06/12/2010

In 2009 boxing became available to women, the last Olympic sport to do so; and in April this year seven women began to train for 2012 alongside the men. They are already making their presence felt on the Women’s Boxing scene internationally and last month women were included in the GB Amateur Boxing Championships in Liverpool for the first time. The tense lightweight final, the first ever women’s bout to be screened by the BBC, saw two women who have already won medals at home and abroad pitted against each other. There was just one point between the new ABA champion, 26 year old Natasha Jonas from Liverpool and her opponent and fellow team GB member, Hartlepool’s Amanda Coulson! Judi Herman went to meet Natasha and Amanda at the ABA training centre at the English Institute of Sports in Sheffield.

A decade ago, burlesque erupted in a surprisingly popular underground revival. Many aspects of it have now entered the mainstream but it remains a contentious scene, representing glamour, sisterhood, confidence and fun to some, and reactionary sexual politics and artistic mediocrity to others. Ophelia Bitz, burlesque performer, and Dr Julia Long, lecturer and researcher for London Feminist Network join Jane to explore why burlesque is so popular and whether it’s just saucy fun or purely self-exploitative?