I'll confess, I've only read five of the famously prolific Weldon's more than 30 novels, plus of course her ubiquitous journalism, contrarian critiques, and her invariably entertaining appearances on the BBC. I enjoyed them more as portraits of a time, of a psyche, of the position of women writers than I did as works of lit, stringent and often funny though they can be. Weldon, along with Doris Lessing and Germaine Greer, is one of those writers defined as "feminist," and proud of it - and like Lessing or Friedan, she's one of those who lived as adults in the pre-feminist world. But she's also of the generation that, being of the true vanguard, sometimes seems as addicted to contrarianism, to the opposition of doctrine, as to set-in-stone principles. And that's why she's so interesting (and frustrating to many), as an interview in the Guardian , prompted by her latest novel, makes clear.

Weldon was always atypical: the daughter of a writer who left her husband during Weldon's childhood, Fay (born, rather awesomely, "Franklin Birkinshaw") studied psyc and econ in the early 50s, had a child out of wedlock, married and divorced when it was still outre, and carried on a career after her marriage. Her novels - the best-known are surely The Life and Loves of a She-devil and Praxis, dealt with women oppressed by the Patriarchy. But Weldon was always contrary, and at times has seemed as heedless of the opinions of the feminist establishment she helped promote - and who, some would argue, made her iconic - as of the old order she opposed. She's never had a problem changing her mind: After years of avowed atheism, she converted, a few years ago, to Christianity. She makes no secret to her devotion to celebrity gossip on the Daily Mail website, her plastic surgery, or for her unapologetically commercial work for Bulgari.

She's also critical of modern feminism; she, along with Doris Lessing, notoriously declared that "Our duty now is to become masculinist. It is time we looked after the self esteem of the little boys...Feminism was a revolution that happened. It was an amazing movement that worked. Everything is completely different to what it was 25 years ago.But what happens with all revolutions is they become the Establishment.

She has advocated faking orgasms. And in 1998, she made waves when, speaking of her own sexual assault, declared that rape "isn't the worst thing that can happen to a woman...rape is nasty, death is worse."

In the current interview, she declares, among many, many other things (and do read the whole thing),

She recently said the problem with most feminists was that they were so boring. "They're getting a bit better, because at least they are more interested in women in other lands," she says. "In the last five years, it has been so inward-looking – they have been worried about pay gaps, worried about the minutiae of things – that it got up its own arse. Now, [the feminist movement is] looking outside – you see what's happening to women in Afghanistan and you see the necessity of fighting back. You need to work in those areas. It is too easy for women [in the west] to see themselves as victims and oppressed by men. I think one has to be more rational."

It's this sort of remark - a combination of good sense, hyperbole, gratuitous dismissal, condescension, and contrariness - that will, I think, be Weldon's true legacy. Was she a feminist icon? In a way - as she puts it, "It became obvious that you had to be a feminist because it was such a ridiculous state of affairs." She calls herself "the only feminist there is" of her generation, and in a certain sense, nowadays, she's right: she was, and is, a "choose-your-choices" modern feminist before that was kosher. But whether that's regarded as bravery and independence, or merely weakness when the world needed rigor, the truth is that I think it's this very quality that exempts Weldon from the pantheon of feminist icons. In a sense, she is perhaps a "true" feminist - certainly her real respect for a woman's individual choices, her ability to be an individual, are as feminist as it gets, to my way of thinking. But she faught against being defined by ideology, and she wasn't. And as a result, she is distinct from a figure like Germaine Greer who, while perhaps more doctrinaire, provided a strict and recognizable framework when one didn't exist. Weldon was, and is, an individual - that was her choice, and her legacy, but that can make someone a lot harder to fit into history.

'I'm The Only Feminist There Is – The Others Are All Out Of Step' [Guardian]
Fay Weldon Turns From Feminism To Boy Power [Independent]
Fay Weldon: Rape Isn't The Worst Thing That Can Happen [BBC]
Lie back and think of Jesus [Guardian]
'If you want to find true happiness, just fake it' [Guardian]
How The Spice Girls Have Killed Feminism, Subverted Morality And Embarassed Us All [Daily Mail]

It's not that Cooke doesn't offer good examples of this feminist regression — she does, from the country's deplorable rape conviction rate to the media's mauling of Amy Winehouse — it's that she, and the editors of the Observer, barely managed to speak to young British feminists about what was going on in the grass roots of the current movement.

Sure, she has one brief quote from 27-year-old Jess McCabe, the woman behind the excellent UK Feminist website The F Word, but of the eight articles about women in the Observer special, not a single one is written by an emerging feminist or speaks in depth to a woman under 35. There's an article about the women behind the 1970 National Women's Liberation Conference, and another article which is an interview with retired newscaster Anna Ford. But the only article that even attempts to speak to women in their 20s, barely bothers to speak to women specifically involved in the feminist movement.

That particular article, "What's it like to be young, female and living in Britain?" asks a range of young women, from models to Olympic athletes to a few activists, about their personal experiences. Silver medallist in modern pentathlon, Heather Fell, says: "In some ways I'm a traditionalist — I think the man should be there to look after the woman. For me, feminism means women thinking we can do everything without needing men and I don't agree with that." They speak to a 21-year-old engineer who says she's never encountered sexism, and a model who helped found the model's union in the UK who says, "I never liked the word 'feminist' — for me it always meant being against men, whereas I see myself fighting for general equality." One of only two self-proclaimed feminists the Observer talks to is burgeoning politician Rania Khan, who says "I describe myself as a feminist, but feminism doesn't make sense to me as a separate entity. I see it as part of the wider struggle for equality, alongside class and race. I want to see more women, especially from ethnic minorities, involved in politics. Women need to be educated and empowered to take those key positions; only then will we see change."

Khan's brief comments in that one article say far more about the state of modern feminism than the thousands of words spilled by older, and dare I say, more out of touch feminist lights. It's a movement that has become more global, and while it's certainly less cut and dry than the battles those 70s feminists were fighting, that doesn't mean the current issues are not important, or that feminism is dead. This is not to denigrate those incredibly important battles in the least, but I wonder if in some ways, it's time for print media to start handing over the mantle.

Two self-proclaimed feminists I see published in the MSM quite frequently are Germaine Greer and Camille Paglia. Both these women have contributed to the feminist lexicon, but these days they seem to be purely deliberate provocateurs, one of whom is obsessed with denigrating Hillary Clinton's appearance, and the other busy lashing out at Lady Di. The Observer's spread even includes one of these past-prime provocateurs, Fay Weldon, who has written in the Daily Mail recently about how teen girls should be temporarily sterilized and how the Spice Girls ruined feminism. Maybe the picture of modern feminism would not seem so bleak to the Observer if they looked beyond the old-fashioned, all-white faces of 20th century feminism to the new movements roiling right under their noses, yet curiously off their pages.

How Far Have We Come In 80 Years? [Guardian]
It's Been A Long Journey — And We're Not There Yet [Guardian]
The Interview: Anna Ford [Guardian]
What's It Like To Be Young, Female And Living In Britain? [Guardian]

Earlier: Camille Paglia Hates Hillary, Loves Mailer, Is Miffed At Madonna
Who's Afraid Of The Badly Dressed Princess?
Daily (Hate) Mail
British Novelist Says Spice Girls Made Generation Y Drunk, Slutty

At first I thought Weldon was just being an asshole, because all children are beautiful to their parents, but then it got me thinking — how often do you hear a mother tell her son that he's handsome? Very rarely. Strangers hardly ever come up to a male child and comment on his looks, while a female child, nearly from the day of her birth, will have all manner of people chattering about her appearance (true story: a total stranger once came up to my aunt and told her my 3-year-old cousin was "unfortunate looking."). [True story: At a wedding last year, during a post-ceremony toast, the father of the bride went on and on about how lucky his son-in-law was because his daughter is "so beautiful". -Ed.]

Are parents just making their daughters narcissistic by telling her she's attractive? Are they setting her up for disappointment if she's not that attractive in reality? Or are they buffeting her against possible future low self-esteem?

Looks Aren't Everything? Don't Kid Yourself [Times of London]

With tenuous logic, Weldon explains her Spice-Girls-are-the-root-of-all-evil theory. She points to the Spice Girls lyrics as encouraging young'uns to get high and fornicate. "What chance did formal sex education have when faced with the catchy lyrics - written by men, of course - that told young girls to indulge in such things as 'weekend love' and encouraged 'playing games'? What it did of course was to separate love from sex. The Spice Girls killed romance," Weldon concludes. Wow. She is really giving Zig-a-zig-ah way too much credit.

But it gets even weirder! Weldon says that the Spice Girls are also destroying modern feminism. She explains that the Spices' fem-botty bodies are maintained so Posh and the lot can remain attractive to men, then, in the same breath, Weldon criticizes them for being working mothers. "According to the rumour mill, chickenpox has struck on the tour. It must be dreadful in that 747. Well, what did the feminists think would happen? That these girls wouldn't have messy relationships and have to drag their kids round the world so they could go to work? At the end of the day, a working mother's a working mother. In the cotton mills 150 years ago, toddlers crawled about the dusty factory floors. Now it's on the aircraft floor, up and down the aisle. What's the difference?"

What's the difference??? Well first of all, the mothers working the cotton mills didn't have a choice. Secondly, the fact that the Spices are working mothers doesn't mean that they're inattentive or bad mothers. What's wrong with involving your kids in your work life? At least they're spending time with their children! We're tempted to say that this article was meant to be a satire, but reading reviews of Weldon's books makes us wonder if she's dead serious. Says the Guardian on Weldon's What Makes Women Happy: "The contents page lists the causes of women's happiness. They are the usual suspects - sex, chocolate, shopping, and the three Fs - friends, food, family." Well then! Weldon is clearly an expert on women and we should defer to her Spice Girl revelations.

How the Spice Girls Have Killed Feminism, Subverted Morality And Embarrassed Us All [Daily Mail]
Lie Back And Think Of Jesus: After Seven Decades As An Atheist, Fay Weldon Has Found God. But Has She Stopped Believing In Women? [The Guardian]

Earlier: British Women Prefer Buying to Boning
British Women Have Enormous Breasts