Edel Coffey: There's still a very strong ideology of how women should look

On English breakfast television last week, two journalists got into a preposterous spat about whether women should do their make-up and glam up before going into the labour ward. Yes, you read that correctly.

Edel Coffey. Photo: Ray Ryan

Last week was a bit of a psychedelic experience. I felt like I had been bounced back to the dark ages of ladette culture, or further still, as there was so much commentary floating around the ether about how women should look.

From labiaplasties on the rise in Ireland to a pregnant Rihanna wearing runners to perform her Super Bowl half-time show to a debate on breakfast television about whether women should glam up for the labour ward (honestly, I’m not making this up), my head was spinning by the end of the week. It reminded me that amid all the body positivity and ‘do you’ memes, there is still a very strong ideology about how women should look.