{"id":6220,"date":"2023-11-19T16:49:26","date_gmt":"2023-11-19T16:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/?page_id=6220"},"modified":"2024-01-30T19:45:21","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T19:45:21","slug":"victoria-smith","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/victoria-smith\/","title":{"rendered":"Victoria Smith – Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-aged Women"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
<\/span>
<\/div>
\nABOUT<\/font><\/span>
THE BOOK<\/span>
\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>
\n
\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
HAGS: THE DEMONISATION OF MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN
BY VICTORIA SMITH<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-Aged Women<\/em>, Victoria Smith confronts the ugly space in our culture where ageism and misogyny collide. While older women have been scorned and disparaged for centuries, today middle-aged women, Gen Xers who came of age in the 1990s, are also dismissed as intolerant, entitled and bigoted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

In chapters including \u2018Ugly Hag\u2019, \u2018Frigid Hag\u2019 and \u2018Privileged Hag\u2019, Smith takes a thematic approach to a wide range of subjects from care work to beauty, violence to sex, exploring each in relation to middle-aged women\u2019s beliefs, bodies and choices in a quest to uncover what exactly it is about women in their forties and beyond that seems to enrage almost everyone. Drawing comparisons throughout the book between today\u2019s hatred of women past their reproductive peak and the witch hunts that took place between the 15th<\/sup> and 18th<\/sup> centuries, Smith argues that much of the blame lies with the popularity of identity-based politics, which pits different generations against each other, as well as with social media, which, in providing anonymous outlets for angry vitriol, has resulted in an all-pervasive demonisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Reclaiming \u2018hag\u2019 as a badge of pride, in Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-Aged Women<\/em>, Victoria Smith makes an unapologetic appeal for women who have earned their stripes to be noticed, celebrated and heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Want to know more? We\u2019ve created a reading guide for this book \u2013 just click here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>
\n
\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
VICTORIA SMITH<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Victoria Smith is a regular contributor to the New Statesman<\/em> and the Independent<\/em>, focusing on women’s issues, parenting and mental health. Her newsletter, The OK Karen<\/em>, about midlife women’s experiences of feminism, was launched last year, and she tweets @glosswitch. She lives in Cheltenham with her family. Hags <\/em>is her first book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>
\n
\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

Photography \u00a9 Aashfaria A. Anwar<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

\u2018Funny and furious, whip-smart and eye-opening, Hags <\/em>is a brave and important book that could hardly be more timely and necessary.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2023 Non-Fiction judges<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Ben Garrod<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarfraz Manzoor<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helen Stanton<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Other books shortlisted in this category<\/strong>:<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>
\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

STRONG FEMALE CHARACTER
BY FERN BRADY<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

THE TIDAL YEAR
BY FREYA BROMLEY<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

UNDERCURRENT
BY NATASHA CARTHEW<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Funny and furious, whip-smart and eye-opening, Hags is a brave and important book that could hardly be more timely and […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6118,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"wp-custom-template-standard-blank","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6220","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nVictoria Smith - Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-aged Women - Nero Book Awards<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/victoria-smith\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Victoria Smith - Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-aged Women - Nero Book Awards\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u2018Funny and furious, whip-smart and eye-opening, Hags is a brave and important book that could hardly be more timely and [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/victoria-smith\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nero Book Awards\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NeroBookAwards\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-30T19:45:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/smith.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"290\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"443\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@nerobookawards\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/victoria-smith\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/victoria-smith\/\",\"name\":\"Victoria Smith - Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-aged Women - Nero Book Awards\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/victoria-smith\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/victoria-smith\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/smith.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-19T16:49:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-30T19:45:21+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/victoria-smith\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/victoria-smith\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/victoria-smith\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/smith.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/smith.jpg\",\"width\":290,\"height\":443},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/victoria-smith\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Victoria Smith – Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-aged Women\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/\",\"name\":\"Nero Book Awards\",\"description\":\"Celebrating outstanding writing by authors living in the UK and Ireland, these awards list the best books of the year.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Nero Book awards\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/nero-logo-black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/nero-logo-black.png\",\"width\":301,\"height\":124,\"caption\":\"The Nero Book awards\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NeroBookAwards\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/nerobookawards\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/nerobookawards\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Victoria Smith - Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-aged Women - Nero Book Awards","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/victoria-smith\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Victoria Smith - Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-aged Women - Nero Book Awards","og_description":"\u2018Funny and furious, whip-smart and eye-opening, Hags is a brave and important book that could hardly be more timely and [...]","og_url":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/victoria-smith\/","og_site_name":"Nero Book Awards","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NeroBookAwards\/","article_modified_time":"2024-01-30T19:45:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":290,"height":443,"url":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/smith.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@nerobookawards","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/victoria-smith\/","url":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/victoria-smith\/","name":"Victoria Smith - Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-aged Women - Nero Book Awards","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/victoria-smith\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/victoria-smith\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/smith.jpg","datePublished":"2023-11-19T16:49:26+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-30T19:45:21+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/victoria-smith\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/victoria-smith\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/victoria-smith\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/smith.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/smith.jpg","width":290,"height":443},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/victoria-smith\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Victoria Smith – Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-aged Women"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/#website","url":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/","name":"Nero Book Awards","description":"Celebrating outstanding writing by authors living in the UK and Ireland, these awards list the best books of the year.","publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/#organization","name":"The Nero Book awards","url":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/nero-logo-black.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/nero-logo-black.png","width":301,"height":124,"caption":"The Nero Book awards"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NeroBookAwards\/","https:\/\/x.com\/nerobookawards","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/nerobookawards\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6220"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6716,"href":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6220\/revisions\/6716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nerobookawards.com\/dummylocation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}