Press clippings Page 3
The Defining the Norm Awards: the nominees
Comedian Will Franken honours the most conformist acts at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Will Franken, Spiked, 25th August 2016Bechdel Testing Edinburgh Fringe festival
This month we're taking time out from holding Bechdel Theatre Festival conversations to Bechdel test some of the many (many, many) shows at the worlds biggest theatre festival in Edinburgh. We've been endorsing Bechdel test passing shows with stickers. Keep your eye out if you're looking at a wall of posters and want to choose something with women at the forefront to break up the overwhelming maleness of most of the festival scene. If you see this logo you can be sure that women are being represented.
Bechdel Theatre, 15th August 2016Kate Smurthwaite clashes with 'sexist' Tory
A comedian has clashed with the head of a Conservative think-tank who sent a sexist tweet about her. Kate Smurthwaite appeared alongside Ben Harris-Quinney on LBC radio last night - but moments before he pair went live on air the political adviser took to Twitter to comment: 'Shame they haven't got me a real comedian. We all know women aren't funny!!!'
Chortle, 27th February 2016Janey Godley, Kate Smurthwaite address Cambridge Union
Comedians including Janey Godley and Kate Smurthwaite are to debate romance in the Cambridge Union.
Chortle, 11th January 2016Review: Funhouse Comedy Club at South Holland Centre
Performers include Keith Farnan, Ben Schofield, Sean Moran and compere Kate Smurthwaite.
Mark Lea, Spalding Guardian, 6th October 2015Feminist infighting? It's no joke, says comedian
She was the feminist comedian who became a poster girl for free speech when her show was shut down -- because some feminists didn't agree with her. Now Kate Smurthwaite is bringing a new show, The Wrong Sort of Feminist, to the Fringe to delve into what exactly free speech means in the 21st century.
Georgie Keate, The Times, 19th August 2015Kate Smurthwaite answers 10 Edinburgh Fringe Questions
Comedian Kate Smurthwaite introduces her show and the Frankie Boyle quote on her flyers.
British Comedy Guide, 14th August 2015Censorship on campus: a tale of two comedians
The great and the good are angry. So angry they've written a letter to The Guardian/Observer. What has raised their heckles? The cancellation of feminist comedian Kate Smurthwaite's gig at Goldsmiths University by students who aren't big fans of her brand of feminism. Apparently the great and the good don't like it when comedy is censored by priggish undergrads. In their letter, signed by academics, writers and feminists, they slam the 'illiberal and undemocratic' silencing of those who have the apparently wrong views, and call on universities to 'affirm their support for the basic principles of democratic political exchange', including for comedians. Which is nice. But also odd. For at the end of last year, another comedian, Dapper Laughs, was banned by Cardiff University, and not a single one of the signatories to this letter said a word about it.
Brendan O'Neill, Spiked, 16th February 2015Kate Smurthwaite: Meet the 'Not Feminist Enough' comic
A comedian had her show on free speech canceled because some people did not like what she was going to say.
Lizzie Crocker, The Daily Beast, 4th February 2015Comedian Kate Smurthwaite silenced! Or was she...?
Of course, I was appalled by this story. I'll admit to not knowing who Kate Smurthwaite was prior to this point, and upon researching her, she turns out to be a rather nasty piece of work - a vocal supporter of the 'Nordic model' in relation to sex work and someone not adverse to abusing sex workers on Twitter ('rape enablers' and comparisons to murderers are some of her charming claims) and who has trotted out zombie stats on the sex industry as fact. She's campaigned against strip clubs, and is a supporter of Object.
David Flint, Sex and Censorship Blog, 3rd February 2015