• FBI agents and local police force have rescued nearly 50 child prostitutes (aged 13-17) from a nationwide sex trafficking operation. Special Agent Melissa Morrow says that adult prostitutes tipped them off about a sixteen-year-old girl who had been recruiting children into sex work. • A website that sells human hair says they have seen a huge increase in women seeking to profit off their strands as the economy tanks. • A British couple have been rescued after spending 40 days stranded at sea. • Tragic news: three Chinese mothers have lost their children and their savings because of one reckless driver in Ohio. • On Husband's Day, Icelandic woman serve their men traditional delicacies, including ram's testicles. Tasty! • Despite receiving death threats, Hubsi Kramar, the star and director of Josef Fritzl-inspired play Pension F, will not cancel or delay the opening. The (tasteless) show must go on! • Scientists have found a medical reason for bad hair days, and it's not particularly surprising (hint: it has to do with oil and hormones). • Time interviews Barbara Davilman and Liz Dubelman, authors of What Was I Thinking: 58 Bad Boyfriend Stories about bad breakups and first impressions. • Sociological Images has an interesting post about suggestive names of juniors brands, including Tyte, Sugar Tart, and Hooked Up. • Duffy stars in a new campaign for Coca-Cola with the tag line: "I'm no superwoman." The F Word breaks down why this is a problem. • New research shows that gray hair is caused by buildup of hydrogen peroxide, even among those who aren't bottle blonde. • Need a classy way to show off your love for painkillers? Make some Vicodin earrings! • In this sad article, a self-described former street kids claims that "Slumdog Millionaire" does not provide give a "realistic" depiction of life in the slums: "It's no such thing. Slum life is a cage." • New York Times writer tackles the film from a slightly different angle, arguing that the word "slum" does not do justice to the reality of Dharavi. • 

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