Girls in their tweens and teens are facing complex challenges and need guidance about what really matters — their self-worth. Helen O’Callaghan reports.

Mrs Brown’s Boys has beaten The Office and Gavin & Stacey to be named best British sitcom of the 21st century.

ACTOR Andrea Irvine is near the end of a “marathon” shoot and can’t wait to cross the finish line. 

GOT a teenage daughter/family member/friend who’s starting to show an interest in feminism? Or, in fact, one who isn’t?

SINGER Morrissey has released his first novel, after months of anticipation, and social media has erupted in amusement and incredulity.

Does the rise of feminism mean the age of chivalry is dead, or do women still want men to open doors for them and to pay for their drinks?  Vicki Notaro investigates everyday sexism and online etiquette.

Bridget Christie, who’s married to fellow comedian Stewart Lee, is a refreshingly new feminist voice in standup and her witty monologues leave Suzanne Harrington in stitches

Fashion is no longer the opposite of feminism, writes Mary Rose Roche and it is finally giving us the clothes that reflect our lives.

Cork-based couple Nora and Katriona go for a casino-themed event on Don’t Tell The Bride, on RTÉ2 on Thursday.

JUST moments into Caitlin Moran’s guided tour of her home town, and the popular columnist and author is dangling a lacy black bra in the air.

Orgies, porn, lesbian flings, they’re all openly discussed. So why can’t we talk about the natural occurrence that is women having a period, asks Marjorie Brennan.

Nora Ephron had effortless style and her steeliness was as impressive as her slick observations. Marjorie Brennan is charmed by a collection of her impressive work.

Journalist Lynn Barber tells Richard Fitzpatrick why interviewers shouldn’t be afraid to look stupid and how she asked Jimmy Savile ‘that question’

Laurie Penny

THE comedian Jenny Éclair wrote recently of the five ages of swimwear. The bikini, the tankini, the one piece, the one piece with sarong, and finally, being buried up to your neck in sand. Chronologically, I am probably somewhere between the sarong and full burial.

Caitlin Moran Ebury, £14.99;

AT a fund raiser in aid of a domestic abuse charity, in between performances from Alison Moyet, Tracy Thorn and Caitlin Moran, it was interesting to hear the experiences of a transgender woman who had used the services of the charity while fleeing not just the horrors of violence in the home, but violence against her from wider society – from catcalls to punches to ridicule, her transition had not been smooth.

As grey power takes hold, Rose Mary Roche wonders why so many women are happy to go silver and even more are seeing it as a fashion.

MUSIC NEWS:

Christmas highlights include Mrs Browns Boys and a documentary on Dermot Morgan.

Before adding my tuppence ha’penny worth to the abortion debate, let me state at the outset — I am pro choice.

Downton Abbey star Jessica Brown Findlay says she was “naive” to flash her chest in her big-screen debut.

It's been dubbed the new Sex and the City — Girls follows four women as they find their way in New York.

MASS MARKETFICTION

Jennifer Saunders has dedicated the Spice Girls musical to her daughters, after revealing they inspired her to write it.

Kylie Minogue has celebrated her 25th year in pop music – and her birthday - with an Outstanding Contribution gong.

MASS MARKETFICTION

MASS MARKETFICTION

MASS MARKETFICTION

Biography

A close friend of the British Prime Minister has been found dead in mysterious circumstances at Glastonbury Festival.

Keith Richards has described fellow Rolling Stone Mick Jagger as “unbearable” in a candid memoir that lays open their fraught relationship.