Zoe Williams

Zoe Abigail Williams (born 7 August 1973) is an English columnist, journalist, and author who writes for The Guardian. Quotes Later, they were both part of the metropolitan elite, or, as we used to call them, "Londoners". "Was Mark Darcy based on Keir Starmer? Here’s the definitive answer", The Guardian (13 January 2020) The article title refers to the character created by Helen Fielding for the Bridget Jones novels and the (then) human rights barrister he was allegedly modelled upon, It's an extremely peculiar situation, if you come at it cold: neither the Labour leader, nor any of his shadow cabinet, can get through a broadcast interview without being asked who has a penis and who has a vagina. Why, at this moment of both national and international crisis, has the media decided that the most important question for a party that hasn't been in government for 12 years, is a hypothetical one about genitals? "Labour needs to own its policy on gender - and unequivocally back trans rights", The Guardian (6 April 2022). [In the late 1990s] But the conversations we had then were whether or not it was feminist to wear fishnets. There was never any subtext of violence against women. By the late 00s, lad-mag controversies were of a completely different nature. Danny Dyer had an agony uncle column in Zoo that he used to advise a reader to cut his ex's face to stop anyone else wanting her. Other advice was to set fire to a readers's girlfriend’s pubic hair that he didn't like. These were ghostwritten and as such can only really speak to the new mood in lad-mags, but two things had changed. One was a complete normalisation of violence against women and the other was a void where the humour used to be. The norm had been flipped: the argument in the 90s, that anything was fair game so long as it was funny, had turned into: "Anything is allowable, so long as I say it is funny." "The nasty noughties: Russell Brand and the era of sadistic tabloid misogyny", The Guardian (18 September 2023). The comedian Russell Brand was being accused of the sexual assault of four women by the media, all of which he denies. [M]y experience of an all-girls' school, followed by twice as long as a trustee of a prison charity, informed a lot of my politics, including why I became a transgender ally. Before I had thought seriously about trans rights, and the immeasurable preciousness of any human being with the courage to live their most meaningful and truthful life, I thought: "Wait, are you saying all-female spaces are kinder? Purer? Inherently less violent? More supportive? Are you joking? Are you out of your mind?" "Kate doesn’t want Prince George to go to Eton – and for once I agree with her", The Guardian (8 January 2024). External links Category:1973 births Category:Living people Category:Columnists from England Category:Women journalists from England Category:Feminists from England Category:University of Oxford alumni Category:Women authors from England Category:Women born in the 1970s Category:People from London Category:Transfeminists