All feminists are hairy and hate men. All males – even the unborn fetuses – are rapists. Nigel Farage is actually the creation of a very dedicated character comedian. These are just three of the (obviously very tongue-in-cheek) talking points from Bridget Christie’s excellent new show, ‘A Book for Her’. The title’s a callback to her 2013’s Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Award-winning show ‘A Bic for Her’, in which she attacked the pen manufacturers for suggesting that women’s stationery needs were different – i.e. pinker – than men’s. It’s also a neat way to publicise that she’s got a book out.
This isn’t just some half-arsed promotional tour, though. Christie’s on furious form, unloading her righteous ire on such deserving targets as the cuts-happy Tory government and disgraced NAACP official Rachel Dolezal. In some instances – such as when Christie contemplates the future careers of rightwing comedians ‘Jim Davidson, Roy Chubby Brown, dead Bernard Manning and that Jethro from Cornwall’ – her anger is a hyped up, spittle-flecked parody of the bra-burning feminazi she’s so often accused of being. On more tangible issues, she speaks with passion but also coherence – her final five minutes contain a brilliant call-to-arms instructing the audience how to effectively protest the ‘luxury’ VAT status of women’s sanitary products.
Christie’s show takes specific aim at the people leaving comments beneath every article about her online – an echo of Lewis’s Law, which states that ‘the comments on any article about feminism justify feminism’. It’s good to see that, rather than having the desired effect of silencing the voices of Christie and women like her, these comments are provoking feminist comedy that’s more bold and fearless than ever.