When women write complex characters, filled with desire, anger or self-destructive urges, why are their books touted as ‘sad’ and frivolous – unlike those of inward-looking male authors'? What do we mean when we say a novel is a “sad girl novel”? I could list a dozen popular novels published over the last few years that have had this term slapped on them. What do they have in common? Most often a protagonist who is at times miserable and disaffected, who is suffering under capitalism, who is ambivalent about their sexual experiences and their relationships with others. Usually they are highly ..read more

Performers on RuPaul’s Drag Race are helping to deepen our understanding of issues such as homophobia or coming out as trans, says Rachel Congdon As a woman and feminist, I must respond to the letters you published (7 April) and say that I love drag and RuPaul’s Drag Race. I don’t feel threatened or demeaned at all, and I think it’s essential in spreading tolerance. The men and trans women who perform on Drag Race are not a threat to women, nor are they demeaning us. Drag is a funny, fantasy expression of their desire to explore their femininity. The conversations when they are getting ready i ..read more

As a gen X feminist who survived and ignored a violent assault in the 80s, I didn’t identify as a victim – but #MeToo gave me a crucial new perspective In the scorching summer of 1987, young, invincible and hungry for adventure, I left my cloistered life at the University of Sydney to hitchhike to Darwin. I wanted to discover the “real” Australia, that classless utopia of rugged, self-made blokes in the Foster’s ads; the quixotic outback of explorers and mavericks celebrated by Xavier Herbert and Patrick White. Hitchhiking for art was a masculine pursuit, mythologised by Jack Kerouac and the b ..read more

Emma Joliffe takes exception to the assumption that women are buying newer versions of stout because they are less bitter Your report (Higher stout consumption driven by female drinkers and low alcohol options, 4 April) quotes Tom Holmes from Vocation brewery as attributing stout’s popularity to a female preference for sweeter tastes: “We think there is something around the sweeter flavours of stout being introduced that are bringing more females in, as it does not have the same bitterness typically associated with hops, so it’s more accessible.” Leaving aside the wince-inducing use of “female ..read more

In a country beset by sky-high rates of femicide, a mutual support movement has helped women seize back public spaces – and make a living Photographs by Mahe Elipe As the sun rises in Mexico City, Marchigua sets off on her 45-minute cycle ride from the fringes of the city to Alameda Central park. There, the 37-year-old campaigner joins a lively group arranging blankets on the pavement and putting up banners, all bearing messages in support of women’s rights. Women wear scarves in green and purple – the colours of Latin America’s equality movement. This mercadita feminista, or feminist market ..read more

Dr Grace Barnes argues that drag, at its core, humiliates women through demeaning parodies of femininity, while Katharine Rogers finds it fascinating but thinks it may be best kept out of schools and libraries May I suggest to Max Wallis that next time he watches his “visual Valium” Drag Race, he takes a moment to consider how women feel about being parodied and openly disrespected on primetime television (Drag is under attack across the world: RuPaul’s Drag Race shows why we need it more than ever, 31 March). Drag queens take the trappings of femininity and exaggerate these to create a grotes ..read more

Outdated attitudes aside, the friendship, fashion and sex proves an eye-opener for a new generation of viewers as the show reruns on TV A commitment-phobe boy had just dumped me when I first started watching Sex and the City. I had only been on this planet for just over a year when the show first aired, but the 25-year-old series came to me as a Manolo Blahnik-clad rite of passage when I needed it most. Many of my Gen Z peers are now meeting Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha and Miranda for the first time, as the show was released on Netflix in the US last week. In the UK, you can watch it on Now TV ..read more

The Colombian pop star – and mother of two boys – disliked the global blockbuster, saying its message robs men of chance to ‘protect and provide’ In an unlikely dissension from what has become a critical and commercial consensus, Colombian musician Shakira has said that the Barbie movie is “emasculating” and suggested that it “rob[s] men of their possibility to be men”. In an interview with Allure magazine that focused on the “she-wolf feminism” behind her work, Shakira said she had watched the Greta Gerwig-directed satire and said: “My sons absolutely hated it. They felt that it was emasculat ..read more

The Gulf state is the new chair of a UN women’s commission. That reflects a bigger issue as governments attack or fail to prioritise gender equality Next year will mark the 30th anniversary of the Beijing declaration, a landmark blueprint for advancing women’s rights. It marked the mainstreaming of feminist concerns, with 189 states signing up to the text at a conference in China, where Hillary Clinton, then first lady of the US, declared that “women’s rights are human rights”. Yet when the United Nations celebrates that achievement, its commission for promoting and evaluating progress on gend ..read more

Readers respond to Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff’s article about her reservations about embarking on parenthood Re Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff’s article (I know I want at least one baby. But the more I learn about motherhood, the more terrifying it seems, 12 March), having survived the trauma of childbirth and managed to scrape enough to pay for childcare and a living, there is another aspect to consider: the immense negative impact motherhood would have on your career. Having successfully worked in the world of media agencies for 15 years, I have now arrived at a firm stop in my career due to being pen ..read more