"Boys need toys, not a Lego range for girls" I beg to differ...

Okay, so during the weekend I stayed in London with my boyfriend James and he bought a Sunday paper called The People (basically the new News of the World) and it had this article in it by a columnist called Charlie Catchpole. The article is about how the Lego company are bringing out a range of Lego toys for girls, the link is here.


I personally don't see a problem with this in a feminist way: I don't think it's teaching gender stereotypes, it just means that there are male and female pieces of Lego. When I was younger I played with Lego regardless of the fact that there weren't that many female figures in it - I think I had about two or three different variations, rather than the hundreds that my brothers could make. 


The people this article mentions that criticize the company for “a betrayal of a beautifully genderless toy”, in my opinion Lego wasn't made for both boys and girls: it was made mostly with boys in mind. And they're now adding female figures and places: great! Because there are already many Lego sets out there that would interest mainly boys (although I'm not saying that girls are not interested by then - like I said, I played with Lego when I was younger and I remember making Fighter Jets and cars and I thought it was fun).


What I do not, under any circumstances, approve of is the way this man belittles and degrades my gender. Let's look at a quote, shall we?


"Action favourites such as Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Caribbean are now joined by a beauty parlour and a cafe, where five tiny figures called Olivia, Emma, Andrea, Mia and Stephanie sit nattering about boyfriends before they go shopping, I imagine."


First of all: I don't have to be a boy to like Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Caribbean Lego regardless of the fact that they are essentially a boys toy. 


Second of all: a beauty parlour and a café? Seriously? They are the only places you can see women going? We go to a lot of places actually; university, the gym, to work, to school...actually, anywhere you go. Don't put women in little boxes: just because in your little brain all women do is go get their nails done and grab a coffee doesn't mean that's how air-headed and moronic all the women of the world are.


Thirdly: how misogynistic is it to assume that, if girls played with Lego, they would be sitting around "nattering" about boyfriends before they go shopping? I'm sorry, but there's just so much wrong with this sentence. That isn't all there is to women; he's trying to make out like there's nothing else in our heads, that the only things we care about are boys and shoes. For Gods sake, are you still in the fifties? How a man is able to make such sly digs about females and have a serious prominent job in the media industry is beyond me. 


And, of course, then he has a go at the parents who brought their child up genderless, saying that they must doubtless be pleased at the new Lego range whilst subsequently bashing them for exercising their right as parents to bring their child up the way they see fit. Because, you know, it's totally fair of you to voice your stupid opinion on bringing up a child that isn't even yours. Just sayin'. 


When I read this article I had to have a rant about it. Because I honestly couldn't believe this man's polluting, backwards, sexist views were allowed to print. If new newspapers like The People actually want to be respected as pieces of journalism, I suggest losing people like him and bringing people who treat both genders equally, and not look down on women or little boys who want to dress up as girls or play with "girl" toys. 

Leave me alone! The one where I am constantly hounded by a charity

So to start this off, I should clear something up: I am a student. Therefore, I am poor. I got a fifteen pound cheque from my uncle the other day as a belated birthday present and all I thought was, "brilliant! That's a weeks shopping sorted!" I'm not the type of person to go and buy myself stuff anyway, even if I did have the money.

But last week I was walking down the high street in Winchester and saw bunch of blue-jacketed people with clipboards and such. As I was avoiding staring at one, another approached me even though he could see I had my headphones on. Normally I would've just smiled, shook my head and carried on but he stood right in front of me so I didn't have any choice but to stop walking.

And I will admit, he was rather good-looking. Which probably does help him talking to the public.

So he asked me about myself and where I was from and he actually knew where Canvey Island is! Every person I tell always pulls a stupid face when I say I live on an island and are like, "are you sure you don't mean the Isle of Wight" and I'm like well obviously not, I think I know where I live thank you very much. It's not like I just forget where I come from. Or they say "are you sure it's an island?" And I answer well, we are surrounded by water and there is a bridge so yes, I'm pretty sure it's an island. That's why it's called Canvey Island. Honestly.

Anyway. Back to the point at hand.

He was chatting away and told me all about the charity's work (he worked for UNICEF, by the way) and all about the poor starving children and if I sent just one text for three quid then I'd be feeding them for however long. Then he did the puppy-dog eyes at me and asked if I considered sending a text. And I told him that I did give to charities back home, whenever I see collection pots and I have money on me I do give. And he just wouldn't stop pestering me so in the end I just agreed, and sent a text.

And oh my word, they won't leave me alone.

Three pounds at the moment is a lot of money. I know it doesn't seem like it but if you're as poor as me at the moment, three pounds can mean the difference between paying my rent or being kicked out of my house because I didn't have an extra three pounds to pay the rent. But I gave it anyway. Because it tugged at my heartstrings and I felt bad for the poor starving children and I do want to help in some way. But if I'm honest, it's mostly because I felt cornered and this guy would be looking down on me for being a selfish excuse for a human being if I didn't.

Every single day since I sent that text, someone from UNICEF has rung me. Every. Single. Day. The first time I picked up and the guy on the other end of the phone was like, "thanks for the text you sent, you've saved a life, blah blah blah" and I thought okay, thank you for telling me this but I know what my money was going to do because the guy practically rammed this info down my throat. And then he asked me if I had any time to spare to talk about their other work in Africa (most likely so at the end of it they could ask me for even more money), but I was on my way to a lecture so I couldn't. He pushed it a bit more but finally gave up.

And then they rang again the next day when I was in a lecture.

And they rang the day after while I was in the shower.

And just now when I was on the phone to my mum.

I don't mean to be rude UNICEF, but you have my money now. Congratulations. Go feed starving children, do what it is you say you're going to do. Don't waste your time chasing me up, telling me what a good person I am and then expecting me to give even more! Just because you now have my number doesn't mean I want an update every single day for the rest of my life.

And don't make me feel bad about my decision if I don't want to give. I don't have a lot of money. If I could give more I would have and would already be doing so. I would do it off my own back, and not because some pushy idiot with a clipboard told me to.

One of my best friends was hounded by one of these people the same day I was, but whereas I had to stop and eventually gave in she didn't because she was heading somewhere. Obviously a student, obviously in the same boat as me. And she told me the UNICEF guy that tried to get her to stop made her feel terrible about the fact that she couldn't - not that she didn't want to, but she couldn't - give him any money. She felt like the most selfish person in the world.

Sometimes they have this smug sense of superiority on their faces, "I'm working for a charity, what are you doing to help the world? You're not even giving me any money, how selfish are you, do you want African children to die?" I know not all charity workers are like that, but I've seen a few that can be.

I just think it's the worst possible way to get someone to give to charity, hounding them, making them feel bad. I know it worked on me, but I regret it. Obviously I don't regret giving money to help save someone's life, but just the method, the intimidation, the nice feeling you get when you've done some good overshadowed because you've essentially been forced into it.

It's not that I don't want to give to charity. It's just in the financial position that I'm in I can't. I think some charity workers - and indeed, charities like UNICEF itself - could be a little more aware of this.

Enter Subject Here

Okay, so I'm not feeling very creative with my blog titles at the moment. It's alright. I'm sure I'll get better at it again, just need to get into the swing of things, et cetera.

Today was pretty boring. All I did really was manage to max out my level on Fallout 3 - hello gamerscore abundance! I also taught Abbi to play Left4Dead online, which is quite hilarious, although unfortunate - some complete wanker on the her team decided it would be funny to start killing his own team mates, and the other team locked themselves in the safe room and didn't move for about twenty minutes. It's frustrating when people don't play the game properly but what can you do? You can't control them, so it's best to just leave and find a new lobby with people are aren't massive idiots.

After this we made dinner - home made chicken kievs! Basically we made the garlic thing inside using cream, parsley and garlic, cut the chicken breasts open and shoved it in, covered in flour and then egg and then sprinkled lots of breadcrumbs on top. It worked very well, I was actually quite surprised because it tasted like a chicken kiev should taste. Success!

We also watched a film, I can't quite remember the name of it, but Kate Winslet was in it and she was a lesbian with this weird girl and they both made up this fantasy world and wanted to be together forever, except the weird girl's mum tried to break them apart and wouldn't let her get a passport so they could swan off and be together so they killed her with a brick in a pair of tights and left her in the woods.

Very, very odd.

I don't really have anything else to add. 

The one where I got bored and started a new blog

I think it's all in the title really.

I did have a blog on here, but after reading through it I realized that I was a typically boring, angsty adolescent and the best thing I could do for this world was to delete the utter drawl that was my life back then. I'm much happier now, but isn't everyone an angsty teenager?

I can say the word teenager as though I'm not one anymore, even though I'm still nineteen. But this is justified, because I will be twenty in nine days. Nine! This isn't long at all. I'm quite excited, as it means I can go home and see my family and (some of) my friends for the weekend. I haven't seen my family in more than a month now, which makes me quite sad to think about it, especially my mum (and James' mum as well really, because she's like a second mum to me now).

Being away from everyone at university can be quite hard but I think having unlimited texts on my phone and internet in my new house makes it so much easier to keep in contact with people. And, of course, living with people you actually talk to on a daily basis and get along with is always helpful to a productive and friendly living atmosphere. Suffice to say it is a lot better than last year.

Anyway. I guess I should do an 'about me' kind of thing. My name is Becky. I'm nineteen (almost twenty, as I stated) and I'm studying Creative Writing at Winchester University. My lecturers are constantly drumming the fact into us that most employers these days expect you to have a blog and twitter and god knows whatever else and we're cyber-stalked, so if anyone that wants to hire me is reading this, hello prospective employer! I do hope you enjoy my writing/ranting.

I have a lovely family and group of friends. I also have a boyfriend, James, who I've been with for over a year and a half.

He's pretty neat. At home I have two cats called Boots and Smudge, at Uni we have five quails called Colin, Quirrel, Quentin, Queenie and Hobnob. To be honest I'm not an huge lover of animals and pets, but once they're there I don't really mind them at all. They are quite nice having around.

My main hobby is, obviously, writing. I do it all the time. But apart from writing, I also love reading - I'll read anything. My all-time favourite is Harry Potter - what else? Sometimes I get a lot of criticism about this but honestly, it's all personal opinion, and personally I absolutely love Harry Potter because it was, in a sense, my childhood. I remember standing in the queue at midnight to get the last book then crying the whole way through it, and I remember seeing every film at the first viewing the cinema had. So yeah, I'm very big on Harry Potter. But I like a lot of other things too, it's just my memory is a bit of a sieve so I struggle to remember everything that I love.

Apart from the obvious hobbies, I love gaming. Games are something that was also a huge part of my childhood - the first console we had was a Sega Mega Drive when I was very young. The best times I remember when I was younger was watching my dad play Gex Gecko and Jersey Devil on Playstation 1 and wishing I was good enough that I didn't get screwed over by the enemies every time I played. Maybe it was because I had two brothers and my dad growing up to influence me to play games, otherwise I'd have been left out and joining in games was preferable to being by myself. At the moment my console of choice is my beloved XBox360 Elite, I got it two Christmases ago and it's my baby. I'm currently waiting on my birthday to get Gear of War 3 from my boyfriend, money for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 from my parents, and hopefully enough money to buy Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim when it comes out.

Apart from those I do other stuff like most young adults my age. I like to go out for a drink, I eat absolute crap sometimes, I watch a shit-load of films, go to lectures, do some work, listen to music, all that jazz.

I can't honestly say when I'll be posting in here again; I mean, I'd love to keep on track with it and make it comprehensible and entertaining and witty but like I said, I'm so forgetful. I may just forget about this blog's existence in a few days and find it again when the internet has bored me and I have nothing else to do except look back through all of my things.

Anyway. Yeah. Goodbye.