Welcome to the CFN blog’s new weekly round-up, a post of links to current news stories and blog posts you may find useful, interesting, and thought-provoking.

Reclaiming Feminist – Sarah Bessey at She Loves magazine

“I would love to see the Church reclaim our historic place in the feminist movement, to become fierce champions for the dignity, rights, responsibilities, and glories of women again. 

The daughters of the earth are crying out for God’s justice and peace. People in the first world and third world and caught somewhere in between, both men and women are buried in the world’s power structures, tensions, histories, the old empire fallout of authority and patriarchy, war and economic injustice, hierarchy and systemic evils generation after generation.”

Why Cambridge Needs Feminism: Student project gets around-the-world support – Huffington Post

“A project to encourage students from Cambridge University to express why they need feminism has gone viral and reached as far as Malawi and Australia.

Cambridge University Students’ Union’s women’s campaign asked students, lecturers and passers-by to write on a white board and complete the sentence ‘I need feminism because’.”

[nb you can see all the photos from the campaign at the CUSU Women’s Campaign Facebook page]

Who is Nigella’s neighbour? – Natalie Collins at Threads

“Language such as ‘big bust-up’ ‘row’ and, as Charles Saatchi has now described it himself, ‘a playful tiff’. All such language detracts from the severity of the situation and reinforces the widely-held belief that domestic abuse is a relationship issue, when in fact it is the issue of an abusive person.”

Be true to yourself. Is this really the best the Guides can do for girls? – Zoe Williams

“This schmaltzy formulation of “truth to oneself” crops up regularly in the basket of helpful things to bestow on adolescents. It’s a strange instruction to a person of any age, relying on the idea that you have this irreducible core, this righteous quiddity, and if you make sure it isn’t compromised you’ll leave the Earth having done more good than harm.”

Women priests: the next generation – Miranda Threlfall-Holmes

“As the prospect of women bishops comes closer, all women clergy are freed to be considered for the whole range of posts on their own merits. It is no longer seen as a wasting a career development opportunity to give a senior or specialist post to a woman, though other barriers of course remain.”

What happened when I started a feminist society at school – Jinan Younis

“It is appalling that an institution responsible for preparing young women for adult life has actively opposed our feminist work. I feel like the school is not supporting its girls in a crucial part of their evolution into being strong, assertive, confident women. If that’s the case for a well-established girls’ school, what hope does this generation of women have in challenging the misogyny that still pervades our society?”

6 things that happen when you write about feminism – Sarah Ditum

“The people who accuse feminism of hating men have a very fragile, narrow idea of being a man – they’re something like a fluorescent tube. They are worried that any change will shatter them. Feel sorry for them, but not too sorry: like the rest of us, they will probably be OK.”

Announcing the Christian Feminism Q&A Series – From Two To One

“A couple weeks ago, I asked if you all would be interested if I had a regular Q&A series of Christian feminists. Each person profiled would share a piece of his/her story about becoming a Christian feminist, or what Sarah Bessey calls a “Jesus Feminist.” The series would serve as an arsenal of real individuals’ stories on how their faith and feminism intersect rather than diverge.”

Giving Girls and Young Women a Voice competition – Sophia Network blog

“The influential National Council of Women is holding a prestigious national competition – asking girls and young women under 30 to write about their concerns.

The overall winner will be invited to New York in March 2014 to attend the United Nations’ annual Commission on the Status of Women Conference.”

Two become one? The great surname conundrum – Hannah Mudge at Threads

“The world of relationships is surely one of the key areas where a host of dubious ideas purporting to be Biblical truth have been pushed on us. It’s probably not the time to turn surnames – and what decisions we should make about them – into one of these.”