Caitlin Moran’s Moranifesto at the Royal Festival Hall

To headline the first night of the Women of the World (WOW) Festival at the Southbank Centre, Jude Kelly (artistic director) invited Caitlin Moran on stage to discuss feminism, politics and camel toes, as well as to read from her new book. Immediately, it became clear that leaps and bounds have been made in recent years in the discussion for gender equality, as thousands flocked to fill the seats at the tremendous Royal Festival Hall.

Caitlin Moran calls for revolution. Not anarchy, but gradual, stable change towards a better future for both women and men. Her “Moranifesto”, as she calls it, is about action and ideas for stimulating that change, rather than just a list of everything that’s wrong with the world.

As one of the funniest writers around, Caitlin Moran was marvelously enjoyable throughout the night providing an entertaining evening of hilarity while still conveying important messages for human beings and for society.

Of course, Caitlin was perhaps preaching to the choir. While the conversation on stage may have provided valuable insight to some, for the particular audience in attendance, there didn’t seem to be any new and enlightening ideas, opinions or information. Imagine a talk at a Star Trek convention about why Star Trek is better than Star Wars, or a lecture to a group of doctors about how drinking dirty water is bad. The audience most likely already believed, knew or thought everything discussed and it may have been far more powerful with a different audience.

But Caitlin’s motivation probably wasn’t to change anyone’s mind about anything, rather to inspire. If one young girl in the audience left the talk feeling galvanised to go out and do something, the Southbank’s Women of the World series achieved its goal. And judging by the constant clapping, cheers and whooping, Caitlin has inspired countless people.

Ultimately, the British Sign Language interpreter managed to steal the show after signing “camel toe” over and over to roars of laughter, but Caitlin and Jude’s conversation was funny, interesting and important. Certainly it was a great way to kick off the WOW Festival.

The Women of the World Festival is on at the Royal Festival Hall from 8^th until 13^th March 2016, for further information or to book visit here.