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Weekend Woman's Hour: Cerys Matthews on Carole King

Cerys Matthews on Carole King, living with chronic pain, Claira Hermet on her double mastectomy and disliking your child's friends. Presented by Jane Garvey.

Is Carole King the greatest ever female singer songwriter? Cerys Matthews tells us her favourites.
Is it racist to express a racial preference when dating? Bim Adewunmi and Charly Lester discuss. Living with chronic pain - are women more likely to suffer?
Joanna Jepson on her memoir, A Lot Like Eve, being bullied as a child, and challenging the late abortion of a foetus with cleft palate in 2003. The poet and novelist Elaine Feinstein discusses her favourite female poets and writing about writers in her latest collection, Portraits.
Claira Hermet on why she chose to have a double mastectomy at 27 years old. And Jenny Eclair and Lucy Cavendish discuss not liking your child's friends?

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58 minutes

Racial Preferences and Dating

If you have a racial preference when dating, is it a matter of sexual attraction or can it ever be considered racist? Jenni speaks toÌýBim Adewunmi,ÌýCulture Editor at Buzzfeed and Head of Dating at Time Out, Charly Lester about whether our dating preferences say something about us.Ìý

Gender and Pain

A new film starring Jennifer Aniston explores what it’s like to live with chronic pain. In it Aniston’s character Claire is not just physically affected Ìý- her condition impacts on her emotional and psychological health as well.Ìý Chronic pain affects more women than men, but are women treated sympathetically by medical practitioners, or are they more likely to suffer in silence because they fear doctors won’t take them as seriously as men?ÌýÌý Maria Mansfield has suffered from chronic pain for 17 years, Joanna Bourke has explored how gender has influenced the treatment of pain in her book,ÌýThe Story of Pain,and Liam O’Toole is CEO of Arthritis Research.Ìý

Arthritis Research UK
For more information visitÌý

Cerys Matthews on Carole King

Who is the greatest female singer-songwriter? As ‘Beautiful – the Carole King musical’ opens in London tonight, ahead of the Brit awards later in the week and the centenary of Billie Holiday’s birth in April, musician Cerys Matthews reveals her top 5 all-time favourites.Ìý

Joanna Jepson

Joanna Jepson is a Church of England priest who was born with a jaw abnormality which led to years of bullying and low-esteem throughout her childhood. In her new memoir, ‘A Lot Like Eve’ Joanna discusses how her evangelical upbringing, painful reconstructive facial surgery and her time in a Welsh convent inspired her to become a vicar and the first Chaplain to the London College of Fashion. She joins Jane to discuss how she was pulled into the media spotlight in 2003 when she challenged the late abortion of a foetus with a cleft palate, her experience of sexism in the Church and why she is passionate about fashion.

A Lot Like Eve: Fashion, Faith and Fig-Leaves: A Memoir is published by Bloomsbury on 26 February 2015

Elaine Feinstein

Poet and novelist Elaine Feinstein has said of her work that writing about people has always been ‘the most intense of my preoccupations’.Ìý In her new collection, ‘Portraits’, she brings together poems that describe a myriad of writers whom she has known, or has loved through their work.Ìý Jenni speaks to her about female poets and maintaining a love for writing alongside family life.

Double Mastectomy

When Claira Hermet was nine years old she lost her mother to breast cancer and three years ago she lost her sister to the same illness. Claira then discovered that she carried the BRCA1 gene mutation meaning she had an 85 percent life chance of getting breast cancer herself.Ìý And so, at the age of 27, Claira recently opted to have a double mastectomy. A documentary on Radio 1, being aired tonight, (24th February) has followed her story from making the decision to have the double mastectomy right through to the operation itself. Jane speaks to her about her experience.

Bye Bye Boobs:

For more information about BRCA and breast cancer go to Breast Cancer CampaignÌý

Disliking your child’s friends

How common is it not to like your child’s friends? ÌýDo you have to like them? ÌýAnd if you really don’t, how do you handle it? ÌýWriter Lucy Cavendish has four children and comedian Jenny Eclair has one grown-up daughter. ÌýThey join Jenni to discuss getting on - or not getting on - with their kid’s mates.Ìý

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Jane Garvey
Interviewed Guest Bim Adewunmi
Interviewed Guest Charly Lester
Interviewed Guest Joanna Bourke
Interviewed Guest Liam O'Toole
Interviewed Guest Maria Mansfield
Interviewed Guest Cerys Matthews
Interviewed Guest Joanna Jepson
Interviewed Guest Elaine Feinstein
Interviewed Guest Claira Hermet
Interviewed Guest Jenny Eclair
Interviewed Guest Lucy Cavendish
Producer Rabeka Nurmahomed
Editor Jane Thurlow

Broadcast

  • Sat 28 Feb 2015 16:00

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