Saturday 6 November
Dressed to Kill: 1980s Style
11.30am Joanna Entwistle
Power Dressing: a thing of the past?
Power dressing and the concept of ‘dressing for success’ stated the
importance of a sharp suit in male worlds of work, specifically corporate
business. Joanna Entwistle examines the aims and origins of this form of
dress and asks what, if anything, remains of power dressing in today’s
corporate and professional worlds?
Joanna Entwistle has co-edited The Fashioned Body: Fashion, Dress and
Modern Social Theory and teaches at the University of Essex
2pm Margaret Scammell
Creating Mrs Thatcher
During her time as a politician Mrs Thatcher and her advisors worked on
refining her image and how she presented herself to the press and public.
From family woman to war leader, bow collars to crisp suits, Margaret
Scammell traces the changes in Margaret Thatcher’s presentation of herself
and looks at the contribution she made to political marketing.
Dr Margaret Scammell teaches at the London School of Economics and has
written widely on political marketing and media management.
3.30pm Elizabeth Wilson
Lesbian Dress in the 1980s
The 1980s were a rich pageant of political struggle. HIV campaigns and the
infamous Clause 28 strongly galvanised gay reaction, and feminism was still
a potent influence. Lesbian dress reflected this atmosphere of embattled
defiance; this was the heyday of debates on butch and femme, S/M and
pornography, and experiments with identity that included dress and self-
image.
Elizabeth Wilson is a cultural critic whose books include Purify (Va Va
Voom) and The Sphinx in the City: Urban Life, the Control of Disorder and
Women.
Saturday 20 November
Pride and Prejudice: The Gay 1980s
12pm – 3.30pm
Simon Garfield
AIDS at Number 10
How did the great upholder of family values and moral rearmament react to
the greatest health crisis of her government? How did the world of anal
sex, needle exchanges and infected blood banks play in the corridors of
Westminster? Simon Garfield, journalist and author of The End of Innocence:
Britain in the Time of AIDS, relates a story of prejudice, fear, nervous
education and some enlightenment.
Peter Tatchell
The Gay 1980s: From Backlash to Defiance
Writer, broadcaster and gay and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell
argues that the early 1980s was a period of queer optimism, with great
hopes for advancement. The expected gains were, however, abruptly thwarted
by the AIDS pandemic and by government policy, but this only temporarily
halted the push for queer freedom. The homophobic backlash of the 1980s
produced a defiance and radicalism that paved the way for all the eventual
gains of the last few years.
Lisa Power
‘Get off your Arses and March!’: How Section 28 brought lesbians and gay
men together
Following on the separatism of the early eighties, first the shock of HIV
then the insult of Section 28 encouraged lesbians and gay men to work
together in the fight for rights. Faced with a Parliamentary battle over
Section 28, the things gay women and men had in common took precedence over
the things that separated them. But, like all real families, things didn't
always run smoothly...
Lisa Power is Corporate Head of Policy and Public Affairs at Terrence
Higgins Trust
Tickets: £18, £15 concs
BOOKING INFORMATION
By phone
Book instantly by credit or debit card on 020 7320 2222. £1 fee per
transaction, including postage.
By post
Send details of the tickets you would like including talk, date and any
concession details, and a cheque payable to The Women's Library to:
The Women's Library
London Metropolitan University
Old Castle Street
London E1 7NT
|