Associates

We work with a group of professional volunteers who give us their time, energy and support. They are:

Elaine Johnson – Writer and EditorElaine Ashton – Writer and Editor

Writer, feminist and activist; Elaine grew up in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire. She moved to Newcastle upon Tyne on a whim and studied Scriptwriting at University. Shortly after, she had her first child and became passionate and angered about the limiting, sexist, pinked-up experience her little girl was being inescapably prescribed. Writing commenced on the topic but lay unused - without a platform. Then Pinkstinks and Elaine hooked up and she was suddenly able to get serious. She currently lives in Gosforth, Newcastle, with her husband and daughter. In her spare time she sings a little bit of choral moosic, tries to avoid writer’s block and ITV’s Loose Women.

Vicky Syred - Administrator

Vicky hails from Southampton, where she lived for the first 18 years of her life before studying Maths at the University of Birmingham. At the age of 26, Caitlin Moran made her realise she'd been a feminist most of her life without knowing it.  Fed up with how society pigeon-holes women, Vicky was relieved to find out about Pinkstinks challenging the narrow aspirations mass-marketed to girls. She's now looking to begin a career as a data analyst.

"Almost all [girls] feel that TV and magazines focus too much on what women look like instead of what they achieve (90 per cent), and 82 per cent think that there’s a lot of pressure on girls to wear the latest fashions and have the latest gadgets."

 

The Girls’ Attitudes Survey, Girlguiding UK, 2011