They were a couple doing a performance about women, sex and bodily fluids. Then they broke up – and made it more explicit. Meet the duo behind HotterThe pants arrived today. They’re bright pink with the word HOTTER emblazoned on them in red letters. “W…
Continue ReadingThey were a couple doing a performance about women, sex and bodily fluids. Then they broke up – and made it more explicit. Meet the duo behind HotterThe pants arrived today. They’re bright pink with the word HOTTER emblazoned on them in red letters. “W…
Continue ReadingDoctors made me feel silly and men offered to fix my vaginal woe. But speaking up about sexual dysfunction has given me back the voice I had lost in bedIt’s time for me to stop lying about sex. To my ex-partners, I’m sorry I wasn’t as honest with you a…
Continue ReadingDoctors made me feel silly and men offered to fix my vaginal woe. But speaking up about sexual dysfunction has given me back the voice I had lost in bedIt’s time for me to stop lying about sex. To my ex-partners, I’m sorry I wasn’t as honest with you a…
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, LondonKemsley packs in high-calibre jokes in a tour through the gendered politics of promiscuityIn Nanette, Hannah Gadsby refused to pretend her personal pain was funny – and threw down a gauntlet to the comedy world. But there’s life yet…
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, London
With an abundance of eyebrow-raising anecdotes about outrageous social faux pas, the standup is terrific company
There was louder buzz around Lou Sanders’ Edinburgh fringe hour this year than her work has ever previously generated – Shame Pig was voted best show by her fellow comedians. Not only is it a fine show, from a comic with just the right distance from, and closeness to, all the self-mortifying stories she’s got to tell. But it also addresses her alcoholism and newfound sobriety. Her previous work was talked about in terms of its wildness and lack of focus. Shame Pig, by contrast, is efficient and on point, a neat hour broaching the burden of shame – as opposed to embarrassment – that Sanders (and, she argues, many women) find themselves carrying through youth and early adulthood.
Related: A moment that changed me: realising, aged 16, that I couldn’t handle alcohol | Lou Sanders
At Soho theatre, London, 25-28 February.
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh
Fran Bushe’s comedy uses glitter and smart songs to advocate better understanding of sex for women
Fran Bushe wants to fix sex. Armed with glitter, songs and a diagram of her vulva, she’s on a mission to kickstart her own libido and change how we think and talk about female pleasure – and its opposite – in the bedroom. After trying and failing to enjoy sex for 15 years and facing a parade of unhelpful advice from GPs, Bushe is taking matters into her own hands.
Though, of course, it’s not that simple. Bushe wants a quick fix, a happy ending, but much of her solo show is about how life – and sex – don’t work that way. At least not in the sexually unequal society we still live in. Ad Libido is unapologetically personal, to the extent of including intimate snippets from Bushe’s teenage diary, yet it also lightly suggests the external pressures that many women feel when making decisions about sex. Often throughout Bushe’s quest it becomes as much about soothing the feelings of male partners as trying to make sex pleasurable for herself.
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh
Fran Bushe’s comedy uses glitter and smart songs to advocate better understanding of sex for women
Fran Bushe wants to fix sex. Armed with glitter, songs and a diagram of her vulva, she’s on a mission to kickstart her own libido and change how we think and talk about female pleasure – and its opposite – in the bedroom. After trying and failing to enjoy sex for 15 years and facing a parade of unhelpful advice from GPs, Bushe is taking matters into her own hands.
Though, of course, it’s not that simple. Bushe wants a quick fix, a happy ending, but much of her solo show is about how life – and sex – don’t work that way. At least not in the sexually unequal society we still live in. Ad Libido is unapologetically personal, to the extent of including intimate snippets from Bushe’s teenage diary, yet it also lightly suggests the external pressures that many women feel when making decisions about sex. Often throughout Bushe’s quest it becomes as much about soothing the feelings of male partners as trying to make sex pleasurable for herself.
Continue ReadingAre you there god? It’s me, Margaret. I go by Mags now. Last time we chatted, I had just gotten my period. A lot has happened since. I’m 26 now, but my body is still going through continual changes. It all started in college. When I was 21, my boyfriend Damien said, “Do I really […]
Continue ReadingAs a physiotherapist, I know a third of women don’t have reliable body control. I wanted to raise awareness of this taboo subject at Edinburgh festival
I’m a physiotherapist, and as a fresh-faced graduate, my ambition was to work in elite sports. I did it, too, thriving on team spirit, travel and free trainers.
Then I had three babies in four years, each blessed with a bigger head than the one before. A dramatic sneeze during a zumba class showed me (and everyone there) that my pelvic floor had been reduced to rubble. In that excruciating instant, I realised that what really mattered was not being able to jump a tiny bit farther, or run a bit faster than others, but, being able to jump and run without wet pants.
Related: Ed Patrick is a junior doctor who’s finding the funny side | Sarah Johnson
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