Alice White – HI776: Literature & Science in the 20th Century – Seminar Leader:

Charlotte Sleigh

Discuss Pig Tales in relation to

cosmetic surgery and femininity.
The society depicted in Pig Tales by Marie Darrieussecq is one in which the
narrator feels compelled to obsess over and alter her appearance. Although
elements of the book may be considered science-fiction, many of the ideas
expressed are not so far from reality as one would like to think. Much of what is
suggested about the nature of society relates to the protagonist’s femininity and
her physical appearance and transformation, even the name of the products she
wears “Moonlight Madness” alludes to the female body and menstruation (which
was once thought to be brought on by the moon). The narrator turns into a pig,
but some women consider surgery because of comparisons the porcine: ‘when
the kids are mad at me they'll sometimes yell, 'buta'"—pig.’1 The pig is culturally
linked with the idea of the unattractive, dirty and lacking in discipline.

Since even before Descartes, the female has been considered the bodily
counterpart to the male mind. Women were considered defined entirely by their
sex, since it was this that caused them to deviate from the masculine norm.
There is an obsession with female bodies which dominates our society, and
which Darrieussecq reflects upon in her novel through the narrator’s obsession
with her own body. The novel portrays the way in which, in modern western
society, the female body has been ‘cut up and dissected - literally, dissected.
Individual body parts are circled and their virtues or failings highlighted - laid out
for public consumption and comment.’2 It is perhaps this attitude that causes
women to consider themselves to be only the sum of their parts, and therefore
seek perfection in each individual body part through actions such as resorting to
cosmetic surgery.

Some feminists suggest that the use of makeup can be liberating:

1 Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, ‘Changing Faces’,

<http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/1101020805/story.html>

2 Lara Williams, ‘Some Body To Love’,

<http://www.thefword.org.uk/features/2009/06/some_body_to_lo>

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Alice White – HI776: Literature & Science in the 20th Century – Seminar Leader:
Charlotte Sleigh

We love our lipstick, have a passion for polish, and basically, adore this
armor we that we call ‘fashion.’ To us, it’s fun, it’s feminine, and, in the
particular way we flaunt it, it’s definately feminist.3

However, in Naomi Wolf’s book The Beauty Myth (1991), she argued that
consumption and comment upon the female body is created by a society which
promotes unrealistic images of the beauty women could attain in order to keep
women subjugated by immobilising them through self-hatred. Even celebrities,
who are expected to look “perfect” because of their occupation, and who have
the time and resources at hand to give the most opportunity to become
“perfect”, cannot apparently attain this perfection, if the magazines which
promote such ideals are anything to go by. Technically the narrator of Pig Tales
is still attractive to men after becoming much larger, and yet she remains
dissatisfied. In defining femininity as what is attractive to men, women set
themselves an impossible target, because not all men will find the same image
attractive. It appears, therefore, that the concept of beauty is a myth. Women’s
pursuit of beauty is considered by Wolf to be a futile exercise which keeps them
from fully participating in male domains, and thus reinforces the power structure
as a patriarchy. The narrator of Pig Tales describes her feelings towards beauty
regimes: ‘I felt worn out just thinking about it but I had to do it.’4 Why do women
chose to spend so much time and effort on their appearance? ‘What so
disempowers them[women] about being without their mask?’5

Women are now positively expected to do everything in their power to look

younger, though, and criticised when they do not. Earlier in the history of beauty,
the turn of the century was considered a ‘“Renaissance of the Middle Aged.”’6
This did not mean that the physical attributes of middle age had become
accepted, but instead that there was less disapproval of older women’s attempts
to look younger. As Wolf suggests in The Beauty Myth, the effect of this was anti-
democratic, and only offered women equality with other women, not with men. It
perpetuated the idea that women should be passive by causing them to spend

3 Debbie Stoller, ‘The BUST Guide to the New Girl Order’,

<http://www.thefword.org.uk/features/2001/04/the_beauty_myth>

4 Marie Darrieussecq, Pig Tales translate by Linda Coverdale (Faber and Faber, 1996),
p.62

5 Ibid, p.115

6 Elizabeth Haiken, ‘Plastic Surgery Before and After’,

<http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/h/haiken-venus.html>

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Charlotte Sleigh

hours on beauty routines to compete with one another. Furthermore, they were
expected to ‘avoid mental and physical exertion to avoid the appearance of
aging-- ... conserving unwrinkled skin was more important than anything else
they might achieve.’7

The attitude of the narrator highlights this attitude to aging with reference to her
last remaining female client, whom she describes as ‘rather old... I think she was
– what’s the word here – frigid.’8 The woman is described as obsessed with the
possibility that the narrator might be pregnant, suggestive of the idea that older
women are desperately linked with the desire to be or appear reproductively
capable once again. The need for women to fight against the appearance of
aging has possibly become more prominent or widespread with the development
of Viagara in 1997. The cap on men’s sexuality was lifted. It appears that
perhaps in response to this, women have stepped up the fight against appearing
asexual because of the ways in which the decline in fertility marks the body.

Sheila Jeffreys suggests that we are misguided to consider that the veneer of
choice overlaid upon the decisions women make about their bodies differentiates
them from cultural practices such as female genital mutilation in other parts of
the world. She suggests that the coercion from society and men in the western
world for women to appear a certain way is equally as compelling, but has been
‘reframed as simply “pressures” which women have the education to withstand.’9
Foucault suggests that in modern western societies, the gaze has a gendered
dimension. Women have become subject to the male gaze, and therefore ‘a
fundamental part of how females are valued within such societies, and how they
value themselves, is associated with how they look.’10 As a result of this, women
are also under their own gaze and the gaze of other women. In order to have any
value, then, women must make themselves aesthetically pleasing to men and
entice men’s sexual desire. In order to do this, discipline must be used in order

7 Ibid.

8 Marie Darrieussecq, Pig Tales translate by Linda Coverdale (Faber and Faber, 1996),
p.11

9 Sheila Jeffreys, Beauty and misogyny: harmful cultural practices in the West,
( Routledge, 2005), p. 36

10 Geoff Danaher, Tony Schirato and Jen Webb eds., Understanding Foucault (Sage
Publications, 2000), p.54

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Alice White – HI776: Literature & Science in the 20th Century – Seminar Leader:
Charlotte Sleigh

to produce the desired effect; even physically painful discipline such as waxing
or surgery is performed on the self in order to “achieve” a husband or partner.

Are women suitably educated to withstand these pressures, or even to be aware

that they are subject to them? Discipline can potentially be understood in two
ways: ‘as a negative force, tied up with punishment and coercive behaviour. The
second values discipline as a positive force, something tied up with self-
empowerment and achievement.’11 The difference between the discipline applied
in some cultures which enforce the wearing of the veil or female genital
mutilation, and the discipline in the west which makes women believe that they
should wear makeup and have cosmetic surgery, appears to be one of
perception. One is perceived as negative because it is openly linked with
punishment; the other is positive because it encourages success, yet still carries
the suggestion of failure and punishment being associated with failing to behave
in the desired way. Does it make it any better that people opt to have cosmetic
surgery because they believe it is the only route to success rather than because
they have been lead to fear the consequences of failure to do so?

It is often almost impossible to be disciplined enough to find the route to this

supposed success. The difficulty of living up to society’s high expectations of
beauty and attractiveness is reflected in Darrieussecq’s novel, society today, and
the writing of feminist authors on beauty. When the narrator of Pig Tales initially
begins her transformation, she describes how her customers ‘all seemed to like
me kind of fat, even the new ones... their desire turned bestial, so to speak.’12
This slight weight gain is approved, she seems happy with the change and the
increased profits it brings. Yet shortly after she despairs that she has become too
big; her uniform no longer fits and that her boyfriend does not find her attractive
anymore, although other men do and she starts to attract a new kind of
customer. There is a very fine line between what is acceptable and unacceptable
in the society presented in the novel.

Real 20th Century Western society also demonstrates this fickle nature. Ariel Levy
suggests in Female Chauvanist Pigs that women have not only accepted that
men can treat women like meat, but have similarly started referring to other

11 Ibid., p.50

12 Marie Darrieussecq, Pig Tales translate by Linda Coverdale (Faber and Faber, 1996),
p.23

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Alice White – HI776: Literature & Science in the 20th Century – Seminar Leader:
Charlotte Sleigh

women as meat also, and that women treating themselves in this way is not
liberating rebellion but instead a limiting conformity to society’s prescribed views
on women. For example in women’s fashion and gossip magazines, women are
praised for being made-up and dressed nicely, but there are also polls which
allow for readers to judge whether women have got exactly the right sort of
dress or makeup and criticise those who have got it wrong. It is almost as though
women are agreeing that they are only valuable for their bodies.

Plastic surgery has long been considered a way to increase a woman’s value in
society by altering the body to mask sexuality and sexual activity. For example,
‘some of the earliest records of reconstructive plastic surgery come from sixth
century India: the Hindu medical chronicle Susruta Samhita describes how noses
were recreated after being chopped off as punishment for adultery.’13 Similarly,
early cosmetic procedures in America were practiced in order to mask the effects
of syphilis, which caused a depression in the nose called “saddle nose”. Because
this was widely associated with the sexual disease, despite there being other
causes, ‘New surgeon Joseph Safian observed in a 1926 radio address, “Many
persons with a saddle nose ... are suspected of having inherited disease and are
greatly handicapped, both in their social and business relations.”’14 Surgery was
used to mask any deviance from the socially accepted norm.

An example of this today might be the reconstruction of the hymen carried out
upon women of cultures where virginity is required at marriage. For instance, in
Xi’an in western China, young women students at Northwest Univeristy are
targeted by advertising that offers ‘procedures including hymen reconstruction
at a 50% discount for students—"in order to make you tops in both your
academic achievements and your looks!"’15. Surgery is marketed as a method to
achieve success, and the reference to hymen reconstruction echoes the idea
that women’s bodies are strictly regulated in terms of their sexuality as well as
appearance.

13 Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, ‘Changing Faces’,

<http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/1101020805/story.html>

14 Elizabeth Haiken, ‘Plastic Surgery Before and After’,

<http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/h/haiken-venus.html>

15 Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, ‘Changing Faces’,

<http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/1101020805/story2.html>

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Alice White – HI776: Literature & Science in the 20th Century – Seminar Leader:
Charlotte Sleigh

In the modern west, ironically, female sexuality and nudity is only unacceptable
for unattractive females. This can be seen in the novel. The narrator describes
how after her bathing suit is torn off by a gang of attacking boys, she hides
behind a fake mangrove tree, and is unable to leave to attempt to reconcile with
Honoré because ‘I couldn’t leave my mangrove tree, it would have been
indecent.’16 Yet very shortly afterwards, she describes how a woman ‘on in-line
skates came and did a striptease... finshed her number by climbing naked up a
palm tree to unroll a huge poster, which made everyone applaud.’17 Sexuality is
tied up with ideas of beauty, and it is suggested that if one does not conform to
expectations of appearance then one should not be allowed to participate in
sexual intercourse. The novel demonstrates how some women feel obliged to
seek cosmetic surgery in order not only to enhance their sexuality but in order to
not feel guilty about their sexuality and to be able to enjoy sex.

In the middle of the narrative, before the narrator has any confidence about her
body, she describes how ‘Honoré managed to rise to the occasion and sodomize
me.’18 The narrator herself derives no pleasure from the act, but spends the
time considering the appearance of her genitals. She remarks that ‘the greater
labia were hanging down a mite lower than normal’.19 Whilst the narrator is
talking about what is normal for her, some women in modern western society
have come to believe that the appearance of their genitals is not “normal”
compared with others in society, and thus embark upon cosmetic surgery
procedures in order to correct this perceived abnormality.

Where did this comparison arise from? The very existence of such drastic
cosmetic surgery implies the existence of abnormality, and the advertising
suggests that “many” patients have undergone what is actually quite a rare
procedure, thus causing women who have not to feel like the exceptions. The
doctors seem very aware of this fact, and Dr. Alter who was one of the pioneers
of labiaplasty calls it ‘“another insecurity to throw out there," ... as if he weren't

16 Marie Darrieussecq, Pig Tales translate by Linda Coverdale (Faber and Faber, 1996),
p.50

17 Ibid., p.52

18 Ibid., p.47

19 Ibid., p.47

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Alice White – HI776: Literature & Science in the 20th Century – Seminar Leader:
Charlotte Sleigh

one of the guys doing the throwing.’20 It has been called the “Penthouse effect”
because in the same way that the popularisation of men’s magazines in the
1950’s caused a trend for breast enlargements in order to live up to the
pornography, women are now comparing themselves to crotch shots and seeking
to emulate porn stars genitals. The virgin/whore dualism leaves no room for
anything in between. In the novel, the narrator describes how ‘I was obliged on
the one hand to act as if I were always in heat, on the other to stimulate a
constant coldness. It was tiring.’21 Surgery perpetuates this dualism by creating
on the one hand women who have the enormous breasts of porn stars and on
the other hand creating the virgins men expect to take on their wedding night.
Clearly, both of these ingrained though opposite views of femininity are a result
of trying to please men.

‘In 1958, Pope Pius XII cautioned plastic surgeons to not operate on patients
seeking the "power of seduction, thus leading others more easily into sin."’22
Often, the intention of surgery is in order to appeal more sexually attractive to
men, and yet the “Penthouse Effect” suggests that this supposed seduction by
images is propagated more by men and the male media than by women. In Pig
Tales, Darrieussecq portrays her narrator as initially very insecure about her
body, and conscious of enhancing the sexuality of her body in order to satisfy
men, particularly her boyfriend Honoré. This illustrates the influence of the male
gaze upon her and her consciousness of the gaze. She looks at herself as others
(men) would see her. This awareness, though, demonstrates a contradiction. At
the beginning of the novel, the narrator states that her boss ‘pawed at my right
breast, obviously finding it marvellously elastic. At that point in my life, men in
general had begun finding me marvellously elastic.’23 However, she then goes on
to say very shortly afterwards that with the free cosmetics she may be entitled
to, ‘Honoré would undoubtedly find me even more alluring.’24 She is already

20 Louisa Kamps, ‘Labia Envy’,

<http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/1998/03/17/16feature/index1.html>

21 Marie Darrieussecq, Pig Tales translate by Linda Coverdale (Faber and Faber, 1996),
p. 35

22 William Norwich, 'Elizabeth Haiken Faces Off Against Americans Addicted to Cosmetic
Surgery', <http://www.observer.com/node/40044>

23 Marie Darrieussecq, Pig Tales translate by Linda Coverdale (Faber and Faber, 1996),
p. 2

24 Ibid., p.3

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Charlotte Sleigh

attractive to men, as clearly indicated by the first example, but Darrieussecq

demonstrates the ingrained idea that women need to make themselves ever
more attractive to the opposite sex. There is no attainable perfection at which
point there is no longer any need to continue making adjustments, there is
always another improvement to make. Since the narrator of Pig Tales intends to
use her earnings to spend on more cosmetics and products to make herself more
attractive, she embodies this sort of dissatisfaction that Wolf argues women are
conditioned to feel.

Arguably, women submit themselves to discipline in order to operate more

effectively in social and economic settings. Darrieussecq alludes to the
perception that sexuality and beauty brings economic success in the comment
that ‘the boutique started doing a bang-up business with me on board’25 as well
as the fact that the narrator has to perform sexual acts on the director in order
to get her job. The narrator is literally selling herself, yet it appears that women
feel the need to visually sell themselves. Sheila Jeffreys refers to a study by
Dellinger and Williams (1997) into women in the workplace in order to indicate
that women feel compelled to wear make-up in order to have an easier life in the
workplace, because ‘women who did not wear makeup did not appear to be
“healthy”, “heterosexual” or “credible”’,26 all of which are notions that affect a
person’s career. Whilst the actual policy of the office was not a formal dress code
in which makeup was required, and therefore there was no threatening figure,
the women still felt the need to discipline themselves into wearing makeup in
order that they might advance their success or their perceived success.

Race is also a key issue with regards to femininity, attractiveness and cosmetic
surgery. Issues of race can be seen in the novel, where Darrieussecq refers to
the racism inherent in society, the fact that anyone of any other ethnicity was
rounded up and forces to leave and there ‘weren’t many blacks in the streets
any more, and I had no idea what had happened to the marabout.’27 This
elimination of other racial traits can be seen in the practices of the beauty
industry. Jeffreys argues that because ‘it is unlikely that black women are
somehow naturally excluded from the province of essential beauty, it is clear

25 Ibid., p.8

26 Marie Darrieussecq, Pig Tales translate by Linda Coverdale (Faber and Faber, 1996),
p.114

27 Ibid., p.101

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Charlotte Sleigh

that what is beautiful is constructed politically and incorporates race, class and
sex prejudices.’28 Sander L. Gilman has written almost an entire book focused
upon the role of race in cosmetic surgery in Making the Body Beautiful: a
Cultural History of Aesthetic Surgery, where he particularly uses the example of
a “Jewish nose”. Jeffreys refers to a Taiwanese women who said that she wore
makeup to give her ‘a “wide-eyed” American look.’29 Soul magazine from South
Africa reports that today more black women are opting for surgery, and
demonstrates the role models followed:

consider the popularity of other non-whites basing their beauty on

Caucasian traits. It reads like the ABC of Hollywood. A is for Alicia Keyes, B
is for Halle Berry… the list goes on to Jennifer Lopez, Mariah Carey, Naomi
Campbell, Rihanna, and Tyra Banks.

All of these examples appear to demonstrate the idea that by using cosmetics
and cosmetic surgery, women ‘“let the sexism” pass in favour of diluting
racism.’30 Jeffreys suggests that this is in order to become less threatening to the
sexist, racist men who dominate industry, and Wolf would similarly suggest that
it is a way of subjugating women.

Recently, cosmetic surgery has undergone a drastic increase in popularity in the

East. One reason given for this is the need to compete economically:

The owner of a "beauty center" in Shenzen's Jiulong City Mall observes,

"China has too many people. How do you make yourself stand out from
1.3 billion? Imagine your boss sees two people of similar ability. He will
definitely pick the person with the better appearance."31

The media continually reinforce the assumption that women who appear older
will be unable to find or keep work, for instance in the reporting on the
‘discarded’ newsreader Moira Stewart and the ‘ageism row when Arlene Phillips,
66, was replaced as a judge on Strictly Come Dancing by Alesha Dixon, 31, a
decision criticised by Harriet Harman, Equalities Minister.’32

28 Sheila Jeffreys, Beauty and misogyny: harmful cultural practices in the West,
( Routledge, 2005), p.113

29 Ibid., p.114

30 Ibid., p.115

31 Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, ‘Changing Faces’,

<http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/1101020805/story2.html>

32 Adam Sherwin, '‘Ageist’ BBC criticised as news presenter Susan Osman, 51, takes
China job',
<http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article6941375.e

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Charlotte Sleigh

The idea that cosmetic surgery is necessary has even perhaps surprisingly been
endorsed by feminist leader Terry O’Neill of the National Organization for
Women. She argues that the decline in the economy has put women in a
situation where they are forced to go to any lengths to find and keep
employment, including surgery. To support her argument, she suggests that ‘any
number of studies have shown that people with better (read: younger) looks
have a better chance of getting a good job’ and that ‘now a lot of men are out of
work. Which means that, in this economy, getting the old face and belly looking
tighter may, for many middle-aged women, be as crucial as having an eye-
catching résumé.’33

Criticism for this position has come from many feminists, such as Kate Harding
writing for Salon.com, who argues that goes against feminist aims to agree with
the

far more powerful people and organizations who depend on sexist, ageist,
racist beauty standards for their very livelihoods, essentially to defend the
right of white women who can afford it (even if they really can't) to make
themselves appear more acceptable to sexist, ageist, racist employers.

The plastic surgeons who pander to the desires of the employers are helping to
reinforce a culture where women are not acceptable as they are, and rather than
supporting their campaign feminists should oppose it as a stand against such
ideals. Another feminist, Alexandra Suich, has suggested a regression in
feminism, because where Wolf’s book The Beauty Myth launched the Third Wave
of feminism it is now undermined by betraying feminists such as Terry O’Neill,
who ‘is not decrying the "beauty myth" but is accepting a "beauty reality."’34 The idea of surgery
as a means to become more financially stable would seem to be somewhat
naive. Not only could it kill the women undergoing procedures, rendering money
irrelevant to them, but also taking out huge credit card loans to finance surgery
still does not guarantee a job at the end of it.

Such feminists advocate a move away from the existing rules of society rather
than conforming to them by going under the knife. It is only once the narrator of

ce>

33 Judith Warner, 'Bo-Tax Backlash',

<http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/bo-tax-backlash/?ref=opinion>

34 Alexandra Suich, 'The Nation: Feminism's Face Lift',

<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121500283>

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Alice White – HI776: Literature & Science in the 20th Century – Seminar Leader:
Charlotte Sleigh

Pig Tales has been liberated from her female body and become a pig living away
from society that she becomes able to understand her story and no longer be
constrained by struggling to fit into an expected role.

Donna Haraway states that one of the definitions of cyborg is ‘a creature of

social reality as well as a creature of fiction.’35 Since cosmetic surgery is present
in our society, and people are aware of this and discuss and debate it, it is a
social reality. People do have cosmetic surgery in our society. And yet it is also a
fiction: it is a creation of humans that is not naturally occurring but imagined into
being. The perceived need for it more than anything perhaps is an elaborate
fiction. Many of the alterations pursued by cosmetic surgery have their origin in
the fiction of pornography and airbrushing of images, two types of fiction which
propagate the fiction that women are supposed to uniformly appear a certain
way, and that any deviation from this is a disfigurement. The normal, the original
social reality, becomes increasingly abnormal and thus unreal as more people
convert to the view of the fiction as a social reality. So does cosmetic surgery
create cyborgs? In that those who have undergone procedures are a mixture of
social reality and fiction, perhaps. But Haraway imagines her cyborg as a
‘creature in a postgender world’,36 and the surgically or cosmetically altered
body is surely more gendered than even the natural body. If 95% of those who
have cosmetic surgery are women, then women are more defined by their bodies
than ever before, because they are physically altering them to conform to
expectations about femininity. Even men who undergo sex-change operations
are reinforcing the idea that femininity is all about the body. If ‘cyborg imagery
can suggest a way out of the maze of dualisms in which we have explained our
bodies and our tools to ourselves’37 then cosmetics and cosmetic surgery are not
currently helping to create cyborgs as Haraway envisioned them, but instead
reinforcing the dualisms by which we explain ourselves, and creating masks
which women hide behind in the existing society rather than forging the new
genderless society which Haraway advocates.

35 Donna Haraway, ‘A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and Socialist

Feminism in the 1980’s’, Feminisms, ed. Kemp and Squires (Oxford University Press,
1997), p.474

36 Ibid., p. 475

37 Ibid., p. 482

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Charlotte Sleigh

Bibliography
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Publications, 2000)

Darrieussecq, Marie, Pig Tales translate by Linda Coverdale (Faber and Faber,
1996)

Haiken, Elizabeth, ‘Plastic Surgery Before and After’,

<http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/h/haiken-venus.html>

Haraway, Donna, ‘A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and Socialist

Feminism in the 1980’s’, Feminisms, ed. Kemp and Squires (Oxford University
Press, 1997)

Jeffreys, Sheila, Beauty and misogyny: harmful cultural practices in the West,
( Routledge, 2005)

Kamps, Louisa, ‘Labia Envy’,

<http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/1998/03/17/16feature/index1.html>

Norwich, William, 'Elizabeth Haiken Faces Off Against Americans Addicted to

Cosmetic Surgery', <http://www.observer.com/node/40044>

Sherwin, Adam, '‘Ageist’ BBC criticised as news presenter Susan Osman, 51,
takes China job',
<http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article69
41375.ece>

Stoller, Debbie, ‘The BUST Guide to the New Girl Order’,

<http://www.thefword.org.uk/features/2001/04/the_beauty_myth>

Suich, Alexandra, 'The Nation: Feminism's Face Lift',

<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121500283>

Takeuchi Cullen, Lisa, ‘Changing Faces’,

<http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/1101020805/story.html>

Warner, Judith, 'Bo-Tax Backlash',

<http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/bo-tax-backlash/?
ref=opinion>

Williams, Lara, ‘Some Body To Love’,

<http://www.thefword.org.uk/features/2009/06/some_body_to_lo>

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