-known in her community. Those facts are not disputed. A new book called Seventy Times Seven by Alex Mar is a forensic study of what happened before and after that day and her focus is on Paula Cooper - a 15-year-old girl sentenced to death for her crime. So far, so grim, but this is also a story of forgiveness and radical empathy. Alex Mar joins Anita.

Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Kirsty Starkey

Transcript

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0:00.0

You're about to listen to a BBC podcast and trust me you'll get there in a moment but if you're a comedy fan

0:05.2

I'd really like to tell you a bit about what we do. I'm Julie Mackenzie and I commission comedy

0:10.2

podcast at the BBC. It's a bit of a dream job really.

0:13.0

Comedy is a fantastic joyous thing to do because really you're making people laugh,

0:18.0

making people's days a bit better, helping them process, all manner of things.

0:22.0

But you know I also know that comedy is really

0:24.4

subjective and everyone has different tastes so we've got a huge range of comedy on offer

0:29.6

from satire to silly shocking to soothing profound to just general pratting about. So if you

0:36.2

fancy a laugh, find your next comedy at BBC Sounds.

0:41.0

BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.

0:45.0

Hello, I'm Anita Rani and welcome to Woman's Hour from BBC Radio 4.

0:50.0

High-end fashion brands seem to be targeting the Grey Pound.

0:54.0

Those of you in the Boomer Generation who in theory have the disposable income to spend on clothes.

1:00.0

Dame Maggie Smith 88, Dame Mary Berry 88, Charlotte Rampling 77

1:05.0

are just some of the women who've recently modeled for high-end

1:08.0

fashioned houses.

1:09.0

But what I'm interested in this morning

1:11.0

is hearing from you about your own relationship with clothes.

1:14.8

Are you over 60 and now living your best fashion life?

1:18.8

How have your clothing choices changed over the years?

1:21.8

Do you spend a lot more on your wardrobe now? Has the

1:24.9

spend increased the older you've got with the more cash you seem to have? What's your

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