The New Feminism?

I made a promise to myself that I would never write about the Daily Mail again, but much to my delight - among the usual articles about feminism castrating men, betraying women and generally making the whole world unhappy, I found a truly sensible article by the wonderful Hilary Hazard of super-duper-rollicking-good-read of a magazine KnockBack (subtitle "This is the magazine we made because we didn't like the magazines they made for us").

The statement she makes about enjoying being female is particularly salient. At long last someone has made the point (to Mail readers of all people!) that feminists - or the ones that I know (and in that I include myself) - DON'T hate men. We don't have a sneaking hidden desire to want to BE men. We just want to celebrate what being female means to us individually (which, let's face it, is never really going to be satisfied by a mass media, is it?) and get a bit angsty when we have ridiculous here's-what-you-should-like-now-please-shut-up bull shoved down our throats.

The thing that Ms. Hazard's magazine does so well, and what sets it apart from any other womens or feminist magazine out there, is its irreverance. It's sheer don't-give-a-damn. It laughs at itself, at the situation and at just about anybody who happens to cross the editorial team's path by the looks of it. But what is even better... you can laugh at it to! You can feel good rather than guilty, and couldn't we all do with a little more of that?

It also doesn't hurt that KnockBack is helped along by some nifty design and high production values, all of which make her message to "sort out your websites... get a public profile that women want to be a part of" one that should really be listened to. These ladies know what they're doing, and what's more - with articles in national newspapers and appearances on the BBC - theirs is an approach that appears to be working!