Jog on
If you thought that a picture of a woman pushing a pram would be hard-pressed to cause controversy, then you clearly haven’t seen this photo. In it, 23-year-old model Ymre Stiekema is jogging with her two-year-old daughter in Bugaboo’s Runner – a pram designed to help mums get fit. So far, so normal (for those people used to seeing people jogging with prams.) But add the fact that Stiekema is only wearing a bikini, and the photo (shot for Vogue Netherlands) becomes a lot sillier.
“Wow doesn’t model and mother of two-year-old Lymee, Ymre Stiekema look amazing”, Bugaboo posted on Instagram. Well, yes – she’s a model. Nobody actually runs in a bikini while pushing a pram – stop selling this is as a normal aspiration.
Unsurprisingly, many women found this image of a perfectly toned and tanned young mother far from inspiring. “Totally ridiculous photo. At least have something realistic. Even the fittest mums I knew when my kids were bubs weren’t half as fit, and were doubly clothed. Give mums a break!!” wrote one Facebook user, while another said, “I love how natural this photo is and how it represents most mothers …” We’re sensing some sarcasm.
But fear not: Bugaboo isn’t just aiming it’s runner pram at women – men can push them too. The brand’s Facebook page also shows a video of athlete and model Kevin Dorsey going for a run with his pram. Except he gets to jog in a T-shirt and shorts, you know, the sort of thing you wear when running in public. Not Speedos. That would be silly.
‘I’m your man’
As the race for Labour leadership lurches on, Jeremy Corbyn has revealed a potential game-changer for any feminist members of the Labour party still undecided who to vote for. The 66-year-old MP this week unveiled an impressive Working with Women document, in which he lists the ways in which, if elected leader, he would tackle the inequalities faced by women. These include: working towards free childcare; ending funding cuts to women’s refuges and domestic violence services; making it mandatory for companies to publish equal pay audits to help bridge the gender pay gap and challenging everyday sexism through education in schools. Corbyn has also vowed to make his shadow cabinet 50% female, with the aim to make half of all Labour MPs women.
It’s worth noting the discrepancy. Both Corbyn and Andy Burnham have had their fair share of criticism levelled at them throughout this leadership contest, but neither has been asked about their spouses, or how they would juggle fatherhood with such a demanding job.
Meanwhile, Liz Kendall has been asked about her weight, and the Times ran an article with the headline: “Women are not tough enough to lead Labour”. As Yvette Cooper, who is passionate about many of the issues raised in Corbyn’s document, told the Guardian:
It has been a startlingly retro campaign debate. Andy’s [Burnham] campaign seem to be calling for Liz and I to bow out and leave it to the boys, or suggesting that somehow women aren’t strong enough to do the top jobs.”
“It would be nice,” Cooper told Backbench, “if after over 100 years of campaigning on women’s equality we could break through our last glass ceiling and have our first elected woman leader and Labour woman prime minister too.”
Tick tock
When is the perfect age for a woman to have a child? It’s a question that’s likely to induce a collective groan but, nonetheless, this week researchers from Sheffield University have waded into the debate. According to their findings, derived from a new computer model, there are three optimum ages for women to conceive, depending on how large they would like their family to be: 23 is the best time to have children if you want three, 27 if you want two and 32 if it’s just the one you’re after.
This fertility calculator doesn’t pretend to know the medical histories of every woman, and when their individual fertility might be at its peak (the results are based on averages taken from a variety of data), but it does aim to make the decision-making part of conceiving easier. And, if IVF is an option, then the model will also tell you when you should start treatment.
The findings recognise that, of course, it is possible for women to get pregnant and have more than one child after the age of 32, but that certainty of conception dwindles. A woman of 41, for example, has, according to the study, a 50% chance of conceiving without IVF, while a woman of 32 would have a 90% chance. It also recognises that the biological clock ticks for men too, but the effects age has on ability to conceive “don’t kick in severely until a man is well into his forties”.
“What it is saying is if you’re relaxed about having three children, you can wait until you’re 35, but you’ve got to start early to be certain,” Allan Pacey, professor of andrology at the University of Sheffield told the magazine.
Of course, this is not the first (nor will it be the last) piece of research purporting to tell women when best to start a family, warning them not to leave it to late. But the one thing all the research and advice seems to ignore is the fact that women can’t get pregnant on their own (as much as they might like to be able to). The “decision-making” isn’t just about when to have a child, it’s about who to have it with. And unless you have a willing donor, there needs to be a man too. And they’re not always so easy to come by.
How do I love me? Let me count the ways.
Macy Gray hasn’t had a hit since, well, this, but that tide might be turning thanks to her new track, Bob. It’s a classic love song – but not to a man. Bob is an acronym, which stands for Battery-operated better. And yes, Bob is a vibrator. That’s right, Macy Gray is making a comeback with a song about a sex toy.
“He fits like a glove, always up for love / Steady as a caterpillar,” the song begins. So if you thought that the lyrics would be of an ambiguous nature, then you’d be wrong. And just to make sure everyone knows what Bob is , the cartoon dildos in the accompanying music video should clear up any doubt. But this is more than an ode to a vibrator, as Gray told Elle, she hopes the song “opens women up to talk about what’s really real for them”.
You can watch the video here, but be warned: it’s catchy.
ICYMI
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