This weekend's TV (26-28/5/06)

I can't let it go yet. Grace and Imogen are still getting to me. And particularly Grace - Imogen can be partly forgiven for the fact that she is essentially a void. Is this what women in the 1970s fought for when they took to the streets to demand equality? So that these 1980s babies could slide through life, riding on the crest of their prettiness? Getting into bed with men they have absolutely no chemistry with because they can't THINK OF ANYTHING ELSE TO DO, and because using your brain might actually HURT? I'm really narked off with these two, and last night we saw the fruits of their self-constructions when the boys had a chat about what the girls would be like in bed. Ok, so this conversation would have happened anyway, but would it have taken such a dark turn when it came to Grace (Sezer: "you could pull some wrong positions on that girl") if she hadn't been playing Mikey and George off against each other, flouncing her fanny around while exercising and dancing, and just generally letting people speak to her in whichever way they want as long as they're the opposite gender (i.e. when Mikey called her a "little bitch arse" because she asked him to sleep in another bed, merely invoking her girly giggle. He didn't sound like he was making a joke to me)? Those are the rewards for trying to make people fancy you rather than hoping that they might just like you as a person. And then there's Se-"rapey rapey rapey"-zer. He doesn't like to wait for girls to consent, he likes to have things "his way" apparently. Imogen having not slept with him has elicited his "respect". Because all women are either madonnas or whores to this complete charmer - they will have sex with him, or withold it temporarily. Either way he'll get it in the end. Imogen's the madonna and Grace is the whore and, although neither of them have in fact had sexual intercourse, their behaviour around men they hardly know has enabled their labelling by them. Oh girls. Dearie dearie me. Time to go back and see what happened in the last century. See what giant leaps forward were made by women, adjudge whether second-wave feminists aims were achieved and, if not, do our bit to ensure that freedom of choice is available to all women regardless of class, creed or colour. Or maybe we should just let things stay as they are. After all we've nearly got equality and what's so wrong with motherhood/the bias in Law/sexual intimidation/page 3 girls/the low rate of successful prosecutions for rape/arranged marriage/the repeal of the abortion laws in many American states in the twenty-first century/Nuts and Loaded/sex trafficking/the fact that most women are in part-time and poorly paid work/enforced female circumcision/domestic abuse and torture/Dannii Minogue anyway?? Nah, you're right, we've gone far enough. Let's all go out on the pull.