A longstanding and slightly comical criticism of social work is that it is wooly. At times it can appear unclear and unfocused, in others it is all encompassing but overtly soft in nature – the rub being that social workers sometimes struggle to successfully address and countenance issues of harm, because we are often trying too hard to be nice. Continue reading
I’ve only memorably been called a bitch twice in my near 40 years: once by a particularly unpleasant band of South East London hoodlums for standing up to their invite to violence with nonviolence; perplexing the bunch of them; the second ‘bitching’ occurred today, and it was a lady on the Twitters – lauding me for suggesting that the calling (and baiting) of women as bitches was misogynistic and something to be avoided. Let’s take a look at what that’s all about. Continue reading