What’s Current: London receptionist sent home for refusing to wear high heels

Pain From High Heels

London receptionist sent home without pay for not wearing high heels. She states:

“I was expected to do a nine-hour shift on my feet… I said I just won’t be able to do that in heels…

… Twenty years ago women weren’t allowed to wear trousers in the same role that I’m doing now. And it’s only because some women spoke up about it and said: we feel like we have a right to wear trousers that that’s changed.”

French teen broadcasts her suicide online after naming her rapist. “I’m not doing it for the hype, I am doing it to send a message.”

Number of gender-noncompliant female children being referred to UK gender clinic nearly doubles number of male children, in the last year. The increase is in the 14+ age range of girls who are distressed by the onset of puberty and that they are treated differently. Psychologist Bernadette Wren explains: “We have young people here whose eating dips because they’re trying to delay puberty. Self-starvation is self-inflicted puberty suspension — a dangerous one.”

The foul reign of the biological clock:

“The story of the biological clock is a story about science and sexism. It illustrates the ways that assumptions about gender can shape the priorities for scientific research, and scientific discoveries can be deployed to serve sexist ends.”

Sheryl Sandberg admits she got it wrong with Lean In.

Susan Cox

Susan Cox is a feminist writer and academic living in the United States. She teaches in Philosophy.