Rosa Doherty 2014-03-14T22:24:25-04:00 Rosa Doherty Copyright 2008,, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Rosa Doherty Good old fashioned elbow grease. On Second Thoughts,2014:/theblog//3.4907497 2014-03-05T18:48:38-05:00 2014-03-06T10:00:47-05:00 Rosa Doherty
Thanks for taking the time to write your post.

You make some valid points, I think it is important to discuss and the debate can't be a bad thing so here is my response.

Firstly it is important to clear something up, I'm not anti the awareness CoppaFeel has created. I'm not anti what the charity does on a whole. I think that despite how I feel about the way it was done; it is only fair to say creating awareness and conversations about breast cancer is a good thing.

But I don't agree with the idea of publicity at any cost, and think CoppaFeel have a responsibility to choose their media partnerships wisely.

Page3 was for me, not a clever one and in that context made me and many others very angry about what the charity were saying- hence the quite ranty blog post.

I could have waited till the rage had settled but it is a very emotive topic and I'm very passionate about the seriousness of breast cancer and how it should be communicated.



You stick up for them as a charity very well as do most of their supporters and it leaves me very inclined to agree with you, the good they do clearly outweighs the bad.

I am familiar with their website and I think the information they provide there is great, but the collaboration with Page3 sent a terribly confusing message and not one that I support. - I could have articulated that better.

But I feel very strongly that for a charity with a duty of care to women, I am against the context in which they have chosen to do it.

And that's why my focus was more on them as a charity as opposed to Page3.

I don't expect a charity that has women's best interests at heart to partner with a platform that clearly doesn't, especially when there are plenty of platforms that do.

I think The Sun has manipulated a serious issue for women and the charity has supported that (albeit in the name of spreading awareness).

Understandably they want their message to be out there, I want their message out there too, but I want that message to be respectful to women and speak to me on a platform that respects me.

Yes, there is a time and a place for social media, by all means we should use it, but let's get the tone right when it really matters.

When I opened the first 3 pages, CoppaFeel's message wasn't there. It wasn't the CoppaFeel you see on the website.

It was The Sun's manipulation of a very serious topic for their own gain.

I felt let down to see a charity (who I would normally identify with and want to get behind and support) partner up with a platform that does nothing to promote a positive image of women.

I read the 8-page pull out with the helpful information in it.

But I had to search 30 pages into the paper to find it, and my blog was about the first 3 pages, because they are what the majority of people will have seen.

Why hide that life saving content deep into a paper and put an image of a naked model up front?

Surely if this issue is worth its weight to The Sun and CoppaFeel, it should have been the kind of content we saw on the front and inside?

I know that the editorial decisions do not lie with CoppaFeel but they have to take some responsibility.

They picked this paper and platform to tell their message I don't think it was the right platform.

I wonder how many women closed the page in disgust at the images and didn't get close to reading the 8-page pull out or even know it was there?

I think I might feel differently towards the decision to partner with page3 had I been able to see they had clearly worked with editors of the page to drop the dated format and show women with something to say and images that illustrated the seriousness of the topic, not ones of models in underpants posing sexily.

I'm sorry if my blog was harsh and scathing of a charity that has clearly done a lot for you.

That is good to read and it is important that you tell people your experience and I continue hearing about the good things they do because I'm very interested.

At risk of repeating my self as I know you didn't like that, I just don't agree with publicity at any cost.

I think they had a responsibility to pick a media partner that reflects their values, page3 doesn't offer support to women, it presents a sexualised image of them in a family newspaper right next to the news.

It says 'your boobs are a commodity on which we can trade'.

I'd love to see the charity work more with media partners in the future, and get the publicity they deserve.

But I hope they are ones who will reflect their message honestly and with dignity, because page3 didn't do that.]]>
A Open Letter to CoppaFeel,2014:/theblog//3.4895503 2014-03-04T07:51:55-05:00 2014-03-04T09:59:01-05:00 Rosa Doherty


1) You don't care.

2) We're a charity hiding behind the message of checking your breasts.

3) The truth is we want to be a 'famous charity' and get on the telly and have our name splashed everywhere. Doesn't it look nice in Pink?

4) We want you to check your boobs BUT we won't waste our time telling you how to do it.

5) But we will show you a lovely pair (cause that will aparently prevent cancer).

6) We'll compare checking for cancer (something that can kill, and even result in you loosing both breast) to your weight because we know you're more obsessed with that.

7) We'll tell you some 'scary stats and figures' but we won't touch on the emotional and physical trauma experienced by those with breast cancer or how to prevent it.

8) AND we won't show you what a lifesaving breast check should look like.

9) Forget about what to look for or how to do it.

10) Forget about the different shapes and sizes boobs come in, because a 34 DD is pretty standard for page 3 and after all we don't actually want to show you anything informative.

11) NOW here is the fun bit: We'd like you to grab your breasts like a pair of melons and take a photo of them for Instagram.

12) Use the hash-tag we've created (because again that is how you will discover a lump)

13) Don't talk to your friends about texture, shape, nobbles and bobbles get RT-ing and liking your posts.

14) Cause Insta likes saves lives.

15) And last but by no means least it was really important to talk to you through page 3. Because we are so in tune with women aged 18-30 and we know that is the place to find you.

So CoppaFeel.......... I'm sitting in my room, boobs out staring in the mirror with your doubble page open wide.

I want to check for breast cancer, a disease that could see me loose the boobs staring back at me or worse kill me.

I'm tilting my head to the side, cheeky grin on my face, and I've got one hand on my head in that sexy come to bed way page three likes.

The other hand is loosely hovering over my upper my boob and I'm making sure I'm flashing the nipple.

I'm staring back at myself, waiting, but what the fuck I do next?


P.s Please write back I and 1000 of other women would like to know how to prevent cancer.]]>
Lena Dunham and Vogue,2014:/theblog//3.4653424 2014-01-23T13:58:12-05:00 2014-01-24T07:59:02-05:00 Rosa Doherty
Here is my two pence, for what it is worth.

Girls unashamedly looks at the 20Something journey, and Dunham is known for her brave nude scenes that are the antidote to the unrealistic images of women usually portrayed in the media.

But it was cold hard cash behind the plea made by 'feminist' blog Jezebel, desperate to show how Vogue had altered Dunham's appearance.

They wanted us to be furious with Dunham, that she, the champion of real, had allowed them to alter the neckline of her dress, change her face, enlarge her eyes and trim her chin and hips.

Maybe it is just me, but a feminist blog offering money, (over half many people's yearly income) to point out how her waist was bigger or her chin was fatter before, proves what exactly?

That women inherently hate each other, never stand together and are quicker to find physical reasons to pull one another apart instead of congratulating them?

For me Jezebel is in danger of perpetuating the oldest stereotypes about women, and for them as a title that should know better, to do this, is far worse than Vogue airbrushing a few pictures.

We expect Vogue to do silly things like that. Silly Vogue.

Vogue is like the child that doesn't know any better. We have to gradually teach it and maybe it will learn.

But Jezebel should know, as Lily Allen so kindly put it last year, "it's hard out here for a b****."

And while I too initially sunk in disappointment, at the news the magazine had slimmed down one of the most exciting young women writers to emerge in the 21st century, it wasn't long before I shared the picture on my Twitter, in celebration of what she has achieved.

After all, she is on the cover; Photoshopped or not, there she is still looking like a real woman, who champions real woman, with real things to say.

Remember, this is the magazine that is normally packed back to front with waif like images of bodies that say nothing at all, and there she is saying lots of things about what life is like for her and other young women like her.

Surely that alone is a step in the right direction for how women are seen in the media?


Why focus on the negative when there is a much bigger positive at hand here.

Vogue doesn't normally devote editorial to women who put their blood, sweat and tears into creating art that consistently reflects the image of a real woman.

We don't always get to hear from those women who challenge the stereotypes, we certainly don't get to see them, but lo and behold, here is one, and she is on the cover, not slipped between a Burberry advert and a safari swimwear shoot.

Inside are her words about body image, feminism, writing and directing an award winning series at the age of 27.

Can we congratulate her for that?

Ask most 20Something women what Lena means to them and you will get a flurry of answers praising her wildly confident, proudly insecure, utterly hilarious show.

Ask those older and they will tell you they wished there had been a show like Girls on television when they were having uncomfortable unglamorous sex and rows with their flat mates.

If nothing else what Dunham has achieved is a brutally honest portrayal of what life is like for her and her friends.

She is an undeniably good writer and director and has achieved things at 27 people work a life time for.

She isn't the stick thin stunner Hollywood wants to see and that doesn't matter one bit, because what she has to say is more powerful than that.

There have been definite gaps in Girls, mostly to do with the omission of diversity that is not portrayed in her version of downtown mainly white New York, but her body image message speaks for women of all backgrounds, classes and colours.

She hasn't let us down by being airbrushed; she's done us proud by being important enough to ensure Vogue put her on the cover instead of an apparently teenage Swedish model.

As she said herself:

"I never felt bullied into anything I felt happy because they dressed me and styled me in a way that really reflects who I am.

"I know some people have been angry about the cover and that confuses me a little.

"I don't understand why Photoshop or no, having a woman who is different than the typical Vogue cover girl could be a bad thing."

As they say Rome wasn't built in a day and I can't help but think that $10,000 offered to publicly point out Dunham's perceived flaws would have been better donated to a charity that tackles a real female problem, such as the victims of female genital mutilation. Perhaps?]]>
Let's Talk About Sext,2013:/theblog//3.2519229 2013-01-21T07:30:17-05:00 2013-03-23T05:12:01-04:00 Rosa Doherty
Especially as our sexual landscape is changing and we are facing new challenges.

The sex tape/naked photo/sexy text, or as I like to call it "sext", be it verbal or visual, has surged in popularity, largely due to the digital age we are living in. Celebrities are exposed via Twitter, some doing so quite obviously for publicity, others quite clearly not, and couples keeping the long distance love alive.

There is no denying that it has never really been seen to damage a celebrity's profile, but what about the feelings or integrity of the ones who never intended for us to see them that way? We may say they have been stupid to send the pictures out into the world, but do we ever really consider that they really didn't want this. Or are we so desensitized to celebrity that we don't need to credit them with the same human emotions as you or I would if our private texts, long distance screen shots and emails, popped up in our Facebook feeds?

I only know a small percentage of the horror this might induce myself as I recently accidentally uploaded my entire iPhone's contents to my own Facebook and actually died inside at the thought of my peers seeing my potential day by day life in pictures over the past year. Imagine your own phone's picture content up online for all to see? I doubt there isn't at least one thing in our phones we wouldn't be traumatised at the thought of our Facebook friends seeing.

It is not just affecting celebrities, there are school girls whose explicit pics are being spread among their peers in BBM chat groups, often resulting in trolling. Trolling, the passive aggressive bullying online that can result in devastating and destructive scenarios affects celebrities and young teenagers the same. We recently read the shocking and heartbreaking story of the Bullied 13-year-old girl who fell 60ft to her death 'after mobile phone footage of her being forced to perform a sex act was passed around her school'

As adults in relationships, we all 'sext', varying degrees of sexting depending on what we are comfortable with, enjoy/ or want. Some claim to never doing it, and until recently I may have accepted this with little or no argument, until accidentally stumbling upon my own mum's stash of Sexts. I KNOW!

Luckily, bar the immediate horror and the violent flinging of the brand new iPad half way across the living room on a quiet Sunday afternoon, I was able to laugh to myself at the irony. Something that quite clearly shows technology is unavoidably and undoubtedly changing the way sexual relationships are experienced and enjoyed across age groups, but I don't find any humor, only horror at the fact a 13 year old lost her life because bullies and abuse drove her to endanger herself in desperate attempt to keep a awful thing from going public.

While the take down of celebrities (notably more often female) has brought 'sext culture' to the limelight, it is not a 'celeb' issue, and using women's sexual vulnerability as a tool to entertain or bully through digital means is affecting women of all ages. Consenting and not.

A Channel 4 News investigation reveals: "explicit pics are 'the norm' for teens sending and receiving explicit naked pictures is everyday life for teenagers aged between 13-16 across Britain - and it is changing how they see sex"

So why are we so quick to condemn, point and publicly ridicule legally consenting women who find themselves exposed and ashamed by what may well be new ways, yet still intended to be private ways, of exploring and conducting sexual relationships? And how is this going to impact on the generation Channel 4 are talking about?

What message does it send to young boys and girls starting out on their sexual discoveries? By exposing a celebrity's private sext moments so casually, are we teaching young people firstly that a woman should be embarrassed or ashamed of things they do in private and committed relationships?

David Cameron's new advisor on childhood, Claire Perry MP, says parents should take clearer responsibility for seeing what their children are saying on Facebook and texting on mobile phone, but i'm not sure spying is the answer. Should we not be talking to them about this 'new way' , be we young, old, famous, or not , who seem to be having fun sexually?

Isn't it time we talk 'safe sext' so the risks of trolling and bullying women based upon their sexual experience is not 'the norm' and girls as young as 12 and as old as 60somethings are thinking twice before taking that picture? AND when was the last time a man's sexy picture made its way online in an outcry of embarrassment and shame?

It's time to stamp out bullying online and teach people that firstly a woman's private sexual experiences are not to be used against her as a way of torture or ridicule. Until we as adults and media are shown to set that example how are our own young people supposed to follow suit? The irony in websites that report on the grave effects online bulling in one breath and takes part in online bullying happily the next, confuses me as a adult.

I know I'm not alone in receiving, sending, or having something private, I don't intend for anyone else other than the intended recipient to look over them, in my eyes these are private things meant for only one other person.

While I'm not a celebrity (thank god) if someone wanted to hurt me by making public something that was always intended to be private , on any of the social media platforms, I suppose they could do so with ease among my peers, but why should this be entertainment?

Is it not more of a worry that our 12 year olds are doing it and being taught by our media and own behavior online that using 'sexts' is a acceptable way of ridiculing, trolling and causing hurt to people on a scale incomparable to what used to be just the school playground.

Be we young, old, celebrity or ordinary, people are using new ways of entertaining sexual relationships. These should be done in safe and trusting relationships, and while there is no knowing that one day the person you trust might break that trust, we know we can discuss, teach and change attitudes. Sex should never be used against a women as a tool for punishment. We should be talking about and acknowledging 'Safe Sext' and anti bullying full stop.]]>
The Master Cleanse: The Master Disaster,2013:/theblog//3.2466512 2013-01-13T06:18:45-05:00 2013-03-15T05:12:01-04:00 Rosa Doherty
















They F*** You Up Your Mum and Dad, But Could I Do it Better?,2012:/theblog//3.1889796 2012-09-17T08:54:09-04:00 2012-11-17T05:12:01-05:00 Rosa Doherty
YOU DID IT WRONG. Is still my all time fave, and gets straight to the point. Forget the science involved in the "You didn't breast feed me therefore our relationship is shit". Or the opposite "You breast-fed me for far too long and now I am a moron unable to leave home". Let alone the intricacies of the "Your own failed relationships/personality defects now mean I'm destined to have failed relationship after failed relationship and its all your fucking fault".

No. Shouting "you did it wrong" at the top of your voice then throwing yourself to the floor in a helpless heap is by far the most simplest and easiest way to deal with the truth about parenting. Philip Larkin had it spot on, "They fuck you up your mum and dad they don't mean to but they do"

I don't believe when you become a parent you set out to intentionally fuck it up. In fact the opposite you set out with the idea "I'm going to do this differently" but what is it about parenting that almost insists you transfer your own horrible flaws onto your children in a transfer of issues wider than the spread of Chlamydia among my own generation?

What is even worse is the undeniable fact, I will, 'fuck it up' too, one day. Hopefully.

Thankfully I've got more than my own reflective childhood experience, I have my experience as a nanny throughout univeristy and the many unpaid labor exploits of a budding broadcaster which have taught me wonderful things about parenting, its allowed me to see how awful and scary it is with the unrealistic joy of handing them back at 6 o'clock and going home to download american TV series. Sans responsibility.

Its allowed me to experience the buying of nappies, the paying for music classes they hate but you pretend they love so they become the next Mozart, and the luxury of having lunches with baby chinos, without the added fear of it being my money I'm spending while we're in a global recession. The expense of children is enough to make fucking it up even more likely. Queue the...... *what if I can't pay for the hippy music classes panic and sense of parent failure.

What about feeling the hideous I've turned my back for two seconds and they've disappeared, shit shit shit shit, I've lost your children shit shit shit * scream * panic. Only to find them in a bush laughing about making you so scared you've turned see-through. Only then do you understand what its like to feel a sense of grateful rage.

Its allowed me to see things I want (a nanny) please god make me rich enough and send Mary Poppins into my life, and the things I don't want. Its also taught me the lovely side to parenting, yes I admit there are clearly rewarding sides, like the funny things they say, or the joy you get from seeing them grow and become mini people with personalities knowing you did that, and the moments of pure love, not the 'I want a extra biscuit before bed time so I'm going to kiss you' love, but the spontaneous moments of magic between a parent and a child.

When I think about one day having my own children, which at the moment I do still want, I can't help but think about the inevitable fact, my grown up child/children will one day be shouting at me "you did it wrong" . This my biggest fear.]]>
Women on TV: Too Few and Far Between?,2012:/theblog//3.1589471 2012-06-15T19:00:00-04:00 2012-08-15T05:12:05-04:00 Rosa Doherty
It was only after watching Louis Theroux's latest documentary on the collapse of the porn industry that I thought about this worrying fact. "The porn industry is the only industry where women are paid higher than men."

In and amongst my tongue in cheek Tweets about porn and sex, something hit home. It's 2012, and the only way to be a high paying female, that is higher paying than a man in the same role, on screen, is to have sex for money rather than pleasure. As a post-feminism baby maybe I've taken the struggle of the older generations for granted, possibly too far detached from what they went through to get here. Here, here where if you want to earn more money than a man you must sleep with one.

With the porn industry becoming even more accessible what does that say about our attitudes to women on our screens, and women and employment? Let alone our attitudes to women and sex.

New research released around international women's day has shown that men still outnumber women on TV two to one, from soaps and drama to newsreaders and reporters. The research, commissioned by Channel 4 for International Women's Day, also shows that younger women are more likely to be featured on TV than those over 40.

Looking at hundreds of hours of footage across channels like BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4, Five and Sky 1, the researchers found that men now take up 65% of all possible broadcast roles.

As a woman on TV, in front of and behind the camera, (something that is rarer still) because of course we can only look pretty and act the fool, these statistics for the first time don't make me excited about my developing career they make me fearful. Fearful that once I reach 40-something and finally don't care about all the stupid stuff I do now (I think this happens then) that, that is going to be it? Really? Over. All the women I love and admire in TV are either in there 40s, or fast approaching, with age comes experience and wisdom.

Its only after realising this that I thought about my own job and the team I work with, the break down of which is something I have never even considered before, but according to statistics should be unheard of.

Arts360, a arts and culture show on Sky 539 and Virgin 233, immediate team includes two reporters and producers (who film and edit their own content), one exec producer, one project coordinator, and one online producer. Five women in making a program for TV not about women, or anything connected, in fact its far from it. The fact we are all women never even dawned on me as anything significant, and maybe there is something naive and innocent about that?

With that thought I'd like to share Arts360 with you, maybe we can be TV's accidental answer to the increase of women on our screens in front of and behind the camera.

Watch Episode 1

Watch Episode 2

Do our Relationships as Teens Shape Our Future?,2012:/theblog//3.1519429 2012-05-15T18:04:27-04:00 2012-07-15T05:12:09-04:00 Rosa Doherty
I've come along way from shouting on the street corner with my boyfriend at 16, smashing my phone in frustration and anger, and crying my eyes out the next. Now I can actually communicate with words that I'm pissed off and I learnt very quickly being that unhappy is not for me.

I've come along way since I found myself in one of those two year 'friendships' (the ones that happen at uni) because I didn't want a 'relationship' relationship. I recognise that was fear. Fear and stupidly liking someone that doesn't like you back.

In our teens we're learning about relationships for the first time with very little explanation of what they are and what they're supposed to be. Most of us have our own parents relationships as a bench mark, and lets be honest the modern family unit has become as confusing for my generation, as finding what supermarket has the best deals on washing powder.

At 20something I've had 3 relationships and 3 not so relationships, and I'm wondering how the first 3 affected the last. I think our relationships do shape our future but its up to us how we let that shape take place.

I spent age 15 to 20 in a relationship. I was a normal teen experiencing young love, I wanted nothing more than to be with my boyfriend, in the awkward no one else matters kind of way, I thought I was grown up and, school, family and friends were not as important as my boy. Not so unusual for a teenager in young love.

At 17 all that changed, when he was sent to prison for 12 months.

I was no longer a normal 17 year old who went out with her friends, my 17th year was spent writing letters, waiting by the phone and traveling hours every other week just to see him. My teen life stopped, my friends disappeared apart from a select few, and I learnt very quickly as a teenager your peers want you to be like them and if you're not, you're on your own. Forget saying no to ketamine, try saying no to hanging out after school because you have to catch the 5 o'clock post to send jail mail.

This is something I've learnt continues as an adult (not the sending jail mail) but, being yourself (if that means going against whats 'normal' ) requires a strength of character that's often difficult to channel. At 17 I learnt how to cope with being judged by my peers, my teachers, my family, and friends, I learnt how not to care. (Or at least pretend not to).

I had a boyfriend in prison, and while this idea might sound somewhat racy and possibly 'prisoners wives' to people in their teens, the reality was much different.

I was labeled boring by friends when I wouldn't come out on Friday night because I had to be up at 6am for a visit on Saturday morning,(something that's stuck with me all my life) when In truth Saturday night drink and drugs just weren't for me. Somewhat ironically it taught me you have to stand up for yourself and what you want and not give in to peer pressure. Go figure.

My first teen relationship taught me a lot about my self, what I wanted from life and who I wanted to be, it taught me about loyalty, and friendship, it taught me about the relationships I wanted, and the relationships I didn't. It taught me I wasn't going to spend my life visiting a prison; it also taught me life isn't always black and white. Most of all it taught me that loving someone is often not enough.

As a teen that was a lot to learn, I know some adults who don't understand relationships or their own feelings in the same way. However have I made the same 'mistakes' in relationships since? Well I haven't had a boyfriend sent to prison, but have I allowed myself to be treated badly in relationships since? Definitely yes. Is that because of my experience as a teen, or, without trying to sound like Tulisa, is it just because I'm young and still learning?

I think, one of our biggest mistakes as people is allowing ourselves to be treated badly, we pass blame too quickly in relationships with he did this to me, she did that, when we are in control of how we want to be treated, and should never tolerate anything less than what we want. We can always walk away.

I think the relationships we have as teens are always carried forward, we learn and grow from all of them we can take away positive things or continue the negative. Me and my friends all have very different teenage experiences but they can all be linked to how we behave in relationships now.

We teach young people all about drugs and sex but miss the vital opportunity to teach them about relationships. Most of us as teenagers, have our first relationship experiences, before we know who we are and many set habits that will effect a lifetime. If we taught young people about relationships and what is a healthy age appropriate relationship for them, I think we'd give them a better chance in life and in love.]]>
I am Not Your Sister: 'Sisterhood' Post Feminism,2012:/theblog//3.1519379 2012-05-15T17:43:40-04:00 2012-07-15T05:12:09-04:00 Rosa Doherty
I'm all for the saying girls together are strong, in fact I live my life by it, we are strong together, not just girls, but people, unity and togetherness is a wonderful thing, having shared ideologies, dreams, passions and behaviors, but recently it's had me thinking.


Does this mean because I am a woman I must stand in solidarity with that witch of a woman who stole my milk in 1995 (still quite haven't got over the effect Margret Thatcher's reign had on my childhood). Must I stick up for every booty shaking, bits flashing, video diva (god I hate them) using her bum and not her brain even though she has one, just because I am a girl? What about when I want to call my best 'sister' and shout and scream from the top of my voice about the sister who's not a sister at all, in my venting and casual therapy am I ruining the sisterhood?

I have one real (biological) sister and we fight like cat and dog... I'm not sure I want a brood of 'sisters'. They take your clothes; don't talk to you for weeks when you fall out, call you names, but in truth are the ones you rely on when shit hits the fan? I love this Sister, but she's all the sister I need.

I'm a 20something 'sister' and the sisterhood has me well and truly confused, who are my sisters and how does this work? As a post feminist female trying my best to keep the sisterhood alive, ( *voms* ) like many 20something sisters my sisters I had at 15 are not my sisters now. What about the sisters that you thought were your sisters, but weren't? Have I messed up the sisterhood? Have I got it all wrong? The Spice Girls split up, Destiny's child became DC3, Cheryl hates Nadine and I am well and truly confused.

Even more difficult to understand we watch people in general not being very sisterly. In truth people often suck. So you can see how this term has me confused. What about the sucky people? Are they part of the Sisterhood?

Step one: To clear up this mess I propose, a 'personhood' where people are nice to each other, & we support nice people with equal measure man, woman, girlband etc.

Step two: Its ok if you don't like me, man or woman its ok really, and if I don't like you that's ok too. I don't think the world will end. There are lots of people in it and we can't possibly like everyone.

Step three: (Very important) if you are sucky to me, I don't have to unite with you on a solidarity to women level, because, never mind being a woman, you're sucky as a person.

Step four: It's a brave one but boys can be our sisters....I know some great ones really, they'd give other sisters a run for their money!

Rosa Doherty]]>