With grey skies and sudden shots of sunlight, I can only bury myself in the chipped wooden study spaces of the Senate House and discover shelves on feminist geography which tell me that a flaneur (Wilson) is a man who "takes visual possession of the city".That using space is often a way of demystifying it. "By daring to go out, women produce space that is more available for other women - spatial confidence is a manifestation of power" (Koskela).
That the city is seen as 'risque' and 'exciting' and masculine, whereas the countryside is feminine. Usually men enjoy the pleasures of the city, but Ally McBeal fluttering through the city's streets alone at night, pausing to gaze and wonder at the night around her... is she in a post-modern city? Is this a changing gender role? She is a flaneur and a voyeur: a single woman as hero of the street (Damosh, Saeger).
