Archive for the ‘Mild Mannered Musings’ Category

Ladies’ Night on Google+

Sunday, August 7th, 2011
Google Plus

Google+

 

I read recently that Google+ membership is made up largely of tech-savvy men in their 20′s. And what kind of content do they post? Techie stuff. As a woman, I represent a fairly small minority in that I understand much of their jargon – and an even smaller minority when I give a damn about any of it.

There’s a reason why nightclubs have “ladies’ nights” and “ladies free before 10am” policies. Indeed, its an immutable law of economics: if there were no women in any given bar or club, would men hang out there? I think not. Instead, sensible proprietors provide incentives to encourage women to spend time in their establishments. And, in general, men (with some exceptions) seem happy to pay extra so that clubs will tip the gender scales in their favour. (more…)

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Time for the Real World?

Monday, August 1st, 2011

I’ve reached a perplexing stage in life: despite my best efforts to the contrary, I have to enter the real world. This, alas, is not a ‘Real World’ sitcom with a charming adolescent co-star. Instead, it is a world in which all of the decisions that I made in earlier years, rather than coming together and saying “Do this, Claire!”, have manufactured a tension that lends itself to no job in particular, only an introspective blog post.

In essence, this tension is one that I think that most people can relate to. It’s not as simple as “Hmm, what should I be when I grow up?”, although if I could resolve it, it would likely generate an answer to that too. Rather, it is: “What do I think is important?” As I see it, there are three things that I could prioritise: intellect, belief or security. (more…)

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Not-so-Mild Mannered Musings

Thursday, July 21st, 2011

Me!

There is something to be said for content that generates controversy. As a journalist and (almost) lawyer, as much as I wish that good news sold, it doesn’t. Despite the best efforts of SA Good Newsand similar endeavours, newspapers sell on the strength of “Roastafarian”* or “Teen kills brother during spat over dog”**.

Apparently my purpose here is,”to educate and entertain the masses… To get your voice out there. To facilitate change!” It certainly is not to generate traffic to Braden’s (aka “admin” or “Griffin Studio“) site. Fortunately for me (and him), there’s no such thing as bad publicity. Consequently, I have free reign to muse about, and grumble about, whatever I like.

And yes, I promised Braden that I wouldn’t use his blog as a soapbox for my latest feminist rant. It is not a promise that will be easy to keep. Nevertheless, I’ll try to confine myself to South African law and politics, probably in comparative perspective. I’ll also throw in the odd cutesy puppy or kitten so that I seem more like a Stepford wife than a man-eating, bra-burning bourgeoisie cow.

Hi, I’m Claire: unemployed journalist, law student, acerbic cow and the love of Braden’s life (are we taking bets on how long it takes him to ‘edit’ this post?).

xoxo

 

* Actual catch phrase from the ‘Daily Voice’ some years ago.
** Today’s headline in the ‘Cape Times‘, one of Cape Town’s more reputable newspapers.

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