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Woman's Hour: Author Siri Hustvedt

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15/09/2017

Author Siri Hustvedt

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Author Siri Hustvedt

Siri Hustvedt: essays; violent language; orphanage volunteering; Chris Hemmings;.

The use of violent language; author Siri Hustvedt's collection of essays; volunteering at orphanages; Chris Hemmings and Be A Man.

US novelist Siri Hustvedt is the prizewinning author of six novels and writer of non-fiction, poetry and essays. She also publishes in scientific journals on neurology and psychiatry and is therefore well placed to bridge the art science divide, which she does in a new collection of essays, A Woman Looking At Men Looking At Women. In it she considers how perception and bias works against women; how science can be judged masculine and the imaginative arts and the emotions feminine and therefore less important. She talks to Jenni about this and the influence of misogyny on the US election.

George Osborne told colleagues at the Evening Standard newspaper that he would not rest until Theresa May was "chopped up in bags in my freezer", that's according to a magazine profile of the former chancellor. It would not be the first time he has used gruesome language about the Prime Minister, who sacked him when she succeeded David Cameron after the EU referendum. We discuss the use of violent language, its motive and impact, with Isabel Hardman, Assistant Editor of The Spectator and Rachel Krys, Co-Director of End Violence Against Women. 

Should you volunteer to work in an orphanage in a poor country? Last week we discussed how Australia is considering taking a hard line on orphanages abroad, and refusing to support them. That's because they believe it risks putting more children in orphanages and fuels a kind of "orphanage industry". Currently, the received wisdom about this issue is that you shouldn't volunteer unless you have a specific skill or profession to offer, and our guests last time were very clear about that. But some listeners got in touch to say they volunteer abroad in a responsible way, and others wanted to let us know about children centres abroad which are run very responsibly, in their opinion. 

Journalist, broadcaster, author and former 'lad' Chris Hemmings used to be involved in disgraceful rugby club antics while at university, from throwing full pints in women's faces to some of his team mates urinating on women. Now a reformed character, in his book 'Be A Man' Chris explains why he did it, and attempts to discover what in 2017 it really means to 'Be A Man'. Why have generations of men blocked women's march towards equality and what impact has it had? Chris joins Jenni to explore how masculine determination to be dominant not only impacts on the women and girls in our lives, but also the men and boys. 

Presenter: Jenni Murray
Producer: Kirsty Starkey

Siri Hustvedt Photo: Marion Ettlinger.

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